u may say

references will be available upon request. If they are not interested, they will not bother. So you do not need to bother your boss all the time.

Agree with a friend upstairs, it is a good idea to sit down w/ ur boss and talk about ur plans. U will need to ask him/her for suggestions and help. He/she is ur mentor and should help you, of course you will need ask for help from him. It sounds easy; many friends just do not understand and always regard his/her boss as an enyme. Even u believe u r smarter than him/her, u still need to respect him/her, respect his efforts in helping you and guiding u (again, u may not agree). If you do not understand what I said here, u r not ready for an independent position yet.