In undergrad, one of my professors started an email to me with "Don't panic." Naturally, it wasn't a good email (if I remember correctly, there was something wrong with the audio in the movie my group had created).
No one said "Don't panic" to me today. Nevertheless, I got the same feeling looking at the calendar. I was so proud of myself- I got my Chapter 1 edits turned in this afternoon, a whole 14-16 hours ahead of schedule. But then I started to plan out when my next chapter's edits would be done. And oh my goodness, it's almost October.
Which means I have 39 days to get all my edits done (and note, my chapters still haven't gone to my second reader yet), formatting done, front-matter done, and all those stupid hoops that the university will make me jump through completed.
So much for taking next weekend off, and the National Trust conference couldn't have come at a worse time. I did take the evening off to go bowling, but as soon as this is posted, I'm starting Chapter 2. If I can get it done by Thursday... that would be beyond amazing.
Right. "Don't panic." I should write that on a post-it and hang it on the wall behind my computer.
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
At the end, time speeds up.
At the end, everything speeds up. I think it must be a given.
Think about it- the last day or two of vacation always speeds by so fast. Senior year of college goes by in a blur. The last few chapters of a good book always end too soon.
I just saw a movie (and since this slightly spoils something, I won't say which movie) that had a character stating that more was happening because s/he knew it was almost the end.
But I am referring to my attempts to graduate from graduate school. On top of trying to complete my last thesis chapter, I also must turn in my intent to graduate form by September 8 and take a graduate exit survey. Fair enough.
But wait, there's more.
1. Before you fill out your intent to graduate form, you are supposed to read the guidelines for graduating.
2. Now you are supposed to pay your thesis binding fees before you can turn in your intent to graduate. Ok, fair enough. So I show up at the Graduate Studies office because they don't tell you where to pay. They send me to the Administration Building.
3. In order to pay your thesis binding fee, you need to have a form.
4. This form is the "intent to graduate." It must be signed by your advisor.
5. Form now signed by advisor, who was miraculously in his office at the time.
6. The cashier stand is now insanely busy with all the people who waited until the last day to pay for registration. I'm not waiting in an hour-long line after going through everything else today. I'll try again tomorrow. By the way, this thesis binding fee is for copies for me, my advisor, my department, and the library. I love that I have to pay for copies for everyone else.
7. At some point, I also must fill out an exit survey, which has not been updated for this current year. The latest graduation date given is Summer 2009.
So, as a refresher, by the second week in September (although I'd prefer to get as much done sooner as possible), I must: pay binding fees, turn in my intent to graduate form, take the exit survey, and finish my last chapter of thesis. Why do I still feel like there will be significantly more hoops to jump through tomorrow just to get this form FINALLY turned in?
Time speeding up isn't such a terrible thing. I'll be glad to be done. I'll be glad to start a job (please don't make me eat my words later). And I'm ready to move on to a new stage in life.
Think about it- the last day or two of vacation always speeds by so fast. Senior year of college goes by in a blur. The last few chapters of a good book always end too soon.
I just saw a movie (and since this slightly spoils something, I won't say which movie) that had a character stating that more was happening because s/he knew it was almost the end.
But I am referring to my attempts to graduate from graduate school. On top of trying to complete my last thesis chapter, I also must turn in my intent to graduate form by September 8 and take a graduate exit survey. Fair enough.
But wait, there's more.
1. Before you fill out your intent to graduate form, you are supposed to read the guidelines for graduating.
2. Now you are supposed to pay your thesis binding fees before you can turn in your intent to graduate. Ok, fair enough. So I show up at the Graduate Studies office because they don't tell you where to pay. They send me to the Administration Building.
3. In order to pay your thesis binding fee, you need to have a form.
4. This form is the "intent to graduate." It must be signed by your advisor.
5. Form now signed by advisor, who was miraculously in his office at the time.
6. The cashier stand is now insanely busy with all the people who waited until the last day to pay for registration. I'm not waiting in an hour-long line after going through everything else today. I'll try again tomorrow. By the way, this thesis binding fee is for copies for me, my advisor, my department, and the library. I love that I have to pay for copies for everyone else.
7. At some point, I also must fill out an exit survey, which has not been updated for this current year. The latest graduation date given is Summer 2009.
So, as a refresher, by the second week in September (although I'd prefer to get as much done sooner as possible), I must: pay binding fees, turn in my intent to graduate form, take the exit survey, and finish my last chapter of thesis. Why do I still feel like there will be significantly more hoops to jump through tomorrow just to get this form FINALLY turned in?
Time speeding up isn't such a terrible thing. I'll be glad to be done. I'll be glad to start a job (please don't make me eat my words later). And I'm ready to move on to a new stage in life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
