*Drumroll*

Guess what happened on August 6, 2017? 

I GRADUATED!!!

Happy dance day! 

[Picture taken a few weeks later at my sister's graduation from BYU, courtesy of her friend.] 

That robe...it was so RED and billowy. And guess how much it cost? US$500...

Not even close. $800?

Nope.

It cost more than a $1000. And I had to get it shipped to me, so extra shipping cost (no picking up from the store allowed). Freaking daylight robbery. You can rent it but it will still cost over $700. Also you would think after years of making gowns they would sew at least one pocket into the gown. Ha ha. No, it only had a slit, supposedly for men to be able to reach into their gowns and access the pocket in their pants. Good luck to those who could not find a skirt or dress to wear with pockets for graduation. I'm telling you, male privilege is a real thing. 

Anyway, did I tell you I graduated?! :) 

After months of holing up in my apartment synthesizing and analyzing my data, writing, revising, re-writing, tearing my hair out, not sleeping, breaking out in acne, and wrangling with the Graduate School over paperwork, IT IS FINALLY OVER!!! 

And to top it off, my parents and sisters flew in from Singapore and Utah to attend my graduation! 

My whole family together after two years! It was a great reunion. In fact, we have been traveling this whole last month, and I promise there will be more posts coming on this epic family trip. Let's just say, when we returned the rental car after borrowing it for a month, we discovered that we had driven over 9,000 miles! Ah. Family. And 

so

much

driving.

Also, the Lai Sisters are reunited!

But the frosting and cherry on top of my graduation cake was the fact that my best friend and her family flew in from Boston to SURPRISE me for graduation, and her husband took all the gorgeous pictures you see in this post. He did a fantastic job, and I'm so proud to display and post them!

Feeling so loved!

And her daughter...oh my word, you have never met a more friendly toddler till you meet her daughter. 

 She was sooooooooooo cute and friendly! 

Anyway, I did it! I got my doctorate, and now I'm officially "Dr. Keshia Lai." Not gonna lie-- it feels AWESOME to have that "doctor" title in front because I worked darn hard for it. It felt very good to be hooded, and receive the diploma from the president of the university himself. 

But I am also aware that 1) it's a HUGE BLESSING, 2) I couldn't have done it without these people: 

Btw, the above is an excerpt in my dissertation, so if you spot yourself in it, you are immortalized in my dissertation. Hahaha.

NOTE: I didn't list my friends in Singapore because I have too many but I did not forget you guys! I just could not write more because my Acknowledgements was getting too long. Just know I feel so loved to have so many good and supportive friends back home.

Most of all, I have to thank the LDS/ Mormon pioneers in Singapore for letting me interview them, and allowing me to use their information as the data set for my dissertation. Again, if my dissertation ever gets turned into a book, and they read it, I hope they will be pleased with what I did. 

What are my plans now that I'm a doctor (albeit a useless one)? Find a job...somewhere. I'll keep you guys posted. 

I PASSED!!!

I passed my doctoral dissertation defense today! I'm just exhausted so I don't really feel overjoyed or anything like that. Plus I need to do some minor editing before I turn over the final document, and I'm not looking forward to that.

But hey, it's the last 100-meter sprint to the finishing line. Woo hoo!

Me and my awesome committee after the exam :)

MILESTONE

Guess what?!

My dissertation is in the hands of my committee now! All 368 pages.

That's right. 368 pages.

Well, minus about 20 pages of reference/ bibliography notes, title page, acknowledgments, etc... That's still about 348 pages worth of writing. 

PHEW! Any wonders I'm burned out? My body has been so stressed that I've not been able to sleep well, I'm short tempered, my face has broken out with pimples, and I've contracted a cold. Urgh!

Going to take the next few days to rest and decompress, and have a good July 4th/ birthday weekend. 

Then I'll prepare for July 13, when I defend. 

Off to sleep!!! 

Almost done, done, done

Thought I should record this just because it's a milestone for me.

I finished my first draft of my entire dissertation yesterday! Introduction, six chapters, and Conclusion. WOO HOO!

The next 2.5 weeks will be spent revising, and if necessary, rewriting large sections (hopefully not). Then on June 29, it will be out of my hands.

I don't know whether to panic or feel relief about it. Ha ha. All I know is that I'm burned out, and this last 100 meters in this marathon is really, really, really, really, really tough.

I'm so glad today is the Sabbath Day to recharge!

Test of True Loyalty

When I started graduate school, I NEVER thought that BYU would compete against OSU because... what were  the odds?

Ha! Well, once again, never say never. Guess which two schools played in the 2017 NCAA Men's Volleyball Final Championship game? Yup, BYU & OSU. Actually, the two schools went up against each other for the same title last year, but I wasn't here so I didn't know about it. This year, however, since I was in Columbus, and the game was being played at OSU's St. John Arena, I had to go for the game right?

This was my test of true loyalty. Which school should I support? What color do I bleed: blue or red? And the answer is...






(Keep scrolling)

Ta-dah! Proud to bleed blue! And I think it's ironic that I finally met Cosmo after I left BYU. 

It was super weird to wear blue in the sea of red, and then it got 10 times worse when BYU lost. BOO! But I still had fun cheering the players on, and it was a nice break from writing. I have to hand it to the players for keeping it in there, even though OSU had major home turf advantage. So even though we lost, good game boys! I'm just surprised that it's not a rule already that schools cannot host their own final championship games. 

That's the BYU team!

Me and a girl from my ward. She was on BYU's swim team, and is a huge fan of the BYU men's volleyball team. It was so helpful to have her explain the game to me, and tell me who each player was. 

And that smirk on the face of the photobomber. 😈👻

I passed this scene on my walk back to my apartment. That is one of the two bridges that crosses over the Olentangy River to get to my campus. Doesn't look like much in the daytime, but it's pretty at night!

Random Things I've Found

Just some weird things I've seen in the past few months that might not be weird to you, but is to me!

• Not one but TWO professional matchmaking services took out ads in an in-flight magazine for United Airlines. Guess we know where all the single people are...

• For my friends who are fans of Harry Potter, I found Dobby's grave on my school's campus!
  

• Was in D.C. two weekends ago for a workshop, and that same weekend was the March for Climate Change. I didn't see the march itself, but I saw lots of marchers with their signs at the National Mall. And portable latrines.

• Passed this on the way to D.C. in Frostburg, Maryland:
  

Sign under red arrow reads "NOAH'S ARK BEING REBUILT HERE". 😨Nice to know where we should run to if the world is ever flooded again!

• Went for a walk last Saturday morning, and passed a random car show in a parking lot of a movie theater. Or at least I thought it was a car show. There were no signs, just lots of vintage and sports cars parked with their hoods open, as if they were being exhibited. I know next to nothing about cars, but even I could appreciate how cool it was! 

• Finally, you know how you see on social media cute videos of birds crossing the road, and you wonder how people manage to have such impeccable timing and witness it? Guess what? I did! I only managed to take a picture of the ducks after they had crossed the road, but hey! It was still something. There were a couple of adult ducks, and a whole flock of ducklings shepherded by their mother-- soooo cute! I love how all the cars on both sides of the street stopped for the ducks. 
  

What random things/ acts have you guys seen the past few weeks?

Back to Washington D.C.

I was thrilled to return to my favorite city in the United States--Washington D.C.-- two weekends ago for a workshop about federal jobs for historians.

TL; DR: There aren't any, unless you do military history. Which I don't. *Sigh*

Under the current administration, all the money is going into the Department of Defense, so that's where the jobs are. Meanwhile, the State Department, which is where I want to be, is going through a period of "restructuring," which is a nice way of saying "down-sizing" and "hiring freeze." I do believe that there are excessive federal jobs that can be "streamlined," but that makes it hard for graduates like me who are coming into the job market at this time.

The good news is that I spoke to the historian in charge of making hires in the State Department, and he said that I had good qualifications. The bad news is that his hands are tied, and he told me that these things are "cyclical" i.e. try again in a few years, maybe after we change presidents.

What am I going to do?

On a more positive note, I was able to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Botanical Garden. The museum on Native American history is really cool, and I encourage people to check it out. It's also one of the newer museums, so the interior is nicer than some older ones (looking at you Natural History museum and American History museum).

The National Botanical Garden is supposed to be 😍😍😍, and it was when I visited six years ago (has it been that long?!). Unfortunately, this visit wasn't a good one because Spring came early, so the Spring flowers have gone already, but the Summer blooms haven't arrived. Hence, the very bare exhibits. I still managed to see some very pretty blooms though.

It was also lovely to meet up with an old friend, Miss B, whom you may recall from THIS POST back in 2012 when I first moved to Columbus. She had moved to D.C. in 2013, and this visit was the first time I saw her since her move. Time flies! She was gracious enough to let me stay at her apartment, and Saturday night, we went to eat El Salvadorian pupusas, and then went to the town of Alexandria for some delish ice cream at Pops. 

 Some pictures from my trip. I took the bottom right picture because do you see the "hipster"-people riding Segways across the street, in front of the Capitol? Such a D.C. thing! 

I loved being back in D.C., but hearing how dysfunctional the federal government is (even if Trump is not president) makes me disheartened. Am I trading the dysfunctional system of academia for the dysfunctional system of the federal government? I don't know.

At this point, I'm just trying to get my writing done. It hit my a week ago that I have to submit my completed dissertation by June 30, which is two months away. TWO MONTHS. I'm not even done writing my last two chapters, and I still have an introduction and conclusion! That's how screwed I am, and so I don't have the time to apply for jobs, and yet I need to do that, if not I'm going to be screwed come September. Ha, last year was a fantastic year for me, and this year, it's payback time.

All I can do at this point is take it one day at a time, and pray HARD!