I am tired. My back hurts right between the shoulder blades in those little muscles that run between my shoulder and spine. My head is saturated with authors and dates (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004; Corbett, 2009; Zaharadias, 2007, etc. etc. etc.) My hips feel as tight as a vice. My PhD bum is atrophied with a total lack of movement. This is my life. PhD comps. One more week until I sit down to take them.
In the meantime, I am trying hard to keep my body and mind fueled with "superfoods" and antioxidants, which makes for a lot of kale and green tea. Luckily, my study partners are amazing and have kept me sane through this process and were also more than willing to participate in a "Comps photo shoot" (see photos).
Meet Sarah B.: the baker extraordinaire who shares her home-baked beer bread and delicious granola cookies, who entices m
e to conversations about plastic rubbish in the Pacific, who listens to me talk about my obsession with the Finnish sauna world championship, who gets what I am talking about when I say, "neoinstitutionalism" and "cultural scripts", who drinks a load of yerba mate tea, and enjoys long walks to Espresso Royal Coffee shop.Meet Solomon: the 6'10" California dude who keeps me grounded with his down-to-earth approach to life and sudden narcoleptic bouts of head nods, thinks "Pete" the perch fish (the Comps mascot) gives him good vibes, is entertained by Snookie from Jersey Shore (whoever that is...), enjoys intellectual conversations about religion, and loves the neon orange earplugs that I gave him.
Meet Scott: the Florida dude who would much rather be watching football or "cleaning the house" than studying, is totally chilled about the whole COMPS thing which makes Sarah & I feel much less stressed about this whole thing, likes to listen to music while studying, and feels that COMPS is cramping his fall football watching schedule.
Photo BELOW: Study Break!
