I'm not sure really. I study literature and so my studies cross quite a range of disciplines; philosophy, linguistics, history etc. (not that I know much about any of these fields individually, I just dip my toe in). So that tends to keep things reasonably fresh. I've always, always loved reading and studying books and plays and the love of literature itself hasn't gone. But the really in-depth stuff, puzzling over one word or one line for weeks or months...yeah that can get boring. I don't know, I'm going through quite an energized phase at the moment so things seems quite rosy, but I remember being in the pub with some other PhDers one night and somebody said 'do you ever wonder when you'll be able to talk about the stuff you're REALLY interested in?!' My answer was that if you got that opportunity you'd probably be bored again once you got down to the nitty gritty. I find marine biology fascinating but if I had to study fish bones for three years (APOLOGIES TO MARINE BIOLOGISTS, I know not what you do) I'd probably start to re-think.

I like to think the ambiguity of this post reflects my feelings quite accurately (sprout)

Just realised I'm away at a postgraduate careers thing at the end of the week, so will modify my aims. Troilus and Cressida can abandon ship.
Today everything I wanted to do has taken longer than expected but I need to feel like I've achieved things to keep my sanity so:
Admin- DONE as far as I can at this moment!
Database thingy- DONE half, will do other half tomorrow
One hour on zero draft- DONE
10 essays- This is being knocked down to 5 as I have an extra day, so I will do this tonight.

Tomorrow- last of admin, if possible (waiting for a form to be returned)
            - Do other half of database
- Meeting with head of module
- Work on zero draft; at least two hours
- Mark last 5 essays

======= Date Modified 08 Dec 2009 15:58:54 =======

You made two points in your post though Cobweb: firstly, that we need 'simple beautiful things' and secondly that good art should be 'skillful.' Are those things not contradictory in a way? The branch of a tree that you mentioned is a simple, beautiful thing. But if you took that branch and put it in a gallery for other people to admire, that wouldn't involve much skill. Martin Creed's light going on and off in a room was simple, and to my mind, quite beautiful. But it wasn't skillful in a traditional sense.

Obvious question, but what is 'beauty'? It seems pretty easy to define what is not beautiful. A urinal is not beautiful. Emin's bed was not beautiful. But what is? An aristocratic white woman reclining on a couch with her pubic hair airbrushed out? Ruddy-cheeked (white) peasants frolicking in the countryside, revelling in their simple lot? (White) cherubs making goo-goo eyes at Jesus?

Bug, you're a star and we all know it. It seems out of character for you to feel this way, so I hope it's nothing outside of work that's getting you down. I'm not going to preach at you about getting up and dusting yourself down because you've seen us all do it a million times and I know you're more than capable. Maybe it's time for some well-earned rest?

Yesterday I did some admin, read the intro to book A and marked 10 essays. Today I started looking up some of the critics mentioned in the intro, which wasn't part of my plan, and it's now developed into a time-consuming database problem which will takes ages to sort and is very boring. I will finish that, finish off my admin, do at least an hour on the zero draft and mark another 10 essays tonight (my fault for leaving them until the last minute).

Hey Bug, Being able to say DONE clearly has far too much appeal for me, but I find that sometimes just writing down the world's easiest targets and being able to tick them off helps get me back into the swing. E.g: open up document on Word. DONE. (Break for cup of tea). Skim read document. DONE. (Break for cup of tea). Write two lines. DONE. And so on. Although you work hard enough as it is and I'm sure you don't need my advice!

This weekend was crap for me as my laptop has finally conked. That means I have no internet, no way of listening to music, or watching tv or a film (I don't have a tv, cd player etc.) I'm going to ring around today and see about getting it fixed but I get the feeling it's going to be a long process. It also means I have to work in the office every day :-( Who knows, maybe I'll end up getting more done, and the misery will be worth it!

Ok, aims for this week:
1) Have zero draft of conference paper finished.
2) Have marked all essays for my class and had them moderated and handed back to office.
3) Have done various bits of admin (I won't list them all here, my posts are tedious enough!)
4) Have received and read back sup's comments for chapter sent off last week.
5) Read two chapters and intro of book A, and all of Troilus and Cressida.

I think these are just about do-able. Ok, full steam ahead....

Oh no, 7 am? You must be knackered today.I was in bed by 2 but I don't think I got to sleep until about 3.30 which meant another stupidly late start for me. It's so frustrating isn't it?

It's Strictly Come Dancing only for me. I like to kid myself that I'm learning something about dance so it's slightly educational :-) I'm obsessed and have tickets to the live show :$

Well done Bug! That's brilliant news, especially so relatively early on in the PhD. Although, from the little I know of you on here I'm not altogether surprised :-)

I really haven't done much this week, I think it's just my incessant wittering about what I have done which is deceptive! And I still haven't marked ANY essays... This means my Sunday is gone :-(
Today was another unproductive day and I didn't get to the office for 9, quelle surprise. However:

Revisit the bits of the last chapter which I'm planning to expand upon for the article. Copy and paste. DONE
Brain storm some ways I could expand upon it, including using the bits and pieces of secondary material I can use. DONE

Which means, for the whole week:

) made all the adjustments I agreed with sup to chapter 2 and have sent it back to him- for Wednesday. DONE
2) Looked again at abstract for conference in Jan and worked out a plan for writing my paper (gulp). DONE
3)Worked out what primary/secondary reading I'm going to do over December. DONE
4)Started marking essays. If I could get about 10 done, that would be great. NOT DONE
5)Read Jane Eyre and taught my seminar. DONE

Which I suppose isn't too bad. Next week must be better! I'll be back on Sunday to write up next week's aims.

Sorry to take over this thread people! But it's really helping me to keep my mind in order.

So today was not a productive day at all. But I did search out the conference abstract and did a mini literature search to see if I could find some materials to work from. The short answer is no : / Which means that if I can do this well it could be a very original article. But I only have a month which is going to be tough. I've also decided on the primary texts I'm going to focus on.I didn't mark any essays today, which is bad news but I'm not going to kid myself and say I'll do them all tomorrow. I'll do 5 and then the rest will have to be rolled over to Sunday. So, aims for tomorrow are:

Get to the office for 9 am sharp!
Mark 5 essays.
Revisit the bits of the last chapter which I'm planning to expand upon for the article. Copy and paste.
Brain storm some ways I could expand upon it, including using the bits and pieces of secondary material I can use.

I've also pretty much decided on what I will read over December, so I can say:

3)Worked out what primary/secondary reading I'm going to do over December. DONE.

Lilbo I feel your pain. 14 months into the PhD and I still haven't established normal sleeping patterns. I'll be watching this thread with interest, good luck!

Sorry I missed that Eska, your niece sounds like a nasty piece of work.

Ok, I'm logging on at 3am to have the satisfaction of saying:

1) made all the adjustments I agreed with sup to chapter 2 and have sent it back to him- for Wednesday. DONE (Well, 3 hours late as it'sThursday morning now!)
5)Read Jane Eyre and taught my seminar DONE

Hurray!

So I need to look at my abstract and plan a paper, think about my December timetable and mark 10 essays in the next 2 days. The essays are going to be time consuming but I have to do it :( Then I will post up my aims for next week as I've found this thread really helpful

:-)

======= Date Modified 03 Dec 2009 02:38:36 =======
Yeah, I've got bit lax too in my manner with students. It's so easy to do. I have a really lazy guy in my class, never reads the books and hands all his work in late. We were talking about a part in a novel and he gave me his opinion and then said 'is that right?' I found myself genuinely laughing and the I said 'yes' in a sarcastic voice :$ I'd better explain- it's a literature course and I've spent the entire time explaining that seminars are for sharing your opinions, that there's no right or wrong answers...and they still come out with things like that!
ETA: I did feel bad afterwards though.