Matthew's Journal

As some of you know, I'm in the final stages of writing my master's thesis. When I was still doing my research, I didn't think that it would take as much effort to write as it has turned out to require. I've been putting in 10-14 hour days, seven days a week for almost a month trying to meet my deadline. I have to send off my almost final draft to my committee two weeks from Monday (10/8). That means that the draft has to have all of its content final and edited with only very small details left undone or unpolished. I'm getting closer to reaching that point every day, but I still have a lot to do to get there and I've been in a constant state of low-grade panic for the past week. To top it all off, my adviser is worrying about my progress too. Every time I see her I can see this accusing look in her eyes that questions why I'm not done yet and threatens violence, not only if I don't work faster, but if I don't improve the current quality of my drafts by leaps and bounds.

I guess the moral of this whole story is that it's 5:45am Sunday morning. I'm still in my office in Jordan Hall working. I've been here since 1:00pm Saturday except when I went home for dinner. I'm tired. I live in terror of not meeting my deadline. I live in greater terror of my adviser and what will happen to me if I miss my deadline or don't meet my her expectations.