Heh, it was good to think there was a band of fearless outlaws, willing to put their necks on the line for academic freedom :-)

Really good meeting with my supervisors this morning, lots of helpful advice and suggestions and offers of useful papers and books. And support to attend a conference abroad (hopefully presenting) and to write a journal article for a special issue covering my subject area. Feeling supremely confident about it all, which makes a change!

Hopefully this won't all come crashing down around me....

Goals for the rest of the day:

1.) Write up notes from supervision meeting
2.) Email conference organisers and journal editors
3.) Go to library for books on survey methods
4.) Take re-registration form into Graduate Office
5.) Leave early to get home and do non-PhD work this evening

This all makes me absolutely furious. This government isn't just making cuts, it's rolling back every social advance that has been made in the last thirty years! I was the first person in my family to go to university, and now it looks very much as if I'll be the last - there's no way my sister's three kids will be able to afford it.

Gah. I swing between wanting to punch a Tory (any passing Tory would do, or even a Lib Dem come to that) and a sense of overwhelmed impotence at how everything just always gets worse and nobody will ever have any opportunities ever again, unless they're lucky enough to already come from a wealthy family.

Goals one and two done - we'll see what response I get from the organisation!

Just goal three to go now. Feeling tired though. Maybe I need to stop for some dinner and bad TV, and think about my research plan later on.

Okay, I'll see what they say. Thanks!

Thanks Sneaks, that's really helpful. They've asked me what my proposed timetable is and said they want to be able to use my results, so it's all looking good! I'll prepare a project brief in case (I think that'll be helpful anyway - just to make myself think about it from their point of view). I think I'm going to ask them whether they'd like to meet at this stage or keep it to emails until a little closer to the start of the research itself.

Hello all

Had good news this morning - the organisation I approached to ask if they would host / take part in my main research study has come back and said yes in principle. Yay! Big relief - I was worried everywhere would say no outright. But now I feel like my cat looked the first time he ever caught a bird - frozen with terror at what I've done and not knowing what to do next! It's silly really, I'm scared that I'll say something stupid to them and they'll change their minds!

(Anyone got any advice? What's the usual next step - send them a project brief? Arrange to meet them? Tell them I'll be in touch in a few weeks? What do you think?)

So, goals for this afternoon:

1.) Reply to organisation's email with a suggestion for next steps (gulp!)
2.) Finish editing PowerPoint for presentation I'm giving on Friday
3.) Prepare plan of action to discuss with supervisors tomorrow morning

Bored of doing goal one now. Maybe I'll move onto goal two.

I'd say go for it too. I've done quite a lot of travelling on my own (including to Barcelona and Madrid) and really enjoy it. There are times when loneliness can strike - particularly at mealtimes, or in the evenings, I found. But I agree with whoever suggested staying in hostels - generally there are other lone travellers there, and people are generally open to chatting to people they don't know or even arranging to go out for meals etc with people they don't know. I found that was one of the most fun bits of travelling on my own in the end.

I agree with the suggestion of making a project of it. I always keep a detailed diary when I travel alone - writing the diary gives me something to do in the evenings if I don't meet up with other people, and somewhere to express my feelings or thoughts about the things I've done or seen. Also, a good book that you can bury yourself in is really important, and can be great camouflage if you ever feel conspicuous being alone.

Travelling alone can be awkward and lonely at times, but I still think it's well worth it. The control you have over what you do, the feeling of it being an intrepid adventure, it's really good fun.

Today is going to be an ultra productive day....

Goal 1 - continue pulling out relevant bits from literature for design of survey

Goal 2 - Start looking at measuring devices

Goal 3 - Plan out process for designing the study

Gah, you've reminded me of non-PhD work I need to do as well - not due till Monday though so it can wait a little while.

I've made great progress this morning, sending some emails, planning out some of the survey stuff that was worrying me and skim-reading five journal articles to pull out bits relevant to my study design. I have a seminar to go to in an hour, but should be able to skim-read a couple more journal articles before then.

Yay, I finally feel like I'm actually getting some work done! Feels like I spent the whole of September just not achieving anything at all.

Goal 1 and goal 3 done, goal 2 partly done. Hmm, maybe I was a little over-ambitious about what I could achieve in one day today! Oh well, hopefully I can get a good load more of goal 2 done before my brain stops working.

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I've been trying to get into a habit of meeting my first goal of the day before taking my first online break. So, for the second day running, goal one is aleady achieved. Yay! Productivity will no doubt nose-dive for the rest of the day. So:

Goal 1 - identify which journal articles contain examples of the methodology I'm using (done!!)
Goal 2 - go through those journal articles and pull out bits relevant to my study
Goal 3 - write initial email to potential hosts of my study
Goal 4 - think about the plan of action my supervisors asked me to draw up

On edit: Sneaks, I feel for you on the money front, I'm terrified of what will happen when my stipend runs out. Just the thought of money twists my stomach into knots.

Ooh, buying an ice rink sounds like a lot of fun!

I'd pay off all my debts, and all my family's debts, and be generous to them. Then I'd buy a house big enough for me and my other half to live in with a beautiful book-lined office with a great view over somewhere green. Or over a river maybe. Mmm. Yes, a river, with a little jetty at the bottom of the garden so if I needed a break from the thesis I could just drift out on the current and float off to a nice little island.

But it would be nice to finally be able to live with my other half, we're stuck in separate flats because of money issues (his negative equity on a flat too small for the two of us to share) so being together at last would be amazing.

And I'd support lots of good causes too - I like people's ideas for educational funds to support other people doing PhDs. Maybe I'd do something to help older students considering quitting work to go into full-time education. Or something environmental, as that's my area.

I wouldn't give up on the PhD, but the pressure to finish within three years because that's when the funding runs out would go. Great! I'd take a few months off the PhD though, and go on an adventure - I've always wanted to travel across Europe and Russia and down through China by train. Fantastic!

Gah. Don't want to get back to work now, all this dreaming is far too nice!