lol

How's it going, Lara?

its going okay. thanks for asking.

i've decided to start waking up early in the morning, and no more working through the night, and going to bed at 5am. i've been doing that past week or so, and yesterday i felt physically yuck, i felt sick, and couldnt function at all yesterday.. so i've decided to start waking up early in the morning instead and going to bed by midnight.

my brother gave me some really encouraging advice to wake up around 5am, and how your brain is the most alert at that time. and work during the morning and take regular breaks during the day...

he told me to get a routine going. and give myself a one month deadline, so say to myself i only have one month to complete my thesis in full, and then have one month as a safety net to tidy up any loose ends.

so i'm excited and feeling positive about this new morning routine idea
and i'm just about to make myself a plan for the next 4 weeks and spend time on each chapter, instead of just focusing on one chapter weeks on an end.

so i am planning on pushing myself hard this month to get as much done of my thesis as physically possible.

i've also emailed my supervisor again -asking to meet for a couple of minutes to sign my entry forms.

Hi Lara

How did you get on trying to see your supervisors?

Hope it's going well.

======= Date Modified 04 Nov 2008 15:35:12 =======
i stopped writing in this diary, because i preferred the amazing support i received in the accountability thread. especially Ruby and Armendaf! and Tractogirl.
i looked through the messages over the weekend, its amazing how up and down the writing stage of the thesis is.

i had a small notepad i kept next to my computer, where everyday i recorded the amount of work i did. i recommend this. i am now going to keep a "viva" diary. i already have a little black notepad for this ready!

i am now going to buy a big whiteboard. in order to help me think and brainstorm during my viva prep. i can pretend i am giving a lecture or something haha or facing my examiners

p.s BACKUP your work. my laptop crashed over the weekend. it was freezing alot when i was writing my thesis, luckily i had everything backed up to external hard drive. i got someone to look at the laptop, and he thinks the RAM if fried. poor laptop, it clung onto its dear little life, until i submitted my thesis.

but good news, my previously crashed desktop computer is now fixed! hurrah. but had to reformat the harddrive. so its a blank slate. so i am now going to put everything back on it. i have everything backed up. so i can spend this week doing that, whilst i am on holiday :-)

so people - backup!- not only onto external hard drive, but also dvds/cds. as external hard drives also can crash.

======= Date Modified 04 Nov 2008 15:46:23 =======
So this is where it all started, was it!! Well, I'm glad you hopped over to the accountability thread in the end, as I haven't trawled through all the old ones so I'd never have ended up having the benefit of your advice and support otherwise!! Which has all been very useful in getting on with the thing in your absence, so thank you! (up)

Are you sure you're on holiday if you're on here btw...? :-)

heheh I've just seen your message - it was marked as 'read' in my inbox though it wasn't!! (up)

Hi,

Reading this thread feels like watching a prequel of a film... you know, like when you watch star wars episode 1 after you already know the story in episodes 4-6. Cool!

(up)

LOL!! that's really funny! i don think i read this :-) thanks dude! and thanks for all your support. i just came back to this thread, to find a particular post about procrastination to help a fellow comrad in need of help. you're message put a big smile on my face!!

lol Ruby!!! haha yah this is where it all started. its funny reading my post now. writing a thesis really does take longer than you think! lol thank goodness they gave me two extensions, i was aiming for sept 1st , ended up submitting october 30th.

my biggest day dream during all of last year, was walking to a binding shop, getting my thesis bound and walking with it in my rucksac on my way to uni to hand it in.

Congratulations Dr. Lara!! You give me hope to carry on and finish despite all the ups and downs. am sooo happy for you!!
:-)(up)

aww blast from the past jojo. soooooooo nice to hear from you!! how you been? not heard from you in ages!!

thanks so much so nice of you to say!!! :-) you really helped me LOADS!! good luck with your phd! you can do it!!(up)