earthquake weather

I got my dissertation chapter draft back with comments in the mail. The envelope came on Friday, and I took my time getting the mail. I knew it had come in the late morning, but I didn't bring it up until late evening. Right when I opened the mail box I could see the big envelope. No escaping now, it is here. But wait, just because it is here doesn't mean I have to open the envelope....

I put it at the bottom of my pile of mail and didn't open it until today. I was afraid to open it. Even though my committee chair sent me a very nice e-mail telling me it was an excellent start. She also mentioned that she was quite hard on it, so there are quite a few comments. I got scared when it actually came. I got anxious. What if it says "this entire argument is based on flawed logic?"

And you know what? I opened it. I survived. The comments were great, exactly what I needed in order to move forward. I used to wish for responses like "this is perfect, no need to change a thing." but those comments aren't really helpful if you ever plan to present or publish your work. Someone is going to pose hard questions and I'd much rather it be someone editing my draft than a trustafarian asshole in mandals and a scarf at a conference.

So now I gotta move forward. I think I'm off to a great start. I'm feeling so well-adjusted today, which is odd. I hope I don't have a nervous breakdown or something. Maybe it's like "earthquake weather." There's no way to tell an earthquake is coming, but people like to believe that a weird weather shift (like dry heat after a cool, windy week) is an indicator that an earthquake is on the horizon. It's kind of paranoid, really. Like believing that things are going well, so some kind of horrible thing is bound to happen any minute now. Well, that's how well I received the comments. I was like, "oh good, I was wondering if I was making sense. I should totally revise that paragraph." I hope I can ride this wave. Or if I can't, I hope I take it out on slacker students and not my family.

Slacker students beware!