I’ve been running around like crazy, trying to do be a great grad student (attending thesis defenses, scrambling to complete my own research), working, and job searching.

My dance and physical activity has been put aside, unfortunately. When I do think about going to dance class, it’s hard for me to motivate myself to take a 45 min bus ride one way and go. Besides being tired, there is just so much to do here that I can’t convince myself that 2.5 hours of my time (in principle that the busses are timely) is worth it, despite me not knowing where I’ll be in a few months. I’m planning on going to it on Saturday. To myself back into it, I’ve invested in some instructional DVD. I figure that they’ll be an excellent way to practice, which I sorely need.

On the thesis front, things are marching along. My data collection has gone really well, and I should be 100% complete my early (Tuesday) of next week. The only worrisome thing is that my advisor has been summoned to jury duty. He does not know if he’ll be needed, but the way life rolls sometimes- I’m afraid he’ll be put on a jury that’ll last for months. In any case, anything longer than a day would be a problem, since my advisor is leaving sometime late July for a 2 week vacation. Part of my hustle is to send him off (he is willing to do this) with a draft of my thesis. My goal is defend during the beginning of August.

Job searching- well it is what it is. I did write a teaching statement for the job I really want. I found writing the statement challenging but also important. It helped clarify some of my thoughts and beliefs on teaching.

As for my current job, it marches along. The students are not happy campers, but it is summer school after all. I don’t imagine learning a normally 10-week course in the span of 3.5 weeks is fun, either. They seem to be understanding things fairly well, but I think they just had their first exam, so we shall see.

And how is your summer?