yeen teck asks me to tell him what exactly it is i have to do for the next few years. so this is what:

i take four classes in each semester for two semesters and pass one language exam by the year's end. i read for the general exams. i take the general exams before the start of the second year. i spend my second year taking three classes each semester, and pass a second language exam by the following year's end. then i take a teaching colloquium and teach two sections each semester for two years, while auditing classes and working on the field exam. i take the field exam at the end of the third year and find myself a dissertation committee and write my dissertation prospectus. i keep teaching and keep auditting classes. then i spend the rest of the time writing my dissertation for the next three years and grabbing as many teaching assignments as i can to support myself and also applying to many fellowships and grants bodies as i can manage to worm money out of. and then i start writing letters home to ask for money because external funds have run dry and the department won't give me any more funding either and i'm in my 10th year and they want me to graduate and get a job and become someone else's problem. and so i drop out of school and go to NIE.