Hope

As I've become increasingly severe about carving out of my life the things that aren't dissertation related -- culminating in this coming sprint month -- I've thought a little about the things that I want to be able to do, and the freedom that I've missed having. I recently spent ten minutes and wrote this list: if I was free of my dissertation, what would I get to do? What does freedom look like? Here is my completely honest, somewhat selfish, unsurprisingly nerdy answer:

Sit in a chair and look out the window until I feel like stopping, then take a nap.

Spend a day gaming, guilt-free.

Tell my sister I'm hers for a day or three to do all the things she's not asked me to do while I've been writing.

Spend some quality time with all three of my sister-cousins.  

Contact a bunch of people I've neglected, apologise for neglecting them, and have coffee with them.

Go to Kingston and visit Mom-side family.

Work towards lift-off on my secret project.

Watch some lectures on early Judaism.

Work on a class on historical and cultural backgrounds of the OT.

Figure out which shelved research idea I want to start researching.