Monday, April 16, 2007

I hate my thesis. Part 9,384,509,384,530,985

I'm not the only one. Tyler hates it. Kelly hates it. My parents hate it. My thesis committee hates it. My co-workers at my last several jobs, both full-time and part-time, over the past two years hate it. Anyone who talks to me at least once every six months hates it. The, ahem, third deadline is on the horizon, less than two weeks away, and so I've sitting on my bed for about an hour, doing what I do best and most: Reading blogs that are entirely unrelated to my thesis ... which is about blogs.

So now, in the interest of prolonging my thesis pain, I present a list of things I like to do instead of writing my thesis, and I hope that in two weeks this list can be retitled as things I like to do and never feel guilty about:

1) Dancing alone in my apartment. This is really No. 1. Always and forever. Sorry, neighbors.
2) Furniture window-shopping online -- because I'm way too busy writing my thesis to actually go to the store and purchase furniture. Besides, if I actually purchased any furniture for my apartment, there would be no room left to dance.
3) Reading novels that have nothing to do with blogs or Victorian literature.
4) Cooking, a hobby I adopted several months before a looming thesis deadline (the second of three).
5) Knitting, the hobby I pick up for a week at a time, then abandon for two months. Or two years.
6) Walking home from work, a journey that offers two music stores, six, count them, six bookstores, two bridges, a zoo and Filene's Basement.
7) Buying coffee instead of drinking instant. Paying tuition requires money and since I am too overwhelmed by my thesis efforts to focus properly on my part-time freelance gig, a girl must make sacrifices.
8) Running. I will be fresh out of excuses not to do this six times a week, once May 4th rolls around. I don't really like it, but I like my calf muscles. And I am vain.
9) Searching for jobs in Germany that I will likely never apply for. Because I am still homesick, 11 years later.
10) Seeing friends. I use my thesis as an excuse not to go out all the time, and I always regret it.

This is obviously a list of things I like, rather than a list of things I hate, but I've been prevented from doing almost all of these things as much as I'd like while I've been working on my thesis. So, in effect, I hate the absence of all these things.

....

And if anyone is interested in an unpaid freelance editing job, please comment! I will gladly email you my 75-page document and you can track changes in Word as much as you like!

21 comments:

Johan said...

I hate to read a blog about people who hate writing their thesis while I'm supposed to be writing mine. And no, it's not about blogs. Good laugh, ladies and gents :-). Happy writin'!

Anonymous said...

I like your thesis, but only in the sense that I can tell people my friend wrote her thesis about blogs.

While in SF, I did see an entire panel called "Self Actualization on the Internet," afterall.

C. Moon Reed said...

I hate my thesis so much that I too had to write a blog about it! Any survival tips?

Anonymous said...

I hate my thesis too. After it got rejected twice, I accepted a full-time job. Now I come home, tired and totally unmotivated, yet I sit on my laptop and think of what to write. An hour passes and I realize that I have done nothing but gaze out of my window. I always tell people I'm working on my thesis which is why I don't go out with them, or do anything fun. This thesis is killing me, I hate it, but I need to get it done because my career depends on it. Deadlines loom and I continue to procrastinate

Anonymous said...

I hate writing my thesis which is about stuff in cities and what regulate them

Hamish Nair said...

oh man im hating my thesis soo much at the moment. i just cant wait to get this done and over with, its such a painful process. but remember many people have gone through it before and survived :P

Anonymous said...

I hate writing my thesis too, i guess it's a sign you're hating your thsis when you find yourself googleing "i hate writing my thesis". Relieved im not the only one :)

Anonymous said...

All I can say is...JUST DO IT. The greatest feeling of my entire life was getting that @#$%er done after 43 (yes, really, FORTY-THREE) revisions, followed by several more iterations with the Format Nazis after my advisers finally accepted the damn thing.

Just do it. Just sit your ass down & do it, get it done, get it over with. Take off work, spend all day every day, just finish it already.

The sense of relief is better than sex, and it lasts for several weeks; greatest natural high EVER.

Unknown said...

Too funny! I googled: why i hate writing my dissertation, and found this!

Hope things are going better for you. Know there are others out there. I have gained two pounds per chapter--and just added a second chapter, so....

Maybe I should take up #8 running.

EMR said...

LOL, I also found this after Googling "I hate my thesis". It's mostly about malaria, and I think at this point I'd rather catch malaria than go through yet another revision. :-)

Anonymous said...

now I know I'm not alone. but I also am more scared than ever about having it accepted .sigh....
nice read though!

titusmartinus said...

it is 41 C (110 F, I think) degrees outside, it is the holiday month down her in OZ and everyone else is at the beach and here I am googling 'I hate my thesis'...HA! Nice to hear everyone else does too. Mine is on maritime piracy so it keeps me interested... after my honors (4th) year I did sales and came home every night feeling lost...now I'm just overwhelmed.... an improvement? Yes, its just a hoop to jump through, just get the #$@^%*# thing done!! OWCH!

Anonymous said...

I am in the same boat, right here. I googled "My thesis is killing me". I do long for that sense of relief after my thesis is finished, but I can't stand the thought that the process of finishing it is between me and that moment.

Anonymous said...

I have googled and been on hundreds of academic websites (no kidding) and this is my second attempt to complete the course! ARGH! I was kidding when I randomly typed in "why I hate my thesis" and came here. Thanks for reminding me that this c^@p really sucks for everyone that has ever done one! Alas, time is fading and I am back to my highlighting, procrastinating, and griping. GL everyone who finds this webpage!

Postdams said...

In case you're curious you can also get to this page by googling "pains of writing thesis." It's the fourth link down.

Anonymous said...

yep. got here by googling "I hate writing my thesis".

Needs to be done in two months... no idea what happens after that.

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Anonymous said...

found this site after googling "I fucking hate my thesis". I guess it's a never ending sentiment that will always remain true as long as human kind exists.

sammiekins said...

my turn to comment on how much i hate my thesis. so desperately to the extent i'm googling it.

Anonymous said...

Ditto. I would write more, but I have to go dance in my apartment, ......um,... I mean work on my thesis.

Anonymous said...

Can I also thank all for putting their love hate relationships their thesis on-line, I too found the site through Google searching I hate my thesis.