Done done done, I'm a Master!

It's actually all over. After a last couple of months dashing through Europe, sightseeing by day and writing/editing by night, I sent my completed thesis in. November 3rd I crossed the stage, shook the hand, and received the blue folder containing my Masters degree. It is possible! Without further adieu, thanks to all who helped make it happen and perhaps these words will be wise for others.

Here we are again

Welcome to new visitors. We are old visitors, into our third residency now so should be experienced, but I arrive at RRU with apprehension and nervousness and unsure of how the week will unfold. I know I will learn, laugh, love and much more – such is the nature of the cohort experience – but there’s still a fuzziness about with only a few short days to bring it into focus. I have already determined that as ever, the best learning is not done in the classroom, with professors present, but rather in the pub, in the lounge, over dinner, walking along Library Road, lying on the grass, biking with the wind whistling by, taking the time while in this beautiful setting to only think about school – the reflection, the sharing, the openness and the sharing – and always the caring, that is the important stuff and what we lose sight of during the latter months of distance learning. Our collective confidence soars as we realize we are all in this together again despite the various camps of “Team December”, those ready to finish, and those on a longer journey. We strategize and sympathize and come together to re-ground ourselves in this place with these people. But, human and nature being what they are, I think we would become our family again even if we met in…the Caribbean (hey, there’s an idea!). We could walk along a different forested path on a different island and remember our forested path here, see a bird there and remember our bird here, and all would be good, because it’s the people that make the most meaning.

Our assignment this week (should we choose to accept it) is to reflect on our residency, thesis work, and program as a whole in terms of leadership, learning and change. These are powerful words, powerful concepts and complex to consider. For me, they are laden with bureaucratic overtones, abuse and misuse so first I must forget past meanings and misinterpretations and make them fresh again. I am thankful for many things, among them P and his emphasis on reflection which is finally making itself ingrained in my mind, and also for taking the time for myself to write these words over the past eight months as a reminder of my journey. Had I not done this, and merely arrived here hoping to remember the good, bad and ugly of the thesis journey, I would likely have had some lame-ass, plagiarized/eavesdropped, generic list of things I learned or lost. Instead I feel I have an honest documentation of my thoughts, victories and frustrations through this process, plus some ideas to help others in the future. Taking the time ahead of time and not procrastinating has proven invaluable - I would say this should be a lesson but with that exception, I rarely have learned that lesson despite how many times it’s been encouraged of me! Lifelong learning, they say...

July 20, 2006 July heat wave

Actually I don’t think it’s the first – but it’s hot, and it’s lengthy. Even the humidex has kicked in which for Vancouver is unusual. At 10pm tonight it was 21C outside but felt like 26C. Forecast to get hotter for days yet to come. Lovely, except when you’re sitting in an apartment on the top floor of the building with poor opportunities for cross breezes and large east and south facing windows. Fans are going constantly…drinks are regularly replenished. Plants droop. I droop. I seek shade and cool, and H’s basement may well do the trick this weekend. THIS is why I wanted to be finished before summer!!! Duh…now I remember…

In better thesis news, I bit the bullet and printed everything out at once that I have so that it can all be sorted before I launch into the final analysis piece this weekend. I have 3 days set aside but wanted to make sure what there was so far made sense, held together, and that I extrapolated all my prior commitments forward to be able to address them in the final bit. Sent P a copy of same, and electronically (unfortunately electronic not the edited version, will hopefully be able to receive email in China where he’s at until I leave for school). By end of weekend hope to send D something as he has likely already left for RRU. EEK.

Happy Canada Day-ish

An update post, in two parts.

July 4 - Happy Independence Day, USA – or is it? Don’t you feel tied to the rest of the world, whether you like it or not? How independent is that? We ditched "Dominion" back during Charter repatriation...now stand strong and free as Canada...how about you?

Made some progress over the weekend despite warm temperatures and bright sunshine – and a strange finger sprain I fear I lamely sustained during sleep one night. The data lies around me in coloured marker on flipchart paper, and also on strips of paper organized by theme and taped (due to constant whirring of fans and open windows) to the dining table. Now the monumental task begins of turning the analysed data into text, that not only makes sense, has the right voice and grammar, but also incorporates quotes, research and the rest. ACK this must be the hard part of the masters!

Add to this joy (and exactly 11 days to get it all done, minus worktime and Brownie camp), the new summer profs have sent their homework assignment out. Actually I only skimmed it and will leave it until this manifesto is done and in to the editors/advisors. I can only cope with so much thinking at a time right now. As it is I keep forgetting little things, bumping into stuff – I think I am subconsciously distracted and/or stressed (such a surprise at this point). Fortunately I think this blog will answer part of the assignment…which was impressively, yet riskily, always part of the master plan…onwards!

June 28, 2006

Weeks without progress. A clear indication that a break of the proportion my Ontario work trip took, is too long and causes me a loss of focus. Partly in the detachment physically and mentally from the project, and partly in the return for catching up on life, work and laundry. Also in the need to re-learn and re-remember what I have already done before progressing further.

So now in this final week of June the crunch feels on again. A good thing for me – despite the madness of issues at work, and on-and-off presence of family in my house – I am driven to jump into the analysis and make it what it deserves to be. The long weekend lies ahead and although I will observe a small 3rd birthday celebration, otherwise rain or shine shall find me at my desk. I’m so close, right?!?! Time to get into the meat and see what can be discovered about me and my colleagues.

I discovered some things, or at least admitted some things, about myself today during my work performance appraisal. These are supposedly regular annual occurrences in the public service but I haven’t had a proper one with a proper boss since…early 2003? This was also the first appraisal I haven’t had to write myself – finally! Sat down with the boss, always somewhat apprehensive as you never really know what people are going to say about you and your work, does it stem from elementary school trips to the principal’s office or being called forward to the teacher’s desk in class? Eek, there’s some memories I don’t need to uncover any further. Anyway, it was a pleasant and enlightening 90 minutes at the end of the day. I’m working well, I can produce (let’s hope so, thesis-wise), I like and cope well with fast-paced, multi-tasked environments, and other positive observations. I was the one who filled in some of the “needs improvement” ideas, and also reflected on why I do some of the things I do at work like getting involved in all kinds of issues, always happy to help, often challenging procedures or authority…it was all very interesting to think about, in an overall positive way. The power of reflection. Why don't they teach you this in school? Oh wait...