I am exhausted! I spent last night tossing and turning trying to figure out how to deal with writing about almost two thousand years of history in 15 to 20 pages. It's not an easy problem to work out, but I think I finally have a solution; unfortunately I am so exhausted from my sleepless night that I might have to wait till tomorrow to go to the library and write.
NO! I have to stop doing that. I have to force myself to go to the library for at least an hour tonight and work on my thesis. I even drove up to campus today to force myself to go up there after work even if it is only for 30 minutes and I write 2 pages, per my self-perscribed schedule and then get back home before Glee comes on.
The two or more pages I write before I head back to the apartment to watch Glee probably won't be very good, but at least I'll have something to work with later.
Okay, I think I have sufficiently convinced myself to go to the library after work for a little bit and work on my thesis. I think I just needed to focus myself a bit. Tomorrow will be the major writing day, but it will be good to get a little done tonight too.
Off to go and break the receptionist at work, then to read a little about "The Origins of Christian Zionism" in 19th century England, before I have to take over receptionist duties from 4 to 5:30. Today would have been a perfect day to sit in the library and write, since the weather is gross. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow will be just as gross and be another perfect day to sit and write at my carrel. One can dream.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
6 pages down, 9 more to go...
I am working on writing one chapter of my thesis at a time. Today, I wrote three pages, which exceeds my two pages a day goal, and have three more already written from previous work. With due diligence, I should be able to finish Chapter 1 by the end of this week. That is my goal and with copious amounts of caffeine I can do this for sure! I will update my blog again once I've finished Chapter 1. It will be good motivation to get it done for Friday, so I have something to blog about later this week. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful week and stay warm! :-)
Friday, October 22, 2010
Life as I know it...
Since my last post, I have been spending time working out a new schedule for myself. So far, it is not going very well. I was barely used to the schedule I had and now having to come up with time to do everything I need to do is just exhausting.
I need to find time to write my thesis while trying to be a good wife, work at the office, spend time with friends and family and somehow come up with a minute or two each day for some me time so I continue to function on a daily basis. I rarely ever drank coffee and rarely drink soda, but I think those days have come to an end, at least until January/February.
I have also decided after much thought to delete my history blog and just write on this one. I don't have time to write for both and no one reads the other one anyway. Whenever I feel like writing something on history, I'll just blog about it here. That will help save me a few minutes a few days a week to put towards something else I should be doing instead, like writing my thesis.
My advisors are geniuses by the way. I have pages of information already written for Chapters 1-4 that I need to revise and expand upon. Chapter 5 is going to be the challenge because it is the chapter I have the least amount of information on. But being that I am in a good place with the rest of my thesis, I will have more time to work on Chapter 5 when the time comes. I am writing chapter by chapter and sending them as I complete them to my advisor, who will then send them back to me with comments, which I will then revise said chapter accordingly.
Okay, enough about that.
For now, I am going to read some more of the book I'm reading for thesis research and get another cup of coffee. Oh, now the fun begins!
I need to find time to write my thesis while trying to be a good wife, work at the office, spend time with friends and family and somehow come up with a minute or two each day for some me time so I continue to function on a daily basis. I rarely ever drank coffee and rarely drink soda, but I think those days have come to an end, at least until January/February.
I have also decided after much thought to delete my history blog and just write on this one. I don't have time to write for both and no one reads the other one anyway. Whenever I feel like writing something on history, I'll just blog about it here. That will help save me a few minutes a few days a week to put towards something else I should be doing instead, like writing my thesis.
My advisors are geniuses by the way. I have pages of information already written for Chapters 1-4 that I need to revise and expand upon. Chapter 5 is going to be the challenge because it is the chapter I have the least amount of information on. But being that I am in a good place with the rest of my thesis, I will have more time to work on Chapter 5 when the time comes. I am writing chapter by chapter and sending them as I complete them to my advisor, who will then send them back to me with comments, which I will then revise said chapter accordingly.
Okay, enough about that.
For now, I am going to read some more of the book I'm reading for thesis research and get another cup of coffee. Oh, now the fun begins!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Wait is Over...
Hey everybody! The wait is over! I am officially a candidate to graduate with my Master's of Theology from Luther Seminary upon completion of my thesis!
I am very happy and excited about this because it means I am finally able to move forward in a process that has been slow and at times painful. A step in the right direction is something I really needed to happen and it has.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers throughout this long process.
Now the fun part begins: writing the thesis. I have set a goal for myself of two pages a day. I have come up with a rigorous schedule, which means I may fall off the radar for a while. I have decided to keep a daily journal on my progress on my history blog. If you are interested in keeping up with what I am working on, how I am doing, and my progress that is the place to check out.
Thank you for all the support everyone!
I am very happy and excited about this because it means I am finally able to move forward in a process that has been slow and at times painful. A step in the right direction is something I really needed to happen and it has.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers throughout this long process.
Now the fun part begins: writing the thesis. I have set a goal for myself of two pages a day. I have come up with a rigorous schedule, which means I may fall off the radar for a while. I have decided to keep a daily journal on my progress on my history blog. If you are interested in keeping up with what I am working on, how I am doing, and my progress that is the place to check out.
Thank you for all the support everyone!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
I think the wait will be over soon....
Today or tomorrow I will be finding out whether the History/Systematic Theology division has accepted my thesis proposal.
What it means if it is accepted: I pay the $250 candidacy fee and become a candidate to graduate with a Master's of Theology from Luther Seminary upon completing my thesis in accordance with the deadlines given to use by the Graduate Studies office.
What it means if it is not accepted: 1) I have to wait till November when the division meets again and revise my thesis proposal to their specifications so it will be acceptable. It will also put writing my thesis on hold, which means it is less likely that I meet the deadlines in order to graduate in May. 2) I will lose my will to live!
I decided a while ago that I want to write at least two pages of my thesis every day, with the exception of Saturdays or maybe Sundays (that I haven't decided yet.) It has to be 100 pages in length covering all the material necessary to make a cohesive argument for my thesis. That would mean that every 10 days (let's say Monday through Friday; so every two weeks) I will have a rough draft of my thesis written and ready to turn in to my advisor who will look it over and advise me on revisions to be done.
In order to keep myself on track I also made another decision; to keep track of my progress using one of my blogs. Now, I have two blogs to choose from, this blog or my history blog. I'm thinking I should write about my thesis stuff of my history blog, but if I do that I make it into more of a daily journal about myself rather than history. Oh, I don't know what to do. I suppose I'll make that decision when I find out whether or not my thesis proposal has been accepted.
Other than my constant anxiety about my thesis proposal, life is pretty great. Extremely busy, but great! Well that's enough yammering on for now. I'm going to go and check my luthersem email for the billionth time to see if I have any news yet about my thesis stuff. Cross everything people!!! I really need to get accepted today!
What it means if it is accepted: I pay the $250 candidacy fee and become a candidate to graduate with a Master's of Theology from Luther Seminary upon completing my thesis in accordance with the deadlines given to use by the Graduate Studies office.
What it means if it is not accepted: 1) I have to wait till November when the division meets again and revise my thesis proposal to their specifications so it will be acceptable. It will also put writing my thesis on hold, which means it is less likely that I meet the deadlines in order to graduate in May. 2) I will lose my will to live!
I decided a while ago that I want to write at least two pages of my thesis every day, with the exception of Saturdays or maybe Sundays (that I haven't decided yet.) It has to be 100 pages in length covering all the material necessary to make a cohesive argument for my thesis. That would mean that every 10 days (let's say Monday through Friday; so every two weeks) I will have a rough draft of my thesis written and ready to turn in to my advisor who will look it over and advise me on revisions to be done.
In order to keep myself on track I also made another decision; to keep track of my progress using one of my blogs. Now, I have two blogs to choose from, this blog or my history blog. I'm thinking I should write about my thesis stuff of my history blog, but if I do that I make it into more of a daily journal about myself rather than history. Oh, I don't know what to do. I suppose I'll make that decision when I find out whether or not my thesis proposal has been accepted.
Other than my constant anxiety about my thesis proposal, life is pretty great. Extremely busy, but great! Well that's enough yammering on for now. I'm going to go and check my luthersem email for the billionth time to see if I have any news yet about my thesis stuff. Cross everything people!!! I really need to get accepted today!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Continuing to wait...
I am still waiting for an answer about my thesis proposal, but I have gotten the okay from my readers which makes me less nervous and stressed about the situation. So while I wait for the division to give the okay, I am continuing to read sources and trying to keep my cool. Luckily there are plenty of fun outtings this weekend to keep me distracted from the waiting.
Tomorrow night is Oktoberfest at Gastof's in N.E. Minneapolis. This yearly tradition was started in October 2007, when I went with my good friend Veronica Webber and company. I honestly don't remember everyone who was there that night, I just remember it was crowded and a whole lot of fun. :-) I have continued going every years since. This year is no exception and I'm just really excited to get myself a yummy Bavarian pretzl and guzzle down some German beer.
Saturday is my friend Matt's birthday party, which starts at Don Pablo's and continues at Manning's. I am very much looking forward to celebrating with Matt and company that night, Matt's day of birth. :-)
Aside: my phone just died while I was typing this. If you want to get a hold of me, you'll have to wait till after 6pm when I get home and plug it in.
Anyway, plenty of great happenings going on to keep me distracted. Now just to figure out how to keep myself distracted when I need to be sleeping. That ought to be hilarious.
On another note: My fantastic husband Jason has been approved by his faculty committee for First Call, which is a big step in the 5 bizillion step process he will be going throughout the rest of the school year. I am extremely proud of him!!! Love you handsome!!!
Hmmm...is there anything else to say? Not right now. I think I am going to work on coming up with something to write on my history blog. It has turned into a book summary and recommendation blog, which is not what I originally intended it to be, but it works. I've read plenty of history books in the last few months, but figuring out what I want to write about them is challenging. Hey, that's something else I can do to keep myself distracted while waiting; come up with blog entries for my history blog, that no one reads. It's mostly for myself anyway, so that's not a big deal.
Okay, now I am done writing. My thoughts are becoming all gumbled and are not making much sense to me anymore. When that happens it's time to quit for the day and start again tomorrow.
Tomorrow night is Oktoberfest at Gastof's in N.E. Minneapolis. This yearly tradition was started in October 2007, when I went with my good friend Veronica Webber and company. I honestly don't remember everyone who was there that night, I just remember it was crowded and a whole lot of fun. :-) I have continued going every years since. This year is no exception and I'm just really excited to get myself a yummy Bavarian pretzl and guzzle down some German beer.
Saturday is my friend Matt's birthday party, which starts at Don Pablo's and continues at Manning's. I am very much looking forward to celebrating with Matt and company that night, Matt's day of birth. :-)
Aside: my phone just died while I was typing this. If you want to get a hold of me, you'll have to wait till after 6pm when I get home and plug it in.
Anyway, plenty of great happenings going on to keep me distracted. Now just to figure out how to keep myself distracted when I need to be sleeping. That ought to be hilarious.
On another note: My fantastic husband Jason has been approved by his faculty committee for First Call, which is a big step in the 5 bizillion step process he will be going throughout the rest of the school year. I am extremely proud of him!!! Love you handsome!!!
Hmmm...is there anything else to say? Not right now. I think I am going to work on coming up with something to write on my history blog. It has turned into a book summary and recommendation blog, which is not what I originally intended it to be, but it works. I've read plenty of history books in the last few months, but figuring out what I want to write about them is challenging. Hey, that's something else I can do to keep myself distracted while waiting; come up with blog entries for my history blog, that no one reads. It's mostly for myself anyway, so that's not a big deal.
Okay, now I am done writing. My thoughts are becoming all gumbled and are not making much sense to me anymore. When that happens it's time to quit for the day and start again tomorrow.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Waiting for an Answer...
Sometimes there is nothing more stressful than sitting around waiting for an answer. This applies to just about everything, at least for me these days. Okay, not everything, mostly I've been spending some quality waiting around for an answer time regarding my thesis proposal. The longer it takes for my thesis proposal to get approved by the appropriate peoples, the longer I have to wait to "write" the actual thesis. Though I have small portions of it written already, if there are changes that need to be made, I don't want to start any hardcore writing until those have been taken care of. Then the hardcore part starts with daily evening trips to the library after work and barely seeing my husband, friends or family for months. Of course I will mentally need to take breaks from the writing process or else I will literally go insane, or maybe my brain will explode, or my fingers will fall off because of all of the typing. Who knows... There will be breaks but not as many as I have given myself liberty to have now. I am trying to relax before more chaos begins; trying to relax. But it is so stressful to just sit here and wait for an answer.
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