Don't tempt fate alpaca! The Gods have (sort of) smiled upon you, let them be ;-)

All is, tumultuous in my little realm, hence the return to pro+ and l'express de midnight!

Fear not Wal, not only did I start my day at a totally uncivilised 5.40am, I am indeed also aboard the midnight express.
I have this bizarre notion that getting that presentation in a few hours before the deadline will make me look organized. Well, it would if I ever got off here and wrote it!

How's the paper treating you?

Don't worry Mark, I'd say this is absolutely due to being new! If you feel reasonably comfortable with the work you're doing at this moment then I'm sure you'll be fine :-) it's natural to feel daunted when you listen in on people with greater experience. And bear in mind, people tend to be talking very much about things which fall within their own sphere of expertise, if you rattled off about your side of the topic even those lofty postdocs would get lost at times! Research is so specialized that it only takes a small step to find yourself right out of your comfort zone, it doesn't mean you're out of your depth in a wider sense.

There was a good article someone posted a while back about how science makes you feel stupid (in a positive way) http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/121/11/1771 I found it quite a helpful perspective (and very true).

Congratulations tea! You certainly will have your hands full, hope it all goes smoothly :-)

Yes, keep breathing Ev and don't let the panic get to you. When you're at the planning stage it's always very daunting and I fully understand the fear of making mistakes when ordering. The truth is that there will be unexpected twists and turns in the road (I recently spent 5k on a custom antibody that turned out not to work for my intended application - oops) but that's all part of the process of research and there's rarely one perfect answer anyway.

Are there any specialist forums (or even tech support people at suppliers) who could give you the benefit of their insight? I recently spent months trying to plan the best way to do my experiments and found both these options useful. Or does anyone in your team have a contact that has used these techniques?

At some point you'll have to take a leap of faith and just see what happens, but if you've done your research and discussed the pros and cons with your sup then I'm sure it'll be fine :-)

You have my heartiest sympathies Leanne, I cannot cope with cold when I'm trying to work. When our heating broke I actually shut myself in the kitchen with my laptop and ran the oven with its door open! Seconding suggestions of hot beverages and choccie btw, there are few things a bit of lindt can't fix (well, aside from obesity and diabetes obviously). Is there anywhere else you could work in the meantime, like a nice cafe or library?

LOVE sneaks idea of clicker training the other half, hehe :-) there's also the excessive praise approach where you do such a "my clever 2 year old just used her potty!" routine that they become shamed into behaving better.

Hmm, so far the only hint of racism I've seen here is from Jojo his/herself, who has denounced the British in their entirety.

I'll probably be labelled presumtuous for this, but could your own attitude be driving people away Jojo?

Depends on how recklessly you want to post Rebel, some of us have more reason to fear the unveiling than others ;-)

As for me, I too am oop North, and studying genetics

Poppy I know exactly what you mean! I feel great when I'm actually productive, but there's a little gremlin in my mind that obstinately prefers to while away the time feeling shit and achieving nothing. Perhaps I need a partial lobotomy :-(

Wally on the other hand needs some other kind of 'bottomy - sorry, couldn't resist. In all seriousness, plasters are good wall and zinc sulphate may help draw it out.

Back to the pro plus and neuroses-dodging

Hmmm, I think Jinkim makes a good point (several in fact). While I certainly don't want to belittle your views, I think that some struggles are just to do with being an outsider. When I lived away in Norway I often felt isolated, even though I made good friends there and would generally rate Norwegians as fantastic people. All cultures are different and that can be hard to adjust to, but please don't write us all off as intentionally cold and difficult!

I can appreciate how frustrating it must be to feel patronised in the course of your work, I think some people actually go overboard trying to be considerate - can be a tricky line to tread. Are your department not used to having international students? I know in mine they don't get a second glance (nor any additional support sadly).

Aside from taking it up with your institute where you feel it's a problem, is there anything else you could do? Maybe join an international society you could join to meet others in the same boat? I had a lot of international friends when I was abroad, not because they were inherently "nicer" than Norwegians, but just because they had the same space in their lives as I did, without already having a full quota of friends and family to hand. Although if we're going to stereotype, I always found Mexicans to be amazing party holders :)

Time for tea that's a bit vicious! Poor smug was only lamenting the errors of her heart (well, hormones anyway).

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Exactly, he'd love his own special icon!

Horror of horrors!

I've just seen that a certain clog has as many stars as me - how is this possible?! Surely I am more helpful than him (sorry clogsie but IQ aside, I am clearly the better student for the stars). Can someone please rectify this before I have some kind of personal crisis?

*fish fish fish..........

Thanks Rick

It's good to be reminded of the attitude requirements rather than obsessing over factual knowledge.
Mercifully I seem to come across fairly well in interviews - what a charade, thank goodness they don't know my real dour phd persona ;-)