success!

The weeks after my successful viva had been hectic as well. I did my minor corrections, and after approval of the final manuscript, I sent the file for printing and binding. Then the final submission. And waiting for graduation.

I graduated last 25th June 2014. That was another major milestone. My PhD journey which started in 2009 has reached its final destination. After which another journey begins - or resumes from previous, i.e. back to the workforce.

So here I am now. I have left Scotland and have returned to Thailand. And with a couple or so of job prospects. 

This blog ends with this article. Further blog postings will be at my Carnation... because life is beautiful blog.

the viva

So after the submission of thesis I had to wait for the viva, an oral examination or defense.

That was last week. Now I am enjoying my new status, as a new PhD (a graduand and will be a graduate soon). As my supervisor said, I came out of it unscathed! Yes, after all the hard work, early mornings, late nights, and in-betweens, I can now relax. I have some minor corrections to make. And doing cosmetic stuff on my graphs, i.e. change the colours to black patterns. Tedious stuff but got to do it.

Just smiling now, and enjoying the weather...thanking one and all for the help, encouragement and support.

submission

another milestone, a bigger one this time. submission of my phd thesis. it took me very long hours to work on it ... and less sleep ... but finally got it all together but it is not perfect. so now i am reading through my manuscript, the same one being read by my examiners before my oral final exam (viva voce), and i have found a number of mistakes already. thank God finally got it done. the trainor in our phd writing workshop said that the failure of phd students is not to submit their thesis, so if you submit, you are already one step to success!

a small milestone...

Today a small milestone in my PhD journey was achieved. I was able to submit my thesis title to the Student Admin office. As per regulations, thesis titles need to be submitted at least 2 months prior to final thesis submission. This means my title should be the final one. Minor changes are allowed but it is preferred to have no more changes. So it is a small milestone but still major for me as this means I really have to tighten things with my manuscript. After submission, I went back to my PhD desk and did not feel like doing anything with my manuscript. And it was Friday afternoon as well. But I have to mark my calendar re: how many weeks before final submission. I have to do a weekly countdown and be firm with myself regarding the use of my time. It's true that I have submitted my draft manuscript to my supervisor but there are still lots of work to do on it. So I can not relax that much as yet ... the journey continues...

2014 now

So what is going on with me now? Am I still in the midst of a fishful existence? Still of course! Not just fish but shrimp as well! And so many other stuff....my world now is full of words, numbers, papers, books, graphs, tables, etc .... I am writing, reading, understanding, etc... creating mind maps sometimes... just trying to finish my manuscript. It.Is.Hard. It is like, you read a lot, and there are lots of ideas out there, and you have your own ideas as well. They are all swirling inside your head. How to get them all down in paper? And then you need to balance your life with something non-fish. Just so you can have a peaceful existence this time. Music, that's it! Other topics to read also helps. Cooking. Baking. Shopping. The latter one is limited coz of budget constraints. So that's me at this time. Hope to get back to blog writing again on a regular basis.

Shared food with Bangladeshi, Greek, Mexican & Omani friends last Sunday. I cooked the noodles. 

SEAT Global» Blog Archive » Thailand’s labour changes

This is about what I am working on as part of my PhD research ...

SEAT Global» Blog Archive » Thailand’s labour changes

NVivo Training

Early this week I attended a hands-on training on NVivo software arranged by the Student Research Office of the university. I had signed up for this a few months back but was informed that I could not join this due to limited slots. That was disappointing. Then last week the office sent out an email to inform me that there will be another training in January. So I confirmed to join. Then last Monday I got a call from one of my supervisors informing me that there were slots available for this week's training. That I should go already as they were starting. So I dropped what I was doing and hurried to the Library. Two other students sent me messages earlier that my supervisor was trying to reach me, and that I should attend the training. And gave me the venue. I hurried to get to the Library. Training Room No. 1 is on the 4th level, so up I went, hurrying, panting, only to find the room empty. So where was the training? I went on to another training room and the group was there.

There were only about 7 students there, and the trainor. So that means that they were only planning for 9-10? Out of hundred or probably thousands of students needing it? Oh well, so glad to be able to get in despite being late. I just assumed that the student research office informed my supervisor that there were two slots available as the students who signed up did not come. The group was already on page 12 or so of the training manual. I had to squint my eyes to see the screen so I can know which part of the tools the trainor (Ms Elizabeth) was talking about. I also tried to look at my seatmate's computer monitor as well as her manual to see which page it was on.  But first I had to log on to my univ account which took some time. The trainor just kept on talking, while giving me the training manual. I had to go to the first page of the manual just to read the instructions on how to go to the programme in the univ network.

Finally I was able to find it and open the sample file, which the trainor was using to demonstrate to us how to use the programme. I still felt a bit lost, so I had to read the manual pages to know how to get around the working area. 

The two days training of course were not enough but at least I know the programme a bit compared to zero knowledge at the beginning. Now it is up to me to know more about it and to work on my own data esp interview transcripts for the programme to really be useful for my research.