======= Date Modified 29 Oct 2008 04:02:01 =======
Hello everyone! thanks you guys for your encouragment ! :-)

just a quick message, to wake myself up. i've finished all the proof reading.

i have the table of contents , figures and tables remaining. and rewriting the abstract.

i am going to make the table of contents tonight as i know it takes a hella long time!! then will get some sleep and rewrite my abstract tommorow morning bright and shiny, and then convert the files into pdf, and email it to my brother by 3pm! thats my deadline.

good luck Armendaf, you're nearly there, i have faith in you that you will get it finished, printed and bound all by friday, hang in there buddy. i am also scared to actually let my brother print it. i have this fear that there will be a massive mistake that ive missed or something. total paranoa i know

Hi Ruby and Tractorgirl! thanks for the words of support!

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edit.4am:
i just finished the TOC, TOF, TOT. took a good few hours. going to take a break now, and have something to eat. and then start converting the files into PDF files.

i wil rewrite the abstract tommorow, when im awake. im so paranoid though that in the final pdf file something will look terribly wrong

Morning everyone. Hey Armendaf how are you holding up?

aims left for today. i've given myself a deadline of 2pm to email my brother the final pdf. although have real trouble seperating from it and having it printed, i think its because thats it. once its printed its done. and i cant change anything incase theres some mistake in there. but i think eventually you just have to let things go.

aims left to do:
1. rewrite abstract.
2. put in surnames in acknowledgments.
3. compile the final pdf.
4. final pdf check
5. do a rough print check.
6. email my brother the pdf at 2pm

Morning Lara :-)

I've heard other people say that about not wanting to let the Phd go, it's such a HUGE thing and part of your life at this point. Can you get someone to come over and offer to physically prise your hands from your keyboard and press 'send' to get rid of your pdf? :-)

There'll always be changes needed and mistakes, but then that's what doing the official corrections post-viva are for, I guess. After I'd sent off my chapters last night I felt relieved for a bit, then started thinking about other changes I should have done, and worrying that it might be crap and all those other things that go through my mind after I've just submitted something. I suppose it's similar but on a much bigger scale for you and Armendaf now though, so I do understand a bit.

You'll get it done, you've done so much already it's nearly there (up)

Hi Tractorgirl, nice to hear from you! I'm glad the job's going ok, it must be hard having to prepare for your viva on top of that - it's loads more work when you're settling into a new job. Happy birthday for halloween too, mine was a few days ago.

Armendaf hope you're doing ok - I'm sure you are. (up)

======= Date Modified 29 Oct 2008 16:37:40 =======
LOL Ruby!! your message made me laugh :-) yah i so needed someone like that. i kept checking it over and over again like I had OCD. i finally just had to force myself to hit the send button at 3.58pm! good thing my brother gave me a deadline of 4pm. yes thats exactly how i feel! worried about mistakes i might have missed, that its crap. that my sup said i should work on it for 3 more months. but you're so right, sometimes you just have to let it go. and yah you're so right, about post viva corrections. thanks for your message, it definately helped my anxiety :)

You're never going to guess what happened though. well at around 2pm, just as i was putting the final files for PDF conversion together, up pops the MSN alert telling me i got an email from my 2nd sup. so i went to check it. and she told me that my 2nd paper has been accepted! i wrote back and said, what perfect timing!!

so i quickly added it to the "publication arising from thesis" page. so thats nice that i can say two papers have been published/accepted awaiting press.it really made my day :-)

i lifted a few sentences from the paper though, so i hope the examiners dont notice. oh well. who cares.

well its done and dusted now. now i just have to focus on the next stage which is viva prep. cant do anything more to the thesis. its closed. locked.

i've emailed it to my brother, he is now printing it. and i'm off now to take a shower and then will sort out my exam forms tonight, as i want to submit everything tommorow. i am gonna get it bound tommorow in 2 hours. and just go straight to the postgraduate office. and hope no problems arise because they did not recieve the entry forms 3 months prior. but thats not my fault - because my sup refused to sign my entry forms. and only agreed to sign them last week. but thats all admin stuff.

i am still feeling very nervous and anxious though. i feel what if there are mistakes that i missed, or something goes wrong with the printing, or the binding. or the fact that i should spend 3 more months on improving the thesis. or my thesis isnt arguing anything. but my uni gave me a deadline, so had no choice. submit or be terminated!!!

i dont think i will feel completely relaxed until i have actually physically given it to the powers that be.

i'm so relieved that i stayed up till 5am last night doing the TOC because it took me good solid 5 hours, and if i had left it till today, i would not have finished on time.

so advice .. TOC and table of figures, table of tables,, it takes longer than you think, it really does!

also convert word doc chapters into individual pdf files, and then combine all the PDF file chapters into one big pdf file right at the end.

Armendaf, GOOD LUCK with today, i will be sending you postive vibes, and keeping you company tonight, because i got my forms to sort out and check the printing is all okay for all the pages. so its going to be a long night tonight.

Congratulations Lara! You did it! I knew you would (up)

This morning I got up earlier than usual and started working straight away. To the point that I forgot to have any breakfast until I started to feel sort of thirsty at around 11am. So I fetched my self a cuppa and kept on working. There are still a lot of corrections and wrapping up that I need to do, but I didn't want to be stressed at the end with finalising the document, so I did all that in the morning. I have it all formatted and ready with acknowledgements, front page, declaration and tables (contents, figures and tables). So I just need to keep on working on the main document and it all updates automatically wherever it needs to. I also made arrangements with the printing shop, they'll take the file from an email and will print it first thing in the morning, so when I get there, I just need to choose the cover for the binding.

So I think the only thing I can do now is keep going and just before dropping dead, print the document as it is to a PDF file and send it over.

Back later... still loads of work to do :-s

======= Date Modified 29 Oct 2008 20:39:21 =======
Hello!

Lara, that's excellent about your paper being accepted - what brilliant timing!!! Even if you have those inevitable anxiety moments in the next few weeks/months, at least you've got that to perk you up. I can imagine not feeling it's finished until I've physically delivered the thing too. I'm going to weigh mine on the kitchen scales as well, so if anyone doubts the weighty research I've done (well, you never know!!!! ;-)), they can be amazed at the physical size of it instead - can't argue with a scientific measurement like that, can you. Yeah, maybe it'll be a bit obscure and hardly anyone will understand it but it's HEAVY....

Armendaf, you're soooo near now, but please don't stop eating and drinking and definitely stop before you drop dead, a posthumous PhD will be no use for your career at all. Well, depends on your views on the afterlife I guess, but anyway, good luck with it.(up)

I'll send you both positive vibes too, so good luck tonight with the last bits!

======= Date Modified 29 Oct 2008 23:02:34 =======
Hey Armendaf, very good that you've already done your TOC, well done! and thats brill that it automatically updates! clever you!! sounds like you're nearly finished. well done buddy! so glad to have had you along for the ride! definately made me feel better knowing you had the same deadline and were in the same boat.

Thanks Ruby for your message :-) aww thats a nice way to look at it, thank you.
-
lol at you weighing it. you know i was just thinking the SAME thing! my thesis is so thick! and really heavy, literally. my brother used 100g paper, good quality paper bless him. and my thesis is 271 pages (thesis is 200 pages, with 70 pages of appendix - i know appendix is way OTT, i wasnt going to put any of the stuff in it, but sup's told me to!).. but its so thick, but thats cause of the thick paper i reckon, cause the thesis is only about 49,000 words.

anywyas its really big! examiners are gonna be like woah thats abit big but when they start reading it probably realise its all paper weight and not content heavy hahahaha

i have just finished checking through the copies. for print quality. it has all printed perfectly. but i am cringing at some of my figures, the font size are tiny! my 2nd sup did comment on some of them, but there was no way i would have been able to correct the figures and made them larger and still fit on a A4 paper. and plus do all the other corrections. my 1st sup didnt say anything about the figures. so i just made an executive decision to just leave them as they are. i am sure the examiners are going to be peeved though, as i have heard that they hate small size font diagrams. oh well, something for their red pens to scribble all over! lol too late now. i'm just being weird. i need to let these little things go. and you're right Ruby, thats what post viva corrections are there for. so i'm not going to dwell on it.

aims for the rest of the night:

1. fill in entry forms. print abstract, print description.
2. print map to binders shop and senate house

GOOD LUCK Armendaf!!

Just wanted to say good night and wish Armendaf good luck with finishing your thesis. i wont be online, so all the best !

i finished filling in all the forms. so i am off to bed now, i am sooo sleepy. i have to wake up at 6am though, so best i get some sleep. i want to be at the binding shop at opening time 8am, they can bind in a 2 hour period. and then will go straight to the graduate office. i will have to kill 2 hours though. i might just wait there and read a book or something.

good night! those couple of figures with the small font is really bugging me now. i dont know why. i should be happy that ive got it printed and am ready to get it bound and handed it in. i just feel all anxious now, scared what the examiners are going to think when they look at it and read it. i wanna go back to the euphoric feeling when i finished the pdf file!! im being so weird!! :-s im almost annoyed with myself for feeling this way. i want to feel happy that its done, not worry about a few figures where the font size is small! arggghhhhh i know im being totally irrational and the examiners wont fail me cause of that, they will fail me on my argument and my text content! so i should be focusing on that and worrying about that instead! need to change my focus!! after i submit, i am taking a week off though, before i start viva prep

hi lara, havent been posting but ive been loging in every day to read how youre getting on, reading about your progress has been great motivation, CONGRATULATIONS on finishing!!! You should be very proud of yourself, you really kept at it, it was very impressive, I hope submitting goes ok today and you absolutely deserve a week off before you even start thinking about your viva.Well done!!

Lara,

How was it going? Please update. I keep checking website now and then to see your post :p

I submitted!!!!!! yay!!!!

It turns out the I needed to have the final document ready on Wednesday to allow enough time for printing and binding. So the worst day was Tuesday when I worked non-stop -literally, not even for sleeping or eating- from 8am. Obviously, ran out of time, and on Tuesday evening I still had loads to do, so I kept going all night. Wednesday 9am -time at which they open the printing shop- and I still had loads to do, even though I've said that I would have it ready first thing in the morning for them to print it; so I kept going. At this point I have already had a couple of crisis when I thought that I would never finish and I was feeling sick with exhaustion, but somehow I managed to bring my self back to work. I did have to lay down and at list close my eyes for half an hour or so, because I just couldn't work any more. So eventually I wrapped up the document the best I could by noon and sent it to the printing shop. I rang them to make sure that they got it and could open it no problem.

I tried to get some sleep, but couldn't because I kept thinking that I should get the bound copies of the thesis sorted before collapsing. So instead I had something to eat, very little, since I was still feeling sick, got a shower and headed to the printing shop. By the time I got there it was already printed, in colour and everything, and it felt great to see it there. I only had to wait for the binding which took 15 minutes. The shop is text door to where I work, so I went to the office to print some copies of the abstract which are required for submission and went back home. It was already too late to submit that day, but I still had today to do that.

So, last night for the first time in months I went to bed before 2am and had a decent night sleep. This morning I was there at opening and submitted. :-)

Thank you girls... I could not have possibly done this without you :-x

Lara, I hope everything went OK with your submission.

Congratulations Armendaf, you DID IT!!!! Though I thought you would anyway 8-) I hope you're going to spend a while having a good rest now, you must be exhausted. Are you going to have some time off, or at least lots of nice things planned that are nothing to do with PhDs?

What a feat of human endurance it seems to have turned into!! No wonder research fellows and suchlike eye up people for new projects that have completed PhDs, they know they've got stamina, plus a sprinkling of academic ability, of course 8-)

Anyway, well done again!! (up)

Hello everyone!! Congratulations Armendaf, well done buddy! you did it! i know you would, but i am so glad everything went okay, really happy for you! thanks for keeping me company during this hellish time. couldnt have done it without you and Ruby and TG and everyone else's support on this forum!

Hi Freelouise, aww that is so sweet, thank you so much for your message and that is really nice of you to say that it gave you motivation. thanks for your kind word.

Hey Bovp2000!! great to hear from you!! aww thats sweet you were checking the forum for an update.

Armendaf, how are you feeling now? you must be relieved!! like ruby said i hope you're taking a well earned rest. and i am so uttely impressed by your endurance and getting the thing done, i know how painful it must have been working that hard and through the night. but you did it ! yeh!! you definately helped me with my motivation.

Ruby! lovely to hear from you! :-) thanks for keeping me company all those months!! you kept me sane :)


I want to Thank everyone on this forum that has helped me, motivated me, encouraged me and supported me!! You all are so great! I really dont know what i would have done without this amazing place. I also want to thank the postgraduate forum for being in existence! serious life saver! And everyone single person that has messaged me, replied to a message on a board , given me advice and support and encouragement. you all are great!

well my story - i seriously started to write my thesis exactly 164 days ago. my jouney of 162 days! approximately 5 months in "jail"

so thursday morning, i went to the binding shop, i spent about 30 minutes looking for the shop, walking up and down, finally found it. then the shop owner completely freaked me out and stressed me out. said the paper had a slight curl to it or something, and said how london regulation says you can only glue, but your paper or printing is not completely flat and where on earth did you get it printed. i was like erm, my brother did it at work on their 80,000 huge lazer printer. anyways her husband (i think) he was super nice, and said, no no i can do it, its no problem i will figure it out. so i asked for the 2 hour service. left the shop, completely stressed that if they cant bind it, then i am in big trouble. so i walked around literally for 2 hours killing time. went into various shops but was just stressed. went back to the shop, and it was all fine, they put the paper under lots of weight and he bound it just fine. PHEW!

so then off i went to qmul mile end. and saw jacqui , she was soooooooooooo nice! i apolagised for not making an appointment before hand but she was super nice about it and said, no need to make an appointment to see me. and in all my stress, i didnt even introduce myself, but she must have known who i was, i must be the only rogue phd student haha. so i handed in my forms, explained and apolagised for the delay in the entry forms, cause of my sup, she was sympathetic, and siad, dont worry its fine. so that was that, she signed it, and told me to go ahead to senate house and give them the thesis along with the entry form and how its fine she has already informed them of the situation.

so then i went to senate house. by this time, i was really tired, my legs were hurting and my back, because my 2 copies of the thesis were HEAVY. but on i walked. so i went to the office, which is this dinky little shed! i feel like they should at least be given an office INSIDE the building.

so the guy was very nice. and he obviously couldnt find me on the log system, so i explained the situation, he was really cool about it. at one point i said "yeh they were going to terminate me tommorow if i didnt submit" and he smiled and said "well not you personally, but your registration" i smiled and said, "oh yah thats what i meant " lol i said terminate me on purpose just for the humour haha.

so that was that. he said its all fine, gave him the entry forms, explained the problem i had. he logged me in. took my 2 copies and that was that. and explained how my sup shoudl send the examiners forms to the uni, the uni approve the examienrs, and then senate house send the copies to the examiners. and how senate house dont have a deadline, they just log the thesis and give them to the examiners. it was the uni that sent the deadline. so then i said, i want my viva to be in a few months, cause i need time to prepare. and he said, just tell your supervisor to delay nominating your examiner. and how senate house dont have a deadline, whenever examiner is appointed they just send it to them.
but my sup did say i wont have my viva until after xmas, so thats good. i will ask him if he can fix it so i have at least 3 months to prepare.

sorry for all the typos and grammer mistakes!

anyways. continue..

so then i went to my uni lab/office, to sign some forms for the 2nd paper. saw my collegues they were congratulating me for the 2nd paper and thesis submission. i kept explaining them that my thesis wasnt good, and i just had to submit or i would have failed, because felt like i didnt deserve the congratulations, but everyone was like, well you had no choice so you just did your best and just study hard for your viva instead. so that was nice to hear.

after that my friend wanted me to meet her at the new mall thats opened in white city, so that entailed more walking! i literally walked from 9am till around 8pm. i was exhausted, and my legs were killing me. plus not used to walking so much , just been sat at my office for the past 5 months

yesterday i went to the halloween party, which was fun.

so thats my story. i submitted it. i definately do feel relieved. and just this morning i was thinking, today was my termination date! i had to have submitted it by 1st of novemeber. and i really cant believe i did it. it really was a long journey, and its something that you have to build it piece by piece. everyday you just work on one piece of it, and then at the end the whole jigsaw is completed.