Ha, I'm reassured to see that I'm not the only saddo who doesn't know how to relax. I think I'm worried that I'm an all or nothing person and if I take time out I'll find it hard to get back into the swing. At the minute I'm thinking I might just take a long weekend. I'd really enjoy that and the thought doesn't freak me out as much, ha ha! Might take a little day trip somewhere. And I'm buying some makeup tomorrow satchi as a treat :-)

It's a miracle!

I handed in my upgrade documents today. My sup (and I ) wanted them to be as good as possible and I've worked flat out over the past few weeks (also been teaching, organizing a conference and other things). I had an hour's sleep last night and it must have showed- when i handed him the final documents he ordered me to take a week off :-)

The halairious and sad thing is I'm not even sure I want to... a few days, maybe, but a whole week?! I won't know what to do with myself :$

Hope it went ok Teek.

One last push and I never have to look at this (I would swear if I knew I was allowed on here) upgrade document again*

*Until the viva when they tear it to shreds.

On board tonight...Need to finish marking mock exam scripts (painful) and polish up my upgrade documents (including changing the formatting of every reference in my bibliography- approx 350 books- because Endnote won't do it) by the morning. My own fault as I've put off working all weekend.

Stressed, it's one of my favourite daydreams too. I sometimes get a bit sad when I realise there's no possibility it could ever happen :$ And Henry VIII would be AMAZING. I think somepoint during the Wars of the Roses would be good aswell, all that political intrigue...and fighting.

As the title says!

To clarify, you would be a neutral observer and none of your actions could alter history.

The 10 year old in me says DINOSAURS!!! But the other part says late medieval England as that's what my thesis is based on. *begrudgingly* It would be interesting too.

Happy birthday Wally,
your posts are so jolly.
So don't despair at your age,
It's a brand new page.

You're a forum star,
So stay the way you are.
Except for the Lynx-
I think that stuff stinks :p

Recently I've been in the office for about 10 hours a day plus time at weekends, but I don't want or expect it to continue for the rest of my PhD (pretty please). I use mytomatoes so every 25 minutes I have a 5 minute break and then now and again I might take a longer break, so that's probably an hour and a half off the 10 hours already. So yes I work long hours but it is paced, and if I'm getting tired I'll switch to some menial job like adding books to EndNote. I could never work for 5 hours in a row with no break!!

Now on to re-drafting, which is a fresh hell. I feel like I'm constantly raking over the document, changing one word here and there and ignoring the parts which need serious work.

Congratulations Jateet and good luck Bilbo

======= Date Modified 26 Mar 2010 10:59:16 =======
I can't play- this doesn't happen in Humanities :-(

Hey KB,

Whilst not planning (or having the intellectual capacity :-() to publish so many papers, I know what you mean about the sinking feeling. I've been experiencing a similiar thing recently (as documented on these boards) and I too have just hit mid-point. My sup said for everybody there comes a point when you realise fully what is expected of what/ what you want to achieve and the future can look bleak. My second supervisor however played an invisible violin when I was explaining that I'm struggling to find the time to write a journal article at the moment, and said 'we did warn you your PhD would be on top of, not in place of, all these other things'

No advice here, but sympathies.

======= Date Modified 25 Mar 2010 15:04:51 =======
Good luck Kitty, sorry you've been having a hard time. Keep going, we're all behind you!

Aw Fig, you didn't kill it!

I've been stupidly busy recently, so have not really had to make plans as I know exactly what needs to be done and how long I have left. No wiggle room! After Monday I'll be needing to hold myself accountable again.

Well done for getting everything done. As I said to a friend of mine today, two weeks late means bang on time in academia :-)

Hi Sali,

I can't advise you on your individual project and neither will anybody else be able to as it is YOURS. However, my thesis is also inherently very broad in scope. To narrow it down I would suggest compiling a list of the questions that you seek to answer in your thesis. Then look at that list and work out what your key words are and how you are defining them. Pulling an example out of the hat, if I was doing a thesis examining the history of apples, I might list as a question: How have apples been consumed in the past? I would then think about what I meant by 'consumed', e.g. 'by 'consumed' I do not simply mean 'eaten' but appropriated as a cultural symbol' (I am talking utter nonsense now but I hope you catch my drift!).

I hope this helps a bit, but for specific help with your project the only person who can really advise is your supervisor.