My viva is on the horizon.

I had a really nice meeting with my supervisors yesterday, who were both in really nice spirits. We had a nice discussion about who might end up examining my thesis, and I am over the moon that we were able to identify two really nice potential examiners who are also really nicely qualified for the job.

It was just all really nice.

Equally nice was the insider information one of my supervisors had about some of the other potential externals on my list, who, according to her, are a bit nuts. And it was nice that I was able to cross them neatly off my list before any of us made the mistake of inviting them to examine me.

I can do without going to my viva with a pair of nutcases.

I just feel really nice today, in that I now have two really nice, really adorable target examiners for whom to write this thesis. These are:

Potential External Examiner (undeservedly abbreviated to PEE):

An apparently (according to my supervisor) lovely, jolly, middle-aged bloke from Scandinavia who is not only the current president of a relevant learned society in my field, but also suitably published in my topic area.

Potential Internal Examiner (aptly abbreviated to PIE):

A very gentle, very sweet, old professor whose work is kind of in my area, though not entirely, though still with a lot of potential for overlap. When he’s talking it just makes you want to cuddle a teddy bear and fall asleep.

Oh, life is nice today. I can only hope my PhD will turn out to be just as nice.

Here’s to sailing out to those horizons and conquering them.