Glass Half Empty

That was ... oddly less stressful than I'd imagined. Like, a lot.

Today I had my DPhil viva voce examination, and passed with minor corrections (which is normal). This, in itself, was lovely, of course. What was somewhat more lovely was that it was ... almost easy.

The examiners get copies of my thesis a few months before the viva, they read it, then I give a presentation, and they ask questions to make sure that (a) I wrote the thesis, and (b) I understand the field, not just the tiny bit I wrote my thesis on. Apparently, my thesis was written with great clarity, and I answered most of the questions they had in the presentation, so there wasn't too much to say in the end. Most if not all of my corrections are typographical in nature, or requests that I add a little more detail to a given section. In particular, my external examiner told me to stop underplaying my achievements, which was a nice boot-to-the-head piece of perspective after spending five years elbow-deep in this field.

Once the examiners had agreed their verdict, called me back in and shaken me by the hand repeatedly, we all went off for lunch in the cafe and discussed nuclear reactors. All a bit anticlimactic, really ...

I'm now really, really tired, all of a sudden. The next few days I plan on taking very easy, as my brain is entirely toasted at the moment. Back to work properly on Friday, just in time for the weekend.

But yeah. I'm a Doctor, technically (not actually until graduation, of course). How'd that happen?

The Glass: refilling