Okay, focus.

I met with my adviser today after six hours of critiquing sound art with my freshmen.  I was frazzled and I had a whole lot to say and almost as much to ask and I couldn't believe when it was suddenly 5pm and I was suddenly late for work, but I left feeling largely relieved and not like the worst Masters student in the world. Thank you, Andres!

So what came out of the meeting?
1. My DVD is a go, and it will actually incorporate elements of my entire thesis.  Yet to be determined: Will my (greatly shortened) intro, lit review, methods, parameters, etc. sections be text screens or ME?  I'm thinking me, to tie in more appropriately with all my interviews, but we'll have to see about that.

2. My "writey writing" as it came to be called in the course of the meeting, at least as far as the story and discussion sections go, might only exist to fill in gaps left by the video clips on the DVD of interviews and some of my (recorded) reflections.  The blog will also supplement clips in the DVD where appropriate.  I don't want people to have to watch every clip- though I'm keeping them small- to have a full understanding of what this whole thing is about.

3. No one's yet turned in to this department a completely digital thesis, and I'm probably not going to be the first.  That's okay.

4. I've gotta get my interviews transcribed in detail (fingers crossed for the pending software experiment).  I'll use those transcripts to reframe my lit review and use the reframed lit review to structure my DVD.

5. I need to make a schedule and I need to stick to it.  It'll go a little something like this:

Tonight: Finish abstract revisions and make schedule through June 30; Email these to Andres
April 11: Parameters and Methods section should be complete
April 19: Introduction should be complete; Meet with Andres again
April 26: Transcriptions should be complete and broken down into 3-5 key concepts
May 2: Have some video clips ready and be about done with my Powerpoint Prezi for the Symposium
May 9: Literature Review redone, and done (which is probably a smart idea because the symposium is two days later. BLARG!)
Then la di da, work work work, "graduate", finish DVD and written project by June 10, have my panel by June 30 and then graduate for real.

Wowza.  And there's so much going on between and around all that....

As always, a lack of time is the best kick in the pants.