Progress is good.

After about 3 months, I am finally at a place where I can take a little break to blog without stress kicking in and triggering all kinds of physiological responses that might get me running back to the naturopath begging for some butter. I am more than halfway through my dissertation writing (whatever more than halfway means...it can take 2 weeks to write half the number of pages of a chapter and 1 month for the other half). So far, I have learned that writing, at least technical writing, is a bit of a convoluted process. There is no 'hold steady, full speed ahead'...nope, not at all. It's more like: 'movin', movin', movin', crap!, back it up, back it up, wait, what was I doing?' It's definitely challenging for anyone who judges productivity by what can be crossed off their list for the day. On most days, I actually embrace this challenge of patience and enjoy the literature search and writing process. And then there are other days. I'll just leave it at that.

My dissertation defense is set for August 8 at 10am. I have also learned humility. I so wanted it to be by mid-July but that was pretty much over-ruled by my committee. Now, I am grateful for having the few extra weeks. Damn them for knowing me better than myself. Now that there is an end date for my dissertation work, we are doing what we can at the homefront to get ready for our move. There's a lot to do and despite some inevitable panic attacks here and there, we're, uh, moving along. I know moving day is quickly approaching when I start staring out at the backyard and memories flicker on by: an 18-month old Kai running around a tree like a free puppy on inspection day or Joey meticulously hammering away to build the safest deck in Shoreline or me harvesting my first veggies from the garden. I know my pattern before a big move and, as in the past, these sentimental memories will just become more and more frequent until, come moving day, I loose all composure. It's going to be a tough move. All the memories we have had, not only in this house, but in Seattle. To say the least, life is dramatically different from our days back in San Francisco. A good different of course.

Well, the stress responses are kicking in. It's time to get back to my convoluted science writing. Thanks for reading this spasmodic blog of mine. Until the next time I manage to keep stress at bay long enough to blog a bit. Peace, love and good laughs.