Harper....

So now we're down to just five months before thesis submission. We are immersing ourselves in our remaining work and vacillating between panic, apathy and feeling like it's all possible. Right. A veritable rollercoaster. I've mentioned before that I can actually see the end. I know precisely what work remains: lab work, analysis, publications and the dissertation. It's like emerging from a fog and being able to see everything around you more clearly. I'm just now realizing that the PhD will end. It will. When you're in the midst of the process it becomes all consuming and you lose your grasp on what is real. Well, the thesis is real. The experiment you're running is real. But beyond the project there exists nothing. Needless to say it's a welcome perspective to see that life exists outside PhD study. Specifically, my PhD study.

On a very different note you may have read that Harper Lee is going to release her second novel: Go Set A Wawtchman. She wrote the bulk of the novel before To Kill a Mockingbird. And now it will be published for the masses. To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book of all time and I've just picked it up again. Absolutely brilliant. As you might expect I'm very anxious to read this second book; it will be released on July 14, 2015. I just confirmed that on amazon and wondered, "What will I be doing on July 14? Panicking? Sleeping in because I've submitted my thesis the day before?". At this point it's anyone's guess. Here's to hoping that I'll be in a good place!