I guess it’s been a while since my last non-review post, so let’s get to it. What’s been occurring? Well, this and that.
The main news is that I’m now, officially, a full-blown PhD student. The days of being registered on the MPhil/PhD programme are over, and I’ve passed by Transfer process to drop the ‘MPhil’ bit and plough on into doctorate territory. Not that that means that I’ve earned an MPhil; just that all concerned (my 2 x supervisors, and an internal examiner from our department) think I’m good enough to give the PhD a shot, and I get another year’s worth of funding to hopefully submit my final thesis in around twelve months’ time. It’s an odd scenario knowing that I’m the final stretch (though hella nerve-wracking, too), but it’s also somewhat of a relief that I’ve passed the last major stumbling block before final submission. Plus, if things don’t work out and the next year sees me getting nowhere, then at least it means that the worst I can come out with is an MPhil to show for my efforts; even though that would be merely a consolation prize for the time and effort spent on the project.
I don’t think my nerves have yet recovered from my final viva (last Thurs), as I’m still a ball of tension with a stomach tied in knots, but I think the pressure is slowly releasing. A lazy Friday day off at Royal Victoria Country Park with Attack the Block and Exit Through the Gift Shop at Jen’s and a gentle Saturday’s work in the office followed by beverages at The Hobbit have certainly helped; and I’m going to make use of the last of the good weather by trudging into town later this afternoon to think about collecting bits for a home-made Hallowe’en costume. No F1 today, so the barriers to me seeing the light of day of a Sunday afternoon have largely been dismantled.
Busy week of working on induction week activities is upcoming, along with the RockSoc Fresher’s Pubcrawl this Thursday. Sounds like a busy week, so I’m gonna stop larking around on the internet and get me some sunshine. Bingo.
[Zinar7]
p.s. In other news, I’d largely forgotten that Turbonegro existed. Sticking Scandinavian Leather on this morning has reminded that I shouldn’t have forgotten, and that I should totally buy the rest of their albums. Let that be a lesson to me.
Sinister Resistance 