Progress...or not

So...I went to the postgraduate info evening last night. I was expecting to answer questions, but my supervisor stuck me right in it when he said that I could give a short talk about my "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll approach to information research"...I wasn't about to start rattling off Chapman's information poverty and theories of small worlds, or Wilson's 2001 model of information behaviour, or Dervin's ever-evolving theories of sense-making to explain why I like to research the people that society doesn't like to acknowledge.

So I told them about my pilot project from 2008, and I told them that I was given the opportunity to present the research at RAILS, and that the support you're given in your coursework is better than any work placement, and that I was working full time as a librarian without even having graduated yet and that the staff are supportive and understanding, and that you are given everything you need to get a High Distinction (A+...actually requires your work being marked and verified as outstanding by 2 seperate senior professors, for you Americans) and all you need to do is the work.

I dont think my supervisor realised that after the terrible time I had in my undergraduate at Macquarie that I was a UTS evangelist.

I also talked privately to my supervisor, and I may be able to withdraw from this semester without penalty. Since stalker boy has been on the scene for most of this semester, and I'm 7 weeks behind and suffering the physical manifestations of stress (bad skin, not eating, not sleeping enough, sudden weight loss, the desire not to go to work etcetera) that all I have to do is talk to the counciller and I can just fill out a form and withdraw from this semester without financial or academic penalty. It's a weight off my mind, and now that I have a steady full time permenant job the need to finish the Masters ASAP is a lot less significant, so I can take my time with it and do it properly instead of rushing through things and doing them half-assed cos I don't have the money or an idea of my schedule from week to week...not to mention that next semester I'll be doing it with a different 2nd academic supervisor who might be more stable and available when it comes to helping out with the project. I might also, with the scope of the new job, be able to work my project into my workplace and be able to work on it during my work time instead of only doing it at the times when I am not at my peak...whcih means that I'll have the same advantages as my Masters colleagues instead of being disadvantaged by doing a research-based project instead of a practice-based one.

Even if I can't, at least I'll be getting useful contacts in the surrounding industries, which will be useful for project as well as for work and life.