what flies when you’re having fun?

Of course, it's been flying past me whether or not I've been having fun, and whether or not I've been doing work on my thesis proposal. But finally after many weeks of disengagement and disease I sat down today to polish off my proposal. Eight hours later I feel a great sense of accomplishment AND am keen to move forward on this project once the powers-that-be approve my approach and issue me the elusive "ethical review certificate." I only had one section left to work on to actually finish, but of course once I re-read the entire thing, a whole new jumble of ideas came up and needed to be incorporated or abandoned – treated scientifically one way or another. One challenge I came across was remembering all the way back to last spring about the theories and practices and descriptions of methodologies: qualitative (QUAL) and quantitative (QUAN). Fortunately the power of the fabulous USB memory stick is having all my school assignments from the past 18 months right at hand to help sort that out. While I worked on the methodology I also came across some great information on aspects of my topic that will be useful in my upcoming Literature Review. Love that “bookmark” function for remembering where I was surfing about the internet.

Maybe now I’ll settle into a routine, with the holiday season and friends’ visits and most short-term travel over, the rain pours down, the five CDs play shuffled on the stereo, and the mug of something hot sits on the desk beside me. That’s probably a routine that I can continue for the next couple of months at least. And, if I can remember this light-headed feeling of even minimal accomplishment, maybe this can all be construed as FUN!? Note to self. If only those mental notes could be bookmarked.

the pace of time

I sit or lie here…flu-ridden…and contemplate the pace of time. Thesis-wise it gallops along such that I can barely keep up even thinking about it, and I am frustrated as my mind is not enthusiastic about working on it while sick despite being conveniently at home adjacent to the laptop and books. But I’m just not inspired let alone with enough energy to bring the thoughts to word-processed reality. This post may not even make sense and involves no references or APA-style guides. Illness-wise, time is certainly taking its time – although I suppose that’s the virus, not time – but still, the days pass extremely slowly as I wait to get better. Every time I think I feel better of course I try to do something and then the germs beat me back down again. I don't even particularly feel like doing anything - if I watch TV I just surf and surf until dozing again....books are good for maybe a chapter...magazines until they are too heavy. Such is the course of the virus I suppose – although I had a cold in December and something nasty just after Christmas (thanks mom and dad), this is the sickest I can remember being since the deathly lung issues of spring 2004. Or aside from a bad December, the only sickness? That was a lucky stretch. But I have so much to do!! Sigh…time to return to the couch.

timing is everything

I’m going to have to seriously dedicate time to getting this thesis done. (I know, duh!) Problem is, finishing coursework and having Christmas break showed me the tempting Pandora's box of “free” time – to spend with friends, family, movies, music, restaurants…all these things I reduce significantly during schoolwork time and have for the past 18 months. So the reminder to myself is – the next four months ARE schoolwork time, even if there’s no prof, no discussion groups, no assignments – just the BIG one.

Like “they” (“they” are going to figure prominently) say with diets to have a day where you indulge rather than deny yourself all the time that just leads to overindulgence, I think setting time aside for each week might be the trick for that. Then I know I’m going to have some fun but also dedicate some time to masters work. So out of seven nights, for at least 4 I should be at my desk working on some aspect of this project. For instance looking ahead to the coming week, say Wednesday to Wednesday – I’m already planning to be out Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Monday evenings at various Guiding, family and social activities. Well the locking up must occur Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and some weekend time wouldn’t hurt either as I am in town. The trick is even with that schedule, not to cheat and buy time against the next week “oh I’ll go out Friday too but then work 5 nights next week” – because I won’t. I've learned that much so far.

here goes

No time like the present. Wait, that's far from my philosophy towards writing. More like, how much longer can I put it off? The next four months will be the test of that, as I heave myself into a master's thesis. What was I thinking?

Nevertheless, part of what I have to do is document my journey through this academic adventure. A side benefit might be that writing a bit about how it's all going...or not...might inspire writing of the actual thesis. We'll see.