Eeekkk, I finally graduate on Monday. Feeling a bit reflective, all those years of work condensed into a few hundred pages, all the rubbish stuff that went on in my personal life that has made me stronger, all the wonderful people I met who I am happy to call friends, the knowledge I have gained and the healthy cynicism I have developed.

It seems strange that it's going to be finally "the end". But I'm ready to close the chapter.

Have a (gift) everyone!

I think everyone feels like this. I've never thought my work is any good. Then again, I have no intention of going back to research so I don't care either who reads my thesis and what they think of it :p

Well I'm gay, but if you were a guy and like that I'd be well happy :-x

I'm quite the same in some respects - I'm honest, direct and blunt, social and lively. But I have the attitude of if people don't like it, they can f**k off and go and be boring elsewhere, I don't intend to change for anyone. Enjoy it, I love dating, it's fun meeting new people and getting out and about. And it really is their problem and not yours.

Hi Fluffybear,

Okay, I work in private sector (and have since finishing PhD) so I don't really know much about applying for postdoc/lectureship jobs so hopefully other people will happily fill in the details.

I'm going to be honest with my views about people going into teaching and unless it's something you really want to do and have passion for, then don't do it. When I was doing my PhD I was seeing someone (and living with) who was a teacher and it's long hours, hard work, often thankless and not the profession that so many people have a rose tinted spectacle view of. All the people I know who are teachers have one thing in common - they always wanted to be teachers. However, that's only my own view.

Public sector is about to see massive job cuts; again I've never worked in it so hopefully someone who has can comment with more authority.

Private sector is the way I went (and what I wanted to do) and there are lots of job sites out there - monster and reed, for example. I don't know what your subject area is so can't really advise any further on potential career ideas.

As for finding a job that truely makes you happy, that's a worry for everyone. What I will say is these days it's not uncommon to move jobs - I was in my first job for only a year before moving to my current one. I intend to move internally early next year as well - so don't fear you have to be stuck in one job forever.

Hope some of this makes sense - had a rather late night and head is all a bit whirry :-) But happy to answer questions on here or send me a message if you want to know anything more.

Hi Satchi,

There isn't a specific number for "non-urgent" police enquiries. You can look up your local police station on the internet or from directory enquiries and ring them directly. It would be worth ringing them and reporting it, just in case it happens again so you can say that you have reported it before.

It's really more a police matter than a noise nuisance matter (which is dealt with completely differently).

Nothing new to add, but I think it's a great idea. I think your famous last words will however become very famous last words - it can take 4 years to finish a full time PhD, so 5 ( or perhaps less by time you start) is probably a bit optimistic for a part time PhD. Have a look at some of the threads about part time PhDs on here and you'll see what I mean - you realistically need to be thinking 6/7 year timeline.

But it sounds like you're interested and keen and willing - that's 90% of the battle won!

Stressed, jealousy is such an ugly thing. Please put away the green eyed monster. I know you are in awe of my elite status as a Belford graduate but sorry, not everyone can achieve such a level of superiority. Really, get over it.

8-)

It sounds like everything I dream of and more.

As a graduate of the highly esteemed Belford University, I have been looking to expand my horizons. This sounds like the best way forward.

Thankyou for bringing this to my attention. May God love you and keep you safe.

Temi, what do you want to do in the longterm?

If you want to do pure research, then a PhD would be a good idea. However, it's 3 years plus writing up if you go full time, or a lot lot longer if you want to work and do it part time. And it won't necessarily improve your career prospects either.

If you want to work your way up a company and be more senior management, an MBA is probably more what you want. However, I'm not sure how much research is involved as aprt of it. It's really more a management degree.

When you open a bottle of wine, it seems to empty itself?

Where does it all go? Are there wine fairies at play?

I think someone should do a PhD on it , if they haven't already.

:-x

I used it sometimes for writing up notes when I was doing my PhD. I was living with my ex at the time and he would always laugh when he got home from work and I was talking to myself very slowly and succintly!

Training took quite a while but it was useful when I wanted to just make notes off the top of my head.

Stand your ground and perhaps be a bit more blunt and direct - sometimes that's what people need. And it's not necessarily a bad thing having a bustup - I've had bustups with many friends before (I'm quite a gobshite at times) but it can actually strengthen the relationship.

My question would be if she's always acted in this manner or whether it's just something of a more recent thing. If it's the former then that's part of any friendship - taking someone as they are and just accepting they do things differently.

For example, I'm pretty much in real life as I am on here - warped sense of humour, helpful and friendly at times but also rude and abrupt a lot of the time too. It's just the way I am, I have no intention to change and people take me as I am. My friends laugh about it sometimes as it can be interesting, but it's just how I am and don't take any crap from anyone. And if people ask my opinion, they get it.

If it's a case of that it's a more recent thing, then has anything changed in her own life to perhaps make her like this?

I agree with Jepson; if you have failed three times already it is probably telling you something.

Phdbug, the main argument for using Latex over Word is if you are using lots of equations it formats it better and a lot nicer. Equation editor in Word is horrendously awful.

However, even if not it still creates a nicer looking document (imho). But I wouldn't perhaps bother if there were no equations involved, to be honest, it is rather "quirky" (for that read, lots of things are quite awkward to do, esepcially keeping figures where you want them!).