My Life as a Ghost

I learned today that one one of my students this semester died this past weekend. Although there was an official announcement in my email, I didn't learn about it until one of my students mentioned it in class. I didn't question it, I mean, how would someone fake a death to get out of class? Nevertheless, my first reaction was to deliver some sort of witty or snarky reply:
"So she won't be turning in a paper today?"
"Remember, her absence can only be excused if she has written documentation."
"Whew! That's one less paper to grade!"
"Will she miss Wednesday's class too?"
Fortunately, I bit my tongue and didn't say anything. Instead, I let the rest of the class react to the news for a few minutes. I also let them out of class early (although I planned to do that anyway). This is something that has never happened before. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do about her grade, if anything, but I guess that will explained to me soon.

The award for best snark goes to...

Last night, during the Academy Awards, Sars and Wing Chun from TWoP were live via Yahoo snarking on the event. Usually I don't watch or really pay much attention at all to such awards shows, but I did last night. Or I didn't. What happened was that I watched maybe the first half hour of the show while letting Sars and Wing Chun's commentary run at the same time. Eventually, though, I turned off the TV and just read the commentary, as that was much more interesting. Here's a sample:
I can't believe the stripper with the heart of gold didn't win Best Supporting Actress. Do we all really love Katharine Hepburn so much that we'll give Cate Blanchette a prize just play her? To me she had a range of A to A and a half, and acted like a scary old crusty grandma who makes you take cod liver oil when you stay over at her house. (If my actual grandma's reading this: love you!)
Very funny. They deserve props for their running commetary. Snarking "live" like that isn't easy.

That's DOCTOR Depthfunction, to you!

At long, long, long last: today I successfully defended my dissertation. And while I still have a few bureaucratic hurdles and some fees to pay, I have completed the course of study for my doctorate. I am free to refer to myself as Dr. Depthfunction or Depthfunction, Ph.D. Pretty sweet.

I was very nervous facing the questions from my committee after my 30-minute presentation because I didn't know how tough their questions would be. I had a rocky start after the first question posed to me, but after that, I handled most of the rest of the questions pretty well. The whole thing took about 70 minutes.

I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad I've got my Ph.D., but at the same time it's a pretty scary situation. For almost my entire life I've been a student of one kind or another. Tomorrow, that part of my life is finished. There's nothing more for me to learn--or at least nothing that can be recorded on a transcript. It's weird, and doesn't quite seem real. I guess it will take a few days for this realization to sink in.