I AM LOSING MY MIND

This week has been mentally exhausting. With the dissertation submission only a week away, the pressure is accumulating. Although I have been quite on track with my writing, my biggest concern has been whether I should include Semester 2 progress in the discussion section.

Currently, the prototype I am working on is neither here nor there. There is a noticeable gap between the visual system and the controller. Is it because my speculative narrative isn’t strong enough? Or does it actually not make sense from the get go?

Previously, the controller was designed to allow the audiences to map their own feelings. Meanwhile, the visual interface was intended to show what users in the fictional world would automatically see through emotional-tracking goggles. Then this idea would be communicated through a short video. I think this is the part that doesn’t make sense Why am I forcing two different components into one idea if it doesn’t belong together in the fictional world?

Although the confusion is part of the design process, I felt defeated. I was running out of time. I was overwhelmed by the thought that I still didn’t have a clear, consolidated plan to articulate in my discussion section… After much internal debate, I decided to focus primarily on Semester 1 work, ending my discussion section with Mood Mirror.

I know Andreas will be disappointed when he reads and finds out but it is what it is… Joking… Realistically speaking, I need to stop worrying about my current prototype and should focus on completing my writing. I believe that my Semester 1 work alone provides substantial material; how each experiment informs the other and how these experiments led me to develop a prototype and a short narrative video to communicate the speculative idea. So in that sense, I think I have enough to talk about, even without Semester 2 work.

UPDATE The hours leading up to submission were brutal. Not because I lacked content, but because I became aware of how my writing might be flagged for AI usage. Different platforms gave different weightages and to the point, I even signed up for Grammarly PRO to help me paraphrase. In the end, I decided to just submit and pray for the best.