======= Date Modified 13 Mar 2010 23:21:21 =======
And, without wishing to sound incredibly dull...why do the surveys here not have an n value??? Hmmm?!

(An observation which I managed after 1 and a half glasses of said plonk...)

Edit: added 'not' to the first statement...which changes the whole meaning, and suggests that the alcohol-productivity hypothesis requires the addition of the enforced-next-day-edit-function. Oops!

I'll give another vote to the white wine choice; perhaps this is more of a "how many units" thread than a "how many beers"? Irrespective of this, I'd like to propose that performance can improve with the addition of a unit or two...loosening up the grey matter for a bit of free writing. Plus generally getting past the stress of a stressful day.

I agree with the point about drinking slowly over time - necking three pints of snakebite in half an hour would probably undermine my above proposal...

I'm going back to my glass of white...

Hi Liminalplace,
Congratulations on getting to this milestone. I'm due to hand in in a few weeks and feel very odd before I've got there...I think I'm beginning to realise that everything about a PhD is a bit odd...!

Hope you get some down time and a chance for it to sink in

CG x

Hi Sue,

Firstly congratulations for reaching a huge milestone, secondly sorry to hear about your weekend.

Apologies for sounding like my Mum...but you really sound like you need a rest and a break from PhD. Maybe this week is a chance for you to catch up on sleep and refresh before starting the next thesis task, or addressing sup feedback from your case studies. You are usually very positive and recently you have been quite down about things. Maybe a few days off or a long weekend with your partner could help.

Hope you're feeling better. I know it's easy to say but don't assume that there's no chance you can get the job of your dreams are completely dashed. It may not be waiting for you post phd submission, but somewhere in the future the immense amount of hardwork you are putting in will pay dividends - I'm sure Newton's 4th law of thermodynamics is that hard work reaps rewards! :p

I'm still heading for the end of March, life is all types of crazy and the next few weeks are lining up to be rather wierd...

Positive vibes to everyone

CG x

Thought I'd dig this one up and see how many of us are still on the March deadline and how you're all doing?  I definitely noticed the jan into feb transition this week with a bit of a shock/fear/panic/excitement/exhaustion etc!

I think most of us have hopped onto Sue's 6 month thread (which is great) but I'm still heading for March due to finances and a job. I have shifted my final deadline too many times to shift it into yet another PhD year.

Hope everyone's doing ok

CG x

Congratulations Bilbo - sounds like you've done great. It's very reassuring to hear of your speedy finish (I'm having one of those days where it feels like the end will never arrive, and certainly not by the end of March), thanks for the positive note! Good luck with the last few jobs you have on the list before hand in. Have you bought the Rowena Murray book? I think that's the one I got last week - although haven't got round to looking at it yet. I'm sure it will come in useful!! I think there are a few recommended on various threads here.

Rick - I know what you mean about feedback, it's so good to reach the milestone of handing something in, but it can feel like starting again when addressing the feedback. I'm sure you know this but it's much better to have constructive, if tiresome, feedback than just a tick at the end and "this is fine" - that's no help! All part of the rollercoaster.

I think it was Poppy saying how this stage seems to dominate our lives, I have the same problem and actually now avoid the people who I know won't put up with me talking about my thesis! Not all the time, but most of it -I'm a bit tunnel vision and aware that that can be quite dull, so it's beneficial to both parties! It'll all come back afterwards when we are post phd and returned to normal society!

Sue, is this your first week without your job? I think you have lots of committments with papers and a conference, but hopefully you're enjoying not being at work and being back in science land. Hope the other things aren't frustrating you too much and you're getting the amount of thesis time you'd like to have.

Right...wine glass is topped up, back to work...

Hey KB,

Are you on painkillers for your leg injury? That could be the source of the whacky dreams!

CG x

PS Been meaning to write you a pm and catch up with your progress but things have been manic, sorry! Hope you're doing ok

Hi Sue,
Glad to hear you’ve nearly finished your stint of non-PhD work. It must be good to be at the end. I have found the same as you, that having to do something non-PhD makes writing up so much more appealing. I’m currently doing something similar and looking forward to getting back to my thesis next week.
I have got a job starting in April so the pressure is now really on for me to stick to my word and finish by the end of March – think I ought to dig up that 10 month thread where lots of us migrated from! It’s quite exciting, seeing things come together but lots has to happen in the next couple of months for the various plans to succeed – feels like I’m playing dominoes!
Right…must get back to working, there’s lots to do.
Hope your second to last day goes quickly and easily
CG x

Hi Sue,
Glad you survived your first day of work. Is it a research job or something you're just doing for some income but doesn't involve too much brain power? I've done both of these along side PhD and not sure which is the best. Either way I hope the office time goes quickly and doesn't wear you out too much.
I have found that doing non-thesis work, like job applications and job stuff makes thesis land so much more appealing and a relief to get back to! It reminds me of a t shirt I saw somewhere which said "I live in my own little world, but it's ok, they know me here and I like it"!
I don't have a proper job full time at the mo, but things seem to be more important than thesis - upcoming lecturing, which I really should plan so I don't look like an idiot, and also the final report. Thesis is my main goal but slipping down the to do list (does that make sense?).
AL - hope you are enjoying your well earned wine, I'm having some with this evening's work...but so far I'm on here...

I have started using the mytomatoes that someone recommended on a different thread - it's great. Right...onto the next tomato...

Hi PGG,

I am not quite at this stage (a few months from hand in, no idea when the fabled draft will emerge...if ever?) but can identify with your "I'll just stop now" feelings. I'm sure what you're feeling is completely normal - I think there are similar threads on here.

Remember that this is a draft, not the final version, so it's an opportunity to identify the bits with your supervisors that you aren't sure about and improve them (and also for them to spot the things you might have missed). It's not the final deadline quite yet.

As for the family - hmm...tricky, personally I wish I could just stay alone in a room for long enough and it will magically get finished but hey ho, it doesn't quite work like that. You could try explaining it to them, or you could just ask them to make you the occassional cup of tea?

I hope you manage to find time for a glass of fizz tonight, 2010 will be an exciting year, even if the first few days are a bit grim!

Good luck
CG

Hi Sue,
Good luck for your thread and the next 6 months! I'll definitely follow your progress. I still hope to hand in in March (31st will do!) but struggling post Christmas and balancing too many other things. Will be back in a more positive frame of mind soon, I hope.

Hope your first day was successful

CG x

Eugh. I never knew that. :-(

Yes Cobweb, I'm sick but I like it!! In fact, sometimes I even leave out the bread and just spread marmite on the cheese...

Re the microbial poo debate, marmite is actually beer sludge - in Burton (middle of the UK) there's a beer factory. Out of the side of the beer factory is a pipe which takes all the beer sludge into the marmite factory (which has a giant jar of marmite on top, although I suspect it's not real). So in fact it's beer on toast. I don't like beer.

I'm in total agreement that the marmite/vegemite family is healthy - I will look next time I'm in a health food store! Splendid for hangovers, healing powers

It’s so strange reading this thread (and sometimes others) when people I’ve never met are describing feelings and experiences the same as I am having…it’s a bit spooky, but nice too!

The moving deadline thing is a wired feeling, I’ve done that quite a few times (many times…), moving that totally fixed goal of “I’ll have my life back in month x” and all the associated things that go with it – telling friends you’ll be a normal human being after date x, summer and kids etc. And that creeping feeling of building stress as the work load is just too big for the deadline to be humanly possible. It’s a relief to lose the pressure and face a new, more realistic deadline. Like you said Sue, it’s not slacking that means the deadlines aren’t met because we’re working plenty, it’s just the reality of PhD land. I also think for me there’s a mixture of over enthusiasm at what I can achieve in a given time and a lack of experience in judging how long things take to write. Did someone mention a learning curve?!

I like the virtual party idea – they need a champagne icon!

There was a motivational quotes thread a while ago which I missed posting on, too distracted by work…
My favourites are the one from Nemo “Just keep swimming” - I think someone else mentioned that one. And in relation to feeling The Fear... “Just grow a pair and get on with it” Clearly it depends on the mood I’m in – I’d never say the second one to anyone but myself though!

CGx