99 days, and then I'll have a good beer spree

I've set the deadline for myself on the 18th of March to submit my thesis. Officially I have until the 31st of March, but I figured I'd leave a few days slack... just in case.

I had a very good, long "chat" with Le Boss yesterday, which gave me a good boost of confidence on finishing. In case I forget, I am going to breathe a thankful noise of acknowledgment to my mentor out into the ether. I really owe him a lot, and he deserves lot of good karma his way.

In other news, my scholarship has been reinstated. Well, it never really went away, but I lost a considerable portion of it after an administrative issue about the source of funds. Apparently, the contract for the other source had expired. It meant I had to live on half the amount in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Le Boss had a big hand in me getting more funding. After having a row at all the people responsible, he was not getting any positive responses for months. Ultimately, he asked the administration to dip into his own funds to append to my scholarship. That was excellent, and will help me heaps. Thank you <3 :) Clears my worries greatly, and makes me focus more at the tasks at hand.

The holiday break is coming up shortly, and I will not be seeing Boss M until January 2010. He invited me to stay in contact over the break, but I figured since he is going on leave early, he'd appreciate the silence. Though he insisted so, since it's quite important to us both that I finish on time, and do a good job of it. For now he has told me to focus on the thesis, and shelf the other projects for now, until I submit.

I am lucky I get these encouraging exchanges with him. From some other students I hear they are not in good terms with their supervisor and get very little time to talk to them. Or even if they do get the time to chat, it sometimes still amounts to them feeling confused and as if they've wasted time.

With only a few weeks left in my official enrolment in this degree, I feel more pressure and actually have more appreciation for this chance to work with Boss M. Even today I feel sad that the time is to end soon. It's not always that you spend a lot of time working on problems and have a brilliant mind to help you work it out. After this stint, it's going to be more about me doing all the thinking and driving on projects, with other scholars considered on level ground. Technically at least.

I hope the community of scholars do welcome me and grant me the award. With Boss M's signature, I think I have a pretty good chance. When I do get awarded, I will not accept his refusal for that sampler of beers, and he MUST have a beer spree with me!

Scholarship and a Postdoc.

(Source: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd020209s.gif)

Of course, I hope the deviation is not as wide as his. At least I know it's not an option for me to finish AFTER a year, coz the money runs out by then ;)

Thank goodness for the scholarship. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I can't afford this degree. The amount to spend for tuition is incomprehensible to me.

In other news, boss M forwarded an email to me regarding a postdoc opportunity... in Canada. First off, I'm happy he suggested it. Second of all, Canada. I would love to go, but it's another 2 years of solitude should the husband and I not jive in our plans. Anyhow, it's another thing to think about. The list can only get longer ;)