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sneaks it could be the change in diet that has you really sleepy, if you're used to eating chocolate during the day and then cut it out you'll feel all sleepy for a while as you body gets used to not having the yummy chocolatey sugar!  But you will get used to it, and after a while you'll be brimming with proper energy, that kind that's good for your brain! That's what I keep telling myself anyway! 
I'm v proud of me, did lots of exercise over the weekend, well, for me anyway! Friday was pilates and dance practice, sat was a big walk, and sunday we had a guest dance instructor who I was dancing with for 2.5 hours, shattered at the end!  great fun tho! :D  Even was all healthy and had seabass and salad for dinner last night instead of the creamy pasta I was planning, whoo! Just have to try to be good tonight, anyone know a healthy, easy, way to cook beef mince?!

congrats Poppy, I'd imagine you're over the moon with submitting! I hope you enjoy your break from work, make sure and take some proper time off! And well done ALpacalover getting ur chapter in, just keep positive and you'll get there! We all will! I had a little wobble this morning myself, thinking about everything I have still got to do is pretty terrifying, I wouldn't recommend it folks! Took myself off for a little retail therapy at lunch time though, best 2 hours ever - I found a gorgeous dress in TK maxx, calvin klein, reduced to £50 and the best bit is it's a size smaller than usual! oh yes! So now I'm back at work, all calmed down and not feeling too bad about munching on biscuits as I try to get back into work!
Mission for this week - get my PCR methos decided on and hopefully get results for another experiment that I'm working with someone else on! fingers crossed, good luck everyone! Here's to a good week! (up)

I wouldn't worry too much keepcalm, I'm sure if your work was bad your supervisors and yourself would have noticed by now. Sometimes people are just naturally good writers, sometimes people are very lucky and their work just flows like manna from heaven...one guy in my office submitted and had a postdoc within 2.5 years of starting....
Just so long as you are doing the best you can now wth your work then you should be ok. You might find your aims become more defined as you get on, for a lot of people things only start to click in final year. You can increase your reading if you feel it's really necessary, although reading 3 or 4 papers in the wider field may let you know quickly if it's worth it or not...your reading may not need to be as broad as another persons. Just remember your project is different from everyone elses, and while there are certain similarities between all phd's, you can't judge your work too much on how others are getting on with theirs :-)
Good luck for your review!

Hi Natassia
I have also had a good cry in front of my supervisor, not just a few tears that showed I was stressed, but the big shuddery shoulder heaving crying that leaves you unable to speak... :-) The first time I cried was way at the start, we both had some very different ideas for the topic and I had tried to talk it through with him and he got all mad and started shouting at me so I just sat there crying like a loser. We got it sorted in the end, and he did come and apologise after and it's never been a problem in our working relationship. I think he just respected that I did something about it!
The second time was when I was having trouble wth another colleague who was basically bullying me. I did everything I could to avoid going to my sup but eventually I had to or my project would have suffered. That's the time it was big tears, I must have sat there for about 10 minutes trying to gather myself and even when I could speak it came in big bursts of air! But he was great about it, took his phone off the hook, switched his mobile off (he's ALWAYS busy) and let me sit there as long as it took. He helped me sort out the problem with the colleague and even phoned me the next time I was working with the guy to make sure it was all going ok.
So, you never know, a good cry might be just the thing to get you through! Really, don't worry about it.

Hi Lobster
Not really many tips, just here for support! I know it's crappy writing up, but the most important thing is don't let it all get on top of you. Just look at exactly what you need to do for this chapter, break it down and realistically decide if it's possible by the end of the month, and if not then work out a date that you can submit it. You are so close to the end now so just keep plodding on and you WILL get there eventually (up)

I did it! I did curcuits and I survived!

There was one moment when I thought I might not get through this, but I did it! And it was great fun! Totally definitely doing back next week! Pilates tomorrow, dancing on Saturday and Sunday!

I personally think this is a great idea DanB, its good to know that your PhD is beneficial outside of academia, even if it's in the application of transferable skills and not directly using your research. There have been several courses in this area given by the careers department here and they've been v popular! Especially in the current climate where public sector and uni jobs are getting few and far between.....

alright!! I've been lurking around this thread for long enough, it's time I made some decisions and stuck to them! Today I'm going to circuits! I've been trying to get back to being all healthy for ages, I did so well going to the gym before, starting in Jan 08 and I kept it up until May last year when I went and broke my wrist and couldnt do anything for ages and got used to being lazy again and it's taken this long to get back into it! I've put on most of the weight I lost and am raging with myself! SO!!
Breakfast is porridge (the Oats so Simple stuff is simply the most wondorous thing I've come across in ages) with a slice of toast and water.
I'm gona have some sort of yoghurt/fruit snack in the morning and afternoon, soup for lunch and some sort fo healthy salady thing for dinner.
I've got a holiday in June and a boyfriend living in the south of france where I will inevitably be made to attempt surfing or bodyboarding or something and I've not going on those beaches in my current bodily state!! Also exercise is good for the mind and all that! :-)

Hi folks!
Alpacalover, the meeting went really well! The woman was really nice and is very happy for me to come along and help out, she has got a few events coming up that I can help out at and I'm going to ask if I can sit in on a few of the curriculum days to see how that works, plus she seems to know loads of people so she might be able to help with a job at the end! fingers (and every other possible part of my body) crossed! Just have to concentrate on the work now, which has been going very very slowly lately!!
it's good to hear everyone else is getting on good, great news on getting to the proof reading stage poppy! I can only imagine getting that far!! I keep meaning to try that pomodoro technique too, I'll check out that website you mention sue! thanks!

Hi folks!
Alpacalover, the meeting went really well! The woman was really nice and is very happy for me to come along and help out, she has got a few events coming up that I can help out at and I'm going to ask if I can sit in on a few of the curriculum days to see how that works, plus she seems to know loads of people so she might be able to help with a job at the end! fingers (and every other possible part of my body) crossed! Just have to concentrate on the work now, which has been going very very slowly lately!!
it's good to hear everyone else is getting on good, great news on getting to the proof reading stage poppy! I can only imagine getting that far!! I keep meaning to try that pomodoro technique too, I'll check out that website you mention sue! thanks!

hi Lilbopeep, I'm in the sciences and for us it might be different from the humanities as mentioned before. My supervisor has encouraged all this students to publish as many papers as possible, primarily as it's possible to submit a much much smaller thesis in the form of papers with a lit review and discussion chapter, and also getting postdocs in my field is ridiculously difficult. However, it's not a requirement to publish and so long as your thesis is of publishable standard and you can defend your work well you should be fine. Having 2 papers is great, I think I'll have 2/3 from mine so don't worry!

noooooo don't wear pumps, they are so very very bad for your feet! I used to work in clarks for years and the feet some people came in with! I'd only ever seen huge bunions on old ladies who wore stilettoes every day since they were 14, but now I see teenagers with bunions!! It's crazy, bad shoes wrecks your feet, your ankles, your legs and your back! I think Uggs are ok short term, but not all the time! and as for the sandwiches, £3 for cheese salad?! I don't think so! whooo...rapidly turning into grumpy old lady thread......

lol i dont think that's the sexy get out of bed look sneaks, I think it's the 'scabby am too lazy to dress like a normal person' look! there are a lot of them where I'm studying....it got so bad places started banning customers coming in wearing pyjamas! some people even had night pyjamas and day pyjamas which they changed into for outside wear! madness!!
However is it me or...are ugg boots really very heavy, as people wearing them cannot seem to lift their feet!! Obviously I know it's due to sheer crapness of the shoes, absolutely NO support in them! also, is it me or am I the only person in the world who thinks shoes with no support shouldn't be worn all day long?!

Thanks for that Alpacalover, it really helps! There isn't much in the way of that kind of thing round where I am, and from a few enquiries I've made in the past some places aren't too keen to take on volunteers, means more training work for them at the start I suppose...hopfeully all goes well today though, got my meeting in 40 minutes! I also signed up for the society that organises all the public talks, like science cafe sessions etc so hopefully that helps too!
I'm just a bit nervous about admitting all this to my supervisor, with 6 months left I'm not so sure how happy he'll be with me doing extra stuff! Ah well!

As for what I've got left to do....one batch of experiments left, I've got a chapter done (awaiting revisions), a paper coming out and getting round to writing the 2nd paper (sometime...somewhere...somehow!) and then it's getting stuck intot he writing so hopefully it's all going ok.....eeek!

Good luck everyone!