The 'I Give Up' Forms

I put my 'I give up' forms on my advisor's desk over the weekend--i.e., "I won't be finishing by the December 15th deadline". I'd rather get the paperwork out of the way sooner rather than later, so that side of things feels good. And it's a bit of a relief to admit it to the world. But it's not a great feeling to know that I'm not going to make the cutoff date, despite having pretty much accepted it a while ago. And at this point, I have 2-1/2 weeks to write three chapters--not gonna happen.

I will admit that I could have worked harder this semester, seen fewer movies, bailed on the outside consulting jobs, explored less of Toronto, and socialized with friends less often. Then again, I could have been considerably more miserable than I have been this semester. And/or climbed a clock tower with an AK-47.

Anyway, I met with my advisor for a few hours on Saturday; it was definitely useful and productive. I showed him what I have developed so far on my computer modeling, and he had good recommendations for tweaks and directions to explore. He also gave me edits on two thesis chapters (out of the four I have submitted to date). It wasn't clear to me that he has accepted that I AM NOT FINISHING ON TIME, but I think he will be ok with signing the forms.

I'm having a bout of computer modeling block (instead of writer's block) today; I have the unfortunate feeling that inspiration will strike around 11 PM or so.