24 days down, 19 to go

The Oxford winter break is now halfway over, with three weeks remaining. Somehow, that rather changes my thinking with regards to the accomplishments so far. Having spent two of the three weeks so far in Turkey, and dealt with what limited Christmas related activities I had, I feel less bad about not having completed masses of thesis reading or writing yet. As it now seems quite unlikely that I will be going anywhere with Sarah P. before the break is over, that leaves me with a good block of time to push my way through my enduring to-do list.

I should probably have anticipated that searching for jobs right around Christmas would be all-but-impossible. The fact that nobody will respond to emails within about a week of the celebration makes a lot of sense, when you consider all the stress and staffing problems that it necessarily involves. Hopefully, once we pass through the gate of New Year’s Eve, some connectivity and productivity will re-emerge among potential employers.

The plan, therefore, is to finish my developing world papers (including at least one external edit) by the 29th of December, without fail. That should keep me hopping during the next few days: from abandoned library to less abandoned coffee shop, for reading and writing respectively.

PS. I am really coming to appreciate TextMate. It has replaced TextEdit in my Dock, and I may even shell out the 39 Euros for a legitimate copy, once the thirty day trial expires. I especially appreciate how I can work on PHP files, .htaccess files, and the like without having to worry about formatting problems – and with colour coding to boot.

Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.

5 thoughts on “24 days down, 19 to go”

  1. I really am far and away most concerned about the thesis. I have never written anything even 1/4 as long, and I have had less than two hours of direct supervision so far this year.

    Andrew Hurrell hasn’t responded to an email of mine since 24 November, and even then it was just a message that we should delay the second of our two supervisions since the year began.

  2. Don’t forget about pre-reading for whatever courses you have next term.

  3. For someone who only does a bit of light coding, spending 39 Euros on TextMate seems excessive. There must be a piece of freeware that would be just as functional, for your needs, and have less confusing and unneeded stuff to boot.

  4. Beating Procrastination with Self-Imposed Deadlines

    “Procrastination attracts us because of hyperbolic time discounting: the immediate (guilty) rewards are disproportionally more compelling than the greater delayed cost. Procrastination is the reward itself. An MIT professor found that when he allowed his students to give themselves their own homework deadlines, they would artificially restrict themselves to counter procrastination. However, they did not set deadlines for optimal effectiveness. I am personally a huge procrastinator and it’s always a pull between rational logic (giving yourself the most time by choosing end dates as the deadline), and your past experience saying you will put it off so force yourself to start early.”Beating Procrastination with Self-Imposed Deadlines

  5. For someone who only does a bit of light coding, spending 39 Euros on TextMate seems excessive. There must be a piece of freeware that would be just as functional, for your needs, and have less confusing and unneeded stuff to boot.

    Do you have a suggestion?

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