Nail Biting

As my advisor, Dr. Hileman keeps telling me, take heart; the end is near!

Earlier this week the English division secretary scanned in all the pages with corrections for me to fix. I almost threw up when I saw how many pages there were, but then I saw there was usually just one tiny thing on each page, like a missed comma. I think it speaks volumes about how arduous proofing and editing are that it has taken four people, three of which have PhDs five drafts to finally get everything cleaned up and I bet there are still errors.

The thesis is now being passed on to the College of Arts and Sciences theses reader, who will check my formatting and undoubtedly find more errors. After that I think I am ready to print.

My current burden is that sometime the week of June 23 I am supposed to defend this thing. The problem is, I have no idea how to prepare or exactly what the defense will be like. I mean, at this point it's not exactly something the committee hasn't seen before. It is basically their creation channeled through me. If they don't like it, it's their own faults. There is one issue they brought up that I said no to, but aside from that I have done pretty much everything they asked.

I have emailed Dr. Hileman for help as to how to prepare, but she hasn't sent any my way. I have this sinking fear that it's going to be like the MA Exam where they tell me one thing and then do the opposite. Maybe they'll just pass me out of pity.

My interview with Howard College last week went really well. I had a good report with the interview committee and my sample lesson went pretty well. They were also impressed that I provided them with things like a complete lesson plan and writing samples. I just don't have that much experience. I did make a point to send them all thank you notes, so hopefully that will help as well. Do as much as you can and hope for the best, I suppose. I should hear back from them in the next few weeks, but even if I didn't get it, I wouldn't do anything differently about the interview. They asked me questions during the lesson and the answers were right there. It was so great to actually have a really good idea of what I was talking about and to actually teach them something. It felt good.

I have applied for another teaching position at Odessa College that just opened up, but I probably won't hear from them for a bit if they decide to interview me. If nothing works out, I guess I'll just try to teach adjunct, gaining some experience, and hoping for something else to open up. There is nothing wrong with that option, although it will take away even more from my time with Lilibug.

So fingers crossed for whatever may come. In the end I am actually pleased with my work, although I told Staylee the other day that I don't even want to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail for six months, I'm so done with Arthurian Literature.