thinking is the new black

I have been writing for a month. Happy anniversary me. Wooo

kool & the gang celebrating good times with me

Week one: Really only ½ a week but euphoria at being free to “begin to finish” I experienced joy at loafing around re-reading Marx and organising lever arch files. I skipped home from the gym mid morning and visualized finishing the thesis ahead of the timeline. This would allow me to spend the rest of special leave mooching in galleries, eating brunch at Providores, reading Vogue, and attending intellectual salons all over Europe. How cool was my life? Waaaayaaaay cool.

Week two: I wore chunky knits, reading glasses, and silk neckerchiefs. I was serious goddamnit, and my fashion story necessarily reflected this. Went to the library, saw my supervisors, read journal articles, updated my bibliography, structured chapters. As my favourite stylist Jay Immanuel is fond of saying to the models during shoots, work as if the rent is due tomorrow. Top Model? Pah! Britains next top thesis more like it. I was serving it.

Week three: was awake and at my desk before most people had their first thoughts of coffee. I’ll never finish, so best just give up sleep. Whilst the rest of the country slept I read Foucault and drew mind maps. I wondered if Foucault had drawn mind maps? I listen to Running up that Hill and decided if I only could I would make a deal with God to swap places. I wondered if Kate Bush had done mind maps? I became fanatical about creating the ultimate brain-food open sandwich and drew a mind map of various toppings. Finally on the Sunday I was lured to Hotel du Vin for a long lunch at someone else’s expense. Only fine dining broke the cycle. I went home to sleep for 48 hours.

avacado food of the gods & top of the charts for open sandwiches

Week four brought a vicious bought of impostor syndrome. I considered the possibility of simply handing in a one page mind map in lieu of the actual thesis and keeping my fingers crossed the external moderator might be wooed by my uncommon approach and ability to accessorizes any outfit. Obsessed with a fear of obscurity I chose wine and socialising, followed closely by self-reproach, more alcohol, more going out. This is intriguing, because despite all the hoo-haring, I somehow produced a prologue and introduction.

Week 5: It is so “on”. I’m giving it some ones and twos on the thesis front. I’ve sent work to the project supervisors ahead of time and everything. Had a paper published, found out I’d been quoted in Times Higher Education, and got contacted by a journalist from California interested in my not quite written thesis.

Consequently I’m indulging in a soupcon of fabulousness for a few days. Oh Oui. Mes lecteurs chéris et personnes très intelligentes I am away to Paris. The land of abundant éclairs, where the men say bonjour mademoiselle, and even regular folk have “le look”. I love Paris in Spring-time.