Well it's the day after the thesis was due. To be honest, it's an odd feeling. I'm sitting at my computer and I don't feel guilty for being on Facebook. There's no sense of urgency anymore. There's just an empty feeling. For the past few weeks, my life has been all about the thesis, and now that it's gone, I feel so empty. Hahaha I doubt that this feeling will last, as I soon realise that Europe is coming up so soon.
The thing that I will miss most about Honours year is Lab201 and its motley crew. I can't believe I didn't end up joining this lab until second semester (not that I would have had room to test in first semester anyway). Either way, it's a shame that the whole bonding experience didn't occur until the last month of thesis writing. To think that in such a short period of time, everyone became such good friends. It certainly made the last month of intense stress more bearable. Just knowing that I wasn't the only one going through all that made it a lot easier. In particular, staying overnight with a lab full of people was definitely better than being there alone. If only we had been pulling all-nighters/weekenders earlier. We could have finished so much earlier!! Anyway, I'm sure we'll be keeping in touch. Our next gatherings will under less stressful circumstances (and we also won't be in PJ's lol). Much love to the 201 Crew!!
And although I'm finished with the thesis, I can't relax just yet. I have my interview for org psych at 9am on Thursday. So much for sleeping in. I'll be the guinea pig, since this is the first year that they're interviewing, and I'm the first interviewee. Hope it all goes well. But at least getting it done now, means I won't have to worry about anything once I'm in Europe. I'll just be eagerly refreshing my email in mid-November for the results of dentistry, and then again mid-December for the results of org psych. In the situation where I don't get either (which will be a depressing day), I might apply to do a Masters in Human Resources Management at USyd. Either way, it looks like I'll be studying next year. I just don't know what.
In terms of Europe, I now need to get a camera. My camera died. It was kind of symbolic. As soon as I was finished with my thesis, I took one last photo of my home (Lab Room 4) and then it vibrated in my hand and died. So I'll be needing to get a new camera. Possibly a laptop. Need to pack so much, and I have no winter clothing. Guess it's too late to buy any now, so I'll just have to buy it once I get there.
Anyways, I need to start researching org psych so that I'm prepared and awesome for my interview on Thursday. Plus I still need to find a restaurant for my farewell. Hahaha I'm kinda wishing I hadn't booked my flight to leave so soon after the thesis now.
HBL signing out.
Showing posts with label Lab201. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lab201. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Mission accomplished...
THESIS IS DONE!!!
Well, done in terms of writing. I might still need to edit a few more times (if I have the time or can be bothered). I don't really want to go through my thesis again. It was so painful to write that it would just be torture to read it again so soon after writing it.
The feeling of finishing the thesis is so awesome. It was like a massive wave of euphoria engulfed me. I really wanted to do cartwheels down the hallway in joy, but there were others in the lab plus my prior experience regarding hallways and cartwheels was not positive (although no alcohol was involved this time lol). I can only imagine that the feeling tomorrow when I actually hand it in - it's gonna be a million times better than right now.
The thesis now stands at 14000 words of content, and at 76 pages with everything included. My "whole" year has been for the sole purpose of creating this piece of work. And now that's done, it does feel like I've accomplished something major.
The issue that I have is that I absolutely hate one aspect of APA formatting where you're not allowed to have a gap between the previous paragraph and the next subheading/heading. Between normal paragraphs is OK, but I think that a gap is necessary if changing to a different topic area. I've always done it my way, and have never been told otherwise during the earlier years. And I refuse to change it. I tried doing it, and the ugliness of my thesis made me want to vomit. To me, it was just that bad. I've been working my whole year for this thesis. I should be able to look at it and feel happy about it. If the markers are petty enough to deduct marks for that bloody gap, then I honestly have no idea what to say. All other aspects of APA formatting, I've followed. I just really hate the fact that you can't have a bloody gap. I'm keeping it the way I want it (and besides, I followed the formatting of a previous year's thesis which got a HD). We'll just see what happens, not that I would know whether they had an issue with my "gaps". Regardless, as long as I'm happy with my work, that's the best anyone can hope for.
And in Europe news, I finally bought my travel insurance today.
HBL signing out.
Well, done in terms of writing. I might still need to edit a few more times (if I have the time or can be bothered). I don't really want to go through my thesis again. It was so painful to write that it would just be torture to read it again so soon after writing it.
The feeling of finishing the thesis is so awesome. It was like a massive wave of euphoria engulfed me. I really wanted to do cartwheels down the hallway in joy, but there were others in the lab plus my prior experience regarding hallways and cartwheels was not positive (although no alcohol was involved this time lol). I can only imagine that the feeling tomorrow when I actually hand it in - it's gonna be a million times better than right now.
The thesis now stands at 14000 words of content, and at 76 pages with everything included. My "whole" year has been for the sole purpose of creating this piece of work. And now that's done, it does feel like I've accomplished something major.
The issue that I have is that I absolutely hate one aspect of APA formatting where you're not allowed to have a gap between the previous paragraph and the next subheading/heading. Between normal paragraphs is OK, but I think that a gap is necessary if changing to a different topic area. I've always done it my way, and have never been told otherwise during the earlier years. And I refuse to change it. I tried doing it, and the ugliness of my thesis made me want to vomit. To me, it was just that bad. I've been working my whole year for this thesis. I should be able to look at it and feel happy about it. If the markers are petty enough to deduct marks for that bloody gap, then I honestly have no idea what to say. All other aspects of APA formatting, I've followed. I just really hate the fact that you can't have a bloody gap. I'm keeping it the way I want it (and besides, I followed the formatting of a previous year's thesis which got a HD). We'll just see what happens, not that I would know whether they had an issue with my "gaps". Regardless, as long as I'm happy with my work, that's the best anyone can hope for.
And in Europe news, I finally bought my travel insurance today.
HBL signing out.
So close...
It's now 11:30am on the Sunday, which is 29 hours before the thesis is due. Managed to get most of my discussion done last night/this morning, and was so close to finishing. However, fatigue/delirium set in about 7am and I was forced to sleep after I couldn't think of suitable implications and a conclusion.
Hopefully I shall never have to do an all-nighter ever again. Although in actuality, the way I feel right now is exactly the way I feel after a long night of drinking (except my eyes are stinging so bad). So therefore, I can conclude (quite loosely) that alcohol does not actually affect me, but it's the fatigue that does all that shit to my body.
Just had some Maccas. Now that I've got food in me, I should be able to function properly. This weekend has been so unhealthy. Constant junk food snacks and fast food for every meal, plus all these caffeinated/energy drinks. No wonder why stomach's all weird and in pain.
I should really get back to work. I'm so close to finishing. In my refusal to do my discussion, I've completed everything else that needed to be done. Hence, my abstract, acknowledgements, contents page, tables and figures page, PSY output, appendices, and references are all done. All I need now are those final few paragraphs. Then I'm done. Finally.
HBL signing out.
Hopefully I shall never have to do an all-nighter ever again. Although in actuality, the way I feel right now is exactly the way I feel after a long night of drinking (except my eyes are stinging so bad). So therefore, I can conclude (quite loosely) that alcohol does not actually affect me, but it's the fatigue that does all that shit to my body.
Just had some Maccas. Now that I've got food in me, I should be able to function properly. This weekend has been so unhealthy. Constant junk food snacks and fast food for every meal, plus all these caffeinated/energy drinks. No wonder why stomach's all weird and in pain.
I should really get back to work. I'm so close to finishing. In my refusal to do my discussion, I've completed everything else that needed to be done. Hence, my abstract, acknowledgements, contents page, tables and figures page, PSY output, appendices, and references are all done. All I need now are those final few paragraphs. Then I'm done. Finally.
HBL signing out.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Camp...
It's the Friday before the thesis is due. Lab201 camp begins now. Hoping to get it done by Sunday evening.
After redrafting again, the intro and two experiments are now 10063 words. That's 1100 cut from my first draft. Discussion will hopefully add another 3000 words.
I've got some food with me, as well as change of clothes and a sleeping bag. I'm prepared. Time to get cracking!!
HBL signing out.
After redrafting again, the intro and two experiments are now 10063 words. That's 1100 cut from my first draft. Discussion will hopefully add another 3000 words.
I've got some food with me, as well as change of clothes and a sleeping bag. I'm prepared. Time to get cracking!!
HBL signing out.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Almost over...
89 HOURS TO GO!!
As of this point, I've finished redrafting my intro and Expt1. Expt2 is taking a while since I had the whole idea of the rationale wrong, hence all my predictions and results are not worded correctly. Word count is a bit hard to say since everything is being redrafted, but a rough estimate for my intro and experiments (when it's done) should be around 10500. My discussion section is currently 800 words (although it might be more since my supervisor told me to move some stuff from my Expt2 into the general discussion).
Anyways, this weekend will one hectic ride. Planning to stay there Friday and Saturday nights to hopefully finish by Sunday evening. Actually not hopefully. I will finish by Sunday evening. Come Monday 4pm, I will officially have finished my degree. I will be a graduand!!
In other news, I have just found out that I will be having my interview for org psych before I fly out. They finally got back to me. But the good news is that I won't need to change my departure date!!
HBL signing out.
As of this point, I've finished redrafting my intro and Expt1. Expt2 is taking a while since I had the whole idea of the rationale wrong, hence all my predictions and results are not worded correctly. Word count is a bit hard to say since everything is being redrafted, but a rough estimate for my intro and experiments (when it's done) should be around 10500. My discussion section is currently 800 words (although it might be more since my supervisor told me to move some stuff from my Expt2 into the general discussion).
Anyways, this weekend will one hectic ride. Planning to stay there Friday and Saturday nights to hopefully finish by Sunday evening. Actually not hopefully. I will finish by Sunday evening. Come Monday 4pm, I will officially have finished my degree. I will be a graduand!!
In other news, I have just found out that I will be having my interview for org psych before I fly out. They finally got back to me. But the good news is that I won't need to change my departure date!!
HBL signing out.
Friday, 1 October 2010
Confident and happy...
It's been a while since my last post. It's been a very cognitively demanding week. Psychologically speaking, this should mean that my level of willpower is diminished. So if I gorge on food, or splurge on buying clothes, I can blame this week. Finished both exams feeling like I could have done more (had I only studied more), but there's nothing I can do about that now. I just hope that they scale final marks up so my marks don't look too bad.
As for dentistry interview this morning, surprisingly I feel optimistic about it. I've never walked out of an interview feeling that happy and confident (if I find out that I don't make it -*knock on wood*- I'm coming back to delete this post lol). I felt like my answers were coherent and pleased the interviewers since they were nice and joked with me (or maybe they're like that with everybody). Nevertheless, I was so nervous before the interview, and being me, I showed up 40 minutes early. That gave me time psych myself out, and then calm myself down (slightly). But once I went in, I think my first interviewer was just so nice that it made me feel at ease for the rest of the interview. Even when they threw some hard scenarios at me, I felt like I was able to explain myself without sounding too lost. I'm actually glad that we had an ethics course, cos that helped me so much in answering the questions. Anyway, I'll find out sometime in November so it'll be a bit of a wait.
Now I've completed everything I needed to, besides the thesis. From now til the 11th, it's gonna be all thesis. Maybe a few more all-nighters at uni, but I won't be alone anymore since most of Lab201 are staying over as well. I've told my supervisor that I will send him a redraft of my intro, method and results by Sunday night, so I need to really get cracking. At the moment, it stands at 9500 words, but after cutting out the apparently irrelevant sections of my intro could bring the word count down a bit.
Well, I'll be staying at uni til 1 tonight to work on the thesis. John will pick me up. Don't think I could do an all-nighter at uni in my formal clothes. So bloody uncomfortable. But alas, I needed to look good for the interview.
HBL signing out.
As for dentistry interview this morning, surprisingly I feel optimistic about it. I've never walked out of an interview feeling that happy and confident (if I find out that I don't make it -*knock on wood*- I'm coming back to delete this post lol). I felt like my answers were coherent and pleased the interviewers since they were nice and joked with me (or maybe they're like that with everybody). Nevertheless, I was so nervous before the interview, and being me, I showed up 40 minutes early. That gave me time psych myself out, and then calm myself down (slightly). But once I went in, I think my first interviewer was just so nice that it made me feel at ease for the rest of the interview. Even when they threw some hard scenarios at me, I felt like I was able to explain myself without sounding too lost. I'm actually glad that we had an ethics course, cos that helped me so much in answering the questions. Anyway, I'll find out sometime in November so it'll be a bit of a wait.
Now I've completed everything I needed to, besides the thesis. From now til the 11th, it's gonna be all thesis. Maybe a few more all-nighters at uni, but I won't be alone anymore since most of Lab201 are staying over as well. I've told my supervisor that I will send him a redraft of my intro, method and results by Sunday night, so I need to really get cracking. At the moment, it stands at 9500 words, but after cutting out the apparently irrelevant sections of my intro could bring the word count down a bit.
Well, I'll be staying at uni til 1 tonight to work on the thesis. John will pick me up. Don't think I could do an all-nighter at uni in my formal clothes. So bloody uncomfortable. But alas, I needed to look good for the interview.
HBL signing out.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Mission complete...
So I survived my first all-nighter. That was my mission. Not my thesis. As if I could have completed the thesis in one night. Surprisingly I'm not as tired now that the sun has come up (not that I would know since my little cell has no windows). I managed to get all the training data from my 111 data files, and collate them into one simple graph. Also worked on my second draft of my method and results, and added 400 words. OK that doesn't sound like much, but when you're redrafting, that's actually heaps. Had a 1.5 hour nap at 4:30am, which really helped.
From my first all-nighter here at uni, I now know that the cleaners come into the building at 3:30am to start the whole cleaning process. And they certainly are a noisy group of people. But I guess they wouldn't expect anyone to still be in the building working. The cleaner came into Lab201 at 6am, and was surprised to see me in there. Luckily he didn't come in earlier, or he would have seem me lying on the floor semi-asleep. I'm sure in the next few days, there'll be more and more of us honours students staying back at uni to work on our theses. We will probably need to put a "Do Not Disturb" sign up on the door, in order to stop them coming in and disturbing our sleep/work.
It's only 9:20am, but the memory of yesterday and last night seems like it happened so long ago. But as for today, lots of studying to be done. Fun.
HBL signing out.
From my first all-nighter here at uni, I now know that the cleaners come into the building at 3:30am to start the whole cleaning process. And they certainly are a noisy group of people. But I guess they wouldn't expect anyone to still be in the building working. The cleaner came into Lab201 at 6am, and was surprised to see me in there. Luckily he didn't come in earlier, or he would have seem me lying on the floor semi-asleep. I'm sure in the next few days, there'll be more and more of us honours students staying back at uni to work on our theses. We will probably need to put a "Do Not Disturb" sign up on the door, in order to stop them coming in and disturbing our sleep/work.
It's only 9:20am, but the memory of yesterday and last night seems like it happened so long ago. But as for today, lots of studying to be done. Fun.
HBL signing out.
Intro done, but still so much to do...
The building is eerily quiet. I'm surprised that all the lights are still on. You'd think that they'd turn off the lights to save power. From time to time, I hear doors open and close, which I'm gonna assume is the result of the security guard patrolling the place (and not because of the ghost that haunts Lab201). He hasn't checked in here though, so I assume he doesn't have swipe access, or maybe he just assumes that no one would be stupid enough to spend the whole night at uni.
Anyways, so it's now 12:30am. I've "completed" my intro and sent it off with a grand total of 4628 words. Just had a great bludging session on Facebook. Now it's time to start getting back into the workload. Only another 8 hours before the rest of the 201 crew come in.
HBL signing out.
Anyways, so it's now 12:30am. I've "completed" my intro and sent it off with a grand total of 4628 words. Just had a great bludging session on Facebook. Now it's time to start getting back into the workload. Only another 8 hours before the rest of the 201 crew come in.
HBL signing out.
Monday, 27 September 2010
First all-nighter...and at uni...
TWO WEEKS TIL THE THESIS IS DUE!!
It's amazing what a deadline can do. I've been so productive over the last few days, even though I failed to meet my (self-imposed) deadline. I was meant to send my supervisor my completed intro by last night. However, I was only at 3500 words for the intro. Unfortunately, I couldn't send that to him, because at our meeting on Friday, I lied and told him I was at 3500 words (when I was only at 2000). Therefore, if I sent him my intro with 3500 words, it would be like I'd done nothing over the two days. Currently on 4362 words and anticipating finishing it and sending it to him tonight.
Tonight, I am pulling my first ever all-nighter. And to make it interesting, I am doing it at uni. I'll be in my little 1.5mx4m cell, with my Red Bull and family size pack of biscuits to help me through the night. Hoping to get my intro done before 9pm, and then spend the rest of the night fixing up my method and results sections. And possibly starting my discussion section. Or studying for my upcoming exams. Bah! So much to do. I think there's gonna be a lot more all-nighters in the next two weeks.
HBL signing out.
It's amazing what a deadline can do. I've been so productive over the last few days, even though I failed to meet my (self-imposed) deadline. I was meant to send my supervisor my completed intro by last night. However, I was only at 3500 words for the intro. Unfortunately, I couldn't send that to him, because at our meeting on Friday, I lied and told him I was at 3500 words (when I was only at 2000). Therefore, if I sent him my intro with 3500 words, it would be like I'd done nothing over the two days. Currently on 4362 words and anticipating finishing it and sending it to him tonight.
Tonight, I am pulling my first ever all-nighter. And to make it interesting, I am doing it at uni. I'll be in my little 1.5mx4m cell, with my Red Bull and family size pack of biscuits to help me through the night. Hoping to get my intro done before 9pm, and then spend the rest of the night fixing up my method and results sections. And possibly starting my discussion section. Or studying for my upcoming exams. Bah! So much to do. I think there's gonna be a lot more all-nighters in the next two weeks.
HBL signing out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)