The plan
I was thinking on my way back from visiting Eric today about my PhD progress again.
What's new?
I was thinking of the inevitable prospect of my brother moving out of the house we are in now, either because he gets into grad school (in which case he will leave to pursue his studies) or he doesn't get into grad school (and has to look for a new job, possibly in another city). Whichever the outcome, it might mean that he will be gone come june to september.
Which begs another question? Where will I live? Now I can stay in the same house by myself and fork out the $1250 a month for rent. Certainly that is not idea and will be a significant amount of money, but I can probably do it under a really tight budget.
The real question then becomes--when will I be able to get my degree and get out of here?
Well, I think optimistically I will be able to finish at the end of the year. If that is the case then I will just suck it up and pay the rent for a few months. Moving to a new place would require signing a new lease for a year, which I do not want to do in my current position. Not to mention having to find a place that would take cats and the actual move itself. Of course I could get a roommate, but that's a pain in the ass. I don't really want to live with someone I don't know at all. Now that I am older I just don't need to expend my energy in such ways. A roommie that works well would be great, but this person would have to like cats and be easygoing. I don't like to live with friends (because I would like to stay friends with them) and living with strangers--well you know the risk.
So the more I think about it the most comfortable solution for me would be to finish by the end of the year.
So there it is. I will work as hard as I need to be done by year's end. It's not a guarantee but one needs a goal. And it is not an entirely unrealistic one. It would be a good time, to end a year with a degree.
I will make a list of all the experiments I will need to do and discuss it with EHD. See what he says and talk to the other members of my committee. I need to have a committee meeting in May/june anyway so it can be a pre-meeting of sorts.
It's good to have a goal. Now I can channel all the negative I feel that I had been accumulating recently into something positive instead of just wallowing in self misery.
Murphy Brown is on DVD. I am quite excited! I loved that show in my journalist wannabe days. Now that seemed like a lifetime ago. Funny how life takes you in unexpected ways.
What's new?
I was thinking of the inevitable prospect of my brother moving out of the house we are in now, either because he gets into grad school (in which case he will leave to pursue his studies) or he doesn't get into grad school (and has to look for a new job, possibly in another city). Whichever the outcome, it might mean that he will be gone come june to september.
Which begs another question? Where will I live? Now I can stay in the same house by myself and fork out the $1250 a month for rent. Certainly that is not idea and will be a significant amount of money, but I can probably do it under a really tight budget.
The real question then becomes--when will I be able to get my degree and get out of here?
Well, I think optimistically I will be able to finish at the end of the year. If that is the case then I will just suck it up and pay the rent for a few months. Moving to a new place would require signing a new lease for a year, which I do not want to do in my current position. Not to mention having to find a place that would take cats and the actual move itself. Of course I could get a roommate, but that's a pain in the ass. I don't really want to live with someone I don't know at all. Now that I am older I just don't need to expend my energy in such ways. A roommie that works well would be great, but this person would have to like cats and be easygoing. I don't like to live with friends (because I would like to stay friends with them) and living with strangers--well you know the risk.
So the more I think about it the most comfortable solution for me would be to finish by the end of the year.
So there it is. I will work as hard as I need to be done by year's end. It's not a guarantee but one needs a goal. And it is not an entirely unrealistic one. It would be a good time, to end a year with a degree.
I will make a list of all the experiments I will need to do and discuss it with EHD. See what he says and talk to the other members of my committee. I need to have a committee meeting in May/june anyway so it can be a pre-meeting of sorts.
It's good to have a goal. Now I can channel all the negative I feel that I had been accumulating recently into something positive instead of just wallowing in self misery.
Murphy Brown is on DVD. I am quite excited! I loved that show in my journalist wannabe days. Now that seemed like a lifetime ago. Funny how life takes you in unexpected ways.
posted by La Nuage at 6:56 PM
4 Comments:
That's true. You don't know me, I surfed in from a friend of yours, who visited my friend's blog.
Yes, you made a good decision that energy will be expended in having a room-mate. Graduate life is mentally stressful, not everyone has their wits with them how to have a room-mate and still perform well in school. Another you can consider is moving in with family away from campus that rent rooms.
By the way, you will need to form your committee earlier (and finish your experiments). It takes 2 months for an advisor to correct scripts, another month for the readers to go through them, and another for the rest of the committee to briefly read your dissertation.
Jia1 You2. Enough of my nosiness. :P
heya,
did you do your phd too? sounds like you are someone who had been through the torture.
I guess at times it can get pretty difficult and frustrating, but things are getting better.
Yes, I did.
BTW, its important to conduct your job search as well as the sending out your paper prints from your dissertation right now at the same time. This is very important, as you will find out one year from now, if you do not do it now.
ok. let me know when to stop. It must be age catching up with me.
what did you do your phd in? What field that is? or is that too much detail? Are you doing a postdoc/job now? I'm curious about what people do at the end of the journey
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