The End is Nearly Fuckin' Nigh...

I'm staring down a two-week tunnel, and I can see the light at the end of it. Between me and the end of my graduate studies is One. More. Class.

And One. More. Paper.

The class will slide by with the banality due it, although I think a few of us will enjoy a beer afterward to celebrate the conclusion of something -- at this point, the end of *anything* sounds good. Only two of us in the class are actually done, as most of the other internship students are still trying to complete their required hours. But I am done.

Done. Done. Done. (And with the instructor I've had for this class over the past EIGHT MONTHS, you have no idea how good it feels to say that. I can't wait.)

Then, there's just this paper left. I've been mulling it for weeks, agonizing over its direction, its purpose, its quality. I have collected a lot of interesting stories, ideas and meanings people making around life and death, and I am trying to distill some themes from them. There are so many different perspectives that it's hard for me to say anything specific at this moment. It is going to be a serious bit of work over the next week or so.

This paper is due on the 28th. And when I turn it in, I will officially be finished with graduate school.

Hard to believe.