Haven't been around for a while (except to answer PMs), but my reason for doing that is now over. My dissertation is finally complete. Finally! A few minor assignments, a few exams, and in a couple of months I should be graduating.
tired, resting, happy...
back!
Fabulous!
What is your dissertation about?
Best of luck and success with your defense.
Fabulous!
What is your dissertation about?
Best of luck and success with your defense.
It was mainly about journalism and how it is being changed by the internet. I believe that in our case I would only need to defend it if they suspect irregularities, which typically would be plagiarism, so I shouldn't have to.
Now comes the job hunting for me. Its challenging and exciting, as my work would involve things (calling people, interviews) which I do not do normally. But I have been feeling more and more ready. My reporting seems to be as sharp as ever, and I seem to be much less afraid of dealing with people than I was a few months ago.
I've planned a long weekend off for myself, just resting and goofing off. It's quite a good time
Congratulations Eoin- Good for you. And have a fun weekend
Congratulations! And enjoy your weekend!
You deserve it!
Haven't been around for a while (except to answer PMs), but my reason for doing that is now over. My dissertation is finally complete. Finally! A few minor assignments, a few exams, and in a couple of months I should be graduating.
tired, resting, happy...
back!
That is Great! What an accomplishment!
thanks all of you! the weekend's going well so far too
The Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?
The story starts with Frodo: a young hobbit, quite bright, a bit dissatisfied with what he's learnt so far and with his mates back home who just seem to want to get jobs and settle down and drink beer. He's also very much in awe of his tutor and mentor, the very senior professor Gandalf, so when Gandalf suggests he take on a short project for him (carrying the Ring to Rivendell), he agrees.
Frodo very quickly encounters the shadowy forces of fear and despair which will haunt the rest of his journey and leave permanent scars on his psyche, but he also makes some useful friends. In particular, he spends an evening down at the pub with Aragorn, who has been wandering the world for many years as Gandalf's postdoc and becomes his adviser when Gandalf isn't around.
After Frodo has completed his first project, Gandalf (along with head of department Elrond) proposes that the work should be extended. He assembles a large research group, including visiting students Gimli and Legolas, the foreign postdoc Boromir, and several of Frodo's own friends from his undergraduate days. Frodo agrees to tackle this larger project, though he has mixed feelings about it. ("'I will take the Ring', he said, 'although I do not know the way.'")
Very rapidly, things go wrong. First, Gandalf disappears and has no more interaction with Frodo until everything is over. (Frodo assumes his supervisor is dead: in fact, he's simply found a more interesting topic and is working on that instead.) At his first international conference in Lorien, Frodo is cross-questioned terrifyingly by Galadriel, and betrayed by Boromir, who is anxious to get the credit for the work himself.
Frodo cuts himself off from the rest of his team: from now on, he will only discuss his work with Sam, an old friend who doesn't really understand what it's all about, but in any case is prepared to give Frodo credit for being rather cleverer than he is. Then he sets out towards Mordor.
The last and darkest period of Frodo's journey clearly represents the writing-up stage, as he struggles towards Mount Doom (submission), finding his burden growing heavier and heavier yet more and more a part of himself; more and more terrified of failure; plagued by the figure of Gollum, the student who carried the Ring before him but never wrote up and still hangs around as a burnt-out, jealous shadow; talking less and less even to Sam. When he submits the Ring to the fire, it is in desperate confusion rather than with confidence, and for a while the world seems empty.
Eventually it is over: the Ring is gone, everyone congratulates him, and for a few days he can convince himself that his troubles are over. But there is one more obstacle to overcome: months later, back in the Shire, he must confront the external examiner Saruman, an old enemy of Gandalf, who seeks to humiliate and destroy his rival's protege. With the help of his friends and colleagues, Frodo passes through this ordeal, but discovers at the end that victory has no value left for him. While his friends return to settling down and finding jobs and starting families, Frodo remains in limbo; finally, along with Gandalf, Elrond and many others, he joins the brain drain across the Western ocean to the new land beyond.
Frodo ended up with quite a bit of gold for his trouble. Something comforting about cold hard cash.
on the completion of your Thesis Eoin.
And
The Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?
Certainly never thought of it that way, but that's a great story.
...finding his burden growing heavier and heavier yet more and more a part of himself...
this much is true, it hasn't really sunk in yet that it's gone now, even though as far as dissertations go, this wasn't really a major one. It took so much of my time and thoughts over the past few months
I don't know the original author of the "Lord of the Rings an allegory for the PhD?" piece, but I have heard that he/she wrote it as an experiment to see how far and wide it would be circulated over the internet.
