I've finally forced myself to sit down and start writing my research proposal for the Ph.D. program. I'm so burned out from writing, though, so it's hard to sit down and keep on writing even more. My thesis editor has finally gotten her act together (I think) and is working on the final stage of revisions, although I have to re-write a part of my conclusion, which is annoying. It also seems as though competition for getting into the Ph.D. program this year will be more difficult than I had expected (there are only two places available for foreign students per academic year).

Tomorrow (Sunday) I have to attend an academic conference on Chinese literature studies and critique a paper by a grad student from National Central University (in Chung-li, Taiwan ... not that anyone reading this would know where that is ... hehe). I really don't feel like doing it, but it is kind of an honor for a foreigner to be invited to critique a Taiwanese student's research, and something that the other foreigners who are applying to the Ph.D. program haven't done. I've already had some of my research published already, which they haven't ... so, I'm hoping that these things will all help me to get into the program. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'm going to do ... stay here and look for work, try again next year, or go back to the States and get a job as a translator/interpreter or something like that. **Sigh** Decisions, decisions ... needless to say, this is going to be a very stressful few months.

I'm hoping to have Chapter 3 of "Someday Out of the Blue" posted sometime this weekend. It will be up on my website about 12-24 hours before it's posted to Nifty. I've been writing very fast, but I'm gonna have to slow down now that I really need to get to work on my academic stuff.

Also, I managed to get rid of about 2/3 of that translation job I was given, so it shouldn't cut into my time too much now. My boss wasn't thrilled, but I explained to her that my school work right now was much more important, which it is ... getting into the Ph.D. program is my future ... I just hope I can get serious enough and be as prepared as I need to be.