Hi Ruby and Lara,

It is so good to read your posts, it really keeps me going no matter what. I haven't been able to make much progress on this chapter six (analysis), it is really hard when you have to start from scratch; but then again, it is also really hard when you already have the structure and you are trying to find the right words to fit what you have said so far... so, in fairness this thesis writing business is too hard however I see it :-s

Lara, you've got me worried for a moment with that post that read as if you were panicking and thinking about not submitting at all. Fortunately you seem to be calmer now. I've been feeling the same for a while, but a friend of mine made me see that this is not over yet, even after submitting, that is just another step ticked off, but there is still the viva and then the corrections. And that we'll be assessed both on the thesis and the viva, so all of this that you are learning as you put together the final document, will be very useful for the next step. So just keep going, submit and take a well deserved rest before tackling the next task. Come on love, we can do this :-s

Ruby, I know exactly how you feel about having a long day at work waiting for you tomorrow. Last week I asked my boss if I could set my exams the week after I submit the thesis, and he said no; they have to be ready for the external examiner this week, just like that. Now I have to go in tomorrow early enough to get it done before my lecture in the evening, and it is my last chance before I get into total seclusion before the submission day. As if I didn't have enough things to do. Any way, has to be done.

So, I'll be around for tonight's shift, at least for a while, and after tomorrow will be chained to the desk until a single pdf file is produced with the complete thesis in it ready for printing and binding.

Battle face :-s:-s

Hi Ruby, nice to hear from you. oh i know those days very well, my day was like that too, very slow.
glad to hear you managed to get the text back again. phew!

i am back on the computer, and i really dont have the mindset to put myself to listen to the meeting i had with my sup yesterday, as it will just demoralise me again. so instead i will just get stuck into correcting chapter 4. and once i've done that, then listen to the meeting. most of the stuff they said was very general to be honest, most of the corrections are on my paper and so will get those done first.

my aims for tonight:
chapter 4 corrections: of sections:
intro
results
discussion

Hi Armendaf! it is really good to hear from you !!! I was just thinking about you when i was writing my message, you and me kiddo! we're in this together! fight till the end.

i totally get what you mean how writing the thesis is SO very hard! i had to restructure my chapter 6, it seemed it wouldnt take too long, but everything takes so much time!

that is a tough break you gotta do that for work, but i'm glad that after tommorow you will be chained to the desk, because i need the company!!
and you're so right, we just gotta submit and then deal with the next step.

battle face indeed!! i have Bear Grylis on in the background.

:-s

Ooh, be careful you're not having your dinner at the same time - I did that the other day and he was weeing into a snakeskin in the desert and then slurped it all down to 'survive' dehydration, even though I bet his cameraman would have given him a proper drink if he'd wanted one. I felt sick!! I expect Harry Hill will have something to say about that little stunt next week. :-)

======= Date Modified 22 Oct 2008 19:31:59 =======
lol Ruby. yah i have to turn away most of the time when he eats or drinks the stuff he does. yuk. but he is hot ! i have a strange crush on him :-).

that show by harry hill is funny! i've caught it a few times.

so how was your day ruby, you were at work today right?

Armendaf, today was your last day for work commitments right? i will see you soon for the mega mega mega marathon session we both gotta do this week! i will be with you in spirit.

--
update: went to bed at 2.30am last night, was meant to only have a one hour nap, ended up not waking up again till the morning! ooops. oh well never mind, maybe the rest will allow me to work later tonight.

chapter 6 is finished and i sent it to my 3rd sup for final checks.

chapter 4: introduction and results section and appendix data are finished

spent the whole day today making a figure for the results section to finish it off, that my sups were very adament in having in my thesis. i didnt think it would take me the whole day, but its done now. its just a figure to show an example of the quality of the data.

my aims for tonight.
correct discussion section of chapter 4. my sups said it was very repetitive, and told me to take some of the material out and put it in the conclusions chapter. so i am going to be working on that tonight. and told me i'm not building a story. i will try my best to make it as easy to read as possible without jumping back and forth. and to put some of my ideas. but at this late stage, i am scared to add any new thoughts or ideas as it might be wrong, because my sups cant check it. so will just stick with what i've written and what they have seen and corrected.

I feel like a break now though. but before i do, i am going to transcribe the meeting i had with my sups on monday. i've been putting off listening to it, but they made some good points, so i need to hear it and write it down. hopefully hearing it again, wont put me in a zombified "i wanna burn my thesis and quit my phd and i am a fake and dont have any ideas or what the heck my data means" state.

but i've bribed myself. if i transcribe the meeting now, i can take a nice break for dinner. :-)
it's an hour long sound file, so i reckon it will take 2 hours maximum, me hopes!

heheh, well, there's no accounting for taste is there! Though I do have a favourite character in The Bill that keeps me watching... :-)

Impressive progress on the PhD front - excellent news, you must be so pleased!! Sounds like you're on a roll (as they say). (up)

Yep I was at work, a bit stressful really. Went to a work thing, one of those art/science crossover events, to see how they work in practice - stimulating ideas and great collaborations, or 'money for old rope' in funding terms, as someone put it. Thought provoking and worth going!

Good luck with today's corrections!

That is correct. It is now or never; whatever progress I make from now until Tuesday, that's it, that'll be my thesis and will go for print and submission no later than Wednesday... Scary!!! :-(

Anyway... today I have to try to fully draft the newest chapters (6 & 7). If I can manage that, I can send them over to my supervisor, even if not finished yet, for him to give me some comments. From tomorrow I'll be putting together the whole document, and incorporating feedback I've got from him and a friend who proofread chapters 1 to 5.

*puts on blue battle paint* :-s

lol Ruby. thanks for your message!

Armendaf, you can do it !! *ra ra ra* that's me cheering you on!

my ultimate deadline is monday, i have to email the pdf to my brother who will print it at work.

yep its now or never, we can do this. just gotta make the best of what we have and polish it up! less is more at this point. today is going to be a hard day for me, i have to restructure and rewrite my conclusions chapter, and cut out alot of repetive stuff frmo my other chapters and put them and tie them together. hate doing stuff like that. i alwyas end up repeating myself.

my aims for today

1. correct chapter 5 (done)
2. correct chapter 3
3. rewrite chapter 7 , including moving sections and paragraphs from discussion sections from chapter 3, 4 and 5.
---
just going to have some toast with cream cheese, and correct chapter 3 and then will take a break before cracking on with chapter 7. the worst chapter.

Hello there Armendaf and Lara,

May I join you both for the following days of PhD hell online? It sounds like you've both been getting on well and hopefully without panicking too much either. (up)

I've got to get a motley selection of chapters off by the end of Tuesday, so 2 to finish by then... they're half done things at the moment. I've woken up with a stress and lingering cold headache, which is annoying, but I'd better get going I guess, as I've been on here long enough today :$

Today - aims????? Well, it sounds a bit flaky, in fact I think flaky is my middle name at the moment, but I'll try to get this never-ending chapter done or at least a LOT nearer the end. :-s

Hope you both have a productive day (up)

======= Date Modified 24 Oct 2008 13:40:17 =======
hurrah ! Ruby is on board the train of deadlines-ville. glad to have the company! :-) good luck with your aims. i know what you mean about flaky, my chapter 7 is super flaky. if the examiners hold onto it too tightly it might crumble like a cadburys flake.

my laptop has become SUPER SLOW. sometimes it just freezes for a good minute, which causes my blood pressure to increase!! :-s i have the music channel on tv , so when it does decide to rest for a while, i distract myself by looking at the tv, i have to calm myself and just *wait* otherwise i am in serious risk of throwing my laptop out the window. or smashing it. :-s but beggars cant be choosers, and this is my only equipment to finish my thesis! so i'm trying to be very patient and understanding. also imagine the days when phd'ers had to write on a type writer! so we're lucky like that. but with new technology comes new frustration.

update on my progress: yesterday i corrected: chapter 5 and chapter 3. i didnt work on chapter 7, but corrected chapter 1 instead. the chapters i have left to correct are chapter 2: methods, and chapter 7 conclusions.

so todays aim is to rewrite chapter 7:-s i hate writing discussions and conclusions, feel like im just repeating myself

i'm at the stage where i'm like "examiners draw your own darn conclusions, use your brain of what i've shown you so far..and put together the missing dots, do i have to spell it out for you, do some work yourself!" lol yes my alter ego, is being very lazy and also very obnoxious.

okay aim:
read through discussion sections of results chapters 3, 4, and 5 and tie everything together in the last chapter. also need to cut out alot of stuff, as sup's said its way too long. im not going to do any new writing or new ideas, just work with what ive written so far that has been checked. i will just have to work like hell for the viva. i've heard you're allowed to bring whatever written material you like, to refer to during the viva. so if i get a new idea before my viva. i will write it out as a document so i can remember it for the viva.

it's going to be a very boring and tedious and hellish day today:-s

I've had enough for now, rewriting the chapter is going ok - I keep spotting bits where I've said it already somewhere else in that chapter, I can't seem to get a grip on the thing as a whole, what to chop out or move to elsewhere :-s Annoying!!! I am going to have something to eat now and will be back a bit later. - will have to think of something palatable to cook with whatever I bought last night in my tired stupor on the way home from work. It may be a bit of a challenge... I'd be interested to see what the TV readysteadycook geniuses would come up with.

I got a talking Elvis birthday card today in the post, it's great - it's Las Vegas jumpsuit Elvis, not my favourite period, I prefer the '50s rockabilly bequiffed Elvis, but he says have a rockin' rollin' birthday when you open it! Hehe, small pleasures when you're working eh, anything to dent the tedium of the dreaded chapter editing!! It would be great if you could get Led Zeppelin ones, I bet my mum would love a mother's day card with Jimmy Page on it that played Whole Lotta Love or something! Sadly, I don't think they have the same kind of marketing machine as Elvis...

How's it going Lara? Armendaf?

See you later. :-)

hold on a minute is it your birthday Ruby? or have i missed it? in any case. Happy Birthday!

totally agree with you about the jumpsuit era, i love Elvis best during the 50/60s myself :)

i am also taking a break now and having some dinner, as i am hungry! and i am drowning in my discussion chapters, DROWNING!! i've printed them out and they are on the floor as my desk isnt very big. so i will be working on the floor for the rest of the night. i also have to cut out alot of repeating stuff, and somehow make it coherent and tie all the chapters together. its very hard though - considering i dont have much time left!!! it's going to be an all nighter tonight! i will have to kill myself over this tonight.

Happy birthday Ruby!!!!

You are not going to believe this, but I'm listening to Led Zeppelin right now; "No quarter" to be precise. What are the odds?

I hope you girls are making some progress. I couldn't drag my self to keep on writing what I'm now calling "the missing chapters" (I just can't find the words) after dinner, so I decided to start assembling the final document. So I put everything that I've written so far in the same file, and made sure that the headings, format, references and bibliography is maintained. It didn't take too long since I've been using the same template for all my independent chapters, so they actually merged quite well. I was also afraid that EndNote could misbehave with the transition, but since I've been using only one library, it seems to have done the trick and everything is holding together just fine. The only thing that I didn't like is that after putting every thing together I realised that the whole length of the thesis is not great, so there is still a lot more, and I mean A LOT more to write. I just hope I'll have the time and energy to do it.

Lara, how are you getting on?

Back to work :-s

Hey Armendaf, good to hear about your progress!!

me panicking abit! still got quite abit to do!! but i've given myself a deadline of tommorow, where i MUST MUST finish all my corrections. because i then have to start formatting, TOC and final checks and proof reading. which take a ridiculous amount of time.

my aims:
1. rewrite discussion chapter 4
2. rewrite discussion chapter 5
3 edit chapter 3 discussion
4. edit chapter 4 discussion
5. write chapter 7
--
6 correct chapter 2 methods

i am just going to have to be very quick today!

======= Date Modified 25 Oct 2008 12:10:50 =======
Hello there!

I'm glad you're both making progress, there'll never be enough time so whatever you can get done, I guess... funny (not in a haha way though) how one's priorities for the thesis keep shifting all the time, depending on where we are and how much time is left. Armendaf, I hope you don't have too much to write? Good taste in music btw, very odd coincidence!

I carried on a bit after dinner yesterday and then got sick of it after an hour (didn't know what I was doing by then) so watched tv and went to sleep. I've been sitting in bed restructuring this chapter for the past few hours now, can't remember the variety of permutations of this thing I've done so far. WHY is it so hard to get the right structure???? It's got to be done today, as tomorrow I have offered to do lunch for those bearing birthday gifts. That will take lots of time, extra tidying up and cooking and trying to be normal and conversational, when I'm actually really worried and my hair is falling out again, like it did a few months ago when I was doing a new chapter from scratch in a month.... I got really stressed when people kept asking last week 'what are you doing for your birthday....' and I kept saying nothing!! I've got a deadline on Tuesday and a thesis to finish... PLEASE let me hibernate and postpone it till I'm less stressed.... now I'm hoping I'm not really grumpy tomorrow and anxious about this sodding deadline. Maybe it will be a really nice break in the middle of all this work... I got a card from an old school friend, she finished her PhD about a year ago and said it was really hideous during the last year, so she understands.

Well, I'll make another cup of tea and go back to bed to carry on with this chapter for a few more hours. Seems a good place to work at the moment - keeps me off the internet. See you later.

Good luck today, both of you (up)