So I'm printing like a mad man. I spent the last few days looking for the dissertation as a complete document. I think it basically works. It works enough.

As the motto of the done dissertation goes:

Perfect is the enemy of good.
Good is the enemy of done.

Variations include:

There are two kinds of dissertations: perfect and done.

So there you go. I'm printing up copies to turn into my readers, and have begun the initial steps of getting a defense date, applying to graduate, and so on. It feels... weird. It's a bit surreal to see three-plus years of work just piled up at the foot of your bed. On the one hand, I'm really proud: there's a lot of work and good ideas in there. On the other hand, I'm sort of horrified. All I can think of is all the TERRIBLE stuff in there (bad data, bad analysis, the bad writing - oh gawd the *writing*). It's also a bummer that it's so anti-climactic. This is what finishing my dissertation was like:

"You've done a lot of work of acceptable quality. You have a job. You're out of money. Want to defend?"

Sure?

But fuck it: I have to put up with a defense, some corrections, and whip it into shape vis-a-vis proper formatting. While all of that is big shit, it's nothing compared to the slog so far. This motherfucker is *DONE.*

That is good.