dissertation rant

I'm struggling, I'm tired, I'm frustrated. I am closing in on 40 pages for chapter two and I just don't want to do it any more. I know, I know . . . there are those of you out there that are thinking, "Forty pages! Ha! I could write that in my sleep." And if you are, well, props to you. But I am just tired of this chapter and want to throw it at my advisor and say, "I'm done. Tell me what to do."

Okay, clearly that isn't going to happen. But I just need to rant a bit. See my advisor mentioned that my proposal should be roughly 70 pages with appendices. Let's rethink that total. I think it is going to be nearing 100 without appendices. I know people whose entire dissertation was less than 100 pages, with larger font than I'm using.

At this point I completely understand why people who have finished their doctorates have a smugly superior attitude. And I certainly understand why undergraduate work may seem so trivial. I imagine myself in 20 years, raspy voice, bony finger, "Young man, what do you mean you can't write a five page paper. Why in my day I could whip out 20 pages on one hour of sleep after cooking dinner, washing laundry by hand, and scrubbing the entire house on my hands and knees. Now get your scrawny jock ass to the library and bring me back an essay!" Well, maybe not. I mean, I hope I don't have a raspy voice and bony fingers at the age of 56.

I just have to keep Big J's comment in mind: If earning a PhD was easy, everyone would have one.