Im 18 months in and also absolutely love it. Ive never once regretted it, and its the best thing I've ever done. Although i like to have the odd whinge, everyday i thank my lucky stars to be in such a privileged position, doing something i love.

Ok, you've all convinced me, thanks for the thoughts! ( i dont want to be a luddite anymore). My next question is, does anyone know how to import them from Word???

...and just typing the reference into a Word document when they've cited something? Ive been doing this for 18 months, and i know i should start using Endnote (i have the software), but laziness is stopping me from typing it all in there.
Is it really worth it, now I've got halfway through my PhD without it?? Is anyone else doing it old skool?

I know this is different (and probably not what you're asking!) but I've gone without work for about 8 working days (exc weekends) now, but its cos I'm also doing teaching, and with delivering a lecture, seminars and now marking, I'm starting to feel very frustrated, as my actual PhD is whithering on the vine. And while teaching is good experience etc, its not what I'm actually here for, and makes it all the more difficult when i do get back to my PhD, which will be some time next week....

That sounds harsh, Soda. How far into your PhD are you? All this chopping and changing must be stressing you out.

Thanks Bibi. Thats really helpful, and you're right, i am thinking of requesting something longer. Problem is, i have no frame of reference as to whether I'm being unreasonable (I feel this with a lot of things!) - hence my posting to see what others have/get. Its hard because my supervisors always make it clear that they're always pushed for time.

Im interested in how long people's supervision meetings last? im in the social sciences, and i have a strict 'one hour', and it always seems like, as soon as the hour's up, my supervisors look at their watches and wind things up. i sometimess feel it would be more beneficial to keep going a bit, cos often ive only just warmed up! - even if it meant fewer meetings (i have one meeting a month). What do others have?

Purely out of interest, but why don't you want a lit review chapter or methodology chapter? I just assumed i had to have one, & would like to know the arguments for not having one

ooooh, sounds interesting - I'm a psychology PhD and have never heard of it....what is it?

Yes, i think Im a 'Foucauldian Discourse Analyst'. Im just starting to analyse, although is quite scary as I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing - although i understand thats what doing a PhD should feel like! Whats your discipline? (I'm in psychology, with a criminology-slant)

As i understand it, epistemology refers to your take on the nature of knowledge (e.g. can knowledge be adequately produced via the scientific method?) and ontology refers to your take on the nature of being (e.g. is there an essential nature than can be measured, or is 'being' merely the production of discourse, for example).
If you're doing post-structuralist work like i am, in a way i think its easier to debate such questions as I'm essentially going against the mainstream grain (i.e. my responses to the above 3 questions would be no, no & yes). But I'm still just working all this out, so other debates on this post would be welcome!

Have you tried your Students Union?

I had the same experience a year ago - basically, 2 months into my PhD, like you, I decided that my proposed topic wasn't for me (it just didnt 'grab' me).
So, I wrote a new proposal and emailed it to my supervisors and asked them for feedback. I made sure my new proposal was better (i.e. tighter, more developed) than my original one, and made sure I came across as really enthusiastic about the new idea, to the point where i didnt think they could legitimately refuse (which they didnt). It was a very different topic, although within the same discipline (psychology). It might be harder if you want different supervisors as well though.

I know i could get the answer to this elsewhere, but you guys are so knowledgeable.....
Im a full-time PhD student, but if i earn more than the tax benchmark per annum (i think its currently £5000-something), does everything you earn get taxed, or just anything you earn over that benchmark ammount?
Cheers!

God, i would love to be called up for jury services, ive been waiting for 12 years.... I just think it'd be fascinating, but then im working in criminology.