“Prepare for slaughter.”

That’s what Rev. Omona, my supervisor, told me when he cleared me to give the first presentation of my dissertation.  I was prepared for slaughter.  It wasn’t that bad; I have one very, very small change to make.  Praise God for that.

The slaughter comes in the next week in a half, when I have to have my dissertation finished.  So much for the grand plan to finish it at a nice pace after exams.  Rev. Omona ambushed us with that after our presentations.  Turns out that the Senate might be meeting early, and they don’t want anyone to miss graduation because their dissertation isn’t finished.

I appreciate that bit of altruism.  I really do.  But I was hoping to use reading week for, you know, reading for my exams.  Not finishing (Rev. Omona: “You need to find more words.  The minimum is 50 pages.”  Me:  “…”), printing, binding, and defending my dissertation.  Next week is the last week of classes, and I’m wondering whether one or two classes may spill into reading week anyhow.  And there are a couple pesky assignments to finish, though I’ve found of late that if I leave an assignment for a couple days, when I return to it I suddenly like it a lot more than I did previously, and it’s miraculously ready for submission.  Odd.

Yes, I’m incredibly whiny right now, and after a good night’s sleep (I’m not setting my alarm in the morning), I’m hoping to remember that God has carried me thus far rather well, and that He won’t leave me or forsake me, and that this is just another opportunity for Him to remind me who’s really in charge here.  Right now, it’s 5:45 and I’m trying to discern whether I have the social energy for that event called supper.  The big mug of Cadbury’s Drinking Chocolate (hot chocolate – YUM) should help a bit.