The day I had to hand in my master's thesis

[daisy]

The day i had to hand in my Master's thesis, I had gotten only about 5 hours of sleep the night before, but truly, it is amazing that I slept at all - so many ideas in my head, so much more to do, to check!

The day i had to hand in my Master's thesis, I woke up like so many other days, got my kids out of the house to school (pre-K and 1st grade), and sat down for one last morning, afternoon and late night of writing.

The day i had to hand in my Master's thesis, I considered my vices as I have ever day - will I chat briefly nearly hourly with my brother, my good friends for a respite from the brain-wearying tasks at hand? Will I log on to MR and search for pictures of other folks' tanks and great stories and intriguing questions to distract myself from the all-consuming drive to write a work as complicated as what I undertook to write.... (what was I thinking, exactly, saying I would do this the way I have said I would do it?????)

So today is the last day that I wake up with this on my plate. Today is the last day that I think of MR and chatting as distractions, and not as something I love to do that I set time aside for. Today is the last day that mornings with my children feel like a prelude to a day of writing and not enjoyed for the precious time that they are. Today is the last day that I take a shower in the middle of the day just to have something to look forward to all morning, or maybe take one in the morning to wake up and another one in the afternoon as a study break - a chance to imagine that i'm back in Eilat, underwater.

Today my thesis is due. I will hand it in as soon as I feel I can let it go - which will probably be close to midnight, knowing how particular I am. I will walk away from it for a few hours in the afternoon when I have to teach Hebrew School, but otherwise, this is where I shall be today.

Today all the work I've been doing, and all the thought I've put into this baby - today a part of that closes - and it will be in the hands of my advisors for some time, and that will be

GOOD.

Looking very much forward to meeting so many of you at the frag swap...

-daisy

 

[jhale]

hey Daisy,

Congratulations It sounds like your thesis was taking up a bit of your time, lol. I wish you good luck and the will power to realize you are done, it's perfect, turn it in

- J

 

[ellebelle]

I wish I could say the same thing.

:sad2:

 

[masterswimmer]

daisy, The culmination of all your research, studying, writing and fortitude are about to be appreciated by your advisor. Congratulations, sit back, enjoy your children (again), your tank, MR, and your memories of Eilat.

Now it's time to :party:

Cheers!

swimmer

 

[daisy]

I've got 2 really great lesson plans pretty much done - 8 more to go

that will be added to the already 50 plus page paper that describes all the developmental stuff / rationale for the course I'm proposing... then re-check the bibliography and all the references

read the whole thing through again

print it and read it again

and who knows

i may actually finish ......

yeah, a "bit" of my time.

Let's put it this way - my 4 year old is excited about me being done!!!

 

[daisy]

Not yet time to party

that will be tomorrow

today still writing

but let me tell you

i will be partying tomorrow!!!

(possibly in my sleep, though)

 

[Josh]

That is so great, congratulations!

The culmination of all that work into one single document, I know how hard that can be. Tomorrow you will actually miss it!

Make sure you develop your other interests in the coming weeks so you don't get depressed with all the free time in your life, it is really hard to change gears like that, so make a plan for what you are going to do next. And of course, give some time back to your family who have been with you all along.

-Josh

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Good luck

 

[daisy]

Brendan -- thank you! I needed it!

Josh -- how right you are. My four year old is so looking forward to getting me back in her life (I think my 6 year old didn't really miss me as much)

It was hard for them to figure out why they had a babysitter while Ima (mom in Hebrew) is in her bedroom on the computer...

So it's 1:30 a.m. and I've sent it to my advisor. No paper copy until later, thank GOD! The formatting is good, bibliography is nice and full (and not even padded...), and while there are not as many lesson plans as my advisor and I had discussed, I had good cause to cut that down (6 instead of 10) -- the entire paper was supposed to be around 50 pages long. This monster is 72!!!!! And I was not verbose!

....so - it's time for me to become asleep

and to wake up tomorrow and say

what the hell am I going to do with the rest of my life????

j/k I have a job already lined up... but no idea when it's going to start.

and now

i'm
babbling
blah blah blah. it's late and nobody's going to read this for hours anyway.

oh! as a treat, how about i enclose a picture! from when I was diving in Eilat this summer.

As a thank you for reading this!


in this pic - my avatar is me saying to my aunt (who has the camera) LOOK under this rock - and what was hanging out under there...

 

[KathyC]

Ye of little faith..of course we're here now reading your post!
Congrats Daisy, for all the hard work and for finally getting your paper off!
I'll speculate that you will sleep like a brick tonight and will be totally lost tomorrow morning
So fling open a door, say good morning to the world and the first day or your new life!!
Best of luck to you on all that lies ahead! :party:

...nice pic btw!!

 

[daisy]

Kathy -- thank you so much.

The pic was as much for me as for everyone - it was such a great dive! And such a cute fish! Look at those eyes!!!



I just came inside from a short walk (kids to the carpool) and the air is... well, kind of like Jerusalem in the winter. Damp but hopeful... I think that's kind of how I feel right now - damp (gotta shake that off) but hopeful.... truly.

I was asleep sometime around 2:10 a.m. and forget about dreams, good, bad, anxious or otherwise. Up at 6 or so (okay, 6:30 today) to get the kids out - but I managed to exercise while they were getting dressed -- if today is the first day of the rest of my life, you can BET that's gonna get tucked in there!!!!

Everyone - thank you. This has been grueling. I teach Hebrew School, and there was class yesterday and I had to go - so I went, but it was model seder, so I sat in the lobby of the synagogue with my laptop working, there only to welcome students, parents and our guests from a nearby church...

So one of my students comes up to me (btw, I have close relationships with most of my students - they come to my home from time to time w/ or w/o parents for classes here, we are on first-name basis...) So one 4th grader comes over and says, "what's that?"
" A big paper I'm writing."
"Oh? How long is it?"
" well, about 70 pages now."

she thinks for a moment then she says... "wow. that must have taken you all day!"

I smiled broadly at her, put my hand on hers and said "well, a little more than that." and started to think - I began this work in September. For a few months, I worked maybe 8 hours a week on it. Then for a few months, it was maybe 12 hours a week, but for the last three months, it's been closer to 30 hours a week, and for the past four weeks, it's been much closer to 40. It has been all I've done, it feels like.

And the truth is, I need to go re-read it to make sure what I sent to my advisor last night wasn't absolute gibberish!

-daisy

hey, you guys are all going to find out at the frag swap that this is not my real name... hmmm..... funny. I wonder if i'll change my name over my avitar?.... Probably not.

Daisy was my first yellow tang. Oy, I loved that fish.

 

[daisy]

Starting over

It's been a really, really long time since I've been here.

Since I posted this post in particular, it's been a REALLY long time. 12 years. I live half a country away (Kansas), and my masters theses have both paid off. I have a great job, and I've just bought a house for myself and my daughters. I have a tank I have only dreamed of just starting up.

I can't believe I'm doing it so far from my MR friends.

I can't believe I set it up without Kathy's help.

But now that it's up and running, I'll find my way back here to share my successes and to seek support when the tank gremlins creep up.

It's good to be back - looking forward to "seeing" my friends!

-Tahl

 

[albano]

Hey Tahl,
welcome home, long time no ?see?!
Glad to hear that things are going well for you and family, couldn?t happen to a nicer person.