After three years, a lot of academic crap, and some very, very intense times, apparently I am now permitted to say I have a master’s degree. (The actual degree is meant to be mailed to me in July, but I have the nice folder thingy they give out to master’s degree recipients at commencement and my unofficial transcript as evidence of things not seen.)
So now that that’s over, I have been struck time and time again by the things I am suddenly able to do, just free as I please. To wit:
- Breathe regular
- Read for fun. Take no notes.
- Buy too many books to read for fun; immediately become overwhelmed by sense of obligation to read for fun due to muscle memory of last three years (OMG, I have to read 100 pages tonight after work…)
- Fold laundry
- Clean the house
- Stare at a wall
- Navel-gaze (Sigh… I did not miss this…)
- Date
- Grow despondent (select topic)
- Watch television. Complain that there’s nothing on.
- Write for fun
- Go out. Do things. With other people, even.
- Say yes
- Have mild anxiety attacks about having too much free time
- Go grocery shopping when needed (no more meals made entirely of condiments!)
- Suddenly sit straight up, thinking, I have to find research articles for…! Wait, no, I don’t. Sit back. Return biometrics to resting levels.
- Stop constantly mentally reviewing schedule (Okay, if I leave work and sit in the parking lot for an hour before rehearsal, I can study during that time, and then if I get home from rehearsal before 10:30, I can probably read an article and get those notes done…)
- Spend an entire Saturday on the internet. Wrestle with self-loathing re: same.
- Google “large Victorian house on private beach wraparound porch free rent.” Fantasize accordingly.
- Resist propensity for in-text citation
thesinglecell 