It's the (I Guess Not So) Little Things

Hi guys,

So it's been almost two full months since I posted my brazen, caution-to-the wind post daring fourth year to give me its worst.

Perhaps you've done the math on my 8 weeks or so of absence from this blog.

I've been promising revue posts for months, thinking that I'd seriously be able to stay on top of all of my other obligations and still squeeze in some time for leisure writing.  Not to mention being a real human being who like, answers social phone calls and responds to family member's emails on a timely basis.

Ha.

Well.  The last two months have sucked, but have also been full of little successes.  (Editor's note: Fuck that.  So not even "little."  At least mid-sized to significant.  Some really awesome successes.  I just don't generally like being braggy.)

1) I totally owned the shit out of my dissertation proposal defense, and clearly have what might be the best dissertation committee EVER.

Proof: We giggled over very awkwardly-translated survey items and talked about this site and were done in like 45 minutes even though I reserved the conference room for two hours.

I KNOW: Best. Committee. Ever!

2) I finally, finally finished at old externship, with a pretty sizable serving of... wistfulness.  But also accomplishment.  I'm really glad I got to see my trauma-focused work all the way through, and I'll miss so many of the clients and colleagues I worked with there.  I'm lucky that the experience turned out to be one of growth and overcoming of challenges instead of one of demoralization and disillusionment, as I feared for a time.  I'm really glad to be settled at my new externship, but it doesn't totally feel like home in the completely bizarre way that old externship was starting to feel.

3) In spite of having basically no time to write essays and cover letters, in spite of a massive weather event that has caused some pretty serious shit to go down in my beloved city, in spite of personal exhaustions and irritations with the process that are too numerous to mention, internship applications are submitted!!

So, for those of us keeping score:

Fall Semester:
--Continuing new externship
--Continuing to work with clients at school 
--Ending at old externship (hopefully before October) (Editor's note: Hilarious.)
--Defending dissertation proposal (also before October)
--Starting to collect dissertation data 
--Applying to internship, which will include:

• Writing really annoying essays, like "personal statements"
• Requesting and securing letters of recommendation
• Tallying up (literally) every single hour of clinical stuff I've done since beginning my training
• Identifying a list of cool-sounding sites from a dizzyingly hard-to-navigate database

Which leaves me with three things.  Three things?  I've lost the skill for managing so few things.  I really don't know what I'll do with myself now that I have such a measly list of things.

Solution: Bloggy things, clearly!

In conclusion, I'm glad to have a few moments, finally, to note this little oasis of relief and reflect on some work well done.  Because seriously:

Glad to be back, you guys.

{Heart}