Hoop-jumping and lenten sacrifices
I'm going to finish my degree this spring. I may have to wait until the fall to walk in the Commencement ceremony, though. I am not bothered by this, but it is certainly not quite what I had planned.
Of course, I was hoping to graduate at the big spring ceremony. The deadline for filing to walk is next Tuesday. Thinking I had plenty of time, I took my Thesis Proposal over to the graduate school today, and was told, "This will take 4-6 weeks to process." Hence, the grad school won't even LOOK at it before the deadline to file to walk in May. Which means the School of Music won't get the approved version, either, which means they probably won't sign the form to let me walk. I emailed the DGS's assistant, explaining the situation and that I'm on top of all my milestones. We'll see what happens, but I don't expect any favors. Heck, remembering my advisor days, I know I wouldn't sign off on something like this.
One of the reason I waited so long is that I thought I needed a different committee member, thinking my friend in the Physics department was going to be away this spring. Turns out he's back, which I found out a couple of weeks ago when I got his family Valentine's Day letter. I could have gotten that information by emailing him in the fall, but I didn't.
Also problematic is the state of the Thesis Proposal document itself. While cleaning my desk after my recital, I spilled coffee. Of course, the Thesis Proposal form was on the desk to taunt me into sending it in, so it got soaked and took a while to dry out. At first, I thought it was back to square one, but today, I finally thought, "So what?" and just made a copy of it. I delivered the copy to the grad school, and when asked, "Where's the original?" I said, "Here!", producing the crinkly, brown papers, to which I got the response, "OK, we'll just use this copy as the original, then." I was amused :-)
--
This is just another example of ways in which I wait until the last minute to get things done. So for Lent, that's what I'm giving up: procrastination.
I thought about giving up chocolate or soda or alcohol, but realize there's not a lot of potential for growth in that. Instead, I'm facing something which will require much more effort and discipline. I have found it way too easy to let the day get away from me; I find myself resenting the things I have to do, be it contacting people or writing my thesis or getting to choir. Never mind many of these are things that are better for me than sitting at my computer playing Warcraft and that I actually enjoy, it's the simple fact that they are an obligation that makes me not want to do them.
God give me the strength to learn discipline
I'm hoping to grow up a bit this way.
Of course, I was hoping to graduate at the big spring ceremony. The deadline for filing to walk is next Tuesday. Thinking I had plenty of time, I took my Thesis Proposal over to the graduate school today, and was told, "This will take 4-6 weeks to process." Hence, the grad school won't even LOOK at it before the deadline to file to walk in May. Which means the School of Music won't get the approved version, either, which means they probably won't sign the form to let me walk. I emailed the DGS's assistant, explaining the situation and that I'm on top of all my milestones. We'll see what happens, but I don't expect any favors. Heck, remembering my advisor days, I know I wouldn't sign off on something like this.
One of the reason I waited so long is that I thought I needed a different committee member, thinking my friend in the Physics department was going to be away this spring. Turns out he's back, which I found out a couple of weeks ago when I got his family Valentine's Day letter. I could have gotten that information by emailing him in the fall, but I didn't.
Also problematic is the state of the Thesis Proposal document itself. While cleaning my desk after my recital, I spilled coffee. Of course, the Thesis Proposal form was on the desk to taunt me into sending it in, so it got soaked and took a while to dry out. At first, I thought it was back to square one, but today, I finally thought, "So what?" and just made a copy of it. I delivered the copy to the grad school, and when asked, "Where's the original?" I said, "Here!", producing the crinkly, brown papers, to which I got the response, "OK, we'll just use this copy as the original, then." I was amused :-)
--
This is just another example of ways in which I wait until the last minute to get things done. So for Lent, that's what I'm giving up: procrastination.
I thought about giving up chocolate or soda or alcohol, but realize there's not a lot of potential for growth in that. Instead, I'm facing something which will require much more effort and discipline. I have found it way too easy to let the day get away from me; I find myself resenting the things I have to do, be it contacting people or writing my thesis or getting to choir. Never mind many of these are things that are better for me than sitting at my computer playing Warcraft and that I actually enjoy, it's the simple fact that they are an obligation that makes me not want to do them.
God give me the strength to learn discipline
I'm hoping to grow up a bit this way.