I’m almost done with grading. Thank God! My kids don’t read my blog so it’s OK to let loose my secret. I am getting them a portable DVD player for Christmas (one player between the two of them of course). Plane rides to California are long, and not all planes have entertainment in these lean days for the airlines. So tomorrow the boys will get to open one early Christmas present. They should be surprised. Watching the extended version of The Return of the King should make the plane ride seem short!
We had a long faculty conference yesterday. I am still tired from it. The highlight was a catered lunch from Fritz and Zoe’s. They do a great job. Really top notch food!
We are having friends, both professors at NU, over for dinner tonight. I will be cooking, so I am going to have to go to the store on my lunch today. I am grading all day. It will be nice to go out and be in public for a while.
I am not happy about the fact that I am going to have to bring some work with me on my vacation. I still have commitments backed up from my “lost summer”; and I have ordination exams in February. The scary part is that I am getting used to being this busy. Hopefully the summer will be a time to catch up on some much needed recreation.
My fingers have been resistant to typing things lately. This is not a good thing since I am in the midst of finishing an article on Asian American biblical interpretation. In general, I have come across what friends are calling the post-dissertation malaise (pdm). My experience over the past couple of months is that pdm is real. In some ways, I am glad that I am busy because if I had time to rest I would probably sit around my house and be depressed. I have described pdm in the following ways:
PDM is…
1) feeling like a spring that has been sprung
2) like a huge anticlimax
3) like an ape off my back (forget about the monkey), but now there is nothing holding you down to the earth
4) like post-Sunday sermon blues, only this one lasts for weeks
5) like being depressed but being relieved and happy at the same time
6) like having to run a 5K when you have just pulled an allnighter
7) your brain telling you, "Woohoo!" and your body saying, "blaaaaah"
I’m sure I could remember some more if I had the time, but I don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to be done. I wouldn’t have it any other way. This post is just to set the record straight PDM is real and it’s a $#%&*(insert expletive about a female dog).