Well, this time last year I was just about to hand in my thesis proposal. Now I’m only a few weeks away from handing in my final chapter. From there it’s the intro and conclusion … and a ton of editing (knowing my supervisor). To be honest, things have not been plain sailing. Although I’m on schedule, my writing has suffered due to lack of time and energy. I have found the whole process rather frustrating, it’s just so hard to fit full-time work (which is getting busier every week), study, and most importantly, family time. That latter has suffered at the hands of the former. However, with only a little over four months to go there’s nothing else to do but suck it up, push on, and get this thing finished. Hopefully all done and dusted by December … any later and I will be truly p!ssed off.

One of the staff at the University asked if I was going to go on and do my PhD, to which I laughed.

Anyway, enough of the whinging. On a more positive note, the New Zealand International Film Festival starts in a week. I am seeing seven films. They are:

20000 Days on Earth

The Congress

The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet

Enemy

Boyhood

Maps to the Stars

Snowpiercer

As usual, there are plenty more that I want to see but don’t have the time. Will let you all know if any of them are worthwhile seeing. If they half as good as the bunch I saw last year then I’ll be a happy man.