Theis Brain

Baby brain is a scientifically proven condition (that may or may not be true, but I’ve certainly witnessed it) and writing a thesis is not that different from carrying and finally giving birth to a baby: you gain a fair bit of weight, you crave certain foods at odd hours of the day and night, you wake up in a panic at least once a night, you’re sleep deprived, you can’t wait for the gestation period to be over but are worried about what you’ll have to do afterwards, you can’t seem to keep up with what other people are doing or talking about, you have violent mood swings, you always look slightly dazed and confused, and you definitely suffer from thesis brain. These are a few examples of some of the things I’ve learned to associate with ‘thesis brain’:

· Writing "write" "wright" 3 times before realising what's wrong with it.

· Spelling "herded" "hearded".

· Thinking your shoes are socks and trying to put boots on over them.

· Having someone come upon you standing in the lift because you'd forgotten to push the button.

· Pushing a pull door for more than a minute.

· Using your house key when trying to get into the office and office key when you're trying to get into the house.

· Forgetting to pay in a restaurant, going back to pay and forgetting why you'd gone back so soon and thinking you’re crazy.

· Getting your bag strap caught on a door handle and not being able to untangle it by yourself.

· Having breakfast twice by accident.

· Forgetting your birth date.

· Getting up to go to the bathroom and then forgetting what you were going to do, more than once.

· Referring to going back to your office as "when I get home".

On this day four or five of my finally pulling finger and trying to get all my work done at a reasonable time I have already experienced or done all of the above. I expect things to only go downhill from here. Craziness bound to ensue.