finish my dissertation

With the help of a great, great chairman of my committee, I am now a Doctor of Philosoophy!!

The site really helped me when I was slogging through hours of typing. I appreciated all the cheers I got. I’ll be cheering y’all on now!

Dr. Maggi, PhD

Okay. Chapter 8 is just sitting there, waiting for me. Right now it’s a long, well organized list. In a few hours’ time, it needs to be a copy edited and incisively annotated taxonomy of narrating. I am capable of doing this—at my best. I’m not at my best right now. I’m tired, I’ve been cooped up doing this for days, and I haven’t gotten any exercise or had any fun. That matters not at all. Now is the time I have to do this. Now is the day I have the attention of my professor. Tomorrow it all needs to be wrapped up with a ribbon and delivered to the people who have to sign it. That gives me two days to clean up citations and copy-editing.
And then it will be Wednesday.
Until it’s Wednesday, my job is to keep typing.

Whoa, I have so much typing to do. I’m not sure my brain will track it all. Man, my hands hurt, too.
Oh, that’s right. Advil!!! That’s good stuff. Need some now.
Ok, then back to the typing.

My typing really sucks right now. I can’t wait to take some time off typing. I finished chapter three, which is really Chapter three and four. Now I need to write chapter five six and seven, which was once chapter four. Follow that? Neither do I.
Advil. Be right back. Okay. Breakfast of champions, or of carpal tunnel afflicted dissertaters. All right, Google doesn’t like that word no matter how I spell it. Dissertator. Dissertater. So there.
Wheee! Now I start the chapter on listening, wherein my dear readers get to learn all about mirror cells and empathy. Yes.

The chair of my committee is being an angel. I just heard from my second reader, though. He’s being a bear. He wants it NOW. Ok. I’ll take a bunch of Advil and type type type and give it to him. Only my chair is out of town and will be VERY unhappy when he gets back and finds out I gave it to my second reader.
I can’t do anything about that. My chair is not going to keep me from finishing just because of that. I might end up typing like a fiend to incorporate all the changes from the two of them to make the deadline, but that’s okay.
This is just another day of typing, just like the other ones.

My eyes won’t focus properly. I’m going to sleep and getting up early. Nighty-night!

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. In other words, I’m not gonna take on a fight I can’t win. I think I’m cutting two topics from Chapter 3. I wish I had time to write about them, but the Chapter is long already, and I think it will suffice to mention them, explain the need for further similar analysis, and then finish off the Chapter.
So that’s what I’m doing. It’s just about 10 pm. I have to decide whether to go to sleep and attempt to wake up early, or keep working. I will go back to working on the document and see how that goes.

I thought I could make it until 3, but I can’t work any longer. I made it another 22 minutes, though!
I gotta get up in the morning and shower. I can’t wait to have a hot shower. Sleep first, though. Heaven.

I am actually close to finishing chapter three. I think jones will be pleased. I need a break and then I’m back at it. I am lucky I can sleep in a little in the morning.

What I sent him is too long, which I knew, but I already know what to delete.

I’m working hard to finish Chapter 3 so I can send it tonight. I might just stay home tomorrow - play hooky from school - and write all day to see if I can complete Chapter 4a, 4b, and 4c. That would be a real coup!

I’m re-upping my coffee now.