======= Date Modified 01 31 2010 10:31:34 =======
HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody: I wish you all the best for the coming year; I wish all your hurdles be easy crossings; your vivas be a pleasant breeze; your post - doc applications successful; your teaching a doddle; your supervisory relationships a dream; your publications top league; your motivation to be electrifying and dazzling; and I wish you happiness and love in this bright, shiny new decade!8-)

xxxxx

Thanks Eska. And best wishes to you too.

Happy New Year, everybody. :-)

Hi everyone-I hope you don't mind me joining in as a mere undergraduate:$

I've been lurking around for a  couple of weeks as I'm considering a Phd, although that's a long way off yet.

Two things have struck me whilst reading the forums;1. a Phd won't be an easy option and 2. what a lovely bunch you seem to be-so supportive of each other.

I'm doing things the wrong way round,am extremely old(compared to you!) having had many years experience in my field. Always wanted to do a degree; the time was right, life's too short etc etc. So, here I am and loving every minute and whilst my undergrad buddies have been lovely and very welcoming, I find I don't have a great deal in common. I've long since passed the party for England phase of my life and I couldn't if I wanted to as I still have a daughter at home and a mortgage to pay:-(
I'm very serious about my degree,I'm passionate about my subject and I can't afford to fail-financially or otherwise.
A chance question to a lecturer led to him suggesting that as a subject for a dissertation building in a proposal for a Phd. I had been thinking that I would like to carry on but can't quite believe it could be that easy and not sure I want to commit myself at this stage-which is why I've been lurking around trying to find out as much as possible-so thankyou for all the insights.

Happy New Year and good luck to you all.

Happy New Year to you too Eska! And everyone else! Yes, may we all achieve our goals this year (and not end up too nerdy!)

Welcome Oldwoman (great name - and you're not the only 'old woman' here!). Hey, jump in, plan to do a PhD. Get thru your undergrad and then jump into a thesis. It's not always fun, but it is mostly rewarding. :-)

Happy new year all, and thanks Eska for painting that lovely picture :-) I wish that for al too, but more, if some or all of that isn't to be, still, a spectacular new year to us all!!

Happy new year everyone! I have been on this forum for about a year or so now and am so glad I chanced upon it! As OldWoman says, it is such a supportive and friendly forum to be a part of, so thanks to everyone and let's all have an awesome year! KB

Speaking as another old woman I'm glad I took the plunge, it is hard work, but fun too in an odd sort of way. Happy new year to one and all, hope everything goes well in 2010. I've started off quite well really, had a bit of inspiration for the chapter I'm writing at the moment, and am sending it off to my supervisor today. Hope he likes it! sun is shining - although its cold outside, but it makes everything better, spring is on its way- eventually -so happiness all round. Cheers all!:-)

Happy new year everyone. God, I'm rough as a bear's bum. I'm a bit skint so I purposefully had very little to eat yesterday in the hope that I wouldn't need to buy much beer to get into the party spirit. It worked - a little too well. Probably a bit too much of a socialite last night as well. It seems that I gave out my number to a lot of people last night because I'm getting very strange text messages from people I don't even know. Oh, and yeah, I remember talking to a 6'5" transvestite with a Desperate Dan jaw (he wasn't very convincing anyway) and thinking those high heels really don't go with your rugby thighs and calves. Ah well, back to work...

Hello! Good to hear you're all in such fine spirits this New Year's Day. I am in the mood to sweep away the old, and totally clear out and re-vamp my flat; however, I am, unfortunately, paralysed with the worst cold of my life and have been more or less welded to the sofa, or bed, for the last four days. I got excited about doing some marking earlier! PPPhhhhhhAAAAAAhhhhhH! At least it's contact with the outside world, and is stimulating - I felt like a fully functioning human, if only for a short time. A thrilling trip to Tescos (no irony there) yesterday wiped me out completely last night, so adventures are off limits for the time being. But I am making plans... and things are changing around here. It does feel different doesn't it? Or is that just me?

Old Woman you are far from alone, many of us here are mature.

Wally, that is absolutely classic New Year behaviour; I am sooo jealous.

A lesson to you all for the New Year: wear a warm coat at all times in the nasty weather; I wore my waist length funnel neck puffa thingy on a fashion whim and froze my extremity off, hence the severity of the viral attack and subsequent welding to furniture.

New years evening halfway across the globe from the UK - a day before I leave- at the fag end of a lovely holiday -

a massive, nasty, horrid showdown with my dad. Long anticipated. Long avoided. Long simmering. Throoughly debilitating. A fierce, argumentative and independent minded 25 yr old clashing with an equally fierce, argumentative and dynamic 60 plus.

but anyway, not to be a thread spoiler, so am moving out of here, but only after giving out gifts to everyone!!(gift)

Thanks for the different gift bug. I've got so many cans of deodorant for Chrimbo that my room needs a 'Highly Explosive' sign to meet Coshh standards. I'm living, sleeping and working in a giant bomb...a frightening realisation.

Wally: could it be that people are trying to tell you something... ? I'll duck now, to hide from te flying left over turkey etc.

Oh, Eska, I hope you're not trying to infer what I think you are, you bad 'un. I prefer to think it's because I'm such a lady's man that it's a subtle tactic by people to drown out my alluring pheromones with the disgusting smells of Lynx Java, Lynx Vodoo, and, erm, just let me see what this deodorant tin says...Lynx Summer Limited Edition, in order to give other men a chance. However, given my crappy hair cut, now getting so long that it's starting to form baby curls, and the fact that my conversational skills are so poor that I can only recite facts and figures to complete strangers, I suspect that you are correct. Easily remedied now that I have my gallons of deodorant - I'll just have to make sure that I don't stand next to someone who smokes or someone who has respiratory problems (I'll be in deep trouble either way).:$

Hmmm well, I'm going by my own experience really, and teasing you too, it was a cheap and easy gag. As a PhD I am nothing like as well maintaned as I used to be - when I worked with other people all day deoderant was a must, but, to be honest, most days I forget, even when I'm teaching. I do bathe/shower every day though, so I figure I can't need it that much.

I guess men get this sort of thing at Christmas, like we get chocs and bubble bath.