I want to sleep

...Because I feel utterly exhausted! You know why? Once again, I missed my self-imposed deadlines to submit two chapters of my dissertation for this last year's assessment, thanks to my unnecessary meticulousness and uncontrollable fear for a probable downgrade (to MPhil). I know it is no help, but it is constantly gnawing my mind. Sevi says my work-in-porgress sounds far better than lat year's material though. Anyway, I can see the end now, and it seems very likely that I will have to have my VIVA meeting just the day before our departure to Izmir for a holiday. God, I NEED one. I hope my assessors will announce their decision as they did last year. They will say whether my studies so far are adequate to continue my research and finish writing the dissertation. What I am going to submit within a few days is just a quarter of the whole pack, so I cannot imagine how I shall tackle with the rest.

In the meantime, I was enjoying a few concerts we gave in the Royal Albert Hall, first the three Classical Spectacular concerts, and then our annual performance of Handel's Messiah. The latter went particularly well. Last year, it was my first time to sing it, so while tackling with all those baroque vocal ornamentations, you forget the musicality side. This year, since I knew the oratorio much better, I could enjoy singing it. It is quite a demanding piece, lasting for two and a half hours, and I felt extremely tired when the event finished.

By the way, after the concert, to my surprise (as I was told about that only a few days before the concert), I was introduced to our President, HRH the Duke of Kent, who made one of his rare appearances by attending the event. Well, all those BBC period dramas could be of help at last I must say, while addressing to His Highness. The reason for that acquaintance was my recent appointment as a new director to the Choir. (Edit: O-ops! I mean Board of Directors of the Choir, an administrative post!) Since last month, I have been acting as a member of Board. Funny though, it reminds me of my university music club years. This time a big, Royal one. :-)