======= Date Modified 06 Sep 2010 14:38:08 =======
today has been a tiring day; i've managed to almost complete proofreading and formatting ch.4. The good thing about the thesis from this point is that its just formatting remaining, there are no major corrections (just amplifying my contribution!). i hope i can be done tonight - i have 80 pages to go! i didn't manage to do definitions yesterday when i went home.. i just switched off. those have been postponed to tomorrow as I don't expect incomplete footnotes to be that many. but tonight i must really get on with it if am to make a Monday hand in.. sigh.

Lesson: I'm finding the formatting really boring and wondering if am being a perfectionist; but so far am happy with how it looks. At least it looks like I put some thought into presentation. The most shocking thing so far has been how much the thesis has changed! if someone told me I'd have changed a word apart from corrections I'd have thought them mad. But here we go! General feeling - happy. Hoping my supervisor is not running out of patience waiting for my thesis at this point.

J.

Hi all..... am back again. Sunday didn't go according to plan. I spent the day in hospital suffering from exhaustion- they said my blood pressure was high. That really got me thinking - is it worth losing your health trying to get a PhD?

I'm back now... I've decided to get on with it and notified my supervisor. So I've got a few more days to take things at a healthier pace Yipee! But I can't keep pushing this. I'm aiming to be done with everything on Wednesday and allow two days for unforeseen events. I hope I can make this deadline without breaking because there isn't much left and stop putting my health at risk!

what's left:
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* tighten definitions & put footnote on STO lit.
* finish proofreading ch.4
*proofread ch.5 & address final supervisors correction (the one addressed in part)
*proofread ch. 6 & 7 - incorporating final supervisors correction
*referencing - go through footnotes filling in incomplete ones.
*acronyms page, shorten references and perfect bibliograpy - commas and that.
*check that lists are complete.
*go thro to do lists and do anything else that needs to be done.
*check and correct final wordcount.

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Today and tomorrow- am aiming to achieve this :

* finish proofreading ch.4
*proofread ch.5 & address final supervisors correction (the one addressed in part)
*proofread ch. 6 & 7 - incorporating final supervisors correction

Chapter 4 is done! Yipee! 20 mins break then start on Ch. 5. :-)

======= Date Modified 07 Sep 2010 11:02:03 =======
feeling really ill today. yesterday i managed to do three quarters of chapter 5. just have about 10 pages to go. how do people cope with illness and writing-up? my only encouragement is Bilbo - she stuck it out and saw the other side. so i just try and do some work when am not feeling too bad. at the moment am preparing to start work at 1pm and do my usual six hours. i feel like am down with flu so i've taken pain killers and hoping to feel better in a bit.

am tempted to work from home given the weather (rain and all) - but am not sure that is going to be any good. previous experience tells me that am never able to work from home lately. working from a library is a lot more positive - the noise aside. at least am mostly proofreading and formatting at this point. staying at home might mean sleeping all day and feeling sorry for myself. could try working in another room but my mind just resists the whole idea. will see.

Still feeling quite unwell. Stayed home yesterday. Today I managed to come to the library but am really exhausted. I tried working on Ch.5 but I just cannot follow things, which is quite discouraging.

2 options: - go home and rest til i feel better. this one makes me feel bad for not working; or do referencing at least for an hour or so.

I think I will take the latter and see how far we go today and try my luck again tomorrow.

Hey Jojo, just wanted to say hang on in there. You've been doing good work so far, so keep it up, try and get a bit of the easier stuff done today, get some healthy soup and plenty of vitamins, and keep on going. You are so very close to finishing now, you'll be grand and you can have a big rest once you submit! (up)

thanks Algaequeen - i appreciate the encouragement. am doing referencing which shouldn't be too much i hope. Just shortening them to reduce the number of words in my thesis.

back to it today. couldn't get anything done yesterday. i did a few references and then gave up due to exhaustion! i feel stronger today after taking vitamins and fruits, trying to eat healthy, getting some rest and taking lots of fluids. hope that translates to work done. back to chapter 5 again. fingers crossed!

@Algaequeen - what type of soup do you usually have? Mr. Bucks brought some tins of soup but each time I look at them in the cupboard am filled with dread. I'm yet to come across any good canned food.

um well usually I make vegetable or minestrone soup, but as far as tinned soup goes, heinz tomato soup is nice, and there is a range of baxters soups, that ave a spicy tomato one with rice in it. They are nice, and not too tinny on the taste. But if you are buying premade soup I'd see if you can get the stuff in a cardboard carton, tastes much nicer

thanks. i'll get some of the ones you've suggested and see how it goes. so far so good. almost done with ch.5. proofread 8 pages and got tired. getting back to it later tonight.

didn't manage anything yesterday evening.

today has been more hopeful. though an attempt to work on the thesis prooved unsuccessful as it requires so much energy, i have managed to countercheck the footnotes of ch.1 and complete the incomplete ones whilst updating bibliography. i finally feel like am making progress!

i think i will concentrate on this til sunday and then revisit the last two chapters (5 & 6) on monday. that should lift moral. if am my usual self, i should be done with them that same day and be able to submit.

i pray and hope am better then! (you don't realise the value of health until its gone..... )

I'm so proud of myself! I managed to finish proofreading Ch.5 which I did twice to make sure I didn't mess things up when I was working on it and quite unwell.

I'm not well yet, but at least I can now follow what am saying which I couldn't do before- so am getting better! fruits and soups are finally working!

Another reason am proud of myself for completing ch.5 is that i had to compose 2 paragraphs amplifying my findings: i panicked at the thought of it - not being well and all and possibly messing things up -but eventually decided to get on with it and yes, I did it! that was the final correction done and dusted!

Tomorrow I plan to take it easy and proofread chs. 6 & 7. absolutely no corrections in this. just a case of checking my formating. extras i plan to do are revisit ch.2 and check if anything needs defining. then begin counterchecking references with bibliography. yay! am happy with how its all going.

i pray and hope am well tomorrow. off to bed now!

clocking in for the day.. had a moment of feeling unwell.. but feeling better now after taking a walk.