I’ve really been milking this finishing grad school thing — and plan to keep doing so for months!

Back in April some friends and I celebrated with champaign after I defended my dissertation (left). Then last month was the PhD hooding ceremony with its attendant celebrations (right).

And sometime between now and mid July, my diploma will arrive — which will of course call for another celebration! But the official conferral date of my degree isn’t until August 12 — at which time I’ll have to throw another party.

Along with the end of grad school comes another change: The Emerald City blog at LATimes.com will be coming to an end, with the last day being June 21. Serendipitously, that’s the day summer begins! (though some friends and I are having a summer solstice party on the 20th)

Of course I’ll continue blogging here — and at BlogHer and Lime.com — but I’m pretty psyched for a relaxing summer. I have somewhat vague plans of writing more poetry and fiction, and less vague plans about spending time on the beach and planning more frequent happy hours –

In the fall I’m gonna start making some decisions about what I want to do with my life. I actually went to grad school not so much because I wanted to get a PhD or study literature, but because I just wanted time and space to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Seven years later, I still don’t know! But I have some better ideas –

What’re YOU doing this summer?

Back to the happy hour thing: It looks like Green Drinks Santa Monica — which I’ve periodically talked about starting up since January 2007 — might become a Friday happy hour thing at the eco-friendly Library Alehouse! This happy turn of events comes not due to any work on my part but due to Barent’s steady and tireless efforts. I do, however, really plan to pitch in to help with the planning from now on — More on that later :)

Update, 6/23/08: My diploma arrived!

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