what's that light, over there... at the end of the tunnel?

Going over my "academic plan" again today, after having dropped courses last term, and picked up a wicked directed readings this term, I realized that I'm only three more credit hours away from finishing my honours BA! Originally the directed readings was to be three credit hours, but my supervisor decided that there was sufficient material and work that it should be worth twice as much. So now all I need to do is find a spring course worth those extra three hours, and I can graduate fall 2007! *phew.

Of course, this reignites the question that was dogging me a few blog posts back... what the hell am I gonna do with myself. Or more specifically, what the hell can I do with my degree? I suppose I'll start researching international NGOs or low-level positions, and try to find someone willing to take on a green candidate. The alternative, for which I've received a bit of positive encouragement, is to spend the fall preparing my application for grad school(s).

The opportunity may technically have been there for me to try to get in for fall 2007, but the added pressure of getting an application in now (ridiculously close to deadlines), and going straight from spring/summer session into grad school would most certainly give me an aneurysm. And it will be nice to be able to relax a bit more next year. I'm thinking, depending on what kind of work I find, that I might take up another TA position or two (I actually really like it), and spend some time on research that I've been wanting to do for quite some time. Of course, some might say that that's what grad school is for, but I really want to slow down and chase down a few particularities with a level of detail that the high-pressure academic life just doesn't allow.

Hunker down, Joel... Hunker down...