Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Hefty tome

Well, it's been a long time since I looked at this blog, hasn't it. I have rather sadly been very preoccupied with my dreaded PhD.

However... I handed in my final draft last week (hehe!!) and have now been challenged by TheCatsMother to immediately start 'diverse and original blogging' again.....

Not sure I can manage that yet, but I'll give it a go. This last month's work has really drained me mentally and physically, I'm afraid. I feel like a manky old wrung out dish cloth, but I don't think it's permanent. *phew*

Firstly, a PhD Final Draft fact: I weighed it on my kitchen scales, and it's a whopping 3 and a half pounds. That's about 1.58 kilos apparently, according to some online conversion chart. Quite heavy, you know. A hefty tome indeed. I had it bound, even though it's not the final version for submission, just a cheapo plastic spine thing, but it looked fairly impressive, if I say so myself. A LOT of paper and dare I say it, a hell of a lot of work has gone into it. Does that sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet a little?? Aah well, so be it!!!!

So now I am waiting for the feedback from my supervisors, wondering what sort of workload it will bestow on me for the festive season. Until then, I've been sleeping a lot and pottering about catching up with domestic things, a bit of clothes shopping and spending my birthday gift vouchers. Guilt-free TV watching is also proving very pleasant, the current run of Diagnosis Murder repeats are becoming a nice little habit. Unfortunately, I also seem to be dreaming about this imminent feedback, which isn't very nice, but I guess a bit of stress goes with the territory. Ah well, not long to go until it's over....

It would be too boring to post a pic of my thesis in all its weighty glory, so here's one of some 1970s Osmonds Letraset transfers that the lovely Dr Helen McCookerybook sent me a while ago. Some imaginative ideas for how to use your Popstar Watchits given in the packet include sticking them on your makeup mirror, on your favourite shirt buttons and on the toes of your platform shoes. Perhaps most spookily, it pre-empts today's grown-up nail art trend by several decades by suggesting you stick the small ones on your fingernails.

PS The Osmonds transfers aren't just a random bit of ephemera to fill up a blog post, you know. There is logic buried in there... today happens to be Donny Osmond's birthday.