So, right across the hall from D.'s office, with his door open, was S. The "Trying Not To Barf" thing? It was quite literal there for a bit. But, with your support, I stood up straight and walked into my department with my head held high. And tip-toed around S.'s office before he know I was there. Damn, that was close.
***
You guys!!!!!* Thank you for your advice and support. And for continuing to drop in now and then as my blog becomes overrun with neurotic, pain-in-the-ass posts about The Thesis. (And welcome, Melospiza!! I am glad you left a comment; your advice was good. And Black Sheeped kicks ass, doesn't she?)
The meeting with Potential Thesis Advisor #2 when so well!!!! He didn’t hesitate or bat an eye when I asked him to be my advisor. He just smiled broadly and said yes.
I said I didn’t want to be an additional burden on him and he interrupted to say:
“This isn’t a burden. It’s my job.”
But wait. It gets better.
“Besides, this work is really the cream of the crop. This is what I really look forward to.”
HOLY SHIT!!!! Oh, why didn’t I ask him to be my advisor earlier?
I caught him up on where I was with my data collection and my writing, and chatted about my initial thoughts on what I was seeing in the data. He perked up immediately and he thinks that I already have enough info to do some really fun analysis.
Yes, I really just typed that. Fun analysis. We chattered for quite a while, and it turns out I am not as far up Shit Creek as I thought. I really like D.’s approach to the subject matter, and god damn if I am not excited to get working on this again.
I am really excited to work with him, too. Shit, I understood what he was talking about. There weren’t vague references to sites and themes that have nothing to do with my prospectus. There wasn’t a blank stare and minutes of silence when I asked for some references.** I walked out of D.'s office knowing what direction to go next, what steps to take. With Nearly-Former Thesis Advisor #1 I would walk out of a meeting with him and think to myself, “Now, what the hell am I writing about?”
This is awesome. Now, I am going to wrap up some stuff at work, head home and cheer for the
Oh, I am so happy.
***
*My baby sister, A., used to call T. and I “guys” when we were kids. It was so cute. “Wait for me, guys!” “Hey, guys!” “Guys, were are you?” She was sooo cute when she was little. Now she is stunning: tall, blond, big brown eyes and has boobs. Lucky lady.
** Guess who just had an article about greenbelts accepted for publication? Guess who just presented this paper at a national conference? Guess who has been living and breathing all things greenbelt? If you guessed Nearly-Former Thesis Advisor #1, clearly you’ve maneuvered the tricky halls of academia before. While I am not worried that he stole any of my material, *snort* I am a bit miffed that I never had a helpful e-mail that said something like, “Here is a good list of resources for your lit review on greenbelts.” Or even, “I thought you’d be interested in the article I just wrote. It might help you, my advisee, with your thesis about greenbelts.” It is a good think I was freakin’ euphoric from D. saying he’d advise me, or I would have hit the roof.
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YAY for the new advisor!! I totally understand how a good vs. bad advisor can make your life good vs. bad in general. I had a World's Worst Advisor EVER and then also found a World's Best Advisor EVER. It was such a relief and made the difference in me Finishing My Masters vs. Not Finishing My Masters.
ReplyDeleteWhoo hoo! Clearly, your awesomeness has been recognized at last!
ReplyDeleteAlso, um, what is a greenbelt?
Psst...you know what lies at the root of bad advising? Besides general personality problems, that is. It's jealousy. That secret urge to sabotage that is not even conscious but is part of the package of Insecure Academic. And I can kind of see it, too: every year, a new crop of eager, hard-working grad students! Doing exciting new things that you never even thought of! Must batter them down! Must belittle their work! Must avert eyes and pretend not to know them!
ReplyDeleteYikes. Anyway, good luck. It sounds like you found the right one.
P.S. Yes, Black Sheeped TOTALLY kicks ass.
Awe.some. Sounds like you and D. are a match made in heaven. Or on earth. In a greenbelt. Maybe even
ReplyDeletemy greenbelt!
DAMN! Also, MIDWESTERN, not WIDWESTERN. I cannot type today. So I suppose you won't want to hire me to edit and type your thesis. HA HA HA!
ReplyDeleteOH EM GEE. A human, thinking, knowledgeable, moral, available advisor who says you have fun analyses in your future. Be careful and don't fall in love.
ReplyDeleteAs for that horse's ass and his greenbelt plagiarism, I think you should start a new blog called Greenbelts: Who Really Knows This Stuff? Me! And every day post a reference you sent to Horse's Ass and say: "I shared this information with Horse's Ass on 10/1/07 to help him with his research."
And end every single post that way. I'd do it. I'm that kind of vengeful nasty person.
YIPEE! I'm so glad that worked out for you. You deserve so much better than that former ass-visor.
ReplyDeleteYay for you!
Heh heh heh. Ass-visor. That's AWE SOME.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new advisor! You sound like you're really going to be able to make some fabulous progress with the great work you've done so far.
ReplyDeleteHurrah!
Yay! Congrats! Not that anyone is surprised. And also, the only time I've ever heard the word "greenbelt" is in reference to the end of the green line in the DC Metro. So you are obviously extra cool for writing about whatever they are in your thesis.
ReplyDelete