The
classes were concluded and a ceremony marking this conducted on 22 June 2012.
I
am of course referring to the Masters class that I undertook towards the end of
last year. The class schedule was demanding, the subjects I took informative,
perplexing, exciting, illuminating, useless and dreadfully monotonous all at
the same time. You could say it was a small replica of the whole of life
represented in months.
At the
end of a very tired and frustrating day, I could not help but think that mine
was self-inflicted pain. It was bitter-sweet A nearly addictive pain that one
runs from and runs to from one moment to the next.
Now,
about my thesis. The last two days of class entailed making presentations of
the subjects that we had chosen to write about in absentia, for presentation
towards the achievement of out Masters’ Degree. Some of the presentations were
fabulous, others…not. There is no doubt where mine fell, and as if fate and I
had planned it, I was slated to be the last student to make a presentation of
my Thesis proposal to the course directors. I was excited about this because I
had worked on my proposal presentation over the weekend, and it was better than
perfect, it qualified as a platinum plaque. Well that was if you compared it to
some of the presentations prepared by my classmates [with all due respect].
Through
one presentation to the next we trudged. At least two of the ones I saw on the
first day were cringe worthy, most were boring and totally irrelevant to any
thought I will ever have. The rest really threatened my mojo. This was the same
reflection I made on the second day.
Observation:
Not everyone is gifted as a writer or as a presenter. That is just the way it
is, right? Right!
That judgemental thought came back to haunt me, and still does to this moment.
The
thing about writing a thesis, actually the THINGS about writing a thesis that
are always overlooked (I say this with confidence as I believe mine is the
first blog that moans, and will continue to mourn about writing academic
papers) and that need to be stated to allow for future research include:
·
Research is B-O-R-I-N-G! Very boring. Suicide inducing boring. Okay
maybe not that bad, but I have died a thousand deaths touching my work, and it
is work that I love. I love it! At least I think I do. Sometimes I wish my
paper was “The most erotic love scene ever written- accompanied with stick
people illustrations”. Topic too long? However it seems like such a fun thing
to write about! In fact…
·
It is Gruelling. Am sure that the only place the adjective ‘ gruelling’ is
used is in relation to academic research and terror suspect interrogations.
·
There are more fun things to do than research and these fun things all
present themselves at the same time, only during the period before the
deadline.
·
Mental block is the building block of research. Selah!
·
The writing tends to take a life of its own, usually departing from the
topic and always the writer will have no clue until several chapters later. [Mourning (n)] is the emotional state
that accompanies having to edit then delete 18 pages of writing in order to
start over.
·
Plagiarism (n) - what is so wrong
about agreeing in full with someone who has thought the exact same thing you
are thinking, wrote it the exact way you would write it and even used the same
words and anecdotes? This alleged crime seriously needs legal review, what with
marijuana and other legitimate medicine that is erroneously criminalized.
·
There are more fun things to do than research and these fun things all
present themselves at the same time, only during the period before the
deadline. Emphasis mine.
·
It is a very stoic endeavour The most stoic thing I get to do in my
life, and kindly feel free to look up another research induced term. You do it
because you simply must do it.
Anyway,
about my thesis. [Side note: Do you
notice how easily I digress when discussing this “thing”?] It has become
something of a behemoth in my life. It is larger than an elephant in the room
that will not be mentioned. I am simply drowning in it and there are no straws
to clutch.
The
deadline is fast approaching. In the next 3 weeks I must ensure to have
successfully submitted the final product of my sweat without a hitch.
Therefore, I have now committed that I will type until my fingers become numb
or my keys regress into the keyboard. That as I study for my other exam, a
course unrelated to my Masters, and even more gruelling and finalize other
projects that I had ambitiously taken at the beginning of my research.
So
help me God!
