I haven't really had a chance to blog in forever, and I am sorry dear readers. I have been drowned in work upon my return from Scotland, and work is going well and the weather has been poor so there's never that desire to say, "Sod it, " and spend the afternoon in the park.

My first viva is coming up, where I prepare a document of my work, submit it, and then get brutally quizzed on it by professors who don't know me or what I'm doing.

I'd like to think I'm not the kind of person who gets stressed. My buddy Jim Ford and I would always proclaim at work when the going got tough and there was nothing to be done about it, "Fuuuuuuuckit." I suppose that it's different when the man is leaning on you than when it is your own work to be done. And the stress is creeping in. Literally.

I get the weirdest sensation now that things are crawling up my legs. Like tiny bugs or a fly or something, but there's never anything there. I catch myself grinding my teeth at least once a day. Add that to daily headaches and sleepless late nights, and you get one messed up little girl. Everyone jokes that a PhD will drive you insane, but now I think they were being quite serious.