The Occasional Poster

Hello Dear Reader,

It’s me. You might remember me – at one time, I used to post regularly about what was going on in my life, and other random things. That was a long time ago… I have since degenerated into being an occasional blog poster – posting mainly boring updates and nothing else of consequence. You might have all but forgotten about me. Well, I deserve it. :-(

I celebrated my 31st birthday this month. I can no longer kid myself that I am still in my 3rd decade. I have my feet firmly planted in the 4th decade of my life (goodness – that makes it sound like I am pushing forty). Anyway, I made a bunch of birthday resolutions, not the least of which concerns this blog. I have resolved to make myself sit down and post at least one post each month. Maybe I will gain momentum along the way and rediscover my 28-year old erstwhile blog-post-glory. In the meantime boring (and exciting) updates…

After six years of Master’s and PhD study, thesis, prelims, dissertation and internship (my experience through all these things are recounted on this blog in past entries), I have finally finished. I got an email from the graduate college at Iowa State letting me know that I had completed all my degree requirements. And they addressed the email to: Dr. Stephen. My professor had called me that right after I defended my dissertation, but the email was the first time anyone has really addressed me as Dr. Stephen in earnest. This is apart from my wonderful father, who last May booked me in with a dentist under the name: Dr. Stephen. My dad, as expected, is far more proud of the “Dr.” in my name than I.

But the most exciting of the lot is that I now have a JOB!!!! I am finally ready to move on into my first real job. I started the job search in March (ridiculously late and procrastinating as usual). I don’t want to post the details of the job search here, save to say that I had a bit of a roller coaster ride. I had some wonderful experiences, went to a whole bunch of places, met a lot of wonderful psychologists, and finally four months later ended up at the place that I wanted to go to all along – the University of Oregon. I accepted the position on 7/12/10, and will start as soon as my OPT authorization comes through. In the meantime, I am wrapping up the internship, and moving back to Ames for about a month. I leave my apartment at the end of the month, and am packing and getting ready to say goodbye to MN.

Leaving MN is going to be bittersweet. I have loved my time here. I knew when I moved here that the move would be temporary. That makes it easier, I suppose. I have been genuinely happy here, and met some people who have changed my life in wonderful ways. I will miss them dearly (R, if you ever read this, I will miss you most of all). Halfway along the year, A&A left, and like I mentioned in a previous post, their leaving has made my move out easier. Above all, the excitement of starting a new job blunts any pain that I might otherwise have felt. As is always the case with me, despite all that may be less than ideal, life is beautiful.

That’s it for now dear reader. The next time it shall be more than mere updates, I promise!