OH I love 'PS I love you', in fact in my rush to come abroad this term (packing last minute as usual chucking everything I could find in a few hours before the flight !!), it was the only dvd I managed to pack lol... so I seem to turn to watch it every now and again when I get frustated with the non-english tv channels and I cant even download movies off the net so my crappy dial up internet cant manage it!! lol OMG I loooovvvveeeee the song in the movie 'galway girl' i just love singing along to it at the top of my voice!!! lol...

anyway, I cant be bothered to do any work at all today, so just planning on winging my paper tomorrow with the back up of my lovely slides which I have prepared!! im popping down to the town now, to get some food and going to watch the xmas lights get turned on at 5.30!!!

anyways I will be back bright and early in the morning!!! bye for now!!8-)

I echo the words of phd bug, there is no words to describe grief and nothing you can really say to make someone feel better. over the loss of someone who means a lot to you...

I know its a cliche....but really time does heal...honestly it really does, and in time the feelings of sadness when you remember your grandpa will instead change to a smile when you see/hear/smell something that reminds you of them.

About experience of grief while studying, my 21 year old cousin died last summer (in fact, it was not in good circumstances at all, though I'm not sure if you could ever die happily, but basically he was killed after stepping in to help someone else in trouble-basically a case of wrong place wrong time). At the time, it happened I was actually already pretty much depressed, and I knew that if I didn't take control at this point, there would be no hope for me!! So I basically, turned it around, and in my grief, I found the hope there was for me, that I was still alive and should be grateful for this gift. as I still had the chance to still make a difference and do something with my life...

anyway. what I am trying to say is, maybe amidst your grief in a few weeks after you have gotten over the initial shock, you can find the interrnal strength to use this sadness to drive you, to achieve the best that you possibly can (because lets face it, the alternative prospect isn't any better)...but for now, in the short term I would just say let it all out and get the tears all out of your system...

Hey ho! Just finished watching X factor online-jeepers it was seriously emotional tonight- every one of them made me cry!! first Alexandra set me off with the Toni Braxton song, then the boy group JLS singing the westlife song, and then at the end awwwww it was so sad to see those two wee kiddies heart broken... anyways, I managed to get all mywork done today, so i'm pretty happy about that, so hoping to pop into town tomorrow to check out the christmas markets and see the town xmas lights get turned on tomorrow night!! so apart from doing a little work tomorrow, I will be taking it relatively easy- as I have tons to do next week (including a book review I postponed from last Monday to this Monday which aint gonna happen lol...which means more excuses lol...and a 'test' written piece I have to write in order to secure an editorial job, which they have told me they will give me if the written piece is any good-no pressure then!! lol)...

Way to go on the excercise!! I really have no willpower anymore when it comes to áctive' excercising and taking myself off to the gym!! For my excercise, I count walking to the shops/pizzeria/bus stop or dancing on a night out lol...Though I went ice skating this week for an hour as my lunch break treat, and OMG that was a serious workout- I was showing off (as usual) whizzing around to the music, but my hips and legs in particular have been aching all week since, so im taking the pain as a sign that I must have really burned some calories!! lol..

anyways, I hope your work is going well!! I am having a really productive day today in contrast to yesterday and I am the only one in the pc room which is bliss as its lovely and quiet (oh and a lot warmer than my apartment!!)...so I'm hoping to get away before midnight, really looking forward to watching x factor on the internet!!:p

Hey Sneaks again! So You will also be joining the weekend work club!! (how about you Frankie?)...My progress yesterday was really lame, dossed around too much and in the end I reckon I only did around 3/4 hours of actual work!! I think the reason was that I knew I would be in for a weekend of intense work before my paper on Monday, so I was probably taking it easy yesterday in anticipation of this (the calm before the storm!). So I will be leaving for the Uni soon and I guess I will be there till I get the work done. Luckily the bus home runs till really late after 1am and I have no distractions as I am abroad this term, and don't have my mates tempting me to go down the pub over here!! So I'm hoping to work really hard today and as a reward have a few hours off tomorrow to have a look around the christmas markets downtown and watch the replay of tonights X factor on Youtube!! lol..over and out

okkies, the internet was playing up again when I got back from Uni last night, so I gave up on it, and ended up falling asleep on the couch and it actually ended up being one of the best nights sleep I have had in months!!! lol...So now I'm starting later than I had hoped which I am not particularly happy about...ah well I cant take the time back now. Anyways, plans for today, is to read one or two reports, then begin the process of analysing everything I have read, to put together the presentation... so today Im hoping to have everything ready in terms of the points I will discuss, so that I can then make the powerpoint tomorrow...Im working at home today as its toooo wet to go outside!! and since my internet keeps playing up all morning im taking it as a sign, so I am banning internet for the next few hours, no emails, facebook, etc!!

okkies, the internet was playing up again when I got back from Uni last night, so I gave up on it, and ended up falling asleep on the couch and it actually ended up being one of the best nights sleep I have had in months!!! lol...So now I'm starting later than I had hoped which I am not particularly happy about...ah well I cant take the time back now. Anyways, plans for today, is to read one or two reports, then begin the process of analysing everything I have read, to put together the presentation... so today Im hoping to have everything ready in terms of the points I will discuss, so that I can then make the powerpoint tomorrow...and I am banning internet for the rest of today, no emails, facebook, etc...well until at least 5pm anway!!

How did it go butterfly?? how does it feel and what will you do for the rest of the day??!!!

Hey tokyorabbit, thanks for your support!! Also, I can see you are making fantastic progress in these final stages, so I'm sure you will succeed now, just keep healthy as your stress levels are sure to go waaayyy up in these final moments!!! Im looking forward to seeing you posting, that you have done it and gone out to celebrate!!

Hey Frankie!! Don't beat yourself up if your not in the mood... sometimes it is just better to leave it for a day... It is not like an office job you can do even when your mind isn't on the job. If this is the case, maybe draw up a detailed plan of what you will do tomorrow, so that you will wake up tomorrow with a sense of purpose, so there is then no danger of putting it off further. Having said that, though sometimes I have personally found, even when I'm not mentally focused, simply for the sake of lowering my stress levels (so that I wont be lying awake that night feeling guilty!!) I would try to do something, anything really, even if its only reading a short 20 page article, or maybe even doing a check for recent articles and printing them for the next day...In otherwords, just be achieving something really little when you really really don't feel able to work on the phd on a particular day, it means you won't feel guilty about it, as I have found that it can get into a cycle if you dont do work for a day and tcan then turn into 2 or 3 days before you are able to drag yourself out of it!!

Anyways, it will be great if you join me on the thread!! Like I have said inconsistency is also a huge problem for me, so while I can achieve the results in the end, I am just as likely to take 4 days off in a row as I am to work 14 hour days for the next 4 days!! so hopefully by setting daily targets, it can be a way to ''conform'' and we can be more consistent naturally!!

Im knackered now....really... I have been working for quite a few hours now... got the afternoon 'slump'.. but I'm gonna try and keep going if I can for few more hours yet and test my stamina!!

Yikes!! I'm going to be a 9-5er today!! Plans for today are to finish off my readind prep for my paper on Monday which wilol alow Fri/Sat to do the powerpoint presentation and Sunday to practice...First though, I need to clean my apartment super fast as my landlady is coming around to pick up some things while I am out, which means I cannot close all the doors like I usually do to hide the messy rooms! lol... over and out for now:p

Congratulations! I'm sure you will have a lovely carefree Christmas this year, with no feelings of guilt about partying too much!!...:-x

You will be fine!! Do your thing and don't compare your progress to others, people peak at different stages in the process. The trouble as well, is there are little opportunities for gratification in terms of visible positive results to motivate, so whereas at undergraduate/masters at least if you are reguarly getting high marks it spurs you on, but with a phd there isn't much in the way of these short term goalposts to spur you on further as the ultimate goal is far off in the distance. So alternatives to keep positive, perhaps publishing and giving papers at conferences could be a way for you to gain postive feedback which will motivate you and give you belief that you are on the right road perhaps? As for your supervisor inspecting everything step by step, god I wish mine would do that!! I would love more of an indepth feedback, as I think it can only lead to improvements in the final draft. So chin up!

Hey ho...just checking in, so I am satisified with my progress today, didn't read asmuch as I had hoped admittedly but at the same time what I did read, I did so with much more care than I usually do and I think it has really 'gone in'. That's the trouble, the better you get at 'skimming' texts, means the less attention you pay when reading anything-but today I really feel that I took in what I read by taking it really slowly and thinking about every sentence (quality not quantity eh?!)...Anyways I hope you have achieved your goals Sneaks-you can do it!! (I have also decided to make sure I have my contacts in every time I post, as I have noticed my spelling and grammar were terrible, when I posted some of the previous messages!!). ok, over and out...

Starting a little late today, fallen right into my natural noctoral cycle again (definitely a correlation between bad weather and my noctoral tenedencies!). Ok so, my target for today is to read a number of cases that I need to know about to include for my paper I will be giving next week. Hoping to start in an hour and then work through till about midnight. How about you sneaks what are your targets for today?