Hey KB,

I am glad to see your transition :-) I just want to wish you good luck with your next adventure!! (up)

Hi folks,

I can't believe it is a month since I started this thread. Time flies like an arrow. Anyway, back to business: on the positive side, I have gathered decent results with my simulations and I am extremely happy about it. On the negative side, I still have the experimental part to be sorted out which I am going to discuss with my supervisors on Friday. Fingers and toes crossed :-)

How are you all getting on? Hope all is well :-)

Cheers!

Hi LordBeckell,

I am sorry to hear that you are having a bad time. But you say that you have started recently - how long has it been? In your post you have mentioned that

which means you actually don't hate your project? If so why don't you try and see if you can find a new supervisor? I don't know how feasible this is going to be but it would be good to give it a go. It is natural for students to hate new environment (I did hate it too when I started but things got better eventually). Hang in there for a bit and see if you still hate it and as others have said below it would be wise to secure a job before quitting.

Good luck
(up)

Hi KB, Ender, Mackem_Beefy, Delta, Cakeman (;-)),

Thanks for your replies. Today, my lovely office mate (she is also a PhD student but part-time) got me a treat - guess what? Chocolate Brownieeeeeeee!!! I couldn't resist and fell for it :p

Anyway I understand agree all of the points you guys made - so instead of putting a full stop I have decided to surf social networking sites/have chocolates now and then but I definitely will reduce the amount of time/intake. I will may be snack on fruits :-)

Congratulations to everyone who have already submitted and all the very best to those who are yet to submit and have viva in the upcoming months.

(up)

Hi KB, I agree with you that in a way it is good to have some distractions now and then. In my case I have been feeling low lately as my experiments were not working. I tend to just sit in front of my laptop for quite some time at home without actually doing anything useful scared to go to work to see more simulations and experiments fail :-( I am missing home too these days. I have been away from home for almost one year (I am an international student ~6000 miles away from home). I have also been eating lot of chocolates which I want to avoid.

Perhaps I should relax my constraints and have these once in a week or so!

My deadline is end of March/beginning of April - I have time until the end of December for data collection and then 3 months for writing up but I really want to get this done by the end of this year and aiming to submit by Jan 1st week. I don't know if I am being a bit too ambitious.

Cheers!!

Hi Zinar7, I can totally relate to your situation as my project is extremely broad as well. My PhD is in applied physics which involves computer simulations, analytical calculations, measurements, models etc etc. There are quite a lot of tools am using most of which were new to me when I started and the key tool was unavailable until last year. It has been months of hard work putting everything together, validating at each and every step, trouble shooting: "Nothing worked the first time - Nothing worked the tenth time either" :p I had to read manuals/articles, write to people to solve problems. I am someone who wouldn't ask for help easily and hence I always tried and tried and at the very end I bothered people :-(

I like my topic very much as I have gained quite a lot of knowledge working on various things (still jack of all these techniques). The PhD is for three years anyway after which I am thinking about working in a clinic and doing research in parallel where I wouldn't have to worry too much about the time constraints and finance. I have also been involved in another project which will be published soon and I will be the second author (international collaboration) for which I spent quite a bit of time but I learnt a lot.

I don't think I can say much about the anxiousness part as I myself haven't still managed to over come it. It has been an overwhelming three years and am still ploughing on.

It is some times depressing to see couple of other PhD students who have focussed projects progressing at a steeper rate but I have been controlling myself not to compare my progress with others as each and everyone's PhD project is different.

I am sorry for writing so much about myself :-( I am sure all of the difficulties you are under going now will fly away at some point and all the very best to you (up)

======= Date Modified 13 Sep 2011 18:57:19 =======
Yesterday evening I have been thinking about the things which I will have to stay away from until I submit my thesis and decided to temporarily give up:

Facebook - I linger too much on it now and then as I am far away from home/family/friends when ever I feel down and lonely (as a matter of fact I am going to reduce the frequency of switching on my laptop at home as internet is too distracting).

Chocolates - I haven't been doing much of physical work lately so I have decided to give up chocolates too :-) until I become active again :p

Finally, a bit of a positive note:

1. My simulations are a bit streamlined (not perfect but better) and am gathering results little by little.
2. I discussed about the inconsistencies/issues of my experimental results with my secondary supervisor who have given me some suggestions. Also I have been in contact with the manufacturer of the quality assurance tool I am using (am using a technique which they recently developed) and the key person has promised that he will help me out with the analysis part for which I am grateful.

I am feeling better now and hope everything will be sorted out :-)

Cheers!

Hi Sevenfoldgirl, welcome to this forum! Congratulations for securing a PhD position and all the very best with your work (up)

That's fabulous, Swetcha! Its great to hear that you are very much on track :-) Tiredness bit - totally understandable. Take good rest and plough on - you will make it.

I have put the writing part on a hold while am fixing the issues with my experiment. This involves quite a lot of reading/thinking/analysis which is driving me crazy but I will eventually get through this phase I hope.

Have a nice day guys and gals (up)

Hi Emmaki, I am sorry you are feeling this way but don't worry it will pass by. I don't have anything new to say, the writing up process can be so overwhelming at times as it is not an easy task to put everything in place coherently. I have started writing in bits and pieces but I can already feel how difficult it is to focus and put words together!

We all get glued to the chair during the writing phase which is very tiring in itself. It would be good if you just do some outdoor/physical stuff now and then - just take a walk with some music on or go for a run or do some cooking. I am sure it is a temporary thing and I wish you all the very best for your thesis submission (up)

Hmmm...at this very moment I am still trying to figure out a solution for the problem with the experiment results. I have made up my mind to talk to my secondary supervisor tomorrow and see what he says. I have the usual supervisory meeting on Friday.

Hey Pineapple29, How are you getting on with your corrections? Hope all is well! Hugs :-)

You are super fast, Ady :p