I had a meeting with my graduate advisor last week, and the good news is I still have time to finish my M.A. thesis without writing for an extension. Many years ago (okay, it was 1995), I started graduate school. At the time, I was pursuing a Master of Arts in English, because I wanted to go on and do a Ph.D. in the same subject and become an English professor (with a specialty in literary criticism). But, times change. The job market for new Ph.D. is amazingly dismal right now and has been for some time. But besides practical concerns, I began to wonder how happy I’d be as an English prof (especially if I had to live in the sort of backwater town where I might find employment). So I, like many of my other friends in the program, switched gears.
Two of my friends who once dreamed of Ph.D.’s bailed and went to law school after securing their M.A.s. One of them is now a practicing attorney. The other switched again and now works as a web developer. I switched to a master’s program in educational technologies, which combines my love of teaching with my love of all things web-related. I finished the educational technologies M.Ed. in just over a year, but I was still trailing my M.A. thesis when I switched horses. Part of me wanted to never finish it (it had become something of an albatros around my neck). But now I’ve decided that it would be stupid not to. Finishing the thesis is all I lack, and I’m close to finishing it.
Right now, I just need a good work schedule. I’m a busy man, but I know the thesis will not move forward unless I devote regular time to it. If I gave it an hour a day for a month, I’d be through with it. The only other thesis-related issue has to do with my thesis director, who retired after I switched degree programs. He, as far as the school is concerned, can still be my thesis director, but I’m not sure he’ll be up for it (he retired to get away from this sort of thing, afterall). Still, I’m going to ask him and hope that he says yes.
That’s the big news as the moment. Other than that, I’ve been enjoying the labor day weekend. Gina and I have cleaned the house, done some cooking, and seen a movie or two. I also had time to play some music with a friend of mine, and that’s always (okay, almost always) thereputic.