The Dreaded Night Before

Tomorrow I am scheduled to defend my dissertation proposal.  I should be nervous, but after successfully going through my general exam defense back in September, I am feeling pretty confident.  I think several factors contribute to my current confidence: I had approximately one month to go in and make revisions and prepare for my dissertation proposal defense, but lucky me, my dissertation chair went on a month long trip to Chile and my co-chair got married, so my proposal defense was pushed back to December.  So during that time I applied for and was approved by the LSU Institutional Review Board (IRB) and had time to present the rough draft of my defense to my Narrative Writing class.  I've also found new information that would support my dissertation, including works by bell hooks, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors when it comes to writings about education.

In preparing for my defense on tomorrow I did four things over this weekend: 1) Got my hair done.  You can not walk in your defense looking a hot mess! 2) Purchased a nice professional dress. Yes, you need to present yourself as a professional, so please leave your flip flops and slogan tees at home. 3) Printed out a copy of my proposal.  Please, please, please be prepared, because after my general exam I realized that they will ask you specific questions and you need your copy to see what they are referring too. 4) And prepared a 9 minute presentation.  Yes, you've shown them in writing that you know what you are talking about now you have to prove it!   
Well I'm off to time myself on this presentation (yes, they time you and my chair will cut you off if you go over) and then relax.  I'll make sure to update everyone on tomorrow! Wish me luck!!!!!