I guess I needed a break from the stress of trying to rush my honours thesis out with a little more than 2 weeks left to go. As the deadline looms ahead of me ominously, I began to desperately make some sense of what I am writing — you know that feeling, after a while you don’t know what you are writing about! — and scrambling for every little piece of extra information to fill in a gap here and there. I don’t know about you but this thesis business is frankly driving me insane.
Fret not, at least scores of university students are undergoing this (ahem) rite of passage to academic hell fulfilment in this trying period of time. But, how do you know when you’re about to pass out? Maybe you only have less than 137 minutes left to run out and get your 15th dose of Starbucks coffee before your kneels buckle and white froth start to spew from the corners of your lips!
Here are the seven major signs that you’re SICK of writing, but sorry, you have to keep going anyway.
7. You are looking at how many % you can afford to lose if/when you miss the deadline.
And you think losing 5% isn’t all that bad. Perhaps.
6. You consider forgoing an entire chapter. Or even two!
Hopefully no-one will notice.
5. Everything else looks so appealing to do.
*stares out of the window at guy clearing garbage in torrential rain* Hmm…
4. The joints in your fingers are swollen from typing. But not as swollen as your eyelids.
Sleep beckons with more finesse than ever.
3. You start making to-do lists of everything you want to do when the ordeal is over.
Shopping, places to visit, movies to watch. Hell, you even considered alphabetizing the books on your shelf and colour-coding your wardrobe. (If you haven’t already done so)
2. Times New Roman, font size 12, is making your eyes BLEED.
May start considering typing in a fancier font. Just to give my poor eyes a break from this offensive font.
1. All the words start to blur into a gooey murderous mess.
And you wonder where all the sharp objects on your desk has gone. (Apparently, someone received the memo and hid all the knives in the room…)
In any case, weeks of desperate job seeking, bad hair days and a caffeine/sleep-deprived lifetime await you after this.
So how bad could this be after all?
Just kidding. Before all of that misfortune can befall you, my comrade in fighting the thesis monster, you deserve a big fat sunny vacation with all the margaritas (with the tiny little umbrellas!) you can drink and a (few) shopping spree(s), not to mention endless movie marathons and happy summer days of having absolutely nothing to do after working so hard.
Now, let’s go back to writing before this reverie consumes us (and our beloved thesis) alive. ♥
Tagged: advice, College, experience, final year, frustration, Geography, higher education, honours year, Rants, school, stress, student life, thesis, university, worry, writing
