It's coming along nicely,thank you!

I've just finished my W(ork)I(n)P(rogress)S(eminar) presentation powerpoint - and I'm rather pleased with myself. The graphics took forever and I'm contemplating redoing one I have already included. Completing the presentation made me realise what a lot of work and effort I've put into my work to date. I'm so focused on down grading my efforts and energy, forever thinking I'm not working hard enough, that I'm never open to recognizing the work that I am doing. I've also realised, and its not the first time I've come to this realisation, that certain things - like writing a paper or doing a presentation - gets better with more process time. When done in a rush little mistakes creep in and you don't have the time to refine, clarify and consolidate what it is you want to say. My presentation, titled "Constructing conceptual frameworks: an idiosyncratic exploration" is only on Tuesday and I like the fact that I have at least two days to go over the presentation and just fine tune it.

I have two weeks until my next deadline; a cursory draft of the probationary report. The final report will be due on 1 June and my probationary review presentation and assessment will take place on 15 June.

 I had a look at some of the previous submissions and I was reassured that I have already put in most the intellectual and development work over the past 6 - 7 months that is required to do the report justice. At the moment the "report" (in abstract) consists of fragments of ideas and written pieces which I need to bring together to form a coherent argument for my research study and my readiness to complete it. The one missing part is my research methodology which I need to hone in on. I need to read more extensively around the issue of case study and ethnographic research, extend my range of sources, and consider in a more comprehensive manner the issue of analytical approach. But I'm feeling confident its a doable task, I've been working consistently since October and that must count in my favour; maybe even allowing me sometime to cut the grass and plant some flowers in my garden.