Okay, I'm not really waiting for religion, but I am basically hanging out at Loma Linda, waiting for my 6:00 Old Testament class. Have I mentioned on here that this class is kind of hard? I've spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks delving into the books of Amos and Genesis. I've also learned a lot about how many times and ways the books of the Old Testament have been arranged, rearranged, and decided upon throughout their history. I had learned a lot about that process by going through RCIA, but it is interesting to get more of a historical perspective on it. In case all you Protestants out there didn't know, we Catholics have extra books in our Bible that you all don't have. They're in the Old Testament and are referred to as the Apocrypha. Equally as importantly, because I already had a Catholic study bible, I didn't have to buy any books for this class. ;-) Does it make me a heathen that what I like about this class really has nothing to do with theology but is more the social, historical, and political context in which all of the events in the Old Testament occurred and those same factors that led to the inclusion or exclusion of such texts in what we think of as the Bible?
I had a rather interesting conversation with my dissertation chair today. By the way, the same guy who is the chair of my dissertation committee also happens to be my director clinical training and my academic advisor. So basically, he's the guy who will help me get out of here on every dimension, and he also happens to be a really great guy. I was talking to him about when I was going to propose my dissertation and who else I should ask to be on my committeee. For a Ph.D., you have to have five members on your dissertation committee. Obviously, your dissertation chair is the main person you work with, but then you've got to have all these other people, including one from outside your own department. Since I'm working with a psychologist at the University of Redlands to collect my data there, obviously she fills that role. But it is kind of a random thing as to who else to put on my committee, because no one else really does that kind of research. So he basically told me to pick these two people who happen to be more clinically-oriented in their research and who are full time faculty (which makes for easier scheduling for a proposal and a defense). Then he told me to ask our department chair, because he didn't want to ask anyone else because they might be harder to get along with and because our department chair would be a non-factor. I love it that my Ph.D. is going to all come down to the fact that my dissertation chair and I cherry picked my committee and stacked it with people who are kind of lazy and won't hold things up by asking for assinine statistical analyses and stuff like that. Let me be clear though that I really couldn't care less - all I want is the piece of lambskin so that I can legally add a few more initials behind my name. I'm happy to achieve that through the path of least resistance. I definitely made the right decision jumping ship to work with him instead of my old advisor (who, by the way, is not going to be on my committee at all).
As an update on some prayer requests I've asked you for in recent weeks:
My friend Julie had her baby girl Adelaide two weeks ago. She is a beauty and a champ at eating - she was back to her birthweight by the time she was 7 days old.
My aunt's surgery was today, and she came through fine. They were able to stent an artery supplying blood to the intestines and internal organs, which should allow sufficient blood flow to the area, even though there was another artery that was completely blocked and about which nothing could be done. Hopefully this will allow her to be more active and will relieve some symptoms she has been experiencing.
In case I haven't made it clear, please pray that all goes well with my dissertation and internship application process. If all goes according to plan, I should be finishing my comp paper in the next two weeks (right now it is about 65 pages and really lacks only the addition of a few supporting pieces of evidence and some word-sleuthing and polishing) and then proposing my dissertation within the next month. I'll be applying for internship in the fall, interviewing in January, and I'll hopefully find out that I matched successfully toward the end of February. I'll start that internship sometime between July of September of next year, and ideally I'll be able to defend my dissertation before starting internship. Then I have twelve months of the internship, but assuming all of these steps fall into place, my graduation and hooding date should be the third Sunday in June of 2010. So, specifically, please pray that my dissertation goes off without a hitch and that I get matched to an internship site (one that is close to our house, is prestigious, and that pays really well would be nice too).
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