I PASSED!

So where am I on this wonderful Saturday morning? Stuck at the Cyclotron Institute running an experiment. I have been here since midnight and no one will be here to relieve me until about 11am. I am not sure how tired I am, but I am really glad I am taking super long runs.

Some friends came to visit us this weekend, so tonight should be fun, I just need to make it that far. This is my last shift for this 6-day beam time. It was really awesome that this beam time coincided with my prelims, NOT!

So how did my prelim go? It was one of the most horrible experiences of my life, man I really wish I had paid attention a lot more in undergrad! But the great news is I passed. The way this whole process went was first I gave a talk, then I was ask question for about a hour, and then I was asked to leave the room while they decided to pass me or not. When I left the room and started crying just a little bit, I was really mad at myself for forgetting to study certain things and I was mad that they barely asked me any questions I had studied. But, whatever that is the goal of the prelim to ask you questions you don't know the answer to. So after I left the room I sat down on the floor, calmed myself down a little bit and started talk to a post-doc that walked past me. A few minutes later Dr. Yennello walked out to tell me the good news, she said "you passed" and I don't know why but the only thing I could do was cry more! I only cried tear of joy for like 5 to 10 seconds, and she hugged me. Everything happened so fast, it really is all a blur. The rest of my committee shook my hand and that was that, then I got to run a "beam time" shift until midnight. I ended up postponing my celebration for passing my prelims for tonight because of "beam time".

The funniest this is I didn't even cry at my own wedding, but I cry at my prelims!