A New Year

Joy! Home at last!

( Where I've been for the last half month )

The vacations were relaxing, and I'm all revved for a productive and fun year. Maybe.

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and purchased myself an account here, so now I can play with smileys too. So ha. :p

With the new year comes...impending Candidacy.

Second year graduate students in our department have to prove that we're smart and hard-working enough to get PhDs. To do this, we write two original research proposals (only one of which can by on a topic that's within our research field (for me, that's inorganic chemistry)) and a progress report on our current research. After writing the report, we go into a room with our advisor and two other professors, and answer any questions they may have on anything that's included in the submitted documents...

All this happens in the spring, so I've been in happy denial until now. But now that it's only a few months away, I'm getting myself geared up now. It's exciting and intimidating at the same time. I have a feeling that as I set the date for my exam and as I approach the ordeal I'll be a lot more stressed out...:p