i finished no targets and am hence setting none for the week ahead, so that anything is good.

Hey Bug, Being able to say DONE clearly has far too much appeal for me, but I find that sometimes just writing down the world's easiest targets and being able to tick them off helps get me back into the swing. E.g: open up document on Word. DONE. (Break for cup of tea). Skim read document. DONE. (Break for cup of tea). Write two lines. DONE. And so on. Although you work hard enough as it is and I'm sure you don't need my advice!

This weekend was crap for me as my laptop has finally conked. That means I have no internet, no way of listening to music, or watching tv or a film (I don't have a tv, cd player etc.) I'm going to ring around today and see about getting it fixed but I get the feeling it's going to be a long process. It also means I have to work in the office every day :-( Who knows, maybe I'll end up getting more done, and the misery will be worth it!

Ok, aims for this week:
1) Have zero draft of conference paper finished.
2) Have marked all essays for my class and had them moderated and handed back to office.
3) Have done various bits of admin (I won't list them all here, my posts are tedious enough!)
4) Have received and read back sup's comments for chapter sent off last week.
5) Read two chapters and intro of book A, and all of Troilus and Cressida.

I think these are just about do-able. Ok, full steam ahead....

======= Date Modified 07 Dec 2009 17:44:23 =======
Bug started smoking:-)

no bug nooooooooo!!!

no phd is ever worth that, there are better ways to deal with it!!

Right Bug, give me your fags! I'm going to put the burnt stumps into a jar of warm water and then make you drink it. It worked for PJ on Biker Grove when he was caught smoking. Wai aye man!

======= Date Modified 07 Dec 2009 20:31:58 =======
No use, am doing it

Bug is going through bleak, bleak patch.

no no chocolate is soo much easier to wean urself off!! and much more socially acceptable, ul have to stand outside all through winter in the rain, and be all cold and smelly and just no! save urself!

Yes indeed Bugs! If you must have a nictonie delivery device, I'd opt for nicotine chewing gum - minty fresh breath, tip top oral health and nicotine delivery in a much healthier way. Have you ever heard the tale of the Marlborough Man? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlboro_Man :-)

will smoke.

Ok bug, you've now got me concerned, what's going on that's making you start smoking? I know from your other posts that you've got an insanely large amount of work on, but I always got the impression you had some crazy love of it all, so has something else happened? Anyone you can talk to about it, if you're having such a bad time it helps to talk it out...or drink it out, occasionally of course!

Bug, you're a star and we all know it. It seems out of character for you to feel this way, so I hope it's nothing outside of work that's getting you down. I'm not going to preach at you about getting up and dusting yourself down because you've seen us all do it a million times and I know you're more than capable. Maybe it's time for some well-earned rest?

Yesterday I did some admin, read the intro to book A and marked 10 essays. Today I started looking up some of the critics mentioned in the intro, which wasn't part of my plan, and it's now developed into a time-consuming database problem which will takes ages to sort and is very boring. I will finish that, finish off my admin, do at least an hour on the zero draft and mark another 10 essays tonight (my fault for leaving them until the last minute).

Just realised I'm away at a postgraduate careers thing at the end of the week, so will modify my aims. Troilus and Cressida can abandon ship.
Today everything I wanted to do has taken longer than expected but I need to feel like I've achieved things to keep my sanity so:
Admin- DONE as far as I can at this moment!
Database thingy- DONE half, will do other half tomorrow
One hour on zero draft- DONE
10 essays- This is being knocked down to 5 as I have an extra day, so I will do this tonight.

Tomorrow- last of admin, if possible (waiting for a form to be returned)
            - Do other half of database
- Meeting with head of module
- Work on zero draft; at least two hours
- Mark last 5 essays

======= Date Modified 09 Dec 2009 13:05:09 =======
OK time to set new goals. I got an official research permission that means that I now have access to schools for my research (up to now I relied to my friends and I begged people to help me).

So, I aim to do 5 more interviews until Christmas, transcribe them, translate them and do a first analysis. It is doable!!!

Along these interviews, I must keep on with my reading AND (this is a huge AND) I have to go to the dentist and get rid of the terrible toothache (the dentist has been working on my tooth for almost a month now, and he's finally almost finished!!!!!!!!)



Good luck everybody!!!!!!

Ohhhh and I shouldn't forget, I have to take the cat to the vet tomorrow.......

Hope everyone is well,

Clocking in at 11pm on a Friday night...so this is what my life has come to:$

Aims for the week were:

1) Have zero draft of conference paper finished.
2) Have marked all essays for my class and had them moderated and handed back to office. DONE
3) Have done various bits of admin (I won't list them all here, my posts are tedious enough!) DONE
4) Have received and read back sup's comments for chapter sent off last week. DONE
5) Read two chapters and intro of book A, and all of Troilus and Cressida.

I only read the introduction of book A, dumped Troil and Cress and still have lots to do on my zero draft. The zero draft HAS to be done by Monday so I will do that on Sunday. Went to a careers day today which was very helpful (if depressing) and marking took an Age :-s so I'm not feeling too bad about not completing all my aims, but they still need sorted. Next week:

1) Write and send off abstract for conference (in Finland, woohoo!)
2)Write a coherent first draft of conference article. Need to have at least a clear sense of what I want to say.
3) Meet supervisor to discuss his feedback on my chapter and where to go next.
4) Buy diary for new year and write in next year's important dates and stuff for first month.
5) Mark (last batch!) essays and have handed into office by Wednesday.
6) Continue database of names: finish the current batch.
7) Read one chapter of Book A.
8) Hand out xmas cards in office (snowman)

I know I spend half my life on this thread but it's working and I will do anything that helps me get stuff done. Even talking to myself : D
Ugh, I cannot believe how much faffing around has been involved in getting these essays marked, moderated and handed in. Nobody has a bloody clue what they're doing. Anyway they're in, once and for all.
So today I:
1)Finally got those essays out of the way.
1) Worked on my zero draft. It's STILL not finished (bad KC) but its getting there. Just need to read through what I have, read a couple more texts, ponder a few more things...
2)Spoke to some other people about putting together a bid for a conference grant : D
4) Made a pretty graph of monthly aims for the next 4 months.
5) Organized a meeting with my sup- for tomorrow.
Tonight I will sort out what I need to do for the Finland abstract.

Tomorrow:
1) Meet sup.
2) Write and send off Finland abstract.
3)Bash out rest of zero draft: CRUCIAL!
4) Mark essay comparasions.