dissertation support group

If you don't write I'll have little k shave you!!!

and here is today:

today i got lost in the hungarian parliament. i was to meet with the chair of the EU Integration Committee, and i was 15 minutes late. for ONCE it was not my fault. I came 15 minutes early, tried to find gate 17 as i was told, but of course they have to write it in Roman alphabet, just to confuse poor slovaks. Naturally I got confused (being both poor and a slovak) and demanded entrance to gate 27. I failed to make my way, for the gate 27 was securely locked, so i made my way, despite vigorous protests of the armed guard who spoke not a word of english, into gate 26 that turned out to be a library and forced the librarian to call the Chair's secretary. turned out i had to venture all around the building to the other side of the parliament (if you ever seen the building you would know it's quite a hike). by that time it was 2pm already and I thought: still good, i will be 2-3 minutes late, no problem. well, not quite. i had to go through another 4 (four!!!) sets of armed, no english speaking guards, trying to make them understand with hands and feet i need to get to gate XVII, pronto! I finally did, and the door guards, one of whom did speak englishe, scrutinized me and commented in hungarian. as an eastern european i am used to it, so i turned my cold stare (takes years of practice) to the wall and ignored them. then the english-speaking guard finally let me in, despite my remark that perhaps it would be easier if i get escorted by mr. szent-ivanyis' secretary to his office. he said: "oh you'll find it, it's number 68, on the main floor". good. he, however failed to mention the main floor is two levels above me. when i didn't find any 68 on the first floor, i started to run. i frantically searched all the floors and did not find it on the main floor either. i started to sweat - it is really hot here and air conditioning did not make it here yet. strange thing was - i could not meet a live soul. nowhere. like alice in wonderland i wondered through committee rooms, the assembly hall, even offices! and no one to be found! i was half way in panic, half way in awe. the parliament is more exquisite than any church, castle, anything i have ever seen. every little detail is brilliant. dark brown wood, dark red carpets and red/gold tapestries, chairs, etc... statues everywhere. finally i found an administrator (just like a magician appearing out of nowhere) and forced him to take me to 68. sure, smiles he, and directs me somewhere. he couldn't find it either. it is a maze. finally i saw the little sign saying europaeo integracio or whatnot, so i ran to it. and there i stood, 15 minutes late, drenched with sweat. but mr. szent-ivanyi turned out to be a great guy, my few mishaps (sliding off the chair and forgetting to turn the audio recorder on - realizing halfway through second question after just listening to him, not taking notes and smiling idiotically for a few minutes) made him warm up to me and he spent over an hour with me, thus providing me with first rate material. now i am quite an exhausted vegetable, not capable to even watch tv, which i always am capable to watch, that's how seriously tired i am.

hiya craven, you think that would help? i would feel an urgent need to show all my friends!!

Hmmm. Well maybe if we...

Nemind.

here

Géricault was given to shaving his hair and eyebrows when he painted so that he would be too embarassed to go out and see his friends, and thus would have plenty of time to concentrate. Since shaving would not do this for you, perhaps some other disfigurement? Maybe we could dye your teeth black.


(Géricault painted the Raft of the Medusa, one of his happier works. A horrible story, a great painting. Julian Barnes analyzes the painting beautifully in History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters...)

dag..here for ya when possible

let me just say that your interesting day shows a great and wonderful thing...no matter lost or late, forgetful or unnerved...you shined through and all went well, reasonably, and happily well it sounds....
keep up the good work

Must I say it....just to keep you in line and all....if you fail there shall be no meat products for you...you will have to become vegitarian!!!!
<that should work>

I used to imprison myself in the bath to make me READ for things - but I guess you cannot write in a bath? Not on a word processor, anyway.

Hmmmmm - I shall listen agog for ideas which may transfer to assistance with my own towering and truly overwhelming mountain of undone and unfiled paperwork.

You can do it Dagglepuss!

Dag does own a laptop...it could work, I think.

I'd be happy to meet you in a bar to talk through some things. Lots of great ideas are developed in bars, if only we could remember them.

Just send me a ticket, all right?

YOU ARE EXHIBITING THE TYPICAL "APPROACH AVOIDANCE SYNDROME" OF GRAD STUDENTS THE WORLD OVER. TAKE MANY DEEP BREATHS, CONSIDER YOUR SCHEDULE AND COMMIT THAT, ONCE YOUR RESEARCH IS FINISHED, YOU MUST PRODUCE AT LEAST, SAY 10 PAGES A DAY OF THE GOOD STUFF. LEAVE ALL GRAPHS AND CHARTS AND JUST NOTE THEM (UNL;ESS YOUR ENTIRE POINT IS , "SEE HOW MANY GARBLOTTS PER UNIT SCMENGY ARE PRODUCED IN VULGARIA ON AN AVERAGE YEAR, AND THIS COMPARED TO THE MEAN TEMPERATURES LEAVES US NO OTHER CONCLUSION THAN...) THEN YOU JUST ADD YOUR CONCLUSION. REMEMBER 10 PAGES A DAY AND ITS NOT TOO BAD. WE NEVER GET OUR COMMITTEES BLESSING BY GENERATING NYC TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES, CUZ THEY HAVE TO READ THE STUFF YOU WRITE. IF NOTHING ELSE, THINK OF THEM. WHENS YOUR DEFENSE?

Approach avoidance, a motto for a lifetime. Just pretend you need to do something else, and writing will become immediately more attractive..

10 pages a day! Ha! The good news is that if Dag's in hotel rooms for her stay in Hungary, there'll be no cluttered surfaces to keep her distracted......

so you'd think, but no! until sunday i am at the conference of Open Society Institute alumni, so there's lots of old friends i haven't seen for years. and after sunday i will be staying at a friend's house - not a good prospect either. but i manage. ombudsman will be next! that should be interesting as well. sounds like some mythical creature with 3 heads - i will let you know what he really looked like. painting my teeth black....that could work. then again, we don't do much talking when we go out to drink...

dag, sounds interesting - I have just started looking at the merging of EE countries with the EU and how it is going to affect our bank and specially the treasuries from an audit perspective

Maybe you can give me some tips - so that I can sound knowledgable at the meetings .. Tee hee

SEE, ONCE YOU HAVE DEGREE IN HAND, YOULL BE ABLE TO CHARGE MIGHTILY FOR THAT KIND OF CONSULTATION. GET WITH IT .

Damn, that farmerman is good with a whip!

Gautam, nothing easier. you just maintain a slightly bored expression with medium raised eyebrows, learn two or three good sounding phrases and act like there's no need to continue, as it is a subject of common knowledge. if it doesn't work, you have to resort to self-defense and ask questions left and right, thus showing interest in colleagues' work and compassion for the team efforts. with your sharp dressing code i don't see how you could fail to make a first rate impression!

Hey, I know that expression!