AB...D

I wanted the title of this post to be the alphabet song...you know ABCD...minus the C. But no strike-throughs in post titles apparently.
Although I have some superstition in announcing before I have all the signatures on the page (one of my committee members is out of the country for break), I think it is now safe to assume my new title.
I have successfully advanced to candidacy, making me a PhD Candidate...or in shoptalk, ABD, which stands for 'All But Dissertation."
I never have to do that again.

This, to me, was a huge revelation, one that I will likely swim in until my fingers become pruney.

In real terms, what that means is I now get to focus "almost exclusively" on my own research. No more classes, no more exams. Just me, my project and I.
The almost exclusively part reads: as a graduate teaching fellow I am still obligated to, well, teach. I'm the lead instructor for a course this coming winter on Latin America and I'll be a grader in the spring. I've been offered the opportunity to teach the local foods field course I developed last year again this summer, so I'm also looking forward to that.
The other part of the "almost" is the grant writing. I have two grants under review right now and will submit three more before the quarter is out. The grants are another huge step in fulfilling the obligations of an ABD...they serve two important purposes: 1) they prove that my research is interesting to an academic (and/or professional) audience via obtaining external funding and 2) they provide me with funds to complete dissertation research which is pretty fucking essential.

The full weight of being on this side of my degree has not yet hit me. So...ahem, "one stage of my journey is over," yet another begins.

From the immensely useful PhD comic