Estimating

Just started entering data from my questionnaires and I realise that some people have no clue on estimating either time or distance: already came across 2 people claiming to driver 15-20 hours per week, but then mentioning a TOTAL of 80-100 km for that week?!? Is the rest of the hours on rollers in the backyard???

Well, was I lost or what?

It has been ages since I wrote anything here. First I couldn't write about what I wanted to write about (my boring supervisory problems) and then I was busy trying to make up for lost time (due to my boring supervisory problems). Today I entered the age of Facebook in a workshop and I am required to create a blog (haha, already got one) and link this to Facebook later. We are curious. ;-)

Could my future be this bright?

Or is this whole study a waste of time?



Just some random thoughts while in limbo (waiting for the results of my last unit). Sigh. (Both photo's made in Tonga, last week.)

Back from holiday

And still no grade for my last assignment. How surprising (not). No tutes anywhere in sight, due to the uni's new policy of teaching without sessionals. Good thing I'm really relaxed at the moment, thanks to my Tongan holiday. Plough on with the ethics proposal. Yay! Part of my data will be generated at another institute, so I have to put in 2 ethics forms. The person at the other institute has vanished of the earth (email came back as undeliverable) and the research office he was working for is nowhere to be found (or so the receptionist tells me). It is sooooo Monday!

Yay, holiday!

I can hardly believe it myself, but I actually handed in my lit review an hour ago. 40 pages of sweat, blood and tears. Honestly, my efforts came closer to writhing than writing the past weeks/months. Now all I need is a Pass (yep, my standards decline by the hour) and get organised again. That is, after my very well earned holiday in Tonga, land of leisure, palmtrees and good food (and dengue mosquitoes, but who cares?). I'll be working on my tan (don't start on the missing ozone layer please!) and on reversing the damage all this stress has done to my body and mind (think heartburn, sleep deprivation, gaining weight, raised blood pressure and knotted up muscles). Being a student is so much easier is you are young, if only because your body can actually cope with the stress when it is 20 years old!

Snails pace

I feel like a snail, trying to run a marathon. And I feel stupid for trying in the first place. What on earth possessed me a year ago???? Was it ambition? Was it temporary insanity? Was it existential angst, fearing for misery in the future without the doctorate (as in no job, no pension, no future)? Was it arrogance? Damned if I know.

Nature

Both my readers complained last week that I have not been writing anything. This is true, I haven't. Starting out I thought I would have lots to write about my research adventure, but doing research is actually a very lonely job. Most of the time I'm stuck by myself in a room with a computer, trying to type something interesting onto the screen. This is a very slow and boring process. I could rant on and on about my supervisory problems, but I don't want to get into a liability suit (or whatever it is called), so that topic is a bit off limits too. Past weeks I've tried to get my enthusiasm back (I was on the verge of chucking the whole thing in), and wandering through nature works better than meandering through the uni. Here's some of the beauty of Oz, so there you go: I'm writing again.


Lorikeets and pidgeon


Autumn in Oz