Awww that's lovely, what a great poem, I'm so rubbish at writing creative stuff and really respect those who can make something lovely with words - Happy Christmas PBug, here's to a good one and us spending 2009 getting to grips with this Phd thing lol - I'm guessing we'll be chatting here for a good long time to come :-), and Happy Christmas to all the other great people here on the forum with best wishes and a productive 2009 for us all!

I think it obviously goes in your favour if you have a supervisor who wants to have the topic you are proposing researched and wants you to do it - sometimes it is just a formality - I know it was in my case - but yes, they can still reject you, it isn't down to the supervisor who is accepted or the fact that you are self-funding.

I second what all of the others have said! I had to laugh a bit at the idea of socialising and doing 1st year under-grad stuff whilst doing a Phd - its not gonna happen. You are 'at uni' but not 'at uni' when you are doing a Phd - you aren't seen as a student by the under-grads, you are one of the grown-ups lol and ver dull and boring - if not actually teaching them in which case you are one of the staff and not a prime candidate for getting hammered with in the SU Bar. You can never be a first year again - that was a specific time in your life when you didn't know better (although you seem to have done) - you can't go back, either do a phd for the right reasons or move forward now and take the next step in your life.

Lol Smilodon - I'm sooooo with you! Mine is constantly asking for sweets off the tree, to open her advent calender, is Santa coming yet, on and on and on - I wish someone was coming over here. Instead my teenagers have announced that they BOTH need to go to town urgently and can I take them - like now! Sigh.... it will be nice to get to the big day and not have anything to do other than go and have dinner at the in-laws......

I'm kind of working, well no, I'm not lol - I'm wishing I could work. I have 3 children who are all off school now and so I'm watching them bounce off of the walls with excitement - its not conducive to hardcore reading really! I NEED to work - I have a submission in Jan and I've just been chatting to my supervisor who wants me to represent the Uni at some conference also in Jan - so I'm waiting to hear about that - so I should be hard at it, but I just can't, I still have WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much to do - being a mum is not that much fun at this time of year - talk about stress.
I think I'm just going to give in and forget trying to work then I'll enjoy the run-up to Christmas more with the kids - having said that its kind of nice hiding away lol - but I can't, too much to do, and now i'm waffling ;-)
Sounds like there are lots of ex's floating around - Christmas tends to bring them out of the woodwork doesn't it - I'll be seeing my ex too - when i drop the elder two off - besides my husband my ex-husband is my best friend in the world - weird huh? Couldn't live with him but now we get on really well lol and he's the only person who doesn't glaze over when I start talking dissertation :-)

Ouch! It sounds both extremely exciting and also rather daunting. I do wish we could discuss our ideas more on here as it sounds fascinating, when you do have your first board?

Wow Phdbug - that's one heck of a lot of references - I almost envy you in a strange way lol - in my field there is a lot of debate, but its pretty much circular and most of the references from papers etc go back to a certain few initial ones (if that makes sense). I tend to follow the same pattern as Alice in that I started with a particular paper that was given to me as an ideal place to start by my supervisor in that it summed up the entire argument (and got it wrong lol lol lol) and then I'm following the references through from that out and out - I have loads printed up to read (its mainly articles) and am now going out into other areas too from different starting points.
My work will be interdisciplinary - my BA was joint honours History and Sociology, my MA was shared between the two depts also and now the same will happen with the Phd, part social sciences, part historical - your classic cultural and social historical basis.
I'm also preparing my lit review right now - I have to have the paper submitted to the members of the board by the 19th of Jan and the board is on the 28th - terrifying as I just don't have a clue where to start with it :-(

Hi Squiggles

As the others have said you really now have to get up and get on - you can't procrastinate, and if you do you will feel worse - get some reading done, get some writing down and you'll feel 100x better. There is nothing worse for feeling down and out of your depth than letting things run on and on and not doing anything about it. Sometimes the reading is tough, but to be honest I'd hope that by the 3rd yr of a Phd you'd understand work within your own field - if not fully at least have a good idea of what is being written about.
Maybe take a few days off now as the Christmas season is upon us and then get your head down and go for it big-time as soon as Christmas is over.

Oh, I don't like that table - we're in the top 10 in the other one and way down in this revised one - nope, don't like it at all - I'll stick to the guardian lol!

Oooooh saw it and am very pleased!!!! 8-)(up) Fortunately nobody in my dept ended up unclassified - ouch that's gotta hurt - I agree that I'd imagine that's where the heads roll surely. I wonder though how they classify national importance as opposed to international as opposed to world leading - that's gotta give a buzz hasn't it - I'd be intrigued to know which of my lecturers and profs got that one :-)

Yay - sounds soooo good, I remember doing all that with the clothes and makeup for the BA graduation - I'm looking forward to July when I can do it again - have fun!!! xxx

lol lol, yes, I read the professor hacker or whatever his name is one - that is soooo good - I still can't stop laughing though at the 189 things - that is pure class!

Oh, and i hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow Phdbug :-) mine isn't until July!!!! Maybe you should use the sweep in as Tarzan suggestion lol lol lol - oh dar, I must stop looking at those, i keep snorting to myself - I think my brain has finally gone - I love the idea of doing it as a greek tragedy!

I just couldn't stop laughing at the 189 things (not) to do - I can't wait now for the viva to try some out - think I might start practicing and seeing what works at the board meeting next month lol lol lol lol:p

The mulled wine (or any wine come to that) sounds wonderful - in one of those huge thermos mugs - nice - all our worries would fade away with each fragranced sip - yummmmmmmmmmmm

I have pretty much shut down which isn't good when I have my review at the end of jan and haven't completed the reading let alone the writing the paper! I just can't - I haven't got time - I have a home, 3 children etc etc and Christmas to prepare for - all this week as next week they will all be home and shopping will be a nightmare!!!! :-( I wish I felt festive