First draft

I had a light day yesterday - one small rehearsal, a few cups of tea, and a few episodes of West Wing to quell the daily dose of Heimweh.  And it occurred to me that I might do a bit of work on my dissertation.  Husband brought the sample from the Verdi critical edition that I needed to model my critical notes, I'd finally figured out how to deal with Word for Mac, and it was too dark to go running.  So why not?  I spread out my piles in a little circle around my chair, as I do, and started scrolling through my document looking for the little red 'comment' bubbles that remind me of things I still need to do or sections I need to rework.  And about two and a half hours later, it was done.  Done.  My first draft is done.  I went back through, just to make sure there wasn't some crazy section I'd forgotten, or a footnote that still needed to be formatted, but no, the only red bubbles were questions to my adviser and a source question that won't get answered until I get that particular source.  So I renamed the file with the updated date and time and sent it to my readers.  And now, all that remains is to wait for their notes.  I know that one of them will pour red all over my paper, finding every comma that's in the wrong place, every sentence that's in passive voice (DAMN YOU PASSIVE VOICE) and every turn of phrase that doesn't fit, and my writing will be so much the better for it.  And by the time this document goes to the committee it will be so incredibly watertight, so sleek and well-knit (am I still talking about my dissertation or have we moved on to the swimsuit competition?) that they will be bowled over by my academic prowess and graduate me on the spot.  

Okay, I don't care about academic prowess, but I really really want to graduate.  May 17th, 2009, Dr. Queen of the Night, bring it on.  

In other news, the morning run was lovely, and the dog watching was wonderful.  So many beautiful dogs, but none as beautiful as my Sammy.  *sigh*  

Gratitude

1.  my adviser - who is such a badass

2.  hobnobs with nutella

3.  the Rolling Stones, who helped me wake up this morning

4.  my mom - who gifted/cursed me with that pit bull tenacity

5..  my sweet husband - who kept bugging me to finish the damned thing.  And I did!