Oral Comps – This Afternoon

And the other day I’ve dreaded for months, but somewhat less so than my written comps, is here. I’ve spent much of this week looking up information so that I’ll be able to answer the parts of the written exam that I know I screwed up or couldn’t answer. Some of the info has eluded my discovery so far though, and that has me worried, because that means that I still don’t have a good answer for one of the questions. So I’d be much less apprehensive about the oral exam this afternoon if I’d actually been able to find all the info I needed. I just hope that what I’ve done is enough for them to let me pass.
My research presentation (open to the public) will be today at 1:30pm in 529 Walker. I ran through my presentation for the first time last night, and it took me 52 minutes, but I’m going to try to trim that down a bit closer to 45 minutes if I can. So this’ll be the longest presentation I’ve ever given in my life. My M.S. defense was only 30-35 minutes, I think, and my talk at the CBD conference in New Orleans last November was about 25 minutes. Then after my talk, the closed-door oral exam will happen. I have no idea how long the grilling will last, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be done before 5pm.
I’m so close to freedom and having my life back, I can almost taste it…