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======= Date Modified 30 Jul 2009 16:12:20 =======
oh wow what a lovely suprise, :) nice to read everyones entries! good on you people for joining in! and thank you so much for the lovely kind words about this thread!!! put a big smile on my face!
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keep_calm, thank you so much! and hi*5 on the concerts!!

i also read in the book that its better spending money on EXPERIENCES than material objets. experiences make us feel happier, rather than materialistic things. its the whole social aspect of it. when you're out on a concert for eg, or out having dinner with friends, you are around people having fun, and then later on you can socialise more by telling other people about it. you cant get as much fun out of telling people about that new dress you bought.hehe. OMG you saw florence and the machine, I LOVE THEM! i was waiting all year last year for their album. and its awesome well worth the wait! you're so lucky to have seen her!

yah i've been obsessed with her music since last summer! :) at the moment i have HOWL on repeat hehe
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phdbug! nice to have you join in :) aww wow your Granny sounds like an amazing person :) brought a tear to my eye! glad you are feeling better PhdBug! :) like those quotes!
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awww I love the great memories entries. its like those old movies, when people tell their stories of their past :)
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Smoobles! nice to have you join us !! i also love cooking! and testing out new recipes
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Java and keepcalm- I couldnt agree with you more. i also find the entries very inspiring and uplifting :) thanks guys!

thanks everyone for joining in. thats made me feel very happy!!
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okay here is my wednesday entry.
I imagine myself in a job that i really enjoy. I will have gotten my phd so everyone in my life can stop asking me when i'm going to finish my phd lol. I imagine myself working in a museum, in the natural history museum, or perhaps having a career change from science. having great collegues. i imagine having weekends to spend time with my friends and having fun, and not feeling guilty about enjoying myself at the weekend. I imagine going on great holidays, i will be earning money, so can afford great trips and seeing the world :-) I imagine volunteering for childline in my spare time, alongside my job.
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thursday entry. Dear...
Dear Mum. Thank you for being the most amazing mum I could wish for. You have always been so caring and always put everyone else infront of you. You would always give us the bigger piece of chicken, and give yourself the small piece. thank you for your support especially when i wanted to chuck in my phd. thank you for telling me that it will NOT be the end of the world if god forbid i completely muck up my viva and fail my phd. thank you for telling me that its okay to do my best and whatever happens its not the end of the world. as i needed to hear that because i was feeling suicidal if i ever failed my phd. thank you for looking after me and taking care of me. and always being selfless. thank you for your 100% support always. i couldnt dream of a better mum :)

"Wednesday Diary entry: write about your Future.

"Future fantastic
Spend a few moments writing about your life in the future. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. Be realistic, but imagine that you have worked hard and achieved all your goals. Imagine you have become the person you really want to be, and your personal and professional life feels like a dream come true. All of this may not help you achieve your goals, but will help you feel good and put a smile on your face".

======= Date Modified 28 Jul 2009 22:46:10 =======
since it's tuesday today. I am submitting my entry for both monday and tuesday together: here's my entry :-)

Monday : Thanksgiving

1. My good health and being pain free

2. my brother giving me a brand new tennis racket that he says will help improve my game

3. having enough and yummy food to eat

Tuesday : Terrific times
Bruce springsteen concert at crystal palace. It was a beautiful summers day, i was with my brother and his two friends. It was blue sky all around. And we were standing close to the stage. It was an amazing experience. Because we were standing right infront of the band that my brother and I grew up listening to. Bruce Springsteen sang 'waitin on a summers day' and even though i didn’t quite know the words i still sang along merrily as the whole crowd did. I felt really happy and content. And for that moment, the world just disappeared and it was just us - the crowd and Bruce and his band. And music all around us.

======= Date Modified 31 19 2009 16:19:13 =======
A new form of diary writing taken from the book "59 seconds: think a little, change alot. by Prof. Richard Wiseman".

Write the diary entry accordingly to which day it is. I hope you will join in! “Research suggests that you will quickly notice the difference in mood and happiness and that these changes may persist for months. If you feel the effects wearing off, simply repeat the exercise again”.

diary descriptions taken from book (p20)

"MONDAY: THANKSGIVING.

Think back over the past week and list three things you are grateful for.
(close friends, supportive family, good health, roof over your head, having enough to eat. happy memories of past, lovely cup of coffee, smile of a stranger, your dog welcoming you home, eaten a great meal, stopped to smell flowers.
1.
2.
3.


TUESDAY: TERRIFIC TIMES:

think about one of the most wonderful experiences in your life. perhaps a moment when you listened to an amazing piece of music, saw a performance, or had a great time with friends. choose just one experience, and imagine yourself back in that moment in time, imagine how you felt and what was going on around you. now spend a few moments writing down a description of that experience and how you felt. dont worry about spelling, or grammer. simply commit your thoughts to [electronic] paper"


WEDNESDAY: FUTURE FANTASTIC:


spend few moments writing about your life in the future. imageine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. be realistic, but imagine you have worked hard and achieved all your goals. imagine you have become the person you really want to be and your personal and professional life feels like a dream come true. all of this may not help you achieve your goals, but will help you feel good and put a smile on your face.


THURSDAY: DEAR....


think about someone in your life who is very important to you. it might be your partner, close friend, family member. imagine you only have one opportunity to tell this person how important they are to you. now write a short letter to this person. describing how much you care for them and the impact they have had on your life."

FRIDAY: REVIEWING THE SITUATION

think back over the past 7 days and make a note of 3 things that went really well for you. The events might be fairy trivial, such as finding a parking space, or more important such as being offered a new job or opportunity.

======= Date Modified 28 Jul 2009 13:43:26 =======
nice one Sue.

I like being in control of my own time. studying when i want. being able to organise my own schedule. studying on my own. learning new things about biology. the feeling of accomplishment when i've studied during the day and then can relax in the evening. :-)
feeling that i've contributed in a small way to the scientific community, to the grande knowledge of biology by way of my 2 journal articles and the research i have done.

well done Sue!!

today has been a good start for me, i woke up early (well early for me!) and exercised, went to my garden, took a few macro shots of some flowers. and had some fruit. now i'm going to read/summarise a few pages before i take a shower. its a beautiful day today. lovely blue sky
:-)

lol!! that's funny. i LOVE LOVE that image of Lady of the Lake...haha you're quite the imaginitive descriptive writer. i like!

awww if only such a thing existed , can i have a similar version for passing a viva ? lol

======= Date Modified 28 Jul 2009 01:16:36 =======

awwww that's such a nice thing to say. you sound like quite the writer to me! loved the bit "so lovely to hear your voices coming through the darkness." i know what you mean! i also dont feel alone when i know someone else is working away at their desk. its like a virtual library hehe :-)

thanks Kaymoy! just did one page. lol feeling abit sleepy. but going to read 1 more page and then calling it a night.

EDIT

Thanks Kaymoy, your post was very encouraging, and motivated me to do *some* however little of reading of my thesis. :-)

good luck with the rest of your work tonight. i'm very sleepy now, so hitting the old hay.

good luck Sue

and see you guys tommorow for the day shift :-)

me too!! lets agree tommorow will be a better day for all of us :-)

you got me for company!! today has been a complete procrastinating disaster!!! have hardly done any studying! only managed to read and summarise 3 pages from my methods chapter.

i'm going to follow your lead, i like what you said. about no more time wasting, and to be more productive during the day. im gonna wake up early and work! and no more checking emails and other stupid things. i really gotta get cracking on revising for my viva. tommorow is a brand new start!

but will do a few pages tonight to get the ball rolling

no they havent- i asked him who the examiners are, but no reply yet. i dont know why all the secrecy lol. i will just have to be patient and wait for them to tell me all the details.

and lol @ yikes a mondo LOL
thanks Ruby, nice to hear from you :)

======= Date Modified 27 Jul 2009 16:51:56 =======

awwwwwwwwwwww i'm sorry to hear that!

funny thing is, i played tennis a week ago! went to this social tennis thing for begininers, and i had a really good time and the people were friendly. there were alot of newbies there aswell!! and i hadnt played in over a year and half!! and even then i was just a beginner.

i stopped playing tennis to concentrate on finishing writing my thesis.. but like you, i wanted to get out there in the sunshine and was getting cabin fever being cooped up in the study room everyday and all day.

i know what you mean though it is frustrating. but stick with it!! you will improve. im still a beginner. it takes time. im sorry that no one spoke to you. that is mean.

i hope you go back again! i had some bad run ins in my old tennis club. some of the members were really mean. dont want to get into it. but it completely put me off and upset me that i stopped going. but i love playing tennis. so i think this sunday im gonna go back to my old tennis club but this time just go for tennis lessons. cause the tennis coaches are really nice and the people in the lessons are really friendly and the lessons were really fun. :)

i hope you give it one more try

======= Date Modified 27 Jul 2009 13:04:34 =======

oh wow Ruby, that does sound like a total nightmare!!! and stressful for you because the longer they take the less time you have to do the corrections!

update from my end. the powers that be, have told me that examiners have been confirmed and now the supervisor and examiners are arranging the date and venue. so just waiting for that email to tell me when it is. yikes a mondo!! but its good. i feel relieved that something is happening. best to just get it over and done with !!! but now i really gotta put my revision and preparation into high gear :-(

hehe i love how this thread is relevant no matter what the local time is, cause somewhere on Earth it is night!

i'm also joining in :-)

its not nighttime for me, its 1pm.

my aims for today is to finish summaring my methods chapter. reading each page, and summarising it into a few sentences the important bits.

Hi Smilodon, no i dont have a viva date yet. But i contacted the powers that be at my own university, explained the whole situation and they have now taken over and sorting it out for me. they told me they will update me ASAP. I just emailed them again yesterday and waiting anxiously to hear what they say, i keep checking my email and getting nervous lol.

good luck! it will be over soon enough :-)
i know what you mean , its tough being in limbo land. not long for you to go, till you're put out of your misery and you leave this limbo land and onto greener pastures. my thoughts are with you!!