Catching up

I handed in my MSc dissertation at Manchester Business School (MBS) today.  It doesn't feel like the end of a journey; it's more like a significant staging post and I'm waiting to move on to the next stage (of what? you may ask.  Answer: I'm not sure).

Still, I can at least now say that I've completed and submitted a small piece of original research and take credit for it.  And I've also proved that I can write, deliver to time and grit my teeth to get it done.

I've also got some material to use in presentations, something original or different to talk about.  I'm 'legitimate' in academic eyes. I also know that I'm looking at a new area, an intersection of other disciplines/subjects.  

So where and what now:  pursuing background reading on research methods for my PhD (which I start in September), also try to define my broad research area(s) and some concepts around it.

And to face reality:  I become a diamond just before Christmas and I'm hoping that I'll graduate as well.  So why am I taking on a PhD?  Because I want to, to establish and demonstrate (or prove?) my academic and intellectual credentials, to keep my brain occupied (to ward possible old age dementia which seems to run in the family), to ward to depression.  Having goals and deadlines gives me something to focus on, keeps me interested. And most of all it's about writing, having a broad framework in which I have an opportunity to explore, read and conjure up something new, to make a contribution to knowledge.  And most of all to make a dream that I've long had, since I had any inkling that I had any intellectual capacity and aspirations, to earn the designation 'Dr'.