On the same motivation note I went for a run last night and after listening to Metallica - Turn The Page on repeat I came up with these new lyrics...now some may not make sense because a) you guys aren't in chemistry and b) you don't work with me so are unaware of my working conditions or c) you don't know the original song :/... but my colleagues loved it so I thought maybe you migth too:

In an old and lonesome office,
Waun Ponds Geelong
You can listen to the vac pumps moaning
out it's one old song
You can think about your supervisor
and what he said 4 years ago ….”yes you can finish in 3 years”
But your thoughts will soon be wanderin',
the way they always do
When you write for 16 hours,
and you have nothing left in you
And you don't feel much like writing,
you just wish your PhD was through
(chorus)



Here I am, writing up again,
there I am,
plotting in Excel
There I go, playin' with Science again
There I go,
Thesis rage!



So you walk into this laboratory,
uh strung out from EndNote
And you feel the eyes upon you, as you out on your lab coat
You pretend it doesn't bother you,
but you just want to explode

Yeah, most times you can't hear 'em talk,
other times you can
All the same old cliché's,
is the TEM down again?
And you always seem outnumbered,
there’s Chinese everywhere
EVERYWHERE


(chorus) Here I am, writing up again,
there I am,
plotting in Excel
There I go, playin' with Science again
There I go,
Thesis rage!
Woah


Up there in the office,
you're a million miles away
Every ounce of energy,
you put into each page
As the sweat pours out your body,
like the rubbish that you say
Later in the evenin',
when you should be in your bed
With the echoes of your supervisor,
ringin' in your head
You write the day’s last paragraph,
rememberin' what he said
What he said


Here I am, writing up again,
there I am,
plotting in Excel
There I go, playin' with Science again
There I go,
Thesis rage!

======= Date Modified 16 Nov 2011 09:14:22 =======
@ Andreaa- Love the song and did my Masters at your uni...but not in science or chemistry though and I was distance in the main. I hope when I am so many years through, I am not singing it-but given that my supervisor said a couple of weeks ago that she thought that it would take three to five years for me (part-timer), I have a feeling that I might be singing a version of it in six years...very nice thread post.

@CathS-hope today has been a good one-whatever you do-don't just quit though. A friend and colleague of mine has been going through a very long part-time phd and the final stages seemed to go on for ages but she just got word through that she has passed only a couple of days ago and she will graduate once some corrections have been made-I think it has been 9 years and will be ten by the time she actually graduates but she has done it! You can do it and it won't be that many years...(mince) If I seem a bit incoherent it is because it has been the day from hell (workwise) and I have just killed dinner (totally burnt)!:-( And I just noticed that CathS post was quite a while ago...hope things have been better since then.

======= Date Modified 26 Oct 2012 01:09:16 =======
Wow! I wish I had found this several years ago. My husband took seven years as a full time doctorate student. ( I was a stay at home mom with three kids). It took a long time because, well, getting a PhD just takes THAT long and he had to get a grant and fellowship for us to make it financially. We got the PhD (notice I said WE because I take credit ) in Boulder. Let me tell you, WE were very naive and had NO IDEA what we were getting into! Also, unlike the east coast (where he now has a job) no one understands the PhD experience. We had our friends and family looking at us cross eyed. I can't believe our marriage made it ( all credit to God and our church - not us) as there is an 80% divorce rate for marriages that go through the PhD. Crazy!
That all said my husband now has a good, secure job. He now makes triple what we were "making" for the PhD. during the doctorate we lived off of $30,000 a year! What! Crazy! As a family of five.
So, hang in there. Find support. If its not from your family-we went to our pastor. He always believed in My husband.
But it was very lonely. Faith building, but lonely.
Now that I am on the east coast so many more people get it!