Friday, May 16, 2008
(12:00 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Friday Afternoon Confessional: ABD Again and Lookin' to Score
I confess that I have passed my oral exam and have now attained to the status of "PhD candidate," colloquially known as "ABD" -- as certified by my advisor, the faculty of the Chicago Theological Seminary, and the big Other. I confess that the conversation about my proposal was very helpful. I confess that while I was waiting for the results of their deliberations after the exam, I began to hope that I had failed so that I could do a completely different proposal.I confess that even though some of my fellow students are putting together a party in my honor for Friday night, I still felt like no one in the world cared about me when I had nothing to do on Thursday after the oral -- or more precisely, not enough to do after the oral, since I went to the pub with my advisor immediately afterward. I confess that I dread the world-historical feeling of loneliness that will surely set in when I finish my dissertation.
I confess that I paid a $3 ATM fee for no good reason. I could've easily cancelled and gone to another ATM that I know has a lesser fee.
I confess that I used a new route home today to artificially inflate the number of L stops I've used. My usage was "sincere" in that this route dropped me off at a point equidistant to two bars I like -- though in the event, I of course did not end up going to either of those bars, due to my complete isolation from all other human beings, etc. I confess that I was satisfied the other day when a friend of mine in Evanston dropped me off directly at the Howard stop, to remove any ambiguity as to whether I could "count" it.
I confess that I'm using Super Memory software to learn Greek vocabulary, but I'm worried that my ability to identify the equivalent of flashcards won't translate into the context of trying to read a text. I confess that I am a flashcard skeptic.
I confess that I decided to ignore the poll results and read Blood Meridian.
