136 days later...

Believe it or not, but finally a letter from universtiy found its way in my letter box today. So 136 days after I handed in my thesis I finally got my results.

It took me some time till I finally convinced myself that it is a good idea to open the letter and get it over with. I cannot deny that I am quite pleased and my mum is telling me since I opened it that I run around with a big smile on my face.

On the other hand there is a small voice at the back of my head which tells me that I do not deserve this grade, as I did not work "too" hard for it. Some of my collegues at uni spent so much more time on their thesis and they came off worse. And to be honest, when I handed it in, I was not really satisfied as I had rewritten one complete chapter in 2 days before I handed it in. It seems to me that either their grades or mine is not justified, as we all had the same professor correcting it.

Well, now I have to adjust it to fit the criteria for the thesis of my second degree - which means I have to change the front cover - and then I finally have to get used to the idea that I can definitely take the exams in spring. This is, however, quite a frightening thought.

Thanks to all again, who endured my bad mood over the last few weeks. The fact that the result was overdue since July 2nd (which makes it 1 1/2 months late) definitely had something to do with that.

Mission: Complete

The last few days were hell - involving 60 hours without sleep, spending 2 nerve-wracking hours at the copy shop (thanks to ms word), not eating at all, throwing a whole chapter in the bin only 2 days before I had to hand it in... - but somehow I managed. There is no denying that everyone told me that the last few days would be like that but I had sworn to myself that I'd finish my thesis DAYS before the deadline...

I handed it in this morning at exactly 10.34 am.

Here a few facts...

title: The narrative creation of fantasy worlds in the novels of J.K. Rowling, P. Pullman and C.S. Lewis
pages: 129
footnotes: 341
number of books/articles I read: 178
number of mistakes that I found after I handed it in: 3 so far (in the bibliography, so not too bad...)

Friends told me that now a feeling of "relaxation" should start - this has not happened so far. I don't know why but maybe this is because I am not really satisfied with it. Rewriting a whole chapter in two days is not the best of all ideas, but not rewriting it - the feeling would have been worse. Unfortunately the thesis counts 40% of the overall grade for my degree.

All right, I stop complaining now and the only thing I can do now is "wait and see" (probably till July!) to get the results. A friend of mine uses to call me "Paniknudel" (panic-noodle/pasta) and I guess he is right.

I just want to say thank-you to all who endured my bad temper over the last month or so, all who were willing to spell-check my thesis and all who told me again and again that I can do it. That really helped. I promise to be better next time ;-)

Done

I just wanted to let you know that I have finished the last chapter of my thesis 5 minutes ago. Now only the conclusion is missing! Wish me luck! If anyone still wants to read it for a bit of spell-checking, let me know, but I have to hand it in by Friday - but I am also happy to give you just a few pages! You can choose between Theory, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and Narnia!

Yippy!!!!

Something to divert me from having missed my deadline again....

We had a very enjoyable evening yesterday, even though it kept me from finishing my thesis. But it was definitely worth it. It included a lot of work, as you will see, it cost me a whole day and I felt so stuffed afterwards, that I could hardly sleep.

In Germany there is a TV show called

As my flatmate is a great fan of it, Jasmin and me decided to give her a voucher for "The Perfect Dinner" for her birthday. She was allowed to invite two more friends and of course we did not tell her what the dinner would consist of. So last night was THE day and to stop her from sneaking, she had to leave our flat by 2pm and was not allowed to return till half past six.

And this is what we managed to do:


1. The decoration
As our living room has red and fawn wallpaper, we descided to use these colour on the table, too. Looks good, doesn't it??? I especially like the servicing, which took Jasmin to fold only one minute each - don't even ask how long it took me to do only ONE!


















2. The starter
To great the guests I allowed some of my precious "Archers" (a peach liquor from England, that you unfortunately cannot buy in Germany :-( )stock to be served - with lemon and ice of course.

Now for the food. We served "Lamb's salad with an orange juice dressing and Parmesan cheese and Puff Pastry snails filled with cream cheese and ham". That was absolutely delicious (at least we think so...) and it looked quite fancy as well!

3. The main course
As they are all very fond of cocktails, including myself, I mixed some nice things, but do not ask me what exactly I mixed, I only know there was some wodka, gin, rum, baccardi and various fruit juices involved.

Some of you know that I am very fond of Asian cooking and so we decided to experiment a bit, combining various recipes and just wait to see what happens.

I bought some chicken breast the day before and marinated it with joghurt, masala, garlic, salt, peper, curry and tomato puree. I left this overnight in the fridge. This is the traditional way of making a Chicken Tikka (but I left out the food colouring!), which is definitely my favourite Indian dish.
So yesterday evening I fried onions, fresh garlic and ginger and hot chilies in a pan, added the meat and left it to simmer for 10 minutes. Then I topped it up with coconut milk (which I took from a Balinese recipe), added some fresh herbs and spices and left it for another 10 minutes. Before I put it on the table I added some lemon juice, which gives the dish the perfect final touch. Et voilà:

"Balinese Chicken Tikka with Curry Rice and Naan Bread"

4. The desert
Together with a nice "Tia Maria on Ice" we presented a "White Chocolate Cream with Blueberries"

(without words)

Deadline missed

Well, today is the day of my personal "deadline" to finish my thesis. And what have I managed? I have to be honest - half of it (52 pages) are completely done, the other half still needs some thorough work over the next 5 days.

So my final deadline moved to next Sunday, which will be the 18th. I have to have it at the Copy shop for binding on the 30th at 5 pm! Anyone bored over the weekend and want to do some spell-checking and the like? Everyone welcome ;-) I have 50 pages to offer and about the same amount to come soon.

Those who don't know already, the topic is: "The narrative creation of fantasy worlds in the novels of J.K. Rowling, P. Pullman and C.S. Lewis"

I have to admit the first 30 pages are hard reading, as it this time-consuming theory bit, but the rest should be light reading for those who like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and the Chronicles of Narnia.

So wish me luck, that I don't catch this stupid influenca or something (but I hardly leave the house, the only person who could contaminate me then would be my flatmate) and can work my regular nightshifts for the next week or so.

For those who have already written their thesis, is the panik-like feeling of not finishing on time normal or is this as we say in German "house-made"?