Olivia, with all these trout references you must be truely procrastinating - unless you have an unhealthy obsession with searching the web for trout related items

For anyone who is into marmite, may I recommend the special Valentines day edition with champagne - even if it is only 0.3% alcohol... that's got my v day wrapped up.

From what people have been saying, I feel even less keen on handing this in now!!

I might get that scrabble one, it sounds quite good. That 42 games one is also supposed to be good but I haven't played it. I can highly recommend Phoenix Wright games for the DS.. very addictive, and I like to kid myself that it keeps my brain ticking over since you have to solve cases and stuff on it.
Also quite keen on anything Sims related, which is quite bad because at least with the DS you can hide it away so it doesn't distract you - but with the Sims it's always there on the desktop awaiting you!

Hey ericonrhicam, yeah I think we did start the same at the time! :) This lit review is nothing formal but just really to let my sup know what I have been up to in all these months (which feels like nothing to be honest - maybe that's the problem?!). I was supposed to have this done before the new year and I am still pouring over it with little progress. I am worried that it will show my inadequacies!
Normally it would take me about a week to write out 1000 words, but I am over-obsessing with it and I just can't get it all into a coherent order! I have read so much which I now think is irrelevant and therefore I don't know what to do with it - my mind seems to be moving faster than what I am writing or reading about (if that makes sense!).
Another problem is that I don't have a definite deadline, and preparation for teaching is taking up way more time than I thought it would. Oh, and suffering a huge bout of de-motivation since Jan! I'm just full of excuses!!

Personally I think the psychological hurdles you need for this are huge and I'm not just talking workwise - where was the health warning when I signed up for this?? ;)
The best bit of advice I have is something I took a loooong time to get my head around, and that is to see this PhD as an extremely fluid entity. I was over-worried with the fact I had no defined area, didn't know where I was going, no real 'deadlines, no-one telling me what to do, no 'set question' to answer and so on and I didn't understand that you just have to give up guessing where you'll end up and let it take you! Once I got my head around that then the anguish started to go... oh, and knowing that everyone else here is in the same boat is VERY comforting (even if you wouldn't wish it on anyone else!)

Oh dear, only a week!!
I think I might be overcomplicating things as this is my first thing I am handing in and I don't want them to think I did a bad job on it, I feel like I need to prove my worth with it.
I am trying to break it into sections and then having trouble linking it up, but I will persevere! This is my first stab at academic writing in about 2 years hence the snails pace...

Hi,
I started in September last year and I am still going (very) slow!! I think it takes a good few months - probably the whole first year at least- to get yourself into a the right mindset.
I came to this PhD after time out of academia and I am finding that after that break from uni, getting back into academic reading and writing is a real uphill struggle!! How did I manage it before?
Anyway, please stick with it.. I can completely sympathise with that horrible feeling of dread in the first few weeks!!

I've been trying to write up a literature review for weeks now and there's still endless bits of paper and notes everywhere (ok, so I realise that bad organisation may play a part in this!!) and I am nowhere nearer to handing anything in - so how long does it take other people to get something decent written and hand it in (say 5k words?) because I feel like I'm taking way too long here! :( Feels like it will never get done!

I am strongly tempted by Scrabble for the DS... has anyone got the eye training one???What's it like??

Ohhh.. don't show me pages like that after the day I've had!! Huckleberry and Cherry Pecan - I don't think I can cope

I'll have to make a note of that one, maybe I could use it as a comment for some of my undergrads essays?

For me about 3 months but I had issues with the admissions department, should have been weeks.

I have been trying to stop myself from getting Mario Galaxy for this very reason - I spent far too long on Paper Mario avoiding the inevitable... and err.. watching Neighbours on Youtube

Mouth brether?!?