Finally

My dissertation proposal defense was today. It went very well -- my advisors asked questions and gave me advice, and the project was approved. The meeting was very friendly and informal, not a test but a discussion meant to help me fine-tune the research design.

I was not nervous about the outcome, since all of my committee members had informally endorsed the project. The hardest part was remembering everything I wrote six months ago. It had been so long since I wrote the proposal, I had to take notes on my own writing because I had forgotten some of it.

The meeting reminded me that I have an awesome committee. The project bridges two very different subfields, and I have one expert in each field on the committee. These professors have different views on what I should do, based on the standards in their own fields. But they got along very well, listening to each other's opinions and deferring to each other's expertise. I won't be in a situation where they fight and I'm stuck in the middle.

Unfortunately, I get to celebrate by grading all night. My double TA load is killing me. And as soon as I finish grading their papers, I have to grade their exam essays.