Dissertation / So-ran: all pressured things come to an end
It took four all-nighters this week and a couple last week, but I did it: I completed my first draft of my dissertation by Saturday afternoon at 1.30pm. I'm not fussed about its quality right now, I just want to know if I'm making the right arguments, heading in the right direction and not missing out anything huge or including things that really don't need to be there. The main thing is that it's written, which means that now my only job is quote-harvesting from Japanese-language sources and revising it. One month to the submission deadline - sounds good to me.
After handing that in, I couldn't just go home and sleep the rest of the day, because we had our so-ran bushi performance at the international cultural evening. Instead, I went home, took off the heavy jumper, socks and shoes I wear for all-nighters (it actually felt like I was shedding thick layers of stress, not clothing) then headed to Primark to buy cheap clothes to wear under the Japanese costume, bright red happi with "JAPAN" written on the lapels.
The performance itself was fantastic. Our hard work came together, and despite a hitch in the opening move (because we couldn't hear the music over the cheers and applause so our timing was off!) we looked AMAZING. I'll post photos when I'm on a library computer, I'm extremely proud of how well we did and want you all to see! We didn't win, but the amps were on stage, we could feel the music beneath our feet, and were stomping and shouting harder than we ever have. Our performance was alive, and the audience reaction stunned all of us.
Besides, prizes aren't what an international cultural festival should be about. Afterwards, some of the society members including a Libyan guy, a gay guy and a half-Japanese guy queued up outside the Japanese fast food van and chatted with the Malaysian and Singaporean Society, who did an incredible performance that should have won (or at least come second to us). We commiserated with each other, praised each other's performance, added each other on Facebook and our now talking about joining in each other's society events. Now that is what international culture is about.
After handing that in, I couldn't just go home and sleep the rest of the day, because we had our so-ran bushi performance at the international cultural evening. Instead, I went home, took off the heavy jumper, socks and shoes I wear for all-nighters (it actually felt like I was shedding thick layers of stress, not clothing) then headed to Primark to buy cheap clothes to wear under the Japanese costume, bright red happi with "JAPAN" written on the lapels.
The performance itself was fantastic. Our hard work came together, and despite a hitch in the opening move (because we couldn't hear the music over the cheers and applause so our timing was off!) we looked AMAZING. I'll post photos when I'm on a library computer, I'm extremely proud of how well we did and want you all to see! We didn't win, but the amps were on stage, we could feel the music beneath our feet, and were stomping and shouting harder than we ever have. Our performance was alive, and the audience reaction stunned all of us.
Besides, prizes aren't what an international cultural festival should be about. Afterwards, some of the society members including a Libyan guy, a gay guy and a half-Japanese guy queued up outside the Japanese fast food van and chatted with the Malaysian and Singaporean Society, who did an incredible performance that should have won (or at least come second to us). We commiserated with each other, praised each other's performance, added each other on Facebook and our now talking about joining in each other's society events. Now that is what international culture is about.