Week 14: Reflection on the semester
And somehow there is still one more blog post. What am I supposed to be talking about this week? At this point, I’m just writing my dissertation. It’s a real slog, slow and painful. I find that doing it in short bursts is the only way I can get through it. Perhaps I need to find another method to get myself through it. Perhaps reward myself with an episode of a show each time I finish two pages? At this point, anything will help because it’s just so draining to write.
Reflecting back on the semester, I definitely wished I had more time to do basically everything. More time to brainstorm. More time to narrow down my topic. More time to research. This would have definitely helped if I also didn’t have to take two other classes and work 20 hours a week. But hey, c’est la vie.
Reflecting back on picking advisors, I was really disheartened that there weren't any East Asian professors. I know the topic doesn't have to be related in any way to the professor, but I would have just like someone with the same background that I could relate to. Because my topic deals with a lot of memory and embodied practices, it would have been nice if there was someone I can talk to that already understand what all those things are. Having to explain it every time I talk about it can get kind of exhausting.
However, I did enjoy parts of it. I loved researching about Chinese New Year cultures. I loved practicing on the risograph and figuring out how the machine worked. I loved designing my test prints and learning about how to configure the software. I especially loved talking to my classmates in person. That was definitely the most special part of the class for me this semester. It was just nice to get to know everyone, to learn about what they were learning and making, and just to shoot the shit together. Yes, we were definitely all miserable at the same time at some point, but it was nice to commiserate together and misery loves company. The Slack was especially fun and I appreciated my classmate’s niche knowledge of memes. The connections I made during this class are very special to me and I know that it will only grow this upcoming semester. I just regret that we weren’t able to establish this earlier in our graduate career, because, well you know, the plague.
Though it’s probably not advisable, I will be taking a break for a week or so after the dissertation is due. My body and mind are so burnt out. I just hope that the rest I get is enough for me to continue working on my thesis further to the quality that I want it to be. But after the break, I will be back at it with getting more survey results, finishing up my cultural probe kit, and writing and drawing my autoethnography.