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Jumping jack rabbits! That's all I can say about my latest idea for seeking entertainment when you're in your third year of a PhD. A couple of nights ago, I thought I'd start reading fiction as a way of winding down from my work at the end of a day. However, I couldn't bear the thought of yet more reading, since that's what I seem to spend my life doing. So, I had a little think and came up with the idea of listening to audio books. I used to just think audio books where for old ladies with age-related macular degeneration. How wrong I was. With a good narrator, they can be an excellent form of entertainment. I load them onto my mp3 player and just go to bed listening to them. I've just finished listening to The Road (brilliant story, but bit of a downer) and I've started listening to World War Z.
I know the post may seem a little silly, but I find it an excellent form of relaxation so I thought I'd share my idea with everyone. :-)

Hmmm, why do old biochemists never die? Because the reach equilibrium! Boodabadump, tish!

Aww, all my jokes are really un-PC, so I can't post them. Let me have a think...

Lara, don't buy Adobe Acrobat!!! You can download a free add-on from Microsoft Office Online that will let you save any word documents as a .pdf - at the click of a button. If you have any parts of your chapters that are not in Word format, you can use free software to turn them into .pdfs. Don't spend anything.

Eska, you can't drink sweets, can you? :p

Haha, I'm not turning into a moronic, neanderthal (sp?)! I just needed to attract attention. I received an e-mail in my uni account about funding opportunities for any female PhD students who wish to go to conferences and thought it may be of use to some of you. The email follows below:


The British Federation of Women Graduates North West offers a bursaryof £300 to enable a woman postgraduate student to attend a conferencerelevant to her research in 2010.

For more details and how to apply, see http://bfwg.org.uk/bfwg5/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50%3Anw-travel-bursary&catid=35%3Ascholarships&Itemid=64&showall=1

May prove useful for some of you. Thank you.

Dr Lara, very, very well done. All that hard work paid off in the end.

Actually, it's a well known fact that hiya originates from popular karate movies in the eighties, including Karate Kid, Karate Kid 2 and Revenge of the Ninja.

How about: All right? and How you doing?

Good luck, Lara! Hope you really impress tomorrow.

Ding dong...Well hello...

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts on what you'll, hopefully, be doing 10 years down the line from now. Sorry if I caused any offence to those of us a bit older - I'll be saying very much the same when I'm 38, ten years from now! The idea of a cosy family and cushy academic job sounds vanilla! But times are a chagin', methinks, so I'll just settle for a family and academic job of some description. Bilbo, I think I echo those of us on this forum when I say I think you're both brill and tenacious - channelling you some internet love and best wishes right now! My internet connection is crap, however, so you'll experience it in fits and trickles (thanks BT!). And Alapacolover, I'll swap you my wind-battered room on a hill for your wind-battered house by the sea any day of the week! :-)

U ho, pointless post alert...I should be trying to read but I can't seem to focus, crammed up in my dingy room with the wind howling outside. It's always windy where I live at the moment, in a little town on top of a hill - the middle of nowhere. Anyway, I'd like to ask people where they see themselves 10 years from now. Researching in some far away place? A lecturer in a prestigious uni? Or a high flying city slicker, a la Gordon Gekko? I'm not too sure about myself, really - I'll be 38 (so quite an age) by then. The only thing for certain, for me, is that I'll have finished my PhD by then. What say anybody else?:-)