Apocalypse

Today is/was the last day of the Mayan calendar. In New England, there's still one hour left for something to happen.

But here's what happened to me.

It was my PhD dissertation defense day and it didn't really go how I expected it would.

It goes like this: I left the dorm in Kyoto at 1pm, went to the station via bus and caught the Haruka express train to Osaka Kansai airport. Where I caught a 6pm plane to San Francisco, where I arrived 5 hours before I left at 11am on December 20.  Brian met me there and we ate sandwiches in the airport. Then I checked back in, realizing somewhat sadly that I was not even yet 2/3rds of the way to Providence. Took the plane to Boston that landed shortly after midnight, where Dad and Dad's friend Roger picked me up. They are in town for one week from Kansas to remodel the bathroom. They are not from Around Here, and had had trouble getting the right terminal, so we went on a cross-country journey through Logan to find our way back to the rental car. Then I was supposed to direct them home in my not-slept-transPacific-traveling-for-24-hours-straight state. I did that, but most of the 93 south interstate in Boston turns out to be closed, so we were sent through the night in the rain around central Boston trying to get on to the interstate while detour after detour took us past three closed entrances.
We did eventually make it on to the interstate and home by 2:15am. Then, and here is where I make a critical mistake, we all went to bed.


Did you see what happened there?
I had thought because they're working on the house, they would make noise and I would wake up.  I thought they had heard me talking about wanting to get up and read through the diss beforehand. I thought I'm all jetlagged and I'll wake up at weird hours. I thought they might realize that I don't have an alarm clock with me because it's in Japan and the apartment is rented right now.  I didn't say, hey make sure I get up.

So instead, they were really really quiet to let me sleep, and crept around and went out.  But luckily they realized my cell phone was left in the car, and came back to bring it to me at noon. Where I was sleeping, expecting to be woken up by the noise of two other people in the apartment. So Dad knocks on the door and says, hey, what time did you want to get up? And I said, what time is it? And he said, it's noon. And then I was extremely up and running around everywhere feeling extremely unhappy about the situation, but also knowing with a small part of the back of my mind that this was extremely hilarious.
So, here's another thing: I didn't bring any clothes in my suitcase, because I knew I had stuff stashed in the basement here and I wanted to save all my suitcase space from Japan to bring home tea stuff. I had one sweater which I never wear, so I figured I'd just bring it home, one skirt which I had used to cushion some ceramic stuff and two pairs of underwear, which I had brought just in case.  So I put those things on.  I couldn't find any socks, and I had planned to go down and raid the box of stored shoes for appropriate shoes, but there was no time for that, so I put on my airplane traveling grey boots and ran out the door with laptop and enough money to desperately buy a coffee and bagel.

Let me make this clear: I defended a PhD dissertation on clothing and fashion today and I had literally nothing to wear. Literally.

Dad dropped me off at the bookstore coffee shop in gale force winds in multiple directions and rain and I got a coffee and bagel and then struggled to the building clinging to my umbrella pulling me in every direction and coffee spilling down the bagel bag and my coat and gloves.  The weather today was truly Mayan apocalypse weather with a cascade of pouring rain water onto the front steps to dodge and the fight with a full bag and my flyaway umbrella.

Inside, I had about 15 minutes before I had to be before the firing squad and then it was go time with my three committee members, one of whom came in rather storm-battered from Harvard today. As one might imagine from a defense that started less than 11 hours after the defender arrived in the country from the other side of the globe, and was therefore defending her dissertation half-asleep at the equivalent of 3am, it started rough.  They told me I looked tired. I told them it was three am. I did not admit that I didn't even have socks, much less a coherent plan for the defense.  I did not do the best job at the beginning summarizing what I was getting at and where I think I'd got.
Luckily, it got better and they actually said that some things about it are good, which I was not myself any longer convinced of, having been with it for so long and familiarity having bred both contempt and desperation.  So that's exciting. In between excellent and helpful critiques and they HATE the title and want it changed immediately, a new term was even proposed for my methodology: a Carrigerian reading of something.  And they said I could have a good book on my hands after I do the expansion and revisions. That it would be *hot* even, with some of the transnational and post-imperial work. Hot.

So those things are good. There are revisions to be completed over the next few weeks-- exceptions were made to accommodate the fact that today was the only time between Sept and next May that all 4 of us could be in one room. And I'm determined to make good on those accommodations and turn in in a couple weeks an awesome dissertation with excellent formatting and references and smart stuff in it. And go back to Japan on January 7 a very relieved and less-stressed Dr. Carriger.