Thesis writing time

Today, thus far, has been a great although unproductive day.  It is currently 3.37pm Tuesday, I have been here (at Uni) since about midday with the intentions to spend the entire day writing my thesis.

Well, as I am sure you can guess from my terrible track record, I am yet to touch it lol.  I spent the last 3 hours chatting to an awesome new friend of mine Angel, one of my mates girlfriends.  She is really awesome, actually uses her brain for thinking, I find I can have great conversations about any topic, the more controversial or complicated the better. 

I really wish there were more people like that in the world.

Anyways, getting back to my topic in question... my thesis.  The process of my thesis has been going on for quite some time now, starting around March this year.  You can follow its process in its entirety here.  I myself refrain from reading it, as with only 4 weeks before my thesis is due, reading my past progress annoys me as I see all the countless, countless, hours I wasted over the months.  In essence I could of had it all finished by now and could be out enjoying full time work and guilt free weekends.

Instead, I am still here.  With all my assignments finished for the year this is the only thing holding me back.  It is my lazyness that forces me to still be here. 

My problem however has been an utter and complete lack of motivation to sit down and write it.  It is strange, because in all other aspects I have excelled.  I can, and gladly, do the researching, the surveys, the interviews, the presentations... it is just the act of sitting down and writing it that seems to get me stumped day after day.

Which is rather ironic as I seem to have no qualms writing pages upon pages on this blog haha.

Today, however, I think I might of cracked my problem.  The answer is untested as of yet, I will try it immediately after posting this.  I think my problem all this time is that I am great at small tasks, but terrible at large ones.  Solution?  Break it down!  With this new revelation in mind, I am going to put it to the test right this minute. 

As of 3.47pm, Tuesday, 19th of October, I have 395 words written.  I vow to have 1000 words before I head home tonight.  Could this be the answer I have been looking for?

Wish me luck!

Living the dream - Take two!

As I have expressed numerous times throughout my blogs life time, I have the desire to some day live in a city for a while.  I am not really sure of my exact reasons, in summary I guess I just enjoy the atmosphere that only a city can conjure.  The busy streets, the variety of people, the life style, who knows really.

Back in May I was lucky enough to stay in the city for two nights for a workshop with the Apple University Consortium (Mac OS development) as part of my Honours research and found the experience to be quite enlightening to how life in the city may really be like in reality.

Luckily I again had the chance to stay in the city, this time for a conference, again allowing me to experience the city life once more =D

This conference was similar to the workshop back in May, focusing heavily on the new developments for iPhone/iPad's (it was an Apple sponsored event), which links directly with my Honours research as well as what is fast becoming a rather enticing interest of mine.  I would also like to mention that this all happened 3 weeks ago, thus showing how ridiculously busy I am these days for it to take me this long ha ha.

The conference itself was amazing, we heard some amazing talks from industry professionals and iOS developers from a huge range of backgrounds covering all sorts of topics from in-depth talks about memory management using Cocoa, to some absolutely incredible (and well presented) presentations on user interface designs, game control theory and small business/freelance testimonies.

One of my favourite talks was from a guy called Andre Pang who currently works for Pixar.  He told us his amazing story of where he originally started to how he ended up working for Pixar, as well as some great stories about his experiences at Pixar and the things he had learned along the way (keeping in mind this guy is only around 26 years old, he has gone a long way at such a young age).  Andre gave some irreplaceable pieces of advice, my favourite quote from him that I actually try to live by ever since was:

"Be interested, not interesting"

Basically what that means is, everybody loves to talk about themselves.  Which when you think about it is so true. Heck, me writing these posts every week proves that I like talking about myself, much like every other blogger out there.  Which don't get me wrong, it isn't a bad thing by any means (within moderation of course).  Andre's point was, in life you should try to have a very open, enthusiastic and outgoing view in life, to be interested in things (sports, music, hobbies), so when you meet someone and they are talking about something, if you are interested in what they are talking about, that person obviously gets to talk more about it, and it is a win win for both sides.

Anyways that was a rather bad tangent but I hope you get the point.  I thought it was wise words at least =)

All in all it was a great couple of days.  I met this super awesome guy from Perth (he is 23, Australian, but has taught himself fluent Japanese, how cool is that!), made an awesome contact at another University who has offered to help with my Honours research, and our table at the quiz night somehow managed to actually win the quiz ha ha (won a $25 iTunes gift card, sweet!). To top it off, I went to the conference with my super awesome Honours supervisor Sophie, who I always love spending time with so it was awesome to hang out for two whole days =)

I have another conference planned for early December, it goes for 3 days but this time will be in Sydney for an entire week!  Then, next year? Who knows, but there are some big plans on the horizon let me say that much.

Conclusion

I would like to write this small post to bring this insanely hectic week to a closure... =)

I am rather numb today... it is currently 1.20pm Sunday and I sit at the dining room table at my parents house (came home for the weekend, Mum's home cooked meals are the best!), and as I look outside on this nice sunny day, and take humour from the fact that I only got out of bed about 30 minutes ago and am yet to have breakfast...  I take comfort in the fact that I have no more assignments to complete =)

Sweet!

Which is to say, to continue on from yesterdays post, that I did indeed manage to complete the presentation that was required.  Although it was ridiculously painful to do so haha.  From the day before I didn't get to bed till 4am, slept till 12.30pm Saturday, then spent roughly 2pm to 9pm finishing the presentation... ouch.

Hope and morale were pretty stretched over the last few days, I seriously was concerned that I may not be able to complete this last remaining assignment (as you can read here), and while I did manage to persevere and finish it, it was admittedly not my best work ha.  But oh well, I tried. 

I can now smile at the fact that I could spend the whole day doing absolutely nothing (which I fully intend to do), and not have guilt at the back of my mind from knowing I should be spending my time working on a piece of work from a looming deadline.  A deadline I am most likely ill prepared for haha.

It has been a long year, but it is not quite over.  My thesis is due in about 5 weeks, something I have been struggling to write all year now (I am sure you are noticing a pattern by now, me and time management aren't very good friends haha).

I think I might spend some time today researching for my plans for next year.  Something I have been doing throughout the year, but at least this time I won't feel guilty for doing so =)