i am batman

today we had our departmental holiday lunch. i stopped in, ate a few bites, and then attempted to run out to finish my last class paper. i realized though, in my attempted haste, that i'm going to be moving soon and that i should take some time to say a "auf wiedersehen" to people. (quick aside: i'm sticking with "auf wiedersehen" instead of good-bye...there's something so final about good-bye and who knows when i might be wandering back this way. so, i will be true to my german heritage and say 'until we see each other again.' much less permanent and scary.) i wandered around the rotunda and interrupted people's turkey eating. one of my friends announced to other friends that i, kate parks, am a superhero. he told them about my feats of strength of taking two classes, teaching two classes, taking prelims, and advising. he was duly impressed and further proclaimed that: "Kate does more before 6 a.m. than most people do all day." of course, its more like "Kate does more after 10 p.m. than most people do all day." i'm not sure that's actually true, but it was still nice to hear. and if you're a graduate student who had not yet experienced the fun of faculty hazing...i mean prelims...i don't recommend the superwoman approach. be nicer to yourself. because the superhero methodology means you have to make sacrifices, like not getting to spend enough time with your friends, having a crazy schedule that rarely allows for spontaneous fun, not getting enough sleep, not eating healthy food all the time, increased levels of stress that lead to heart problems. you get the idea. maybe if i was more gadgety like batman (i took a "which superhero would you be quiz" and it said i was batman) i could have made less sacrifces. who can tell.

regardless, i will be relieved to finally turn in my last paper tomorrow and to start a new adventure that should pull me in fewer directions. at the same time though, its starting to hit me that i'm going to be gone soon and that "auf wiedersehen" is just around the corner.