You still have loads of time Havenomouth! I know it seems at this stage that you're scarily close to running out of time, but you'll be fine. I lost an entire month at the start of my final year due to freaking out and being totally unable to do anything because I was so overwhelmed by just how much I had to do. I have a few lab books, but much of it is trial and error and so is unusable, I have files of stats results that are just plain wrong! and I'm still trying to finish off my last bit of work, it's possible I'll be in the lab right up til the end actually. So if the data you have is usable, then that's something! I also have a friend who is just finishing her lab work, we submit in 3 months and she has 1 lab book in total! And hers is a totally lab based PhD, so I'm sure it's not as big a deal as you may think.
As for your supervisor, there's not much I can say there, crap sups are just, well, crap. But on the upside, think about how much you've learned and how much experience you'll have gained from this. When you get through tot he other side, and you're applying for postdocs or another job, you'll have handled so much during your PhD that it'll be wee buns, while others will be struggling to cope with the extra responsibilities.

I would say it's important to give yourself some down time though. No matter how busy you are, you need a day off or an evening at least where you can just chill out, and remember what real life is like. It'll help give you something to aim for when you're finishing. Above all it's a long hard slog, and you need to pace yourself. Can you have a word with your second supervisor or the head of school or something to get your supervisor sorted out? I would also recommend having a chat with a counsellor about how you're feeling, it's a bit strange at the start, but it has helped me in the past to get some perspective on things. (up)

ok I'm doing this too! I need to get a zero draft of the paper I'm writing, which is also a chapter in my thesis done today! I can do it! WE can all do it! Just have to make a cup of tea... :-)

ok so today im supposed to be writing a paper, or at least starting it... So far I have checked emails repeatedly, got groceries, cleaned around, ate, watched tv and had a nap! It's not going so well it seems! Is anyone else finding it hard to work today?!

lol Wally! How you make me laugh! I think you should do it anyway, as a social experiment of course! Then you can be right up there with the likes of the talented Gillain McKeith, imagine that! Never mind the VIP 4* forum here, you'd need your own website for that kind of prestige.... ;-)

I never got any when I joined years ago! I feel so lonesome now... :)

Sleep Sue, sleep!! There is no way you can keep up the midnight working when you are already starting to feel like crap, I'm the same. The more work I do, the more sleep I need. Even if you feel bad for not being at the desk long enough, you need your rest to make sure the quality of your writing is good, no point doing a rewrite if it's worse than the original! Have a think about how you are working now, if you are generally productive then that's a good starting point, just see if you can change things around in your day to make you more productive without eating into your down time. Like going for a walk in the morning instead of lunch time or something, or getting rid of the distracting things at the start of the day so you can spend the rest of the time on the proper stuff. If you feel you must work longer hours, someone told me that the hours you sleep before midnight are worth more than the hours you sleep after, so how about trying to go to bed at 10 or 11, and get up at 6 to do work? Working in the early hours of the morning are just as productive and peaceful as late night I think sometimes, plus it's at the start of the day and not at the end when you are already shattered. All depends on if you think you can get up early though! I've also been told that 'The Fear' is enough to keep us going in these times! (up)

lol is this the LSBF stuff?! That must be about 20 threads by now...

Sounds a bit like a panic attack Eska to me! I'd say Rescue Remedy, I won't present without it anymore, placebo or not it works ok for me. I also get a bit nervous but I found if I have the first 2 slides nailed then I can get into the swing of things after that. If you are finding it hard to settle when beginning you talk panicking about how you are losing it only makes it worse. Keep a bottle of water with you when you get up there. Before you start take a few moments to gather yourself, take a drink of water and a few deep breaths and stand straight and just pretend to be confident and act like you know what you're talking about. Even if you are quaking inside it won't show that way on the outside. I'm sure it's just a phase but this might help til it passes! If you practice taking deep breaths then your body will get used to it being a way to relax, so when you get stressed in future it will be easier to calm down with just a few breaths!

lol DanB will you come shopping with me next time?! Sounds like you're a great help, although I'm not sure it will be possible to upstage your graduation gown!!

Hi Sue, thanks for the words of wisdom, you've helped as usual :)
Go you for setting your date, that's the same as mine roughly, 15th Sept! Although I've still go my lab work and several chapters to start!! So you're well on your way!! 6 weeks to the final draft, here we come! I hope the new job goes ok for you too, you are so right, starting new things in the middle of trying to wrap up a PhD is madness.
I'm trying to see what I can cut out for the last stretch, not the dance show, but that's only a few weeks and then it's over. My parents are great, they understand that I can't come home that much, my mum even offered to send my dad up to my flat every night with freshly cooked dinners so I'm still eating right and not having to go shopping! It's is an hour drive each way though so I said not to worry about it! It's just nice knowing they are so supportive, so I guess it's not all bad!
My boyf isn't helping so much though, still fighting with me about just about everything so I've decided to just ignore it. I've tried everything to see what's going on with him, but he's not talking, so I have to do what's best for myself this time. I actually feel a physical heaviness when we argue, it even takes longer to walk to work and I'm tired all the time. I've told him this and he said it's my fault for taking everything to heart, so I don't see what else I can do. I am who I am after all!
So, the plan is to ignore the moods, and concentrate on work. My counsellor has given me some visualisation techniques to help me separate the two and focus on work which I'm working on, hopefully I get the hang of it soon! One thing at a time and we'll get there!!

Hi Eska
I hope you're feeling a bit better, sounds like a really crap situation. It's really difficult to do things in situation when you feel under pressure and like everyone is judging you. I get like that occasionally and it's not a nice way to feel. I generally tend to stay away form cliques of people, even if they are lovely people the fact that there is a 'clique' just puts me right off. Throwback from school days perhaps!
The only advice I can give really is to try not to think about what others think and concentrate on how the people who know you best feel about you. That sometimes helps me to trust in myself when I've got really low confidence and am unsure about how to deal with hostile people. If the people you know best like you, then you can't be all bad eh?! And if you are doing a PhD you've obviously got the knowledge, you've presented well before so you know how to do that, you just have to trust in yourself and your work more.
I think the more we do for our projects the more we sometimes feel how little we actually know and it's worse feeling that half way through than at the start when we don't expect to know everything. If you can find one student who you can have a chat with that might help, if there is a social you should go along and see if there is anyone you think you might get on with. Have some dutch courage before you go if necessary! Give it time, even some of the full time students there might be not good at meeting people and once they have their group of friends they can be reluctant to put themselves out there for a new person, but you'll be fine.

Hello all! I've been in work for a while now but I was at a concert last night so I've been messing around looking at photos and videos I took, so I thought I'd better sign on and get myself accountable!!

Today the plan is to finish my stats work and write it into a talk for this week, so goal 1 - get looking at my current results and see what further tests I need to do, then do them!

Happy Sunday working everyone!!

Just saw your thread Rubystar, congratulations!! (up)

Make sure and post yourself on the Hall of Fame thread!

That's weird, why would it not be compatible?! I thought the whole point of windows was that it was compatible with everything...maybe not though. I've not got Windows 7, I'm really reluctant to get new versions when I don't have to, have you tried Dell online? They might sell something other than windows 7, otherwise you can get SPSS 18, surely your uni has a free copy for students? We can get it free for our work computers, but I always just load it onto my home computer as well :$

I'm not much good at motivation help unless you're into the tough love kind....just keep thinking of how good it will be to have submitted, and the only way to that is through the pain of the final corrections, it's only 26 more days and then you have submitted. Just one day at a time, it seems like you've got a lot to do, but you can do it. Give yourself a day off to remember what life is like, then use that as motivation to submit so you can have lots of nice days back again!