In my pre PhD days, I had the ambition to write a novel, and went so far as to have a working draft tentatively accepted by an agent, but then went through a divorce, a change of jobs, etc, and never went back to it, though I am hoping post PhD to return to my true writing loves which are fiction and poetry. Compared to PhD writing, fiction writing for me was a joy, though no less work in its way, but a chance to just let your mind go, and to write...freed up from footnoting everything as you go!

I am not, my research is in law, but this sounds so very interesting! I wish you the best with this project. I find that it is possible to think of all of the PhD as a creative writing project, in that, the challenge is to make it very readable, and interesting, while still being correct and technical where needed. Law can be a very dull subject, and yet, there are some scholar/writers who find that mix, and that is my ambition--to have a sound PhD that is also a very literate and interesting one--one that would not double as a cure for insomnia...but who knows?

Then there were a few people who got annoyed with me when I did not answer my mobile phone or return their messages when I was at the library. I would explain that I did not even usually carry the mobile to the library, and if I did, it was turned to silent or off, and minus some kind of world ending emergency, I was inncommunicado while at the library. Some people never "got" it...but I just did not worry about responding in their time frames, and figured if they wanted to be stroppy about it, even after an explanation, they were not much of a friend to begin with.

it can be really annoying and frustrating when you have explained to people that you are working, and they still act like you have all the spare time in the world--and get narky if you do not drop your work to join their activities. When I was still working and studying, weekends were precious time to study--it gave me huge blocks of uninterrupted time to work on things, and was absolutely necessary. Work colleagues could not understand why I would not join them for lunch some 30 miles distant on a Saturday afternoon ( where they lived). I explained this was prime study time, but if they wanted to meet for lunch at any time during the week to let me know. Well, this conflicted with their daycare/commuting/whatever issues, and it annoyed me no end that they had inflexible barriers but thought I did not. I just left it, well, when you are free in the week, and can come to my work location for lunch, I would be glad to see you.

As an "international student" I have found that other international students seem more out going than the non-international students. I am not sure what this is about. That said, non international students seem to warm up once you get to know them a bit. It can be exhausting though to deal with unfamiliar people and things ( such as the post office turning into a kebab shop), and sometimes its exhausting interacting with other foreign students from a vast array of cultures and mother tongues. There are times I am glad to go back to my room, close the door, and just relax, and do blissful N O T H I N G.

Fatbob and Smilodon, your posts made me smile out of recognition of the situation! It did remind me of an experience I had the other way, of a dear friend who was very cognizant of the hard work...she lived a few houses up the street from the library where I did my study on evenings and weekends, and would check to see if she saw my car in the parking lot. If she did, she would come and find me, and ask if I wanted to take a break at some point to stop at her house for a meal and some coffee or beer/wine, and just to let her know when! Then I got a welcome break, some good food, and a nice chat with a friend who was eager to hear how things were going! Often times I went to the library straight from work, without having had anything to eat, and it was nice to get a bite to eat and then be able to carry on!

For the ignorant...what is Tefal? I would be glad of any kettle or hot water heater or coffee pot...instead I spend way too much money at the coffee vending machine or the coffee shop...

I think my dissapointment with it is that at least from the clips in the trailers, the characters do not seem very realistic--Anne Boleyn seems like a modern day Valley Girl in fancy dress. I am not that fussed with the liberties about history ( could anything have taken more liberty than the Showtime show Tudors? but it was more enjoyable in that there was some depth to the characters...) but with the rather one dimensional aspect to the characters in the film. I am not going to waste £8 to see it.

I wanted to go see the Other Boleyn Girl, having read and really enjoyed the book--but the price and the long walk to the theatre put me off. Now that I am restored to Youtube viewing possibilities, I have looked at the trailers and am glad I did not go. It looks ugh.

The new computer is now installed--at the uni, not at home, where there is no internet access--and it is soooooooo much better, it is faster, my email ( touch wood) seems to work, it plays songs and videos that the other system could not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its like a brand new world!

~That is a good point Jouri. The people around me might have events they wish I would respond to in a different way. I just took some time out to email another relative congrats on how well her child did in just receiving an award in the study of a foreign language. I think its easy to get narcissistic doing the PhD. Your focus is all on you, and it makes it sooooo easy to lose perspective. I should just shut up, get on with the PhD and be glad that I have people who care in any way shape or form how I am doing, never mind that its not exactly the way I want them to ask!

you are getting a new computer!!! Hooray, hooray!!!!! Maybe it will no longer take 5 minutes for the thing to boot, and it won't freeze and stutter when loading or downloading! Hooray!!! Hooray!!!!

Thanks for the sympathy! I don't know why this in particular gets under my skin, but it does. I don't mind if the world in general does not get what is happening with the PhD, but those people who are near and dear and whose opinions matter...sometimes I wish they were more clued in!

Yes, its so discouraging when that happens...I should remember to always type the email content in a Word document that I can save, so that if something happens to the email, at least I have saved the content and do not have to start completely over...

Another conference presentation...another set of emails from the familial near and dear that ask NOT if the conference went OK, how the paper went, whether any future publications might come out of the conference....but did I get enough to eat? ( too much!) and did I find anyone to eat with (?????????) ummmm...yes...its a conference, you cannot get away from people. I wonder again if there is a deliberate trivialsing of the PhD undertaking or if this person is just sort of broadcasting what their fears are? or would be? if they were doing this??? in which case ...I don't know.

I replied with information on how my paper was received, the future possibilities from doing the presentation and why those are important to me and my research and my PhD. Because, honestly, whether I am hungry, over-fed, lonely or Miss Congeniality at a conference is really immaterial to the other things......

Not wanting to have a whinge, but why do people work so hard to trivialise the events of doing a PhD? Although I was a seasoned pre PhD presenter, its a whole new scary world presenting on "my" research...