Thanks guys, your replies mean a lot. My 'deadline' was Jan 07 - my funding ran out Oct 06 - my supervisor has refused to support me financially so I now have very very little money left - (just about 1 months rent). I've tried to get more time but this was denied (based on the fact that the past 2 students in my lab have taken 5 years and the 2 before that failed - says a lot about my supervisor I think). Nonetheless, all this has done is put more pressure on me.
I'm trying SO hard to get my head down, find some motivation to push forward, but I feel pretty blind - I've never even seen another thesis as my supervisor doesn't have any of the completed works from other students!!!

I've been reading some posts, and people have mentioned mock vivas?
Is it your supervisor who does them for you?

For the last 9 months, my periods have been crazy... (No chance I'm pregnant tho, if I'm in bed, all I want to do is sleep!!!)
They're late....early....skipped....really heavy...barely there...
The docs say there is nothing wrong, and its probably due to PhD stress....
Am I alone here??

What exactly do these terms mean and what are the implications for either of these?

Self explanatory really...what the hell happens if you do??

....and my supervisor, knowing full well I have this deadline, has taken a 5 week holiday. My writing hasn't gone great - particularly because she never has time to look at anything I have done. How can I submit without her looking at the final thing?
I have tried to find someone else to look over my stuff, but the only two people who could are both my examiners.
I am so low, so low that all I want to do is sleep. I know I need one last push, one last big effort (I do still have a fair bit to do). But I just can't. I'm just feeling low and sorry for myself and wanted a selfish moan :(

I once left for work half asleep with my slippers still on. That was embarassing.

'Seriously guys, believe it or not. This thread is being really helpful because I think you've helped me diagnose a personality disorder I was not aware of'.

Good grief.
So we've gone from a guy potentially wanting to get a girl to cheat on her partner, to deciding he has a mental illness.
My god, I've just posted a thread asking about my choice of examiners for my viva...hope I don't end up diagnosed with something nasty!!!!

jradetzky
[Registered User]
20 January 2007 14:10 To ULUG:

Yeah, you'd be surprised to see that most Oxbridge people are weirdos like myself. If you want to see normal people, don't come to Oxbridge.

Erm...no? You seem to have some extremely bizarre views, which is fair enough, but don't put everyone into a box like that, its offensive. I go to Cambridge, I am perfectly normally, I enjoy sex with my boyfriend, I've enjoyed one night stands, I go to bars etc. But I'm not going to say that anyone else who doesn't do these things is a 'bad person' as you seem to. You seem to have spent a long time researching things and forming opinions about things that you seem to know nothing about!! The beauty of a relationship with your partner is that they are your friend and your companion, but you share sexual intimacy with them - the two are not mutually exclusive!

I was just wondering what you guys think of my choice of examiners for my viva...? I know its too late to change anything, but just wanted to know your opinions...
My external is the guy who scooped my first paper - we work on the same concept - but I look at one gene and he looks at another. Fortunately, out results and conclusions are in agreement but it was a struggle for me to publish because his results were already out there..(I did though in the end!!!).
My internal is someone fairly new to me - he is starting collaborative work with our lab and has come to lab meetings and seen me present and so he (roughly) knows some of my data and I get along with him fairly well and am used to talking to him etc.
What do you think guys?

Thanks Ann.

Wow, I didn't realise how lucky I was - at my Uni (Cambridge), we don't have to pay tuition fees in the 4th year.

Thanks for your replies. I was turned down for 3 jobs and they told me that this was the reason that I didn't even get an interview - that they didn't want anyone with a PhD. Ann, would you mind telling me what clinic she has been accepted at, and where she found the vacancy advertised? Many thanks.

The job is a Clinical Embryologist, working in fertility treatment. My PhD is in embryology and I thought this would be ideal. I did get career advice as I was finishing my undergrad and all the info said that to progress to senior positions, a PhD was necessary. What I have since been told is that people normally take career breaks and do a PhD after initially getting the job, and not come into the job with one.
I'm desperately not trying to be narrow minded but I cannot think of anything else i want to do! After all, I picked my undergrad degree with this job in mind and have now spent 3 1/2 years on a PhD that I thought would boost my chances of getting a job!!!

So, you get good GCSE's, good A-Levels, a good degree and a chance to do a PhD and think, hey, what the hell, can't hurt!
Well, ARGH!!! I can't get the job I want because apparently now I'm overqualified....ARGH!!! I'm trying to write my thesis and I simply don't want to. There seems no point anymore and I can't find any motivation to do this.
ARGH. Just wanted a rant and a break from my thesis....