Call me Dr Yoyo

I passed my dissertation defense today!!! So now you can call me Dr Yoyo.

It was not too much of a suspense. My committee members did close the door and let me wait outside while they were signing the forms, and that took quite a while. But I was fairly confident for the whole time that they would pass me.

When the door finally opened, my advisor called "Dr Yoyo", let me in, and gave me a big hug (Actually instead of Yoyo, he called my last name. Not sure he would have passed me if he had known I share Yoyo's silliness. I tried to show my smart side in front of him).

Then each committee members gave me some feedbacks on my dissertation. Good news is that I don't have to change anything major but only some bits and pieces here and there. More work has to be done, though, before I turned my dissertation into publication pieces, which I am going to.

The whole defense went "smooth", to use my advisor's word. I had to speak a bit faster then normal because somehow the timer of PowerPoint was on, so the screen switched to the next one automatically?! Wow, my first encounter of this function and probably the last as well.

I got a bit emotional for the last slide of "acknowledgments", when I thanked the group I have been working with for their support and encouragement. I still remember vividly what happened on the 1st day I arrived in the U.S. They took me in as one of their own ever since that day and I have never felt foreign in a foreign country in the past six years.

Yes, it took me six years, well, plus 17 days to be exact, to get the degree. This is certainly longer than I expected but I don't have much regrets.

Oops, MM just called. To be continued.