It's getting harder

I may not be able to make it. Here is an overview of the dissertation:

chapter 1. Literature review
chapter 2. Really good stuff doesn't work in these cute plants
chapter 3. Really good stuff does work in this plant, and it does fantastic things
chapter 4. Data analysis of large scale experiment done by other people
chapter 5. Overall discussion

I sent off chapter 2 to my adviser two days ago, and yesterday I sent off chapter 3. He sent my chapter 2 back last night, telling me I have to add ALL my data in the dissertation, instead of writing, this experiment was performed X more times with similar results. That may be good enough for a publication in a journal, in the dissertation you need to provide everything.

It's not that I mind, really, it's not. But man, that is going to take me *Forever* with a capital F. I have to get all that data, perform statistics, prepare new table, figures, you know, the works. Can be done, but not on time!

I was hoping to submit chapter 4 today, but it's not looking promising.

After that I was hoping to write chapter 5. The BIG picture, how fabulous is all of this to the survival of the universe? Then I was going to go back and write the literature review of chapter 1. Then there are a bunch of other things that need to be written, a biographical sketch, a summary for the general public. Nothing earth shattering, just stuff that takes time. A lot of it. After proofreading and formatting, I'll consider myself lucky to turn this in anywhere near the deadline without rewriting an entire chapter.

I was hoping to get some more data gathered, finish up some stuff in the lab and the greenhouse. Pffft! No way! I'd rather get more data, than revamp old, negative data, but that's just me. You see, chapter 2 was the chapter where I summarized all my negative data, the stuff you don't want to be reminded off too much, the stuff that never went anywhere.

Anyway, enough ranting, back to chapter 4. I'm going to ignore chapter 2 for now, and get back to it when I'm further along. It just means that I will not be able to graduate this semester. And that is rather depressing.