======= Date Modified 21 Sep 2008 14:29:47 =======
No, you're not imagining anything Sylvester- there's another slightly pointless thread that mentions this DanB person too, that 'who's your favourite person on the whole forum' one.

======= Date Modified 21 Sep 2008 19:30:07 =======
Yay, more people awake!! Stops me feeling like a freaky oddball on here hehe

Hope you both had a good sleep Lara and Armendaf, and it's no problem keeping you company today, we can all suffer together lol ;-)

Lara, I just wake up at the same time more or less everyday, it's best that way for going to work!

Armendaf, I think my methodology would seem very odd and flimsy compared to all the number crunching scientists on here, but apparently I'm quite good in my field 8-) :$ No software involved in my analysis either. Academic conversations would be very nice when this stuff's done.

I've just re-read a sentence I wrote last year that made my supervisor snort out loud with laughter, so I'd better think of a more accurate way to phrase it... what was I thinking!!! Well, it's not often my own writing makes me laugh so that is a first, but then you don't get many laughs writing up really. Dearie me. I must assure you that I really am doing a PhD and I'm sure we'll all be equally accredited Dr so and so's afterwards.

Anyway, I'm going to have a break from the computer now and look at some pics and try to work out what I want to say about them. Something sensible, preferably. Maybe I'll be looking for people in little drawers next.

Hope your work's going ok and see you later.

Hi everyone, Sunday morning and it's clocking in time for me, though I expect you're all asleep after your marathon night's writing!!

I'm so impressed with your stamina, words escape me, but you definitely deserve a (up) each!

You've both done loads now, so it's just a bit more of this :-s for a little longer.

I'm not going to that research thing I wanted to attend today, so I'll be around on here with you, my fellow sloggers. I started getting anxious about how little I've done for this month's multi-chapter rewrite deadline and the thesis won't write itself (if only!!) so I'd better stick with it and get this chapter done today. It's taking me ages as it's already quite a long one, nearly 13000 words, and I know I've got to add 4 extra sections and find a better way to justify why I've included a particular load of examples. Well, at least it's interesting to think about - phew - a small crumb of comfort, eh!

See you later when you emerge. Until then, it's :-s and a nice black coffee for me, as I'm still not properly awake yet *yawn*

I know, very good- the pizza man at the end was the best. I wish they'd show more of the acts and not the judges sniggering though, they're so odd I'd like a bit more to get the full flavour of the performances, if you know what I mean.

I'm off to bed now, so you'll have a lone ticket on that train to deadsville tonight! Unless Armendaf pops over, I wonder how he's getting on?

To be honest, my brain's not been terribly productive for the past few hours - I've only got up to page 21. I'm supposed to be going to a research-related thing tomorrow that I really don't want to go to, plus it'll take up the best part of the day so writing will happen which is worrying me a bit, so I'll decide in the morning after breakfast.

Good luck on the night shift, you'll get there - it's nearly finished :-s

And isn't it time ugg boots stopped being fashionable? They're so hideous...

We're not a campus college, so it doesn't hit us until the first week of October when it's really hard to wade though the students hanging around to even get into the building. I must admit I feel like going in the opposite direction as soon as I've got off the bus when I see them in the distance on the first day they're all back, but that feeling soon wears off, fortunately. Their energy is quite contagious really, after a quiet summer.

Yes, it probably is a sign of PhD madness, all those obscure thoughts swilling around in your head have to go somewhere. Talk to yourself on here instead, then you won't feel so mad because people reply sometimes.

Good point, 404, that crossed my mind too.

Me too about just staring at it and wondering where on earth I can dredge up the motivation to get writing - why are we like this...????? We're just spinning out a job that's going to get done, one way or another. Interesting how you shift your ideas about the thesis, the nearer you get to submission, thinking well I can submit but then I'll have to do corrections anyway, as long as it's handed in...

But you're right, it will so great to finish it as we've done so much work now, there's no point in flopping at the last hurdle or we might be annoyed with ourselves for ever after.

Anyway, good luck you two, I'm so glad you're there today, it's so nice to have the company!

I'd better get back to it, I'll do that 15 minutes thing to get started.

I'll be around all night doing this, with a proper break for dinner/X Factor later. I'd rather do a PhD than sing on national TV and be publicly humiliated by Simon Cowell, so we're sparing ourselves that terrible fate if we get on with it! See you later.

Hello, more people - yay!!

Pari, your dad sounds very sensible but hope he's wrong on the 'permanent' bit!

Lara, I'm not surprised you felt sick staying up that long - I would have keeled over by then, or just felt extremely ill through lack of sleep.
So how's chapter 7 going then...?

I'm bored now too, still haven't finished that flipping chapter and I swear it's turning into pure gobbledygook before my very eyes now. But it's much too early to have dinner, so I can't use hunger as an excuse to stop. :-s

I'll make a coffee and get back to it. Today I really wish the weather was crap, with thunderstorms, rain and lightening, so I wouldn't mind about being stuck indoors. Apologies to outdoors people not doing PhDs, but we PhD types really need a hand from the weather sometimes... Anyway, duty calls...:-s

Armendaf, hope you're doing ok.

See you later.... :-s

I don't understand why it should matter either.

Anyway, you can't be that new if you're mourning the disappearance of 'DanB'.

Hello everyone, fellow panickers and writers, it's Saturday morning and I feel like I haven't been away from this computer at all.

Oooh Lara, excellent - chapter 5's in the bag!!! Well done!!! I think your determination is amazing, I hope I'm like that nearer my submission date.

Your story was funny, I loved it! The idea of the building man checking little drawers with a big metal bar for intruders!!! LOL, but maybe he wasn't hallucinating after all, he could have discovered a gang of fairies or something, some people (not me) believe the 'little people' live in hidden places and they're a bit shy, so you never know.... *cue theme tune from The Outer Limits*

Anyway, back to harsh reality. I have a chapter to finish and have to keep at it all day. I've got a dreadful tendency to leave things to the last minute, and my supervisor was worried about me completing on time, so it's got to be done. TODAY. Definitely don't want to end up in a sleepless state where I'm seeing people in little drawers in the near future, so must stave off that situation from now on. And that means w.o.r.k.i.n.g. Yep, Must Log Off. NOW.

See you later!!

What's the aquarium decor like? Have the fish got any castles or shipwrecks or divers to play with? There's some nice lighting and luridly coloured crystals and sand around (if you like that sort of thing). All very ornamental.

Hello there,

Ooh, I'm glad to hear from you all, I was starting to feel like a bit of a nutter talking to myself!!

Armendaf, sorry you didn't catch your supervisor today but can't be helped. Your plan to crack on and write all you can by Monday is the best idea, you'll be amazed what you can achieve between now and then.

Lara, your plan sounds realistic, I'm sure you'll get it done as you've done so much already. Can you have more short naps to revive your poor brain in between sections? You'll be ok if you plod on and don't panic.

Pari, I'm glad you helped your friend out, I'm sure she was pleased to have the company.

I'm off to bed now, have only done another 7 pages but I'll do the rest tomorrow. See you in the morning for another stint of mad writing-up.

Night all, get some rest when you can't think any more, but good luck with it until then.

Hello, invisible people with a life elsewhere,

I've come back to talk to myself and tell myself publicly what progress I've made today. Will it embarrass me into doing more before the day is finished? Who knows.

So what have I done in this long, long day? Weeeellll, I've been a bit on the slow side really, I've edited 8 pages out of 35, so that's probably about one fifth of this fascinating chapter, if my crappy maths is right. Ok, I suppose.

And I watched Diagnosis Murder for a lunchbreak, very disappointing actually, as the BBC is repeating all the really old episodes and they're not as good. IMO of course. The stories are a bit slow, not enough complex sleuthing going on and I think Dick's moustache is a bit too big, plus Amanda Bentley works with living people instead of corpses, and little Dr Jesse Travis is replaced by a man who used to be Pamela Anderson's boyfriend in real life, before she got famous as a Baywatch Babe. He's a bit dull to watch though. I wonder what the attraction was for old Pammy....?

And I've had a forum fish named after me :-) I hope they look after it, because I don't want to end up being flushed down the toilet if it dies. Well, I wouldn't fit down a toilet but the fish would, that's what people do with them sometimes.

Well, I'll begin the evening shift anyway. I should finish this chapter by the end of tomorrow as I'll be off doing something on Sunday, so tonight I should get another 8 pages done.

So how's it going, Lara? Armendaf?

I'll be back later for another scintillating monologue.