CognitiveRendezvo

Coming to an end (or growing up)

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:39:50 GMT

After 5+ years of having this blog, I am sad to say that the time has come to end it. As I've entered into the "professional" world of grad school, I realize the importance of being careful about� what I write. While I still love to write about my personal life, I feel I can no longer do this on such a public forum. This blog has merged into some hybrid space for both my personal and academic life, and sadly, the two cannot coexist on the same forum any longer.

That being said, I plan on starting a blog for my academic musings - stuff about culture and media etc. I won't be putting the link up here because I don't want the two to be traceable. And, because I am a narcissist who cannot really resist the urge to write about my personal life from time to time, I will (unfortunately and regrettably and with much resistence) probably start using MySpace blogs for that purpose. This ensures that I have control over who is reading my blog (only my friends). I just don't want to risk that a professor or someone stumbles across my blog mixed with personal stories and academic musings - it isn't professional.

So - if you would like to read my blog of academic/media/cultural musings, email me and I'll send you the link. If you are more interested in reading the personal musings, I'll add you as a friend on MySpace. I know I have a lot of frequent readers who comment (or don't), please don't hestitate to email about either the "professional" blog or for my MySpace link. I don't mind if you keep reading either or both - my concern is more geared towards professors, colleagues, etc.

� Sadly, the end...

Update Dec. 9 - I've started a new anonymous blog, similar in nature to this one but more candid. I'm keeping my identity hidden, but I don't mind people from the online community making the connection - if you're interested in reading it, please shoot me an email and I'll give you think link...probably.

Racism on the Internet

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:25:17 GMT

So there's a short video clip on YouTube about Darfur. Regardless of how you politically align yourself on this issue is a moot point. What absolutely blew me away was the amount of hate-filled, racist, ignorant comments that people left (loosely in regards to the video). Call me completely naive, but the racist and hateful comments I was reading seriously made me feel like I was living in the pre-civil rights era. I know racism exists in this country, but the overt comments of pure hatred towards black people in this country absolutely floored me. As if African-Americans are the same as the people of Darfur, first of all. This video was not about race, and it certainly wasn't about blacks in America - but that's where the conversation went. The comments were bleeding with ignorance and hate that I honestly have not seen displayed in decades - not in this country, not in our media, not in my social circles. They are so awful I don't even want to repost them on here. I've heard some really hateful, ingorant, racist things before - but this exceeded them all. How can someone seriously want all black people to die? That mentality is so beyond my scope of understanding. What also surprised me, although I guess it shouldn't, was how young some of the commenters were. Not that I think racism died out with my generation or anything, but we certainly grew up post-civil rights era.

I gotta say, I do think it is the medium that is facillitating this sort of cowardice response. I don't think most people would say these things to someone in person, or even to a news anchor or to their local newspaper. Of course local media would censor this sort of comment, But still, the conversation became a perpetual cycle of more extreme comments. The more people tried to tell these people off the more fuel they really threw on the fire. I don't know to what extent these racist people really even believed what they were saying, so much as fueling a reaction. Nonetheless, they did not just cross a line, there was no humorous undertone to their remarks - they were hate driven. So sad.

Here's a link to the video and the comments.

Go Team!

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:25:03 GMT

I ran my first official 4-miler today and I feel great! I didn't have to stop to walk, I maintained my pace and finished 20 seconds under my goal - oh yea! Four down...9.1 to go. Please, please, support me and the cause if you can! No amount is too small (or big!). I am NOT a runner and I am NOT a morning person and I'm waking up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday to go run - but if you think running a marthon is tough - try chemo! I'm loving this - I feel so good about myself afterwards and the Team is a bunch of really awesome people!

http://www.active.com/donate/tntctx/jvickery

Speaking of team - IT'S FOOTBALL TIME IN OKLAHOMA! (amen!)
Boomer freakin' Sooner baby!

But first - I'm headed to the lake with some friends, and then it's football watching all evening/night.

I love my weekends!

I want a man

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 07:51:28 GMT

You taught me precious secrets
of a truth, witholding nothing
You came out in front
and I was hiding.

I've been thinking about what my mom told me tonight - about she and my dad laying in bed holding each other and crying listening to a beautiful song while my mom was literally battling for her life. Everytime I re-play her comment in my mind (see previous entry) I start to cry. I was in bed just now, and I just started to cry. It's beautiful - the love my parents have for each other absolutely blows me away.

In a world in which half of all marriages end in divorce, I'm a part of a growing generation becoming evermore cynical about love. You've got your idealist who believe in fairytale endings or you've got your cynics who question if true love and soulmates really exist anymore. I guess there's really no continum - it has to be one or the other. Either you expect the ideal fantasy and settle for nothing less, or you lower your expectations so that you aren't really that disappointed when things fail. As much as I tend to see myself as a bit cynical towards love, I know it's really just a defense mechanism - it's easier than really analyzing the shortcomings of my limited love life. Deep down I know that fairytale loves exist - I cannot look at my parents and deny it.

This got me thinking that what I really want is a man. I don't think I've ever dated a man before. I'm not implying that I've dated boys or what have you, I don't mean this in a derogatroy way at all. But rather, I tend to date "guys". Guys are more mature and "grown-up" if you will, than boys - but they aren't yet men. And I purposely place the "yet" in there, because I have little doubt that most the "guys" I've dated will eventually become wonderful men. But for now? For now they are still guys.

What is the difference you ask? Well that's a hard question, and clearly one with multiple answers and interpretations. One answer that an ex actually gave me was that a guy isn't a man until he is ready to provide for a family. This doesn't mean that he is actually providing yet, but rather that he is capable of providing. This goes beyond just financial stability, although that certainly has a lot to do with it. A guy still living on mom and dad's paycheck or grossly in debt to the financial aid office probably isn't ready to provide for a wife. But the financial issue is just one of many things that I consider "provider" qualities.

A significant "provider" adopts a differnt mindset. "Guys" very much have a bachelor attitude - they want to have fun, they want to be selfish (not in a negative way, but in a loner sort of way), they want minimum responsibilities, they do not have to think about consequences, they can very much live in the moment. This isn't to say that they don't have responsibilities or that they don't have goals that they are working towards - but rather, they are still able to live in a here-today-come-what-may mindset. "Guys" can go out and party five days a week, spend all their time with their buddies, blow money on booze or drugs, stay up way too late or sleep in way too late, date young pretty girls just looking for fun. They don't have to be that responsible because ultimately nobody is relying on them. Again, I don't mean to paint this as a negative thing - it can be - but it doesn't have to be. This is part of being young and free - it's something everyone (females included) should experience throughout their lives. It's one reason I'm so against people getting married too young - they don't get to experience the freedom and pleasures of youth. You need a time in your life when you can be selfish and do what you want without suffering any real long-term consequences or letting people down. For most people this time is known as college!

Men on the other hand - men have stability. They adopt a mindset of responsibility that exceeds beyond the scope of selfhood but into the realm of provider. Whether they are actually providing for someone or not is a moot point - but rather that they want to provide for someone, that they could provide for someone - emotionally, physically, financially, etc. It's a different level of maturity and responsibility. It's something I've seen in 23 year old guys and it's something I've seen 30 years still lack. There's no age for this, so much as it is a life choice that comes with experiences I suppose.

All this being said - I realize that while I've experienced love, I don't think I've ever experienced the love of a man. I think that the guys who have loved me, loved me to the best of their ability, but their capicity for love was inhibited by their own desires to be young and "free".On the other hand, I think I have also prohibited some guys from actually loving me to the full extent because it was I who did not wholly want their love. Notice there really is no "in-between" stage between girl and woman, however there is an in-between boy and man, the guy - which in part perhaps is because girls mature into women before boys mature into men, they become guys first and choose to stay a guy for as long as they want. And I do think in part it is a choice.

I think often guys imitate what they think love should be. I think pop culture and especially music is so telling of this. So many love songs are about guys struggling to really love a woman - or rather, to show his love for a woman. Songs about how he's messed up, or how he didn't let her know what he felt. Equally, there seem to be so many songs about women frustrated because they don't think their man is being genuine, or they think he is so different with his buddies than with her. There seems to be some sort of duality for men - to love a woman while maintaining their coolness and acceptance among their male friends.

Anyway, when I say that a man is a provider, and that what I want is the love of a man - this really shouldn't be interpretted as some sort of weakness or neediness because it's not. I don't need a provider to be fulfilled. I live a very fulfilled life, I can take care of myself in almost every sense of the word, I'm very happy and loving where I am right now. However, when I think about love and falling in love again, I do want to fall into the submissive role. I want a man who can take care of me, even if I don't need him to, I want to rest assure that he could, if I ever needed him to. I want a man who has matured beyond selfish desires and places me before himself. I want a man who loves me like Christ loves the Church - unselfishly with his whole life. I want a man worth being submissive to - and Christians remember, only wives are called to submit to their husbands, that is, a woman is not called to submit to any other man. I want a man worthy of my submissiveness and my love.

I've never dated a man - I've dated great guys who will make great men....someday. In college I was willing to wait for that someday. But now, now I'm tired of waiting for it. I don't want to date anymore guys, I want to date a man. Men have a fuller capacity for love. I think there is nothing as sweet as the love of a woman. We know how to so dearly love our guys, I think it's beautiful. Not that my capacity for love hasn't changed through the years, it has, but I think women reach this capacity earlier in life than men, as a general rule at least. You can see it in her eyes, the way a woman loves her man. The way she is willing to do anything to make sure he's happy, and the way she's willing to fall into his arms without the slightest hint of anxiety or fear, because she loves him and she entrusts him with her heart and life.

I don't know, this is a lot of rambling on my part. I guess I'm just starting to realize that I've somehow, somewhere along the way moved beyond guys, as great as they are and as much as I have loved a couple of them, I somehow became ready for a man. Not that I'm out seeking one, honestly I don't have time for a relationship, nor am I at a good point in my life to start one, I'm content with being single for now. But...when the time does come for me to start dating again, I want it to be with a man. Or at least that's what I say, perhaps I keep dating guys because I'm scared to date a man - I'm scared of the hurt or committment or seriousness of it all. Or perhaps I like the idea of being in control, or the more mature one, I don't know. I don't know at all...I usually keep myself way too busy to think about such things.

My biggest defense mechanism - busyness! I take on so much all the time that it's rare that I have downtime to really think about things such as this. Tonight was one of those nights. I think about my parents' love and it makes me cry because it's so beautiful. I want that love some day. I want a man to look at me the way my dad looks at my mom, even after 35 years together, I want a man who admires me as much as my dad admires my mom. He admires her for the woman that she is - with all her beauty and humility and grace. She is flawed and he compliments those flaws so well. Someday I want to look at a man the way my mom looks at my dad, but this time that man will look at me the same way back.

I've acted out my love on stages
with ten thousand people watching,
but we're alone now
and I'm singing this song for you

And I know your image of me
Is what I hope to be.
-Leon Russell

My parents are so cute

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 03:36:27 GMT

My mom sent me some Leon Russell songs tonight becuase she thought I might like them (which I do!). I was chatting with her on gmail chat about the songs and this is what she said:

Mom: I sent Daddy "This Song's For You." He said if I can put it on his ipod, we would dance to it in our hotel room in Paris while we each listen to our ipods. Cute, or what? You know he doesn't dance, so this is special..I only wish I could get a pic of us dancing together with our ipods on listening to the same song. Talk of romance.

And then later:

Mom: One night when I was going through chemo, you and Jenn were gone. Our stereo wasn't working, so we put her CD in Jenn's stereo and listened to her Sounds of Heaven CD. There is a song, Hallelujahs, that is so poignant. We listended to that song over and over again, lieing in Jenn's bed, holding each other and crying. It will always be one of the most precious moments of my life.

Aren't they cute and awesome? I only hope to have a marriage someday that is as great as my parents' marriage - after 35 years together they are still so in love! I love that I'm at an age that my parents can talk to me about their relationship as adults, rather than just as parents. I value their stories and advice above anyone's, they've obviously done something right!

-------------

I spent about 8 hours at the coffee shop today doing research - I feel very productive, but I'm reminded how lonely research can be. Sitting alone, staring at books and a computer screen is very isololating - I love it, but by the end of the day ya just gotta have some human contact! Luckily A had dinner with me before he went out with his buds. I'm spending the evening at home watching bad TV on Noggin, downloading music, and trying to find some blogs for my thesis.

Football season has started and as of 6:00 tomorrow it will officially be Football Time in Oklahoma! I'm giddy excited! Eight months without football is excrutiating! I'm sure it'll be an excellent season, it always is! That's one thing I love about NCAA football - every season is so unpredictable! Always so many upsets and unexpected teams rising to the top.

Boomer!

"So don't ask me no questions, and I won't tell you no lies"

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:02:57 GMT

Wow has there been a lot going on and I haven't been updating at all! Some very exciting news: I'm writing this entry from a coffee shop by my house on my brand new laptop, yay! I've been needing one so badly, and I've never had a new computer before, I always buy used. My grandma helped me get it and I'm loving it! I'm alraedy so much more productive!

I've spent all day working on lesson plans for the new job. It's been a lot of work but a lot of fun! I just hope I have enough students to make ends meet. If not, I'll have to look for another job I suppose. I'd rather not work 2 jobs, take classes, write a thesis, and train for a marathon all at once. But, you do what ya got to do I suppose. I'm glad I'm a self-motivated person, ha!

The marathon training is going really well! I haven't missed a day of practice yet. Even I can't believe that I'm waking up at 5 a.m. to go run. I'm not a natural runner, I have to fight for every mile. But the Team is so nice and the coaches are great and I'm really motiviated. Doing this for a cause so much greater than myself really helps. When I don't feel like running, I just think of my mom and all that she went through with cancer, and I'm motivated. My mom says that my sister and I are her motivation so that she and I will never have to hear the words, "You have cancer." The fundraising part isn't going so great. I've had a lot of people say they will help me, but they haven't actually donated yet. Hopefully the money will start coming in soon.

I got to go home last week for a few days. It was so wonderful seeing my family. I spent the majority of my time with my sister and gradma, I hadn't seen either of them since Easter. My sis and I have an interesting relationship. We don't talk much when we aren't together and kinda just rely on my mom to update us on each other's lives. But when we get together we always have a blast, catch up, and just have a really great time. We share interests and conversations and jokes that we don't have with anyone else. I love her to death and I am so proud of her! She shared all sorts of police stories with me, she's awesome!

I feel like my blog has gotten really boring lately. It's just boring updates about my life rather than interesting topics or editorials. But I guess I do so much writing for classes that I really don't have the energy to come up with anything creative on here. Hopefully that'll change - I'll probably get back to using this as a forum to play with ideas now that I'm actually starting my thesis research, oh yea! I'm so pumped about my topic. Classses have started, new job starts next week (1 class of lesson plans down, 3 to go, ahhhh!), and life is going grand. Things with boys are a little uh, interesting at the moment, but what can ya do? Just go with the flow I suppose. I met some of the new M.A. students and they are awesome - especially a few of the girls. I need girl friends here. I mean I've got girl friends I hang out with after class and stuff, but none I'm really close to on the one-on-one level. But I took a few of them to float the river this week and we just really hit it off. Unfortunately I have no classes with them so it'll be an effort to get together. They are cool though, I love meeting new people!

Oh, and football starts this weekend - I could NOT be more EXCITED! Oklahoma kicks off at 6:00, woohoo! Eight long months of wating has finally come to an end!

Here's to life - as grand and confusing as it is - I'm ready for it! I've got so much on my plate right now, but I'm loving it!

See Jacqueline Run. Run Jacqueline Run.

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 23:39:13 GMT

As I briefly mentioned earlier, I am training to participate in a half marathon run in Orlando this January as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's, and myeloma from taking more lives. The Society has raised over $800 million over the past 20 years and hopes to hit the Billion dollar mark this year - I have to raise $4,000 of that.

I'm completing this event in honor of my wonderful mom who is a ten-year Hodgkin's survivor! She and I will be running this race together this winter. It is because of the grace of God (to Him be the glory!) as well as fundraising events like this that my mom is alive today! These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

I had my first Team practice this morning and I feel GREAT! I have really gotten out of the habit of running, I went yesterday (granted it was mid-afternoon and hot), but I was only able to do 1.5 miles without having to stop and walk. Today I was able to jog the whole 3 miles with the Team and never had to walk! I know the weather helped, but running with a Team and coaches cheering you on makes such a difference. Also running for a cause greater than yourself is really motivating.

I'm so pumped up! I've never run more than about 6 miles before and now I'm training to do 13.1. Oh and on top of that I have to raise $4,000! I know it's going to be challenging, especially those 6 a.m. practices - on top of writing a thesis and lesson plans. But I couldn't be more excited about it! Cancer is something so personal to my family, I want to do anything I can to help find a cure and help improve the quality of life for patients. I know God will help me raise the money!

If you would like to help me cross the finish line and support the Society's cause, please go HERE to make a donation and read more about the Society.

Suppose I had a creative title...it would go here

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:03:04 GMT

My mom was here for 4 days and we had so much fun! I haven't really spent time with her (more than just a day) since about Christmas and we had a blast! I had registration on Saturday so she came down late that afternoon. We went to a wine bar on 2nd called Cru and shared some fondu and a flight of wine. For dinner we went to Fino. Fino is a wonderful Spanish restaurant and one of my favorite restaurants in Austin. We stayed for about three hours drinking wine, eating, we even had dessert and espresso. It was wonderful!

Sunday we went to breakfast and then down to Town Lake. We walked around the lake for bout an hour, then got a kayak. We had never done that before, it took us awhile, but we finally got the hang of it. We walked around the lake for another hour or so. It was getting pretty hot by the time we decided to leave, but it was a beautiful day and great conversation. That night, after three failed attempts, we finally ended up at a sushi restaurant down on 6th Street. Turns out it was GREAT! The chef made some off-menu specialties for us, oh boy were they good! I took her to the Ginger Man afterwards and we had a few beers. My mom is one of the few women who has the same beer taste I do - dark, creamy, rich, mmmm Stouts!

On Monday we went to Einstein's again for breakfast and then headed to New Braunfels to float the river. We took a cooler with some fruit and beer and snacks. It was perfect weather, sunny and not too hot, just a nice 94 degrees. It was a weekday so the river wasn't crowded at all. It was so relaxing...especially after our exhausting 3 hour excursion the day before. That night we ended up going back for sushi! This time one of my friends joined us - my mom had been wanting to meet him. It was very good the second time, and I always like introducing my friends to my mom. Afterwards we got some gelato and walked around downtown a bit.

And finally on Tuesday we went to the dog park, took Scout of course. My mom fell in love with a Standard Poodle out there, ha! And poor Scout got hurt - he was being chased by some big dogs, and he ran into a tree stump. He let out a few yelps and went down. The other dogs were really good and just stood over him. I think it just knocked the wind out of him, he seemed ok after awhile. Poor guy though, kinda put a damper on his play time. My mom and I ended our fun by going to Trudy's, I just love their veggie flaquitas, mmmmm!

It was a perfect way to start my vacation time! My mom and I always have so much fun together. We are really different in a lot of regards, but we are also so alike in other ways. Great just talking and catching up with her. And we got to do a lot of fun Austin activities. I think she wants to move down here, ha! I don't think my dad or his business will go for that...but maybe someday...

Es muss sein!

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:59:51 GMT

Really long story short - A accepted Christ last night on my living room couch! After almost a year of praying for him, and many Spirit-led conversations, he found God! He came over last night completely broken, at the end of his rope, after a week of drug-induced depression basically. I'll spare personal details beyond that, but I talked to him, shared my beliefs with him for probably the third or fourth time, and this time, it just made sense! He said that he never imagined that anyone could have so much insight into his situation, especially me, seeing how I've never done drugs. And he said he never believed in miracles until last night. It was wonderful! We were both really giddy all night and stayed up talking about stuff really late.

God is so good! He told me to break up with A and I didn't know why. In fact, at one point I even had the thought, "But God, I'm the only Christian influence in his life, are you sure I should be breaking up?" (so foolish of me to question God's plan and timing!). But A said had I not broken up with him, he wouldn't have gone back to his old lifestyle of drugs and lonliness and depression. He said he didn't know how to handle the break up and that's why he started that again. Had he not done that, he wouldn't have hit rock bottom, wouldn't have ended up on my couch needing a friend, I wouldn't have been there to ask him what it was he was searching for in life, and then tell him that what he was searching for was a relationship with his Creator - the only purpose we all have in life! We were all created to worship God, and we all feel a void and emptiness in our lives until we fill it with Him! And when we do, everything else in our life takes on such a greater purpose. Something so much greater than ourselves, and something that can never be fulfilled by earthly things.

Taking this even further back into God's plan - if Brandon had never broken up with me, I would have never dated A in the first place...yea, 16 months later even more of God's plans are revealed. How good He is, and how reassuring it is to know that He blesses obedience - there's a reason He demands it!

In other news - my mom is coming to Austin tomorrow! I'm so excited. I haven't seen her much at all this year. I was home for 1 day at Easter and 1 day in May, that's it. My friends who all live twice as far from their parents seem to see them more often than I see mine. She and I have big plans! We've got dinner researvations tomorrow at one of my favorite Austin restaurants -Fino's. We are going to go hiking and kayaking on Sunday, have a picnic, do a little shopping and get sushi that night, followed by a hookah bar! Monday we'll probably hit up a happy hour and Mexican food. Not sure exactly, but I'm so happy to spend some time with her now that I'm on vacation! That's right, today was my last day of my summer teaching job, woohoo! I've got registration tomorrow for my new teaching job, or rather, the kids have registration, I just have to be there to enroll them. But then I get 2 weeks off before classes or school starts again, yay! I need a break, haven't had one since Spring Break...that's a long time! In addition to seeing my mom this weekend, I think I'm going to go to Dallas sometime soon and see my sister and dad. And my 84 year old grandma is going to ride back to Austin with me for a few days and then fly home. I don't get much alone time with her anymore, it'll be special. I love my family, I am so blessed!

God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good!

Ms. Teacher Lady pt. 2

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:12:45 GMT

I have a new job for the next year, and it's such an answer to prayer. While Starbucks was a good grad school job, it didn't pay all that well and the schedule could be pretty unpredictable. I have loved working with kids and teaching this summer (although I'm starting to hate the driving), anyway, I started looking for some part-time teaching or child care jobs. I applied for a few randomly online, and surprisingly got a phone call and interview from one. And they hired me!

I will be teaching for an Austin Area Home School Co-op. My schedule was originally only going to allow me to teach 2 of the 6 classes, but after talking to them, they added two more classes just for me to teach. This other lady and I convinced the administrator there was a need for preschool/kindergarten and 1st/2nd grade classes, she agreed and added them to the list of classes. So, I am now the English Literature and Composition teacher for this co-op. I'll be teaching preschool/Kindergarten, 1st/2nd grade, a 3rd-6th grade, and a 10th grade class. It's the first year the co-op has offered English and Language Arts, so I'm their guienea pig. I basically get to make my own cirriculam. My only restrictions are that a) the skills are comparable to what they would learn in public school and b) my lessons are taught from a Christian worldview. Growing up in a private Christian school, the latter is no problem for me. The other requirement is going to require some work on my part, looking up TEKS information.

I'm really excited though. It's a perfect opportunity. I'm only teaching 4 classes, all on the same day. So technically I only have work one day a week, although obviously planning lessons and grading papers etc. will require more work, but still, only one day a week when someone is demanding my time at a specific time of the day. This is such a God thing. I applied to my summer job with the Institute of Reading Development on a whim, never really expecting to get it. And then I did. Had I not taught reading all summer I never would've felt qualified to apply for the English position at the co-op. It's a perfect schedule, good pay, great opportunity to learn and teach, and work with some really amazing people. I'm very excited and thankful for the job.

I feel pretty confident about it, but it's weird having no guidance or direction. Every decision is up to me, choosing materials and setting up a curriculam. The reading part will be the easist, it's the grammar and writing part I'm a little hesitant about, but I'll figure it out. It's kinda weird how my research interests in school have turned towards media and digital literacy, which work hand-in-hand with the education system and how I have landed two teaching jobs this year. I don't have an education degree, I'm not even certified. But my job and my research interests are meshing in a very complimentary way. It's very cool and exciting to think where I can go with this. I think my life story is becoming one of those, "I don't really know how I wound up here, things just worked out that way." I'm taking rathrer unconventional paths and it seems to be working. I love it and I couldn't be more excited about the next year - I've got my thesis topic selected, I get to actually start researching this semester, and I have a perfect job secured for the next year of my life. God is good!