And then, this thing called the thesis. It wasn't supposed to be like that. My student advisor R. eventually dropped out of the Ph.D. program, and little is known about his whereabouts. Of the three of us, I was the only one stupid enough to stay. I guess that's the law of averages, the bell curve, regression to the mean, etc., etc.
Someone has to be the sucker.
I took a bit longer than most to pass my computer science doctoral exams. I barely got through the comprehensive exams in the 3 years, and finished the systems exams a year late.