Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Last year's realization of light at the end of the tunnel is nothing compared to this year's realization that by this time next year, I should be turning in chapters and thinking about defense dates. Last year there was elation and excitment, this year all we've got is paralyzing fear.

Faced with this knowledge of what is right around the corner, I started doing some prepping over the holiday break. Organizing files, trying to clear my life of old (but nice) data and clear my desk of side projects. This is going well. I sent revised-version-2 of my oldest not-yet-published paper to my advisor on Friday. He called me at 10am on Saturday morning with excitment about how it has progressed but also 1 more (difficult) change to the introduction. I wanted to submit this by the end of the month. It should get submitted on time, providing my quals-taking co-author gives it her stamp of approval...

There is soooo much more to be done to deal with the major, fear inducing year ahead of me though. I need to start making small changes now. To begin with, I need to re-prioritize what is on my to do list and re-evaluate how I spend my days. Last month, New Years didn't really inspire much resolute change for me. Perhaps I was just waiting for it to be the Last Year in order to get myself on the right track...