I forgot a milestone two days ago. Normally I remember it every year. September is full of significant dates. The fourth: Brother-out-law's birthday. The seventh: My maternal grandfather's death in 2001. The eleventh: Four days later, the twin towers came down. The twenty-second: My birthday. The twenty-ninth: My maternal grandfather's birthday.
Twelve years ago, on 3 September 2002, I handed in my (completed, revised) PhD dissertation, "Energetics and Dissociation Dynamics of Reactive Organic Intermediates" (a thrilling read, I assure you), marking the end of my doctoral studies. My journal helpfully reminds me that, as I walked out of the Office of Graduate Studies into the bright California sunshine clutching my certificate of completion, the water polo team ran past me.
Twelve years.
I've been Dr![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nanila for twelve years.
HOW
WHAT
SRSLY
(And you know, there is still a tiny part of me that thinks someone will suddenly notice that I'm not studying chemical dynamics any more and will say, "Hey! You! You there, no longer in a lab coat and goggles! HDU trick us, you should still be doing THAT sort of research. Return that title to us immediately.")
Twelve years ago, on 3 September 2002, I handed in my (completed, revised) PhD dissertation, "Energetics and Dissociation Dynamics of Reactive Organic Intermediates" (a thrilling read, I assure you), marking the end of my doctoral studies. My journal helpfully reminds me that, as I walked out of the Office of Graduate Studies into the bright California sunshine clutching my certificate of completion, the water polo team ran past me.
Twelve years.
I've been Dr
nanila for twelve years.HOW
WHAT
SRSLY
(And you know, there is still a tiny part of me that thinks someone will suddenly notice that I'm not studying chemical dynamics any more and will say, "Hey! You! You there, no longer in a lab coat and goggles! HDU trick us, you should still be doing THAT sort of research. Return that title to us immediately.")
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Just yesterday, I was chatting with colleagues about the subject of my thesis, still unsolved but an area of active research. Coming up on 30 years ago (next July).
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That's pretty cool about your thesis being in an active area. I remember checking a while back on one of the papers from my PhD and realising that a large percentage of the citations were for the ab initio computational work I did, which was only ever intended to supplement the experimental work.
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(And huh, my maternal grandmother died 9 Sep 2001, two days before the towers came down)
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(It was such a weird time. I was supposed to fly home to California that day, and instead I spent two hours with my parents in front of the television watching the footage over and over again until finally my dad went, "Why are we doing this, it's not helping," and switched it off. Then we spent the rest of the day trying to hire a car so my cousin, my ex and I could spend two days driving home.
Driving home was also a strange experience. No planes. Big swathes of totally empty blue sky. Lots of meals eaten in silent grief. Not, I hope, a road trip to be repeated.)
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Congratulations.
Also, I love that detail about the water polo team!
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Thank you! And yes, I'm so glad I've been keeping this journal for so long - I would never have remembered that otherwise.