Close enough to say FIN

I wasn't really nervous about my thesis defense. I probably should have been based on past nervousness in front of smaller crowds about easier discussion topics, but a simple analogy I drew from TV kept the stress low.

I viewed my defense as an episode of Jeopardy. In Jeopardy, contestants already know the answers...they simply need to come up with the questions. The same can be said, in part, for me. Very few of the people in the room knew about my topic other than me and my supervisor. After writing this paper for the better part of a year, I already KNEW the answers. As for coming up with the questions, well, I didn't have to figure them out. My committee was more than happy to spell them out for me as clearly as possible. It felt like Celebrity Jeopardy, to be honest...

A few awkward pauses, a few clarifications required...but all in all, it was not as bad an experience as I initially feared. People were nodding (not off, but affirmatively), and my answers stimulated discussion across the table. Still, the rapid-fire nature of the session left me with a nasty headache that only a positive committee recommendation could ease.

I was then banished to Prof. Michelmann's office to look out the window and not touch anything until I was summoned back to the room to receive the verdict, which was a written and oral pass, with only grammatical revisions required to my written work. Those revisions should take no more than a day...not today, but probably tomorrow.

I then celebrated by collapsing into the recliner for 6 hours.

I'm done. I promise you all...no more school ever, EVVVVEEERRR again.