ahhh.....

The old PhD changes...thankfully I think many of them aren't permanent Wally, my lovely boyf went through exactly what you've just described in the final 18 months, as a result many of my friends cannot understand why I'm still with him, but I know the truth!  He is now back to his normal lovely self though, so the moods do settle! I am experiencing it now too though, so hopefully he can stick it out this time!  Yesterday was a bit of a blow out, I left work in the afternoon and slept for a while, did nothing yesterday :$

How has it changed me?  I now have absolutely no time for people who don't talk about 'real' stuff, if a conversation revolves solely around clothes, who's dating who and how drunk someone was last night, I don't want to know. My mum told me I've become 'snobby with my mind' whatever that means.  I also feel like I must work all the time and get irrationally angry with fellow students who complain about little things.

I'm sure there are lots of positive things, can't seem to recall any right now though...  ;-)

My parents don't understand a lot of what I'm doing, the concept is simple enough but the details of the science experiments are a bit too much for anyone not in the field! They do their best to read things I give them though, even if it's just for spelling/grammar proofing. They have read everything I've published, including reading my last paper about 3 times, they have just gotten to the point where it's starting to make sense to them now! :-) My brothers and some friends have read my stuff too, so I guess I'm lucky in having that support network around me.

They also want a copy of the thesis at the end, but I'm not sure if they'd read it all though! :p

Hi Eska, I'm really glad it all went ok in the end, I hope the show was a great tribute. Good to see your niece behaving herself, maybe she's starting to grow up and see things differently? I hope it all resolves itself soon, family are important, but then again, so are the great friends you've got :-)

Hi guys! Sorry I've not been on this much either, feels like I haven't done enough to warrant a post! Things have been moving at a glacial pace for me as well, I've still not got my lab work finished, although I've finally ordered most of the stuff I need. I have received corrections for my 2nd chapter which I will hopefully get done this week, but I also have to finish the stats analysis for another chapter and start writing another paper and finish my 3rd chapter, to keep up with my schedule that I made! Which give me exactly 4 days to do all that! riiiiight....

But I shall not despair! I hope everyone is feeling better about their writing soon, it's crap when motivation goes, it's just as hard keeping motivated as it is doing the actual work I think...Sue I agree with MatildaL though, you should take decent breaks from your work, especially at this stage when you have got rewrites to do, otherwise it will seem like a never ending hell if you don't leave it aside sometimes and it can take over your sanity!
ok I best shoot off and get started, I've got a lot to do this week apparently! :-) Good luck everyone, keep trucking on!

Hey up folks!
Today's goal 1 is to have a look at my presentation and see what needs changing for a talk I'm doing on Monday! Goal 2 is to make those changes. Then Goal 3 is off home to get ready to go to the airport and collect my boyf who I'm seeing for the first time in 4 weeks! yay!
Good luck with your fresh start sneaks and Amanda, keep on trucking, you are so very close to the end!!

but yet you still lose! (I'm also this bored... :) )

oh my golly gosh sneaks, I really want to know what you were working on this morning! That's so unfair to tease us like that! :-) Glad you got to do something exciting though!
I've already got some little things sorted for today but my main goal is to finish some map work I'm doing and get it on powerpoint...could take ages! here goes!

Hi Tony3433. If you want to do a PhD part time then go for it, if you want to finish it you will. There are many people who start a PhD part time and finish it, and while life tends to get in the way more often with a part-time PhD, it's only you who can make yourself finish it. Although I would say regarding your funding, it's unlikely it's due to your colour, I know in my office at least (sciences) there are a whole range of nationalities, including, african, indian, chinese, japanese, american and european people. I would suggest you contact people you have applied to and see if they can give you some constructive criticism about your applications and good luck.

lol DanB I so feel your pain! I also have an issue with people stopping suddenly in front of me and turning back and smashing into me, and then looking at me as though it's my fault.... :-) Also people who walk swinging their arms all over the place so you can't pass, and finally, people wo wear shorts/short skirts/t shirts now even though while it's sunny, it's still only about 8 degrees!! Well, where I am at least! :D

I must admit though, my brother does the hands down the trousers thing....so not a good look....

Congratulations!!! I'm so chuffed for you chrisrolinski!! You deserve a good long sleep then a good big treat!! :-)

Go sleep and revel in the fact that you don't have to write anymore for a while!! Well done!

Hi Catlinbond, I think it should be ok so long as your abstract is a bit different and you are presenting improved/slightly different data at the second conference. It is a poster after all, and I'm not sure abstracts count as publications in that sense. I know several people who have presented the same poster at different conferences. You might try contacting the organisers of the 2nd conference to see if they count a previous poster with less data and information as previously publishing your data and then decide what to do about your current conference.

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4matt, you could try the Green party, or my new personal favourite, the Monster Raving Loony Party! They sound like they would shake things up a bit!
Personally, I think the Lib Dems are the best of a bad bunch this year, I'd emmigrate before I'd vote for the Tories and the puppet that is David Cameron, and I've seen enough of Gordon Browns big fish mouth gaping open after every bull-spouting sentence to last a lifetime.

Hi Chris! Just wanted to say good luck for your penultimate day! You are soooo close, you can do this!! Have plenty of tea and biscuits to keep you going, I'm sending good vibes to you!

(up)

I would totally keep a close eye on this. My cousin went through a traumatic experience years ago when someone very close to her died and she has *never* gotten over it. She was all confused about thing for ages, and after some said a throw away remark about her putting on some weight (not in a nasty way, just in passing, saying she looked good even with it) and my cousin just clutched onto her weight as a coping mechanism. She has told me that it's a way of trying to control things in her life, if she is in control of her weight and can lose it when she wants to, she in control of her life and bad things wont happen....it's absolutely heartbreaking to see her, she still looks alright, not anorexic or anything, but shes buliemic and has been for about 7 yers now i think. She refuses to talk about it much, except occasionally.
Maria1, I would say if your friends current weight issues have been kicked off by a traumatic event, it's something that can go too far really easily. It's very difficult to talk about it without it becoming a taboo issue or something they can become extremely defensive about. I would try and get your friend to talk to someone about whatever event has happened, often people who have been through this dont even realise what is the real root of the issues as they deflect it onto other things. If nothing else, odd diets are very bad for your health and should be avoided at all costs!

I don't mean to sound like I'm overexaggerating or anything, I just wish I had realised what was going on with my cousin years ago, now it's entirely part of her and as much as she hates what she's doing to herself, she can't bring herself to stop it. it's become like an addiction with her. Good luck.

ah my office is just like this! We have a random selection of nationalities so lots of different flavours and smells! the person beside me likes to eat raw carrots so it's very noisy, I just stick in music when she's eating, and there is another guy who is jsut the noisiest person ever, he even breathes really loud and huffs and sighs a lot as well as banging his stuff about the desk...when I'm feeling stressed as soon as I see them I stick on music or leave cos i can't handle the noise! I've never been very good at bringing these issues up with people...