365: Officially Official

We went to our PO Box today and lookie what arrived! I'm officially an official Ph.D.! Wahoo! Of course I believe in balance in life so wouldn't you know that the same day I got my fancy diploma would be the same day I stood on the elevator for 30 seconds repeatedly pressing 6 and wondering why the doors kept popping open and I wasn't going anywhere. Turns out I was already on the 6th floor and I should have been hitting G (for Ground Floor). Just call me Dr. Ditzy.

Oh hai!

Yeaaaaah. I know, it's been a LONG, HOT MINUTE. Sorry about that. I've been PhDing and all that jazz. Long story short, I accomplished in less than a month what it typically takes about 3 months (or longer!) to do. I've been working like a DOG...wait, our dogs are lazy as heck, so maybe like a crab fisherman (we're obsessed with Deadliest Catch right now) and that's clearly left me with little time to blog.

The quick and dirty summary:

I leave for Nigeria next Friday, July 16th...yeah, HOLY SHIT. I'm excited but also nervous and overwhelmed all at the same time. Luckily I made a visit to the IU Health Center and got a prescription for an anti-anxiety drug (don't worry...I'm taking a very low dose, I will NOT be following Lindsay Lohan on her downward spiral) so I'm doing well with all the extra anxiety.

Our garden has died. A sad, painful, ugly death. None of our seeds grew basically (except for some cute little carrots), but some broccoli and tomato plants we bought at the Farmers Market did...and then the weeds took over. They are technically still living, but they don't look so hot. We are having some landscaping done because we have a rat bastard dog who's torn up the yard and it makes it REALLY hard to mow and on their agenda is to tear out the garden and re-seed with grass. As we will be moving in the next year (depending on where I get a J-O-B) so we need to beautify for selling anyway.

I've got 2 days left at my part-time office job for Dr. O. After that I will be a for-real full time student and full-time oh-my-God-I'm-doing-my-dissertation-research-and-I'm-my-own-boss (in NIGERIA for that matter). This will be the first time I've not had some sort of "real" job (eg I have to clock in or report to someone) in like a century. It's kind of weird. Good, but weird.

We just got back from an awesome family vacay. Fun times in OBX.

My momma is moving to Cali next week as she got a job at CSULB. Lucky biatch.

Oh yeah, I can't stop watching Lindsay Lohan cry on TMZ. So funny.

Still head over heels in love. We're trying not to think about the fact that I'm leaving for the next 5 months. Of course that's impossible so we're pretending like it's no bigs and not dwell on it. Everyday we get closer to the 16th the more panicked we feel but we're still pretending like "la, la, la, whatever." It'll be a mess next week I'm predicting. Oh, and the mission got canceled so it's unlikely Ange will be coming to visit. So it really will be 5 months apart. Ugh.

Um, yeah, that's about all. That I can think of anyway. In my swirling head. I am planning on blogging like a maniac from Nigeria. Not just because I want to keep everyone in the loop, but I think it will also help my sanity. And it will be a good journal for later. And probably helpful in my research. And a good way to maintain my friendships at home. So yeah, expect it.

We'll see if I get any more blogs out before then. I hope, but often I'm wrong. Time will tell.

The Next 2 Years of My Life (or so)

I sometimes forget to tell people things. Mostly it's because if I tell my sister a story more than once she screams at me and tells me that I'm always telling her the same story. SO sometimes I forget to tell people things because I'm afraid I already told them and because they aren't my sister they'll politely listen while in their head thinking "I ALREADY HEARD THIS LADY!" So this is my effort to keep everyone in the loop with my near future plans so hopefully nothing will be a surprise when it happens and you can't say I didn't tell you. Ok? Good.

So currently I am in my second and final year of course work for my PhD. I went for a year part-time before transitioning to full time last year. Our program is a 3 year PhD program where you do two years of course work and then spend one year working on your dissertation start to finish. So in theory my half year should have put me a little ahead and I could be taking it easy, but since workaholic mania runs in my family, I am instead taking more credits than average rather than less. Go figure. I can't help it! I like to learn! That is why I am getting a PhD.

So I will be all done with my classes after next spring (2010). I will then take and pass my qualifying exams (notice the positive thinking!) sometime in May or June. Hopefully by then I will have successfully written a proposal for and secured funding for my dissertation research. I will then present my Dissertation Proposal to my committee for approval, and in July I will be jetting off to Nigeria for 6 months.

Yes I said Nigeria, and yes I said 6 months, and no I am not crazy. I have a minor in African studies and my primary research interests lie in Africa-related issues around sexuality so I could not even pretend to call myself an African researcher if I had not "done my time" in Africa. Since I am most familiar and comfortable with Nigeria, and most of my interests lie in Nigeria specifically, I naturally will be doing my research in Nigeria. With this summer's fortunate meeting of the M's it also makes me feel even more comfortable about this quest and I hope to be enmeshed within the Benin City & the University community.

I will be in Nigeria from approximately right after 4th of July to right before Christmas. Since I get to control my research I also get to control when I go and return. I don't like missing holidays with my family, so other than Thanksgiving and my sister and father's birthdays I will miss minimal stuff. I will be in Benin working on my research and doing on-going analysis while there. After I return home I will spend the Spring Semester 2011 finishing my analysis and writing for my dissertation and then finally successfully defending my dissertation and becoming Dr. Briggs sometime in May 2011.

In the midst of all of the above I will also be looking for a job for after graduation. I will be setting my sights primarily on medium sized universities where I can have an emphasis on research. I'll be looking at large and small universities as well, and maybe even some non-academic positions but I hope to work at somewhere not too big and not too small and have lots of freedom to work on my research as I wish. We'll see how that goes. As far as location, I am not opposed to staying in Indiana completely, but I don't think that the outlook is good for job prospects. There are not many universities in Indiana that do sex-related research besides IU. It's not to say that if there were positions available I wouldn't apply, but the reality is, the chances are slim. Outside of Indiana I am focusing on the West Coast primarily and a few select locations on the East Coast and in the South. The rest of the country kind of sucks because it is either A) way too cold or B) way too far from a beach. Warmth and ocean access are two of my highest priorities. We'll see how it goes.

After that the picture starts to get a little fuzzy. I'm trying to take it a few months at a time and readjust as necessary. If there is a major change of course, you'll hear it here first!