my $self = {
       q => CGI::Session->new("driver:mysql", undef, DBH),
       t => Template->new({INCLUDE_PATH => 'templates',
                           PRE_CHOMP => 1,
                           RELATIVE => 1}),
       is_new => q->is_new()                                  # this is where the error is
};

# I realize I don't know how to reference another hash element (q, which is an object reference) within the same hash