the saturday that was

i want to stop and grieve the passing of today, of yesterday's hellos and this morning's goodbyes, but tomorrow is impatiently tapping his toes, as he waits for me to step over the threshold into his promises. come monday, everyone will have been on their ways to tomorrow's final calls in sterile airports and appointments and promotions. come monday, everyone would have forgotten today, when we cheerfully pushed sadness to make way for a last supper. heart tugs and heart clenches. there are way too many hellos and goodbyes in the world today. i am not sure i am equipped for this fast lane.

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

I am free

Last exam of the masters! next, internship & dissertation!

ps: graduation will be on Aidiladha...talk about the perfect way to celebrate my one year sacrifice for the future :) i am happy! i AM! isnt that amazing :))

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

piu dissertation

when i chose to come do my masters, i was relieved that at the end of the class-based part of the course, there is a choice between writing a dissertation and doing internship. i thought i was a little old for internships, but i was not going to spend my days writing again.

one month into my internship/volunteership with the Organisation (thank you, god) i decided i am going to write a dissertation after all on a topic related to the work i am doing (for free, slavery you said?). yup, i am serving my head on a platter to the divine king of dissertation.

why, for the love of god, you ask me? a few reasons:-

1. it's a new topic - the topic just screams to be written about. this issue is so freaking new that there is no literature on it as yet. maybe...just maybe...if i can make this work...i would be quoted on it some day? heee....
2. because i am special - i suffer from the same affliction as all the writers and wanna-be writers...we want to live forever.
3. stocktaking at work - i am already doing stocktaking (a major reason for avoiding dissertation in the first place) and on a level so large that it would be stupid not to use the information i am collecting for a dissertation. if i dont, someone else will.
4. fortification of my CV - i so wanna write in the box that asks "do you have any publication" in the form they give you when you go to some job interviews.
5. i want to be an all rounder - i already know i can do a pretty good job in a job setting, now i want to see if i can do that thing i am good at, you know, being both this AND that.
6. future Phd? - yes, definitely, maybe...who knows.

so, yeah, today i sent in my draft issues to be addressed to my 2 supervisors, one at the univerisity and another at the Organisation, and we'll see what they think of it.

next step = table of content. yay!

yay? yay for table of content? what the hell happened to me?

we'll see how it goes. will keep you posted ;)

love:j

ps: my supervisor at the Organisation said if i do this properly and with good results, there is a chance of me getting published by the Organisation....WHAT? published by the Organisation? that's like...pretty much out of this world for me! YAY!

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

of exams and growing up

so, we got the result of our two exams and happy to report i am extremely-extremely happy with the human development module. i was not really sure if i got it coming out of the exam room, but apparently it went not too badly :))

continuing my surprisingly constant performance, for food security i scored slightly higher and for the human development module a mind blowing 93%! i still think they mixed my result with someone elses. that was pretty good, eh? 93%...even i didnt dream that....heeeee....

the competitive-me is thinking if it would be possible for me to get cum laude. it is...but maybe it's going to take a little bit (lot) more hard work than usual. but maybe possible....

it is kinda wierd for me to be so concerned with exam results. i remember the undergrad days when all i did was pass exams. too smart for my own good, i never put in more than a couple hours of crashing the night before any exams. a B would be nice, but who really cares, right? it is just a piece of paper and therefore, a C would do, or D. as long as i dont fail, right?

i mean, a piece of paper cannot represent who you are or what you are made of or what you can achieve, right? you are more than that and you cant let yourself be governed by that piece of paper, it's like selling your soul to the man, right? and no one's gonna look too closely anyway, as long as you have it, you can do anything you want. Right?


WRONG!

I cant tell you how many lost opportunity because of my hippy thinking against that piece of paper. every job interview, every post graduate application i have had to explain why, being as 'amazing' as i am at work, my exam result sucks. yeah, ok, it was not that bad, i didnt fail or anything. but it was not great either and for the opportunities that i want, nothing less than great is the rule.

now, i look forward to not having to explain myself and just letting my CV do the talking.

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.

patterning pupil

So, max and i were talking in class. we decided that most people in the class have a pattern of things they would ask. i think the topic of the questions betrays the things that matter most to the questioner.

Sylvia the mathematician from kenya, for example, is very concerned about corrupt government. Fede the 3/4 economist 1/4 farmer is a fan of the people. Thais the body-baring brazilian is all about human rights. and dont let me start on Maya the Israeli, whose favourite quote is "power cannot be given, it has to be claimed".

i turned to max and asked if i have a certain pattern. he thought for a bit and decided that i dont. am i supposed to be happy about that (maybe i am an all rounder?) or should i be worried(scatter-brain you!)? but he said i have a pattern to my way of asking a question. i will start asking a question and then get bored of explaining myself and just decide to go half way and add "bla bla bla".

Since we had that conversation, i have noticed more and more are adding "bla bla bla" to their question. have i infected them with my laziness and attention deficit way?

:)) oh, well...

All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.