Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Thesis thesis thesis thesis

So the last few weeks have been pretty full on with thesis work. I've been working solidly towards getting the thesis done. We fly to Sweden on the 24th of February and I'm hoping (cross your fingers for me) to submit on the 19th of Feb. That means the thesis has to be finished and printed before then. I think it's possible, I hope it's possible, I expect that I will make it possible.

Inter-dispersed between these bouts of thesis mania have been a number of different things. I found out a lovely lovely woman I was friends with in Canberra died last week from secondary cancers. She originally had breast cancer a number of years ago. She was a very stylish, friendly woman who had great taste in shoes. We weren't super close by any stretch of the imagination. We met through dancing and would talk and see each other occasionally, at socials and other events. I was so sad to hear of her death. She was only 35. 10 minute prior to finding this out, I got an email from a friend from uni. He's relapsed again with his lymphoma and is going into his last attempt at cure with some really hardcore chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant. I'm hopeful that he'll do well and recover.
So I've had two people I know be touched by cancer. That an my Opa is currently undergoing treatment for bowel cancer. It's just a cancer-a-thon. I'm really looking forward to some good news.

I'm not sure if this counts as good news, or just something that is new. I've been making good progress with the couch to 5km program and am up to week 7 of 9. This means I'm going for 25 minute runs/jogs 3 times this week. I've already done 2 at this length and was able to run further the second time. My running buddy is in Canberra at conference this week, and the temperature is going to be over 40 degrees until Sunday, so I'm not sure how well I'll go on the planned runs for Wednesday and Friday, but I can but try.

Anywhoodle, back to thesis talk, seeing as that is all my life is about, if you pay attention to the questions I get asked by people. I look forward to a time when someone asks me how my thesis is going and I can tell them that it's done, finished, submitted and dealt with. 3 weeks today until I need to print it. Today I'm sitting in the state library in the domed reading room, making use of the free wireless. It's nice in here, cool, well lit, and the desks are really old wooden ones. It usually works to make me work well and focus. Today isn't going so well, but I'm almost done with my planned work for today, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Bleh, I'm also suffering from raccoon eyes. I've not been sleeping terribly well, too much stress = too little good quality sleep. I have exceptionally vivid dreams which while not specifically nightmares, are disruptive to good quality sleep. But at least I can aim for pretty well rested eyes after the 19th of Feb. With that in mind I'm going to leave this poorly constructed post and go back to the joys of chapter 5.