Monday, April 30, 2007

Straight from the doorways of Hell

Just got a bombmail last Friday. The grad student commitee told me my inscription for Quals are due next week. And I thought I still had about six months. My exam will have to take place within 60 days.

I programmed my entire research schedule so I could neatly present all three aspects of the first half of my project flawlessly completed and nicely published. By November, not two months from now!

On top of that, i'll probably have to cancel my July trip, as I'm now subject to the will of the commitee to set up a date for Quals. Nice way to toss a couple thousand reais right into the toilet.

Not to mention the fact that my advisor, who is supposed to go himself make my inscription, is somewhere between France and China, not to step onto this cursed soil for at least a whole month.

If I miss the date for booking Quals, I'll get another (last) chance for doing it over within six months. I just don't like the perspective of throwing away one of two only shots for getting a PhD ever.

Now I'm actually hating the people who programmed the dates for this kind of e-mail to be sent. Why would they send it to me on a Friday afternoon before a holiday? Few torture methods are more efficient. I know, it's just a sad coincidence. But still.

Anyway, I guess I'll not be showing up so frequently for about two months. I will have to sum up a lot of incomplete research, rush up a barely started approach for an entirely different problem, and try to make them all seem worthy of been carried on before the end of June.

At least I don't have a flu anymore.