Satchi, your dreams could rival mine for weirdness! How utterly strange.
New dresses are always good, perhaps that's what I need to motivate me......hmmm ;-)

Today I reached my target of breaking 10,000 words.
At this point I must confess that it is 10,000 words cut and pasted from articles and essays I'd written previously. I've yet to really write anything fresh on my experiments but I am working on my lit review. I just want to run away and never write my thesis, oh dear.

Well done lilmiss! That's wonderful news :-)

Oh God, I hadn't even thought about that! I'd just been putting that it was all approved by the relevant ethics committee. Now you've got me thinking Wally....

Sorry not to have anything constructive to contribute, I do send my sympathies though as ethics apps are vile.

Your mum is definitely more clucky than mine Eska - my mother phased out stockings years ago, much to my disgust. I now do them for everyone myself (and insist that hubby does one for me!). And knickers are an essantial component, although I can't think why.

Keepcalm I must confess, I had a new memory pen on my amazon wishlist and it duly materialized, ah the joys of bright pink data storage (tree)

Recorded counselling? Wow, talk about a confusion of the therapeutic relationship!

It sounds like you need to decide what path you really want to follow. If the phd still interests you then maybe it's worth pushing through all this, especially if you have a good supervisor lined up.

That said, my hubby is an engineer who moved into renewables a few years ago and he loves it! So I certainly wouldn't fault your back-up plan :-)

Good luck with the decision Notime, I hope it leads you to something you enjoy.

Vismaya

I don't think I'd be able to guide you throughout I'm afraid! But if you want to be a little more specific in what you want to know I'm sure people will be happy to offer their advice.

JimmyGee

You sound very well qualified to me! I'm in science (psychiatric genetics) and got offers with a 2i, no masters and a basic year in industry, so you're way ahead of the average I'd say. That said, there are no certainties and if you really want to do a phd then keep you're eyes peeled for other projects that might interest you. There's nothing to be lost by applying for other posts, although I'd agree with the others that you shouldn't commit to a topic unless it truly interests you.

Don't be so hard on yourself Dr Seeker! If you've reached your target even on a bad day then I'd say cut yourself some slack.

I've been working on yet another of my "quick and simple" experiments....... turns out I have no idea how to analyse it after all and the numbers just won't add up.

Jinkim I want one! That sounds so cool.
I had a similar present once from a friend in Hong Kong; it was a soft toy of hello kitty that waved its head and sang to you when your mobile got a call. Amazing but it used to go off in the night and scare the crap out of me!

Keepcalm you don't sound like a blustering fool at all, I'd be so frustrated if my family reacted this way!
I guess I get off lightly being in medical science, people usually accept that without too much bother. But I think wally put it very well, where do people like this man think all our current knowledge comes from?

Thank Goodness you don't have to interact with these people on a regular basis.

A puppy?! That is definitely the best present I've heard of this year! Oh I'm so jealous :-)

As I perused my Phd Comics annual in bed last night (yes, really) I began to wonder..... what did everyone else get for Christmas this year?
Who got the best/worst/geekiest present on the forum?
Or if you really did just get socks, what do you wish you'd been given? Air your grievances and boast of your gains (while I procrastinate fully and wish santa had seen fit to put a thesis in my stocking).

(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)(robin)(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)(tree)(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)(snowman)(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)(gift)

Thanks DrSeeker

It warms the cockles of my little science heart to read of your solidarity, thank you :-)
I've been writing detailed plans for months now, but they always seem to be a paper exercise as I simply don't cover the writing goals. Now those goals have been compressed until I'm aiming at producing a chapter a week on top of lab work - I'm confused but not deluded, I know I can't achieve that! But you're right, the sense of being overwhelmed has smacked us all on the nose and most of us get through, just need to keep pushing.