Summer Update

Realistically, I have five more weeks to go before the summer semester ends. This means that I have five weeks to finish and hand in my draft to my advisor, to incorporate my advisor’s comments and revisions, to submit dissertation copy to each of the committee members, to prepare my slides for the talk, to study for the defense, to give (and hopefully pass) the defense, to incorporate final revisions, and lastly to submit the final copy to graduate school.

I am in so much mixed emotions right now. There are moments I feel empowered and confident but most of the time, I feel apprehensive, anxious, and disheartened. I wish I could just sit around and the dissertation will be done in its own way. This is so unrealistic. As the deadlines are looming in the corner, I am becoming more and more withdrawn from the project. I am still having trouble sleeping. In addition, I find myself more and more distracted.

With this realization, I have to make self-imposed changes. I should strive harder to refocus on finishing. I know I cannot do this in one shot. This week will be the hell week for me. All my time and energy should be directed to this goal. Specific things to help me get done: (at least for this week ) working at nights, no facebook-ing and friendster-ing, no reading online news, and no reading of other people’s blogs . I will allow myself to post more in my blog so I will be able to process what’s on my mind.