A timely wake up call or All the Ingredients for a dissertation nightmare!

Things to avoid directly before sleep on a Friday night:

1. Trying to make late night dissertation progress at the end of a tiring week
   
2. Watching Shane Meadows' Dead Man's Shoes 
3. Eating a ham and cheese bagel whilst doing the above

In the nightmare my incomplete dissertation not only received a low mark in itself, but also meant that the scores for my previous coursework assignments had to be reduced in line with the mediocrity of my work in the final stage of the MSc. Although things can't manifest quite this way in reality, the threat of a weak dissertation undermining all the good work that has led up to this stage is very real. I really don't want to make my existing recurring duo of study-related nightmares to turn into a trilogy.

The phrase 'wake up call' could have been created for this occasion. 
  
Which is why I'm sitting here with Joe asleep on my lap, typing one-handed and thinking about my research proposal with new vigour. Tired, but with a new sense of purpose (and a sense of menace.)