Man I just feel crap, I had to wear sunglasses to send my boy to school coz I've been crying all night. I looked odd in the midst of cheerful and chirping mothers and I dread going to the school ground with my eyes still swollen to pick himg up. How funny is that, eh?

You know, she gave me assurances that she will continue to support me unofficially. I know that is a considerable committment to make but I just need some structure as to what I'm doing. Once I am officially registered at the new uni, I shall have a new supervisor (i don't know how long is the bureaucracy is gonna take), but it is the daily emptiness that is really killing me. I don't know who to turn to when I am in serious need of advise for my paper which is more than 13,000 words long and in need of substantial trimmings.

I am afraid you are quite right Hazyjane because I feel that there's unfinished business between me and my supervisor. I can't help feeling that she should at least comment on my conference paper even just for the last time. I want her to rip my paper so hard that I can see where my weaknesses are. I sound like a sadist but we need that for the viva, no? I didn't get enough feedback at the conference in December because discussion time was limited. I emailed her 2 months ago but in all fairness I understand about moving and children and she must have tons of things to do in her new job environment. But I don't want to keep on rambling on irrelevant stuff, words are too precious to waste and every sentence must be meaningful, I am sure every PhD student knows what it feels like to get rid of 'cluttering words'.

I really appreciate your support guys because I am really drowning and there are not many people I can turn to. I googled 'bored, lonely, and lost PhD student' and stumbled into this forum and it is comforting to know that I can do a bit of legitimate moaning. Our last supervision email was in August and this paper I presented has been tentatively accepted by ISEAS for publication with Sojourn, it requires some revision but it has now been two months and no news from my supervisor. I know she is officially not attached to Brum anymore but she promised to keep in touch. Am I expecting too much? ;-)

That's a helpful advise smilondon but u see, I took a year out from Brum coz I found out through a PhD friend that her main supervisor, who is also my co-supervisor, used her fieldwork data and published a journal article without acknowledging my friend. I am very shocked by that but it was one of my reason to take a year out. I attended a conference in Singapore in December and am still awaiting comments from my old supervisor about revising my paper for publication. Am also in the process of transferring my PhD to Bath Uni just to finish it but on a daily basis, I am hanging by the thread. Doing a phd is already isolating and not to have news - even a bad one- is just killing my brain.

My supervisor left for Australia whilst I was on fieldwork. Now I am back in the country, moved from Brum to Bath and haven't touched my PhD for months. I am bored, scared and lost. She promised to keep in touch, but she hasn't commented on my latest paper. I seem to have forgotten what my PhD is all about as I am trying to earn some money and look after my 7 year-old. On a daily basis I feel like I am losing my mind and feel very depressed when I think about the amount of money I spent funding my PhD and the fieldwork notes rotting away in the airing cupboard. Worst of all, we're in a new place and I don't know anybody except my husband and my son. Everybody I know seems to talk about children all the time and it is like, I have a son and his life is structuring my boredom but I don't have to talk about him all the time.