Right before I left for vacation, I dealt with a bout of vertigo. I’ve never had vertigo before and I have to say, it was not a pleasant experience. I spent a few hours in the hospital, being poked and scanned and whatnot. They couldn’t find anything specifically causing my vertigo, and I’ve written it off as mostly induced by stress. However, I encountered a bit of a spell yesterday and am now scheduling various appointments with doctors. Yay.

I feel pretty good this morning, but I kind of live in fear that it will return. If it is indeed stress induced, I’m not helping matters when I stress out over getting it in the first place. It’s hard to relax when your world is spinning. Everyone tells me it will go away, but I don’t know. I’m certainly glad that at this point, they’ve found no major cause for it, but it would be nice to have some cause that could be fixed. Sigh.

Anyway, last night I had planned to write a scathing and thorough review of Andrew Keen’s book, The Cult of the Amateur, but instead I watched two Tivoed episodes of Design Star. Yes, my tastes are all over the map. So, assuming I still feel well by the end of today, that’s what you’ll see.

I’ve returned from vacation and now work begins. I’ll have a substantial post after I catch up a bit.

So, it’s printed. The forms are filled out. It’s done. I’m really, really a Ph.D. I feel a little like skookumchick. Now I don’t really know what to do with myself. I’m not off to become a professor, but I do have several new irons in the fire. The world does indeed seem a little different.

In my formal acknowledgements, I thanked the usual people–my husband (though not for typing), my adviser and committee, other faculty members, various helpful colleagues. But I also thanked my blog readers. I told profgrrrrl a while back that I really didn’t think I could have finished my Ph.D. without my readers. I felt supported by my readers and also felt accountable to them. I didn’t want to let you all down–though I also knew you’d be there if I did fall down. Some of you even gave me specific comments and ideas. But also, I felt like blogging and reading all your blogs kept me intellectually active in a way that worked for me. Even though I didn’t write specifically about my work here, you all made me think. And the practice of writing every day didn’t hurt either (though I’m told my voice is not academic enough). I didn’t feel isolated the way I’d felt years ago when I tried to finish the degree on my own.

So, thank you all for being there, virtually or otherwise. I am sincerely grateful.