I suppose I was hoping for a little pomp to go with the circumstance. Apparently you only get that the first time around.

For those what don't know, after three very long and exhausting years, I finally submitted the official copies of my master's thesis, signed and on lovely cotton paper, to the Dean of the Graduate School. This means that I now have two lovely little letters after my name and I now have proof of my knowledge in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.

The past week or so leading up to this moment have been largely uneventful -- getting papers signed, making corrections on my thesis, waiting impatiently for my advisor to come back from a conference, and cleaning my leftover crap out of the lab. Luckily, a favorite noder stayed with us this past week; this made being home a lot a whole lot more worthwhile.

Things were finally completed a scant few hours ago, on Monday: I made friends with the staff at Kinko's, copying my thesis onto the expensive paper; I waited three hours for my advisor to return from a meeting to sign my thesis, because I was late for my appointment with him earlier in the day; I delivered one copy of my abstract to the department office; I delivered one copy of my thesis and three copies of my abstract, plus a candidacy form, to the graduate school's administrative assistant; and then I called Chris and my folks. And that was it. It becomes official at some point on Tuesday. Really, I swear.

The thing that got me, though, was that not one person I encountered today made any sort of reaction to the entire event. My advisor said, "Good luck, and keep in touch" and went back to work. The other people in my lab said, "we'll miss you" and went back to work. The people in the graduate office said, "thank you, that's all we need" and went back to work. Even my parents said, "That's great, got a job yet?"

It's not that I was expecting some huge fanfare or anything. I got lots of noder love, which I very much appreciate. I'm not asking for love (although donations are always accepted!). I guess what I want is a sense of finality. It doesn't feel over to me. I still feel like I have to go back and work in the lab again tomorrow. (I don't, but that's beside the point.)

Maybe getting a job will help. If I ever get a job.


For those that are bored and/or having trouble sleeping, I will get around to noding my thesis at some point. In the meantime, read a little bit about the project here and here. (shameless node plug)