======= Date Modified 04 23 2010 13:23:31 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============
======= Date Modified 03 22 2010 21:22:42 =======
I have *never* been this tired. I look like crap. I appear to have aged about ten years in as many months. My skin is like the surface of the moon. My sleep pattern is no longer a pattern. My teeth will be rotted to stumps due to all the diet coke and sweets I've been gobbling up for the sugar hit. My friends will all have deserted me to be with happier and more interesting people - I am not just a fairweather friend I am a phd-writing-up friend, this is worse. I am a neurotic, exhausted hell-b***h and I probably smell a bit as well.

These are just some of the joys of frantically writing up to resubmit.

Christ, will it ever end?!

;-)

How weird - you've just described me. Soon it will all be over for you though and, so they say in the movies, you'll look back and laugh.

I am now plastering my face with anti-aging, anti-wrinkle, age reversing, skin brightening gunk containing petides, retinol, hydrochloric acid, frog spit and lots of other things that I don't even recognise just to make me look vaguely like a human. Instead of a PhD, what I really need now is a face lift. When they hand over the PhD certificate at your graduation, they should also hand you a discount voucher for the nearest plastic surgeon.

Why don't they ever tell you that a PhD is like the One Ring and by the end you'll like Gollum on a bad hair day?

======= Date Modified 03 Mar 2010 22:39:08 =======
Hey! Sounds familiar and I'm only in second year! I've always worked very hard but I am now getting to the stage where I have to question how much I can feasibly take on and how much would risk my health and/or sanity. I am exhausted, I can't sleep, I am overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done and everything my supervisor is asking of me, my fitness is decreasing and my chocolate and alcohol intake increasing...in another year I will be a rotund nervous wreck with no social skills and eyebags that cover my entire face :( Fortunately I took some time off tonight to go to a 'science cafe' talk by one of the lecturers from our department and it was completely inspiring. I very rarely lose sight of my goal or my motivation, but I am losing the blessing of having enough time to think about them at the moment, so it was very beneficial to take time out and remind myself why I love my subject. Am guessing in another year I may have changed my mind! Good luck with the writing up- hopefully normal life will resume for you soon! Best, KB

I just blended an advocado to make a skin enriching and brightening mask. (sprout) I can't wait until I finish and turn into a happy and moderately normal looking person again.

I do look awful, I am suprised the boyfriend hasn't said anything.

I'd be more tempted to turn said avocado into guacamole and serve with copious amounts of sour cream, salsa and tortilla chips. :p

I did have a cheeky lick or two...

lol this thread made me laugh so much! I totally know the feeling, I seem to be going through concealer/highlighter make up pens at a rate of knots, the purple below my eyes is not even funny anymore....and I am a funny grey colour, and have had to start scrubbing my legs to compensate for the poor circulation due to sitting down all day, they are getting a funny purple hue now too....
as for Gollum, at the after-viva party my boyfs supervisor made plenty of references to how he looked very much like gollum in the last few months...he now looks like a normal human again thanks god! my turn though!

Gosh, I'm not doing too badly in comparison then...but have noticed tingling on the right side of my body lately, also probably due to bad circulation. And I haven't had my hair done for months - am worried am going to start seeing grey coming thru, now that the roots are so long, not to mention new wrinkles, especially where I furrow my brow when thinking...more sacrifices we make....!

it's a bit like this really... http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1185

======= Date Modified 04 Mar 2010 12:02:57 =======
Maybe we should start a personal grooming and hygiene accountaility thread. I'm only glad I have teaching to go to two/three days per week, or lord know what state I'd be in!

I'm only in first year, but working 20 hours a week to fund myself through on top of my phd work. As a result, I look like the hunch back of notre dame. God help us all. And my friends (not PhD ones) make jokes about PhD students being unattractive. If only they knew...xxx

Well, I take some consolation from not being alone in the skanky-phd-writing process.

My body is in a state of decay, I look like I've just spent 4 days partying (I wish) rather than weeks of sitting at a desk.

I noticed tonight that I have a slight limp, suspect curvature of the spine to be imminent and have developed a delightful spot on my chin that would shame Mt Vesuvius.

We should be relieved that we don't have a webcam function otherwise we'd scare the bejeebers out of each other.

Lol!! That's so funny!!! Ah, and also a good thing all my 'friends' have deserted me, or they'd also be scared of my appearance!

As well as my body, my clothing is also an absolute shame - shapeless cardigans, baggy jeans, oldest t-shirts. My partner regularly tells me that I look like an eccentric homeless person...

My partner regularly checks that I haven't started collecting incontinent cats, hoarding newspapers and listening to free-form jazz.......

======= Date Modified 08 Mar 2010 09:57:52 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============

.....ummmm.....ok now I'm embarrassed to say this, but I have a growing collection of newspapers and magazines, all half read in my flat and I have recently started listening to jazz music.....god! I also have a rabbit but that's only for a little while as I'm rabbit sitting (while she eats all my carpet and chews on the skirting board...)