Last night I had a surreal moment. I bought my cap, gown, hood, and tassel for graduation but I could hardly believe it was time for that to happen. This semester has been crazy which is why I've had to step away from everything I do for fun like Steemit. 

I've been finishing up my dissertation to earn my doctorate in Sociology. Last week I wrote 20 new pages discussing data and results. I'll probably be writing 20 more pages before this week is over. I finally hit the 100 page milestone because my dissertation is now over 100 pages long! It's officially the longest piece of work I've written in my life.

This semester has been really hard. Basically, I write a chapter of my dissertation, send it to my advisor, and she sends it back for corrections. After I make corrections, my advisor marks up the same chapter again with new corrections, then sends it back to me for more work. Each chapter I've had it sent back at least five times. 

# While I've Been Writing Spring Arrived
![IMG_0569.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRhv3DqvhCqpEzTtHoaUoYcZuk9VN4BRniiWTF6FrAuuH/IMG_0569.JPG)

![IMG_0593.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcG9jcfA71doPPxAZiBh4UcRoBz9GK9eAqT9BzNjGp9H1/IMG_0593.JPG)
> Spring arrived back at the end of February oddly. It's been freezing out but nature is dead set on waking up and turning pretty.  I've been indoors sitting and writing so much I was shocked to walk outside and see flowers blooming. The second picture is of my raspberries. They are growing like crazy and I'm amazed how cold hardy they are. 

# But no Springtime Fun For Me...
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My advisor drove me crazy back in January and February because she was stuck on my introduction chapter and literature review. She kept finding crazy things for me to correct. The most ridiculous was I used the term "roots" to describe the roots of a words origins in history. She basically said if I used the term "roots" I'd have to bring in all this theoretical crap including Marxism. Next draft I sent her I changed "roots" to "origins" and she was cool with that and said I didn't need all that theory for that word......the whole thing made no sense but I've accepted most corrections are BS hoops to jump through.

The bad thing is she made me waste so much time on them that I don't have much time left to do the more important chapters that are my own research. She made me miss the deadline to graduate in spring so I'm now graduating in summer but I have to pay a $180 penalty for changing. If I don't finish by early May I have to pay $400 to register for one credit hour. I don't want to do that at all!!!

But I'm doing it. By the end of this week if all goes well I will have written a complete dissertation. I'll have written over 100 pages in seven chapters. That in itself is a huge achievement. I'm not sure yet when I'll defend it. That's the final hurdle where my dissertation committee decides if I deserve a doctorate or not. The original date was April 17th but since my advisor made me miss some deadlines it might be moved to May.

# Gone But Not Forever...
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But yeah....if you haven't seen me at all around Steemit or Discord I've been working on my dissertation. I do miss writing for fun. Writing for fun is so therapeutic and enjoyable. Writing my dissertation has been far from fun. I miss all my friends here. I'm not gone forever. I'll be back to my old self here once I finish my schoolwork. Right now nothing is more important than me graduating. Hopefully April will be a good month for me.

### See everyone again soon I hope!!!
![Banner marx.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmV5ayHEqDunvr88yfXhLjYK24uc8xwQQP1zirQY1riKxe/Banner%20marx.jpg)