Bank Holiday Blues

When I was a kid I always looked forward to Bank Holidays; for those not in the know, Bank Holidays in the UK are Mondays in the year when traditionally banks and shops were closed, and people were entitled to the day off work. These days it's just the banks and schools, and some offices perhaps, that get the day off. When I was a kid all of the shops would be closed too.

When I was a kid we kind of looked forward to Bank Holidays, because there was always something to do. Either I'd go and help with my mum and dad on a bank holiday market, or me and my sisters would sleep over at my grandmother's house. Sometimes we'd go on trips with my mum, there was always something happening.

At 27, Bank Holiday Mondays don't seem to have much going for them. I've been at a total loose end all day (nevermind the rest of the weekend), bouncing from reading 'Matter' by Iain M. Banks, to shopping for a laptop , to watching 'Walk The Line'...

Hmm, doesn't sound so bad when I put it like that...

More soon.

Stress!

It's a three day weekend in the UK (the May Bank Holiday), but I've had trouble relaxing and enjoying myself in any way really... The main obstacle is due to a meeting I had on Friday afternoon; I can't say exactly what it was all about, but one thing that came out of the meeting was a suggestion that I could still graduate in the summer graduations (June 30th).

Great, huh? Why would that be stressful? Well... The final deadline for when all corrections, paperwork and my three hard bound copies would need to be finished is ten days after my viva. But while that is the ultimate deadline, there is a closer deadline that one department has which could mean I would have to be finished just two days after my viva... Given that the binding process required by the university is usually a next-day service, if there is no lee-way in the two day deadline then I have no chance of graduating this summer.

So I have to email that department, in order to find out exactly what has to be done by when, but I also have to email the graduation ceremonies division as the deadline for submitting your intentions regarding graduation was Thursday (of course!). My mum pointed out on Friday evening that I also have to look into hiring academic dress for the ceremony - except unlike my undergraduate degree graduation I'm not 100% certain at this point that I will graduate, so don't know if I can even book a gown and mortarboard. I'm trying to ask all these people what needs to be done and by when, totally unsure of whether I can even get my corrections turned around in that time frame - until the viva I won't even know if I have minor corrections!

Sending these emails on Friday whilst it was all fresh in my mind was necessary, but has subsequently meant that it's been on my mind all weekend... It was so much simpler when I was just going to graduate at Christmas and I only had my viva to think about.

Exam invigilation for the next two weeks, so plenty of time to prepare for the viva... And with about a month to go before the viva there's bags of time to get totally freaked out about the whole prospect...

More soon.