There’s only one good answer to the situation I’m in – leave as quickly as possible. So long as I am at Temple, particularly when I am not free, I believe I will never achieve my full potential. Thus, I am moving my original 3 year graduation goal up to 2 years – that is, I’d like to have my Ph. D. by the end of this year. My productivity in other areas will probably be attenuated, but I will NOT completely abandon other fields; I’ll just work on them less until I finish. Yes, that includes the “Treatise on the Objective Reality of Ideas”. Sorry.

After graduating, I will likely never publish anything again, nor participate in formal academia, since I am sorely disappointed with (a) the constant gatekeeping and (b) the lack of objective and original thought. I will most likely do what Einstein did: work at a relatively unchallenging job that leaves plenty of freedom to imagine (Programming? That’s fun, but hasn’t been a challenge since I was a teenager, so it may be perfect), refining my own ideas while doing so until they are hopefully revolutionary. It’s how I’ve done my best work to this point, so why would I abandon this strategy? Look what abandoning it did to me this past year!

I have completed my literature search and have a general idea of what I specifically want to research. I am starting to write right now. I’m going to San Diego for a conference over the weekend, so this week doesn’t count, but I am going to set my target for 10 pages per week starting next week (right now, my writing is just taking care of the preliminaries: topic, ToC, etc.). I anticipate a 150 page dissertation (I don’t believe in being long winded in a research paper, even a dissertation; even that is too long, but it’s the minimum I can get away with), so at this rate it will take me 15 weeks, which is approximately the length of one semester, giving me an ETA sometime around February. Provided my advisor doesn’t attempt to stop me simply because I’m trying to graduate too quickly (the way Temple operates, it wouldn’t surprise me if the faculty tried to keep me doing their research as long as possible) and that I pass the writing and preliminary exams (I’m already past quals so long as I don’t completely screw up the class I’m in now, which is possible because the midterm is scheduled the day I come back from San Diego and the professor won’t reschedule it), I should have this done well in advance of when I need to graduate. My effulgent hatred of what my life has become (I call it “the dark year”) motivates me.

I’ve already filled out all of the paperwork; even though I haven’t formed my committee yet, I know who is going to be on it.

Now, dates. I do this for my own benefit because it gives me a solid framework to work within (I need deadlines to operate):

The graduation date I am going to shoot for is August 31, 2008. This makes my final thesis due date August 1, 2008, which makes my defense deadline roughly July 15, 2008. This means I have to finish my thesis by July 1 and pass Prelim II by approximately June 17, 2008, though I should pass the Prelim by May if possible because I need six credits of CIS9999 (Dissertation research) between Prelim II and the defense and the Summer I and Summer II semesters would be good opportunities to take these courses. This should indicate a Prelim I completion date of approximately April 15, 2008 at the latest and completion of the writing exam (which by now I should have no problems with) during the first week of February.

This brings us roughly back to the present.

So there’s the strategy: work backwards from the final deadline, get everything but writing and research out of the way, and set regular goals. If all else fails, I’ll take another semester and have a very easy Fall (and a December ETA, which I can definitely meet).