Friday, May 9, 2008

Fears of the Heart

So, this will be the last post for a while. For those of you who don't know (which is probably just about everyone) I defend my masters thesis in a little over a week. I am scared $hit less!

In truth, I feel ready. I just can't get rid of this fear that I am going to be completely torn to shreds. That I will get up there, say and do everything right, and still fail. I gave the first dry run in front of my adviser Monday. It went really well for a first dry run. There was minimal changes to my slides, and I left feeling really good about it. His advise was pretty standard. Stand up straight!...Don't snap your gum!...Are you reading your slides!?...I can't hear you!...You have too many slides. Just kidding, he was really helpful. He had me flip through my slides as he talked, showing me where I could save time. The only disturbing thing is that if I don't talk to the back right corner of the room, he is going to stand there so I will. I'm not sure why he wants that corner to feel included, but I'm willing to accommodate. Your adviser is like your mother, when he's happy everyone's happy.

The second dry run was Wednesday. It went even better. I had made the changes to my slides, and was even able to run through all 23 of them in half an hour! My adviser ask some mock questions (the kind designed to trip you up and make you look like a babbling idiot) and I was able to answer most of them successfully. It wasn't until half an hour afterward that I noticed that I had toothpaste down the front of my shirt! I really hope that this is not a sign of things to come! At least it was on the bottom corner, and not down the middle.

All this fear has led me to believe that I need a good luck charm (hence the pic). I'm not sure what makes an adequate good luck charm. All I really know that rabbit's feet don't work. I mean, the rabbit had four of them and look what happened to him. I have decided that for my defense, the Groundhog of Science would make a wonderful good luck charm. This way, if it doesn't work out I can blame it all on him. After all, he's a groundhog. What could he possibly know about science!


P.S.
Don't feel bad if you didn't know that I was defending. I haven't had time to breath, much less spread the news. They only reason I have time to blog, is that I am currently waiting on an undergraduate. Well, got to go. I need to be in St. George this weekend for CE's farewell. I'm really proud of him.

2 comments:

Jes said...

Glad to see you include even the corners of your shirt. Your advisor should be happy you learned so quickly.

Best of luck with the He Said, She Said of Thermodynamics.

PS Church was so much more fun with you!

Jeramie said...

I graduated! I will officially get a very expensive piece of paper that says I know a lot about very little! It feels so unreal...

One of my committee members said that he was going to make a copy of my thesis and give it to one of his graduate students. He plans on telling his student that "This is what a master's thesis looks like. Now go write one." High praise in deed!