Rubyw, I'm going to follow your lead. I'm too tired and don't seem to be getting anywhere. I'm having an early start tomorrow, and I do not want to go to bed to late tonight. So, I'm clocking out now.

Congratulations Krashty on finishing the thesis, after you submit you should take the rest of the week off and relax.

Pari and Lara, good luck for the rest of the evening. You are doing great, do not over do it. You should go to bed early (-ish, at least) tonight as well.

I'll talk to you girls tomorrow 8-)

Hey Everyone....
I am done with my proposal...finished reading and rereading it !! sounds OK....will wait for the verdict t'row.... Anyways!!! I too will say gudbye to all of u for today....Will begin the new week by getting up early I hope...
Take care everyone ....Catch up with u guys t'row!!!

Morning all.

Aims for today - carry on with doing a restructure for chapter 1 on paper, until 12 noon. Scruffy scribbled plan is fine, as long as it's the whole chapter in its new shape with subheadings and I know where all the content goes. Even if there's too many subheads that are too obvious and it's a bit 'playschool' that's ok as I can delete them afterwards.

Anyone else around today....?

Anyway, I'll get on with it now as I'm back at work on Wed so the clock is ticking, and I will be cross with myself if I haven't done enough by then.

*yawn*

But I'll have a coffee first...

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Good morning Ruby, I am here *waves* that's a good idea about the coffee, i think i will make myself coffee in abit to wake me up abit. i will write for 1 hour and then that will be my *treat*.

i woke up at 10am today *shocker* (beats my usual 12pm!) although i was aiming for 7am! went to bed at 2am last night. didn't get any writing done yesterday nor did i complete any chapters lol. my aims might have been a tad unrealistic. but i did finish ALL the reading for the discussion section for chapter 3. so i am ready to write it now. even had a few ideas upon waking and was thinking about how to deal with *stuff* that goes against what i am saying.

Armendaf, sounds like you're very close to finishing, well done on the writing.

Pari well done on completing it! you met your deadline, that's super!

Krashty, that's so excellent you finished your thesis and 450 pages, is very impressive!! and because your supervisor says its good then it must be !!! thanks for the wise words about self doubt, i appreciated that. and glad to know you kept up with the thread. i always think its just us lot that reads this thread hehe.

word watchers, lol that's really funny and clever. i like it Pari.

okay before i start with my long list of aims, going to just state my immediate aim:

1. write first draft of discussion section for chapter 3. deadline 1pm. *2 hours*

at the moment the discussion is at 1000 words and copied from my paper. so i need to add at least 2000 words to make it a decent discussion section for a thesis. so final word count i am aiming for is 3000 words.

Ruby, thanks for asking, - yah my desktop computer, its still comatosed. i actually have decided to deal with it after i submit my thesis (hopefully i will be at a stage where i *can* submit, as in my thesis will be finished by the end of this week!! - i was beginning to panic, and did some searchers for shops that print thesis for you, and i hear some places can bind it in one day aswell, so will just pay the extra for peace of mind)

i can work fine on the laptop its not a big deal, i've transferred all my files to one external hard drive, so its easier now that i dont have to keep swapping hard drives looking for files. the only thing i cant do is backup to a dvd, but i do have a cd burner on my laptop - and another external hard drive. so that should be fine for now.

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Hey Tractorgirl, how was your weekend? good luck with your printing today and the binding! let us know how it goes.

where are you getting your thesis binded? and how much does it cost and how long does it take? you going for the 2 soft copies? are you printing your thesis at college?

lol sorry for all the questions!

Hiya everyone......
Wowie Lara...gud that u woke up early.....Gets a lot more things done..... I was in college before 9!!!imagine that !!!And my Prof said that my Proposal was gud!!!! So I am dancing in the isles....... Will mail u in more detail in the evening....
Gud luck with all the work!!!!
Keep smiling!!!!
:-)

Hi Pari thanks :-) you're right, it is better to get up early. and congratulations on the great feedback from your sup! well done you!! that is fantastic work.
-----

Hey Ruby, how's it going? I just had some lunch had a break for 30 minutes and then made myself a cup of coffee. feeling more awake now, but my body aches, its those aches, where you just want to be put through those old fashioned washer things that were used to wring out the water, lol..which has given me an idea that if i ever get this thesis completed and actually submitted, will treat myself to a body massage! never had one before.

but my brain is awake as i am not a coffee drinker, so it comes in handy for when i really need it.

so far update for me: i worked from 11am till 1pm. lunch for 30 minutes, back at desk at 1.30.
total words written so far (combination of stuff already written i.e from my paper but rewritten to avoid plagerism crap) is 1,140 words.
just another 2000 words to go!! :-s (battle face)

Armendaf must be busy lecturing. and TG no doubt is printing away. hello to anyone else around working today.

Hi there,

Lara, you've done loads today - you'll knock the next 2000 words if you carry on like this! Well done, and in spite of the aches too! I wish I had your discipline.

Pari, great about your supervisor's feedback - well done!

I worked till 12 noon, then wondered why I call it that and realised it's because my supervisor does, when we're arranging meetings (not that I'd mistake it for midnight by accident lol!!). Then I looked up the High Noon film clip on YouTube and revelled in the melancholy theme tune and wondered why I'm not mad about westerns (apart from strange ones like 'Johnny Guitar' with Joan Crawford in it). I did get back to work after that and had an epiphany about why I had to restructure this chapter and it all made sense. Well, about time, I thought, I knew I wasn't doing it for fun. Now I've been to Sainsbury's, had a conversation about carrots with an elderly man, had a snack and now I WILL start writing up this new plan :-s

I can get this chapter done by bedtime if I crack on with it.

See you later.

Hi. I am so impressed with the amount of work everybody has achieved over the weekend. Well done to everyone and hope that everyone has had a good day today.

Just a quick mail as still printing at the mo, but just to say hi!
Lara: Re the questions about the printing, I am driving down to the uni tomorrow for the binding (about 130 miles away). I need 6 copies (eek!) but lucky they are only £4 per copy. These will all be soft bound. The uni needs 3, my two supervisors one each, and then one for me! The good thing is that if you get them in at 9 am you get them back the same day, later that morning so i can submit them once bound and then not have to travel down again on a different day to hand them in! I would defintely check out the rules etc for your uni as it might be the same which means you don't have to panic about leaving a few days for the binding. If it does take a few days though don't worry because you will still have plenty of time but i would definitely check the uni procedure!

Anyway, hi to everyone, sorry for all the errors in the message only i wanted to post today but am just a bit short on time. I will post a longer message tomorroe night once everything is in (fingers crossed!!)
lol x

Hi Ruby how is it going? thanks for the encouragment! just the boost i needed when i read your message earlier on hehe.

i am taking a break now though, been working since 5.30pm ,and need a 15 minute break to just lie down for abit and watch abit of "profiler"
lol at the 12 noon thing. and i admire your determination to get the chapter done by bedtime, good luck! you're working so well and hard, i wish i was like you when i have a few months before submission.

i think the only thing that's motivating me, is the fact that i have literally one week left to get all my chapters done. joan bolker is right, when she says that nothing concentrates the mind beautifully as knowing you will be hanged in two weeks ! lol
---

Tractorgirl, wow 6 copies? blimey!! thats alot of copies. luckily i only need two copies to submit. i am going to go to a print and binding shop and get them to print it for me, as i dont have a good printer. besides it will be one less thing for me to worry. i have heard some places do binding and printing in a day, im hoping it wont come to that, and i will have at least a couple of days before my deadline eekk.

good luck with the final printing and the binding!
and thanks for the nice words of encouragement and praise :-) you're my inspiration!
=========

my update: since my last clock in, have written 600 words, so total words for discussion section is at 2100 words. i have 3 little topics left to discuss, i hope it wont take too long! i cant believe i spent the whole day working on this. but has to be done. discussion sections are always the hardest i think.

Hi !!! Everyone....
Lara, 2000 words more...u can do it girl....Evryday, every minute u r getting closer to finishing ur thesis ..remember that!!!
Rubyw....great!!!! Guess u have also been working hard!!! From Noon:-) and tractor girl ...great!!! by the time u see this mail, probably u would have ur thesis in ur hand!!! wow!!! that must be one of the greatest feelings ever...Bask on the glory....While the rest of us are slowly but surely working our way towards it..... I more slowly than others coz I am in my first year....let the writing begin!!!!
gud luck all!!!!
Cya in the morning!!!
P.S- all u guys are so great, I feel like I have known u for ages...Thanks for all the encouragement and support...Love u all:-x

Awww Pari, you are such a sweeti-pie, i love your enthusiasm, it's contagious!! :-)
Thanks for the encouragement, you're right, just need to get it done!! i'm clocked back in and have glued myself until i get it done!!

No, hold that praise!!!

I haven't been working hard, I'm a fraud at the moment, a great pretender... oh god, is that a Freddie Mercury song??? Oh well, never mind. I've been fiddling with my scruffy paper plan since I logged in last, and that was a fair while back, as we can see, and I've now slowed down to a great big Full Stop. Goodness knows how many productive hours I've done, but it's a hellishly small number. I can't bear the thought of sitting in front of the computer and getting down to Word stuff for some reason. (but it's ok to go on this forum though lol!!) Sad but true. :$

I suppose the good thing about this shocking procrastination is that I can type away to my heart's content tomorrow when I'm less tired. It's a bit embarrassing admitting how pathetic I've been about sticking to my masterplan for the day though - it's the down side of this public accountability malarkey. I often do this when I'm nearly back at work after a bit of time off, I think oh well, I'd better slow down some more as I'll be SO busy when I'm back I won't have time to think, so whooaa, take it easy while you can. Yup, I can justify almost anything if I try!

Lara, yep the threat of imminent death must be a good motivator lol! You've done a lot though, and you're right, discussion sections take longer, or you'd end up writing gobbledygook. 3 little topics left is a good amount to be able to get done after a break. Very do-able and you'll be so pleased to see the back of it.

Tractorgirl, how exciting to be planning the printing and binding trip - the end really is in sight! They weigh a lot don't they? Someone showed me her 6 copies a few weeks ago and she weighed one, I think it was about 2kilos or something. Heavy stuff and not just intellectually!! She didn't quite need an old ladies shopping trolley to shift them, but almost!

I wonder how much paper we use from beginning to end of a PhD? Several trees each, do you reckon?

Good luck with the work tonight Lara- you're nearly there and you can do it!

See you in the morning.

Thanks Ruby, and i totally concur about the slowing down process, i've working at snail pace at the moment, each word takes so long to extract out of my teeny tiny brain lol!! i think as the day progresses my concentration plummets drastically!

but Ruby, dont be so hard on yourself! when i was at your stage, i went days and weeks without doing hardly anything! its perfectly normal!

thanks for the message and the encouragement. glad you agree that discussion sections are the hardest. yah i will be happy once i have done it.
as the last chapter, the conclusion chapter, will just be a summary of all my discussion sections and ideas for future experiments.

okay one last section to comment on. and then i should be done. it needs abit of editing, as its abit choppy with random sentences here and there just floating about, that need something to hold them down. i just want to get the core of the content done though. and then worry about making it all nice and flowy later.

Hello Lara, I'll be working late tonight too, so you're not going to be alone. Only one week to submit your thesis? Yikes! At least it'll be out of the way soon enough - it's the final push.