Thank God, Hallelujah, Amen. The End.

Well, yes. From the title of this post, you might have sensed that the Odyssey is now at an end. D has fought a good fight, and finished the course; the corrections have been accepted, and it’s all over but the signatures on the sheepskin (we can only hope it’s not a real sheep). While T. wanted to plan a party, she has her work cut out for her. “No toasts, no speeches, nothing but food, and only a few people,” has already been stipulated. As to the next question,

“And what are you going to do now?”

“We’re going to… ” You will not be given the traditional post-Superbowl response. D said, “We’re definitely not going to Disneyland. Maybe Epcot.” All right, all right, we’ll have to make do with that. It kind of has a ring to it. “We’re going to Epcot!!” Okay, yes.

(We’re going, eventually. After we find a job. And have, you know, money. And stuff. All of which is infinitely easier to come by should you be able to tell employees that you’ve actually finished your schooling.)

Thank you to all of you who have hung in there and kept D. in your thoughts. And to those of you who knew he would eventually prevail – of course, you were right. Thank you for being on hand to keep reminding him, whilst T. kicked him in the bum.

(It’s so good to be the one writing this without actual oversight.)

For those who have been dying for a peek, here’s the Advanced Readers Copy. Next week it will be hard bound (with hand-tooled gold on leather bindings? No? ::sigh::) and a copy given to the University library, and one for the department. We are not having a copy made for us, we don’t think; we are currently of two minds about it, as it seems to some of us as rather conceited. On the other hand, there’s always a need for something to stack beneath a computer monitor…

Please note: it is a PhD dissertation, by American standards, but in the UK it’s known as a doctoral thesis. The paper adheres to British spelling, which means D’s spelling may be atrocious for the rest of his life, as he wonders about adding additional vowels and “zeds” instead of z’s. Oh, well. At least no one is grading him. Ever, ever again.