Phew, it's hard work today. But I'm half way through my goal - just hit 1,000 words on my paper. Rubbish words in a very unstructured form, but words all the same. This paper is going to take way longer to write than I now have left to do it in. Ho hum.

Heh, Slizor, that's definitely the way to go. And following your example, my first goal is to swim 60 lengths in under 45 minutes. Yay, goal one achieved!!

Goal two is to make serious progress on the new paper I'm writing. I have an essay plan so I just (hah!) need to crunch out the words. I need to achieve a monumental number of words today, like, over 2000, if I'm going to have any chance of meeting my deadline.

Gah, after feeling like I achieved loads yesterday I've made almost no progress on the new paper I'm writing. Unfortunately I have to hand it in on Thursday. Can't see how I'm going to manage that!

Mmmm chocolate....

Goal one finished! Time to go buy some food (healthy food! but yes, maybe chocolate too) and then get on with goal two.

My first supervisor's quite socially awkward and very work-focused, so going round to his house would feel really weird I think. My second supervisor's more relaxed and friendly, if we'd met down the pub or something rather than in this formal situation I could imagine us being quite matey, but there's definitely a division between home/social life and work life, and I'm very happy to keep that there! I can only imagine it being hideously embarrassing and awkward to go round for dinner or something.

And Sneaks - eek! I think I'd run a mile rather than spend a week in the company of my supervisor and family in that kind of environment. It sounds excruciating!

I remember both Tom Baker and Peter Davison as the Doctor when I was a kid - not sure now which I preferred! But I think the new Doctor is fabulous - I thought maybe he'd be too young, or too overshadowed by David Tenant, but he's got this way of playing to the Doctor that makes him seem ancient and innocent at the same time, and he's made the part his own. Love it!

But yes, next incarnation needs to be a woman!!

Today's goals:

1.) Finish off last little bits of essay I mostly finished yesterday

2.) Plan out next essay and start adding in notes I've already made

Hey, pink_numbers, that's really cool. I found it useful knowing there were other people doing the same thing as me as well - I think I probably focused more because of that. And maybe because I felt that yesterday I just messed around and achieved very little so wanted to make up for it.

The films sounds good, have to check that out some time.

Time for bed I think. I've had some wine, I feel a bit tipsy! :p

Another side of it that's very easy to forget is that this isn't a choice between being a student in poverty or being a worker not in poverty. I've been working for the last fifteen years, and through a variety of things, mainly being that I go for work I'm interested in rather than work that pays well or progresses my career, I'm actually no worse off being a PhD student on a bursary than I was when I was working. Unless you have great skills or really want to play the career game, life in the workforce with 'just' an ordinary degree does not guarantee being any better off - and at least this way we're actually trying to follow our dreams, rather than just trying to go for a 'sensible' option (which, in a recession, I'm convinced doesn't really exist anyway!) Yes, it's tough being a poor student for years, and particularly so if you don't have funding to back you up, but the grass always looks greener! In other words, in my experience, work sucks harder!!

Yay! Apart from a couple of linking paragraphs that I just don't have the strength for, and a quick read-through and editing, I'm done! My head is spinning though. And I'm sure it's rubbish. Ah well, hardly any of it will end up in the thesis anyway!

Don't give up, pink_numbers! Even if you don't manage to finish it today, you can break its back and be in a much better position tomorrow!

Yay, other people doing the same thing is actually spurring me on. Go us! This motivating thing actually works!

Hi Raf. I can't say from my own experience as I took a few years out in between my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and went somewhere different for postgrad. But I've heard the same thing from people who stayed on at the same university - it felt completely different to them as so many of their friends had left. Being a postgraduate is very different from being an undergraduate anyway - the focus is different, the expectations of how you will work (much more self-reliance and self-motivation) and the concentration on studies as opposed to the student lifestyle with studies as one part of that (if that makes sense!)

I would say think about the actual course - which looks more like the sort of thing you want to study? Which one will teach you more? Which one will set you up better for whatever you think you might want to do afterwards?

There is something to be said for being familiar with the department and how the university works, this can make it easier to focus on your studies right from the start, rather than wasting time figuring out things like how journal access works in different institutions, or trying to settle into a new place where you know absolutely nobody and don 't know the area. However, there is also something to be said for going to a new place - the approach of the department may be very different, giving you a fresh perspective on your area and deepening your undertsanding of your subject. It can also be nice to feel like you have a fresh start, and explore new places, and leave behind the old undergraduate life.

That's not giving you an asnwer really, but I think there's lots to think about! But whatever decision you make, I'm sure you'll get a lot out of the postgrad experience, so don't stress too much about the decision!

My goal for today: to finish a draft of the paper I'm writing. I'm feeling positive. I can do this!

Definitely! I'm spending way more time checking emails, Facebook, online newspapers etc than I should be! Something about it being a Saturday maybe, I don't know.

Cheers, pink_numbers, that's reassuring. And I have exactly the same feeling when people write up that they've read loads of papers - I always end up worrying that I haven't read enough!

Gah, other half is sitting in a nice beer garden with a load of mates about to watch the football, and I'm stuck here still working on this paper. Boo hiss. But I'll have the match on the radio while I'm working. And I'm determined to get this paper finished tomorrow, so the more I do now the less I'll have to do tomorrow!