Good morning!

My two goals for today are to write up the rest of my methodology section, and to have a good go at editing everything I've written so far.

Oh, happy birthday Slizor!

Slow start today as I went swimming first thing. Though that's good for me and helps clear my mind so maybe I should rephrase that - goal one, swimming 80 lengths, done!

I've got masses to do before next Tuesday but I'm not going to panic about it or worry that I've fallen behind the original workplan I drew up. That way lies despair and desperation! Today's goals will be perfectly achievable:

1.) Plan out what parts of my 10,000 word methodology document will be included in the 2,000 word methodology section of my upgrade report.
2.) If I have time, write this up (not a disaster if this happens tomorrow instead).
3.) Use the uni printer to print out everything done so far so that I can work from a print-out at home tomorrow!

Goal one finally achieved. I'm so tired now! Looks like I have no chance of doing goal 2 today, but if I can just make a decent start on it I'll at least feel better. :-(

Morning!

Started early this morning (at my desk by 7.30) and making progress, but completely daunted by how much I have to do. Today's goals:

1.) Finishing writing up the Lit Review section of my upgrade report

2.) Edit this section down to about half the length (yikes!)

I just have to echo what everyone else has said - Keenbean, you're amazing, and achieve so much, and you know this will pass, although I'm sure it doesn't feel that way at the moment. Hang in there - you have support from people around you, it sounds like you're well on top of all the work and your supervisor is being really supportive, so things will work out fine. You deserve a break - we all do really, we all work so hard - but you have a particularly strong reason to take one at the moment, so give yourself this time to recover and recharge. And with the sun shining so brightly and lazy summer in full flow, I hope you actually have a chance to enjoy the break too!

Goal one just about achieved. With a section of it still to do but left for another day. I feel like I've achieved nothing today! Goals two and three will have to be done in the morning, before I start work on tomorrow's goal. Boo hiss.

But I promised to meet some friends for a drink in the pub very soon (they're all working so it's the start of their lazy weekends, grrrr) and I really think I need a break from the work, so I'm going to try to forget about the report for tonight!

Hope other people also get a chance to relax...

I have to admit, as a female I'd personally find that joke quite funny too, but again, that's the kind of joke my friends would make and I wouldn't take it as anything more than banter. Having said that, if someone I didn't really know made that joke at me, they'd have to have a pretty broad "I'm joking" grin on their face or it would need to be in the context of a jokey kind of conversation for me not to think they were a bit of an arsehole! As with so many things, context is everything!

I also think Eska makes a good point - you just never know whether that kind of joke can trigger a deep reaction in someone, so I'd personally only make that kind of joke with someone I knew well enough to be sure they'd take it in that spirit, or if it was in the context of a lot of friendly banter being made. But I know how it is - sometimes a joke is such an open goal you take it without thinking....

It doesn't really matter if other people think that person is overreacting a bit, the point is, they are having a reaction, and that means some kind of approach needs to be taken to clear the air.

I'm falling behind the timetable I made for myself to meet my deadline in 10 days, so today I need to get lots done and get back on track. Goals for today are:

1 - Finish draft of Background section (two-thirds done already)

2 - Finish draft of Aims and Objectives section (already started but needs thinking about)

3 - Edit both sections to within the word limit I've set for them

Oh sneaks, that's so frustrating! I know how you feel though, I always find it really hard to forget about work if I'm actually at home rather than going away somewhere. The guilt is a monster! And your supervisor is bang out of order for phoning you when you're actually on holiday!

The idea of days out sounds good to me. I like to go for long walks when I have a day free - just shove a bottle of water and some snacks into a bag and set off from my place, I'm really lucky that I live near the river and can follow a footpath along the banks and out in to the countryside for about six miles (well, the path goes further, but there's a really nice pub six miles away that's the perfect target destination so often that's as far as we get....) Are there any nice walks like that you could do? I find it really clears my head of everything that's stressing me, and it's free (well, until we hit the pub...)

Gah, I'm all annoyed now, so come here for a moan! My other half has decided to buy an exercise bike and he's been texting me every five minutes for the last hour with details about prices and reviews and stuff he's seen online. And I'm trying to write my upgrade paper and really don't have time for such nonsense. Honestly, why can't he leave me alone and let me get on with my work?!!! He does this all the time, breaking my concentration, and then gets hurt if I don't reply to the texts. So now I've sent him a shirty text saying we'll talk about it later but I need to work, and he's not replied, so I'm thinking he's probably in a huff now. And now that thought's distracting me from my work as much as the texts were, and I feel bad for getting annoyed with him over such a little thing. Gah!!!

I agree with the two previous comments. But I think I'd also add that it's worth weighing up the effects of bad feeling from this person - even if you think you haven't really said anything that bad and they're being over-sensitive, if it could cause problems for your research group or for how you mix with other students in your department, it might be worth just being the bigger person and expressing the regret about offending them (buit not necessarily actually apologising for the joke) just to clear the air. I know my department has so many people from so many different cultures in it that it's really easy for seemingly very minor things to get misunderstood and blown out of proportion.

Oh yes, go for it! I'm writing a paper with the academic who supervised my MSc dissertation, despite having gone to another university to do my PhD. My new supervisors are very happy for me to do that, as long as it doesn't get in the way of my PhD - they say it's great for my future career, and they have no problem with me publishing stuff that they don't have their name on if they're not actually involved in the work. Hopefully your supervisors will see it the same way!

Oh dear, I hope people resolve their hangovers and manage to find some motivation! It feels like such a hard slog at times.

My first goal for today was to go swimming - 80 lengths later I feel loads more awake. Took me ages to walk across campus from the swimming pool though - there's an open day today and the place is swarming with teenagers and their parents, all clutching maps and looking hopelessly lost!

Goal two - write the background section of my upgrade report (or rewrite from bits already written)

Thanks Pink_Numbers. I'm sure I will manage it, I'm just not looking forward to it that much! Oh well, it'll be done.

Goal 2, writing a timetable/plan, is now done. Goal 3 is to start writing my Bakcground section. But maybe I need to go to the shops for supplies first - I have no food or drink in the flat!

I'm very excited because my new mobile phone arrived this morning :-) It's only a really basic one but my old one was so badly designed that it was almost unusable (a light sensitive cancel button is not very practical!!) so I'm just relieved to have one that works! So now I'm having to stop myself playing with it instead of working - very difficult!

Oh well. Goal 1 was to organise all the copies of things I've written that my supervisors have scrawled notes all over. Done!

Goal 2 is to plan a timetable of how I'm going to write the first draft of my 10,000 word update report in only two weeks!