Oh blimey no Lara, lol !! Grace1 said 'enjoy' at the top of her post about preparing for a viva, and I couldn't see how on earth it might be enjoyable, particularly given your comments about the hellishness of it. It seemed a bit like someone saying 'have a nice day!' to you when you're off to a funeral or to have your tooth pulled out at the dentists with no anaesthetic. I wish I hadn't said anything now, put it down to lack of sleep.... sorry Grace, it's not usually that pedantic on here... :$

Thanks Missspacey! It was more a comment to the previous poster really... I should have put enjoy in quotes. After Lara describing it as preparing for your own execution, I wasn't sure whether it was said ironically or not, not that it matters really, it's just that old internet thing of interpretation. The tips all look useful, so thanks Grace1. :-)

Hi Lara, thanks for the nice things you said about me too, you always cheer me up!

I've decided I'm starving so may as well have my dinner early, then get on with it again later. My mum's coming over tomorrow for lunch, I will probably be a zombie after tonight's session but at least she'll reassure herself I'm still alive and kicking. :-)

Good luck with this evening's reading!(up)

ooh hello Lara, you've stopped me feeling like a complete isolated nutter, excellent!!!:-)

You did alright yesterday with all that reading then, you must be getting into the routine better than you realised - well done! (up)

I don't know that film, but intend to see A LOT of films when this thing is submitted. I just use any film I like in teaching if it illustrates a point, it's visual research for the students and I always think if I'm really boring they can just watch the moving images or jot down ideas in their sketchbooks. A mix of sources is better for any limited attention spans too. I teach contextual studies to fashion and art students, mostly in relation to the body, fashion, material culture, death and memory. It's good because you can follow your own interests to a large extent, it's not really dictated to you by anyone as long as it fits into the curriculum.

I'd better go and make that coffee now. See you later! :-)

Hello there. I've come to talk to myself on here, as I've realised my powers of real-life conversation on the phone have vanished.... sad eh! Ah well...

Well, I woke up a bit late, but have been at it all day since then. How very diligent of me. Or desperate?? Yeah, that's more likely. One annoying chapter is nearly done - and about time too. My breaks have consisted of stimulating activities such as washing my hair and doing the dirty dishes from last night. I wish I could go to sleep and ignore my work, but I have to get this stuff done today, as my sup will kindly read it tomorrow for me and send me more feedback. Mustn't let her down then eh. Or me! I've been watching the blue tits fluttering about in the tree opposite, they're very busy today and quite squeaky really, but sweet to watch. urgh... maybe I'd better have a strong coffee or I'll never get these sections done at this rate. The only good thing about today is that (a) I am writing well, and (b) I am actually crossing stuff off my list with my newish coloured pens.

One day my life will be more interesting than this. Well, I sincerely hope it will be, or things are worse than I thought, but until then.... :-s:-s:-s:-s

Do people enjoy viva preparation???

Hi Mira,

I'm sorry you've been having a hard time, and teaching does take up so much time and energy - I've found it really hard to get back into my PhD after a solid term's teaching. Could you speak to your supervisor about how difficult you're finding it at the moment? Maybe talk about that and work out a timetable between you to help you get back into it, with small regular deadlines to get you started but not such hefty pieces of work to swamp you?

I've never been good at setting deadlines, it always seemed like plucking dates out of thin air, really arbitrary and could have been any old date really as I had no idea how long it would take. In the end we worked out deadlines from my final submission date, then worked backwards by dividing the time available into chunks for each chapter left to finish. It was the only way really - not that the time related to the amount of work I had to do, or to how long it might take, but it was a starting point. At the end of the day you have to complete one day, so why not start with that? I emailed a chapter to my sup for each deadline, even if they weren't properly finished, or I'd have been in danger of nudging deadlines into the future if I had the chance.

It is difficult though, it's a struggle all the way along for me at the moment. I've done hardly anything in the last few hours, had dinner, watched tv and have just made a disgusting cup of tea by chucking a teabag into a cup with old coffee dregs already in it from earlier, though I didn't notice till I tasted it... a bit vile, strangely enough. I'll take that as a sign that I'm tired and am likely to get nothing of use done tonight, so may as well stop. Anything else tonight is a bonus, but tomorrow's another day as Lara and Scarlett o Hara said.:-)

======= Date Modified 24 Jan 2009 16:12:49 =======
Hi Lara, it's not just you feeling lazy. I've been very sluggish today and it took ages to get into it, I've probably done about a couple of hours proper work on corrections altogether ALL DAY. I spoke to my mum this morning, who said 'don't worry, you haven't got much time left' meaning 'it'll all be over soon', but it reminded me that there wasn't much time left, which gave me a mini-panic and prodded me into action. Must force myself to do more before it's dinnertime, or today will be a bit disappointing.

It sounds like you did a lot yesterday, finding new articles and you did the paras in depth so you know what you were talking about in the thesis. Plus your routine is shaping up now. It's just so hard to do lots every day, I know you can't exactly wear your brain out as my gran once warned me in jest, but it's like you can't keep up the same level of concentration day in and day out. And you *are* getting back into it after a longish break, so I'd say give yourself about a week to get into a proper routine. :-)

What film did you watch in the end for your treat? heheh, I got the Gone With the Wind ref, it's my favourite quote from it! I like using clips from it in teaching too, quite a lot of students have never seen it. Maybe they wouldn't want to see the rest of it either after my clip, who knows lol, but a few minutes is acceptable.

There's not a lot of Billy Fury on Youtube really, he was popular in the late 50s/early 60s so it's mainly clips from old pop programmes like Ready Steady Go and Oh Boy. I like his early rock and roll stuff, though he's more known for ballads. I got a DVD out by accident a while back about him that was narrated by Dave Vanian of The Damned fame, it's quite an interesting life story really.

This emailing people thing takes ages, trying to clarify odd points here and there from stuff you wrote ages ago. I don't know if it's worse than having to find refs in books or journals yourself, as you have to wait for them to get back to you so it's out of your hands... Oh well, I'll wait and see... Better do a bit more now I guess, to try and finish this chapter today.... it's probably only a few more paragraphs left. :-s

======= Date Modified 24 Jan 2009 09:24:43 =======
You should talk to your supervisor about it, before more time slips by and you feel even more crap about the whole situation. If it looks like you've lost too much time to be able to catch up, it might be possible for you to have an 'official' break from it, though it would depend on the circumstances and your supervisor's agreement, within your uni regulations. I had some periods of serious illness during mine and a temporary suspension of studies was agreed with the uni so I could get better. It had to be supported by my GP though. It took a while to get back into my PhD afterwards as I'd lost about a year altogether and couldn't remember where I was with it, but it's all been fine since then. If you have health problems that affect your ability to work then a PhD is a real struggle, and you sound like you need a break. Arranging this is out of your hands as a student though, which is why you really should talk to your sup to find a way forward. Good luck.:-)

Back again - I'm flagging a bit I'm afraid, have spent quite a bit of time looking out of the window and watching the sky change colour, as it's really nice this time of day. And listening to Billy Fury, lovely voice and so beautiful when he was young. Oops, there go my good intentions :$ I did some PhD related emails though, so not all bad!

Good that you're getting into a routine now, I think it'll get easier for you each day to read stuff. Everyone has bad reading days anyway don't they, where you just can't take stuff in properly, whether it's viva prep or not. That trampoline makes things (can't remember exactly what!!) rush around your body or something doesn't it, so that'll help too!!

I liked the Magic Faraway Tree books too, some of my favourites. I found a great Enid Blyton site a while ago, EnidBlyton.net or something, they'd scanned in practically all the book covers and a lot of the illustrations too, it was nice to see them.

My soup was homemade vegetable and lentil, since you ask!

Actually, I feel under quite a lot of pressure with this PhD and submitting on time, as a large part of my life is tied up with my college, work and PhD. I'm supposed to be an 'exemplar of staff development success' according to someone in senior management, through no intention on my part I should add!! They've paid my fees all along as I'm staff, so I feel like my name would be mud if I messed up at this stage and I'd let other people down as well as myself. Plus I get the feeling there might be interesting opportunities bubbling away in the background that I won't hear about for definite until I've got the PhD in the bag. So no big lie-ins for me at the moment, unless I really feel like a zombie!

I think I'll look at some other articles instead of writing, I know what references I need to find and I can't think properly any more today. Maybe have my dinner soon too, and watch some tv and go to bed early as I'm so tired now... that sounds like a good plan, so I may be back later, but if not I will see you tomorrow. Good luck with paragraph 3!:-)

Hi Lara, don't be impressed, I just get into a routine for going to work and get up at the same time on PhD days.

The Prince Caspian audio book sounds good, I loved those Narnia books when I was young, I read them loads of times. I like the films as an adult too, though I'm not mad about the children cast, maybe if a different producer & director had made them they would have been better. Hope your reading is going ok today. (up)

I'm stopping for lunch now, as am really hungry - just soup, so I don't fall asleep afterwards. I've done a bit on one chapter, so the corrections are going ok so far..... and spent too long looking at my email, Ah well, it's a mini-break! See you later! :-)

======= Date Modified 23 Jan 2009 09:15:23 =======
Hello there, I'm clocking in for some official accountability today.

New deadline for the 4 things my sup needs to give me feedback on: Monday morning. So can I finish as much as possible of those things today, so they're ready to email off??? Well, to misquote Louis Walsh on the Xfactor a while ago, who misquoted Barack Obama - yes I can. Haha, well I hope I can, that mantra didn't do Mr Walsh's boyband much good in the end, though Mr President is another story!

So aim for today: just get on with it and stop faffing around. I think I'll have to get some more books out as I need some more pics in which is annoying as it's a diversion from the writing. Maybe that will be a nice walk if it stops raining later. Though I am a bit tired, as I was excited about all that stuff at work yesterday so couldn't get to sleep, but maybe happy tiredness won't stop me doing something useful - it better not, it's not like there's much time left anymore! Ok. One more coffee then I'll get back into PhD mode. :-s

I'm in the same situation, though a month ahead of you -eek!! I couldn't say how many hours I work on it, but do as much as I can on all the days I'm not physically in my P/T job. I usually start about 8ish and do a few hours, have a break, do a few more etc until dinnertime - 6-7ish. I might do a bit more in the evening, interspersed with another break, unless I'm feeling seriously sleepy... ooh dear, it sounds a really sad old life from that, doesn't it!!! I don't have proper weekends anymore, and any social life I have is seeing people on days I've been at work, so would have been unlikely to do any PhD stuff that evening anyway. I don't work all night or anything like that, as it would make me feel ill and would be counter productive with the rest of the time I've got left. Presumably it will get worse in the final week though! :-)

I'm the same, periods of panic and feeling knackered, and frequently wake up in the night thinking about what I was writing earlier - it's so annoying... WHY doesn't it happen when I'm actually sitting at the computer??? I think I've got to the point where I'm so glad to see the finishing point in the distance that I can keep going with it, so it's not actually making me miserable at the moment, even though I am really tired and stressed. As my sup keeps pointing out, soon I will be FREE if I can just keep going!!!!!!

Beave, glasses on their own don't constitute nerdiness, so try to forget that horrible schooldays stuff! I've got some nice reading ones and I don't think I look like a nerd, in fact they might even give me an air of studious, PhD-ish intellect if I'm lucky, lol,- I think that's the traditional cliche for glasses on women. My head of college and sup wear glasses too and both women are very chic fashion people.

I don't think scruffiness is a problem unless you're an MP or a lawyer or going for a job interview or something - we are students after all!! I like to think of it as being comfortably casual. :-)