Hi Keep_Calm,

good for you getting some teaching experience in! :) Sometimes it depends on the type of room you're in etc, there are ones where you get a sheet with random things on, like "plays piano/guitar", has a car, etc etc and everyone has to find someone in the room to fill a box!?
I also did one a wee while ago for a gradschool training day, where you get folk to sit and think for a minute about "if they were a cartoon character/animal what would they be and why" then explain to group what it is about them that they can relate to? so it kind of expresses each persons personality in a fun and silly way - we got some great answers! :) (note - this maybe doesnt work so well if lots of people from different countries in class, as everywhere has different cartoons!). or something like get a bouncy ball and chuck it at someone and they have to give their name and a piece of info about themselves, possibly something nobody would have guessed about them, and then pass the ball on, but no ones answer can be the same twice!?

There are lots of things like this,
Good luck, let me know what you do and how well it goes, i love getting more ideas of these things!

KT

If you want to feel a bit more positive then I would go and read the posts on "Good things about doing a PhD"! A post started a while ago to celebrate all things good about the process! :)

Like many things in life, it can be a love/hate relationship, although I think in most cases, hate is too strong a word. Like Bilbo and Smoobles have said, we can moan a lot, but generally out of frustration I think, and also this is a place to come to speak anonymously to people about our work and our problems without having to bore family and friends! :)

I'm sure if you really want to do a phD then you will love it, and maybe we'll see you on here occasionally to get or give advice!

Best of luck when you start

Hi Sue, good luck with your work today, and hope seminar is useful tomorrow!

I'm done for the night, done some reading, edited bits of intro and made a pretty figure :)!

Going to head to bed and hopefully have another full day of it tomorrow! The more I think about it the more I feel xmas submission is just wishful thinking, but you never know, thank you for your vote of confidence - made me feel better (up)

Decided going to see my supervisor tomorrow if possible to see what he thinks of my intro, I feel like i'm trying to put too much into it, and give a massive picture of the whole subject instead of more detail about smaller area! So tough cos my project has so many factors influencing it and I feel i should cover them all! see what he says!

Good luck seeing your supervisor too

wow Sue, you have 10 chapters? Thats mental! I have 5 plus final discussion! My intro has its structure and i'm just going back to it today - very stressful as when i read through it now (having written in earlier in the year) it feels a bit disjointed and needs a complete revamp! :( my second and third are quite well on, mainly discussion, and 4/5 are needing quite bit of work!

I'm sure you're right and i'm being way too optimistic, but if I stick to trying to get it done for then, and just keep my stress levels down and get on with it then who knows!!?

right now though i'm sitting surrounded by papers and not sure where to start, keep distracting myself with bits and bobs that need fixing and not getting to the big picture! although i'm sure the little bits need doing anyway so might as well do them now!!!? :(

going to try and do at least 4 more hours today and then i can relax later feeling some accomplishment!

its afternoon here so still bit to go! hope you have good sleep and a good productive day tomorrow! well done on the amount you've already done!

KT x

oh goodness, now i'm scared, I really need to get this all done by dec/jan, cos I need to get a job! but still loads to do, how much do you have written Sue? am i being really optimistic about being done in 4months?

back from tai chi - in my little town with all the oaps - even stop for tea and a biscuit half way ACE 8-)!!! so now got two hours of work (with lunch), doctors appt and then hopefully a good few hours of work if possible! hmmm, lets see if i manage to write even a sentence!

hope you having good day!

KT

CAN WE PLEASE GET RID OF THIS PERSONS POSTS!!!!!!! cheers moderators!

======= Date Modified 15 Sep 2009 08:45:07 =======
Yeah, I have spoken to my supervisor and he really wants to help me get done asap, so hopefully i'll be top priority (or close to it), but i have tried to include time for this in my plan! I'm pretty sure i'm not going to be written and submitted by xmas, but if I aim for it then hopefully I wont be too far off! even if just have time over xmas hols to edit whole final draft and have it ready for after that would be just fine!

My partner is not bad, he is working and doing part-time masters (in STATISTICS!), so he understands the workload, its just I dont' cope very well with stress. And i think the phd stress is different to any other kind, you have to have done it to get it! (lucky Bilbo!). and i can be up and excited about my work one day/minute and then suddenly i'm fed up, tired, overwhelmed and depressed about the whole thing! So think its more my fault than his! but once i'm done, i think the word phd will be banned from our house! :)

well i'm up early, slept alright, going to tai chi class at 10 and then a day of writing hopefully!

hope databases and writing all going well? Sue, we're on the same kind of timescale, i really want final draft in end of November, so we can be work buddies :) Best of luck

KT

Thanks Lara and Bilbo! I'm just back from conference and time to get back to the grind! although feel like i've not really started, don't seem to be getting anywhere! still got lab stuff to finish and went in today and experiments not working :( I know at some point i have to say enough is enough, but they are only four analysis on my samples and it would really complete the story for me I think. Or maybe i've just put so much time into trying to get them that my own determination won't let me just say right, thats it, write up what you've got!!! ARGHHHHH!!!

anyway, while away at conference sat and did proper time plan of what needs done if I want to submit by Christmas, cos my wage runs out next month - basically to get to my boss for corrections etc, need to do a chapter every 1-2 weeks!!!!!! Just do not see how i'm going to achieve this, along with still last expts and finding a job, and of course, trying to stay sane and see family/friends occasionally!!!

Came home feeling very blue today with expt problems etc, and I think my partner is just so fed up of hearing it, and gets really frustrated with me. Anyway, i'm blabbering now, just having a bad one and feeling unmotivated with waaaaaayyyy too much to get done!

Short story....I'll be joining you all full time on the midnight train I think for the next 3 months! CHOOO CHOOOOO!!!! :(

Hope everyone else having more productive time,

KT

Hello to all on this thread! I'm going to join in as it looks like a nice place to be! :p

I'm stepping up a gear in the writing stage as just finishing couple last expts in the lab!! Had a semi successful day yesterday with chapter 3, but today has been slightly less inspiring! Managed a couple of graphs and some exciting stats, but still not very content with my chapter at all! Oh well, another day etc....!

Think in the next few weeks i'll have to start getting on board this midnight train, but for tonight I think its one last hour before bed!

Hope all getting on board just now have a successful and productive nights work!

heehee, think you'll be safe! I hope so otherwise I'm doomed too :p

Thanks Sneaks, would love funding but I'm actually a microbiologist! just trying to find funding or postdoc position at the moment, fingers crossed!

hmm, don't worry sneaks! nothing serious, just the usual cancer drinking facts! :( researching cancer of the oeosphagus, and those patients drank more than controls!

Magictime, you've just hit the nail on the head, i think that's what I was actually worrying about in writing teetotal, rather than using the term. As in questionaires they have said 0 units per week, yet that does not mean they are classed as teetotal. I too like to have a drink occasionally with friends, but only once every few months realistically - certainly not teetotal though!!

In retrospect use a different tac, and say that 0 units/week were reported from these patients, or something similar!?

ta :-(

Thanks Melsie! Haha, maybe you're right, I was so busy gulping my cup of TEA I didn't even think about that! It does seem to have been in existence since the mid 1800s, so I would doubt it is classed as slang anymore!?
I shall keep it in for now and see what happens when my supervisor lays eyes on it ;)

Cheers

Hi everyone, having a day at home writing at last! :) making some nice progress with 3rd chapter - even finding some significances! woohooo!

Anyway, i'm detailing some patients, and I want to say that "--/-- are tea total, compared with --/--- consuming....". Unfortunately, i feel that tea total is a little informal, and wondered if anyone had any better phrases I could use?
I know I could say do not consume alcohol, or abstain etc, but I wondered if there was a noun for this other than T-total!!!!

I have very quickly googled this before deciding this would be the best place to hopefully get some valuable feedback, but nothing good came up!

Cheers guys,
KT :-s

Totally agree with Sue, i've taken on loads of extra's too (you can see a previous post for details), generally cos i'm not good at saying no to my bosses! However, these all distract from your time! if you do 2 hours a day on top of your lab work i'm sure you'll have no problem at all. Due to other commitments I have done no where near as much as this a day, sometimes not at all for week or fortnight, but then try and make back a full day/weekend of writing or something!

much of my stresses have been because I have had such high expectations of what I want to get done, and when that doesnt always happen I get stressed and annoyed at myself, which really doesn't help!

For example, since getting back from holiday I seem to have been constantly ill, first with tummy bug, then a week of feeling bit better and now i'm confined to my bed with horrible cold and can hardly breath (thank goodness for iplayer and 4od :) )! I feel like I should be doing work, could be writing stuff up. But I also know that if i dont' just chill it will take me longer to get over this, and the quality of what I do will suffer anyway. oh and when my partner gets home he'll probably go mad at me for not just resting!

My point in this (apart from feeling very sorry for myself right now), is that remember sometimes you cant always work those 2hours a day or whatever, and when you don't then don't chastise yourself for it! just look at what you have done and know that you're achieving something great! Anything you get written over time in the lab is better than nothing at all!!

Best of luck and i'm sure you'll do brilliantly,
Katie