It's neither.

It's a mass noun.

======= Date Modified 04 00 2008 22:00:00 =======
Hi all,

Having issues finding a good working atmosphere and was just wondering if anyone else finds the same thing and has any tips at all.

Simply put: I can't work in my shared office.

I find it incredibly difficult to do anything vaguely taxing when there are other people around. I have a desk in an office shared with four other people, and while I can about get on with a bit of admin-y work or mindless data-crunching while they are there, I just can't do anything which requires much concentration or get on with writing anything of note. It's not the people, they're all great, it's just the fact that there are people there (being overlooked is especially unnerving). I'm just always tense and can't relax unless I have some privacy.

My days pretty much consist of killing time hoping for a bit of time in the office alone to get on with something, or doing lab work instead so that I'm actually doing something productive (but when I should be writing something). To get a yearly report written recently, I resorted to coming in the evenings and working at night when the building was empty and I could have some peace and solitude. I don't see that as a particularly sustainable solution, it's bad for sleep patterns and social life and isn't very fair on my partner.

All my work in my undergrad days was of course done at home in peace, quiet and above all privacy. I need that atmosphere to be able to think straight and get anything done. My office buddies don't have the same problem.

I was just wondering if anyone found the same thing, and had any tips or advice?
(And secondarily I suppose if it proves I'm not a weirdo, so much the better. ;-) )

======= Date Modified 08 Sep 2008 19:47:21 =======
I suppose it depends on the place, but are there no quiet hidey-holes in/around the city? I understand exactly what you mean being a country bumpkin myself, the busyness, the constant noise, the aggression of big places can be overpowering. But I worked late yesterday and it was nice all on my own in the department, but walking home at four o' clock on Sunday morning was lovely. I saw four cars (one of them twice!) on my hour-long walk across town and heard... nothing! Well, I heard one one alarm briefly, but saw no people at all. I may sound a bit sad, but I was smiling all the way home, having forgotten how nice the world should be without all the fuss.



Anyway, maybe only working on Sunday evenings is a bit extreme, but I think what I'm trying to say is that if you know what gets to you about cities, is it at all possible to avoid those things?



On stress, I often/always get stressed about things but I almost always feel like a dickhead later for worrying about it (You'd think I'd learn....:p). Sometimes it's right to be nervous about things, but whether or not, I find that your imagination is always worse than how it actually turns out when you do it.



I think maybe tell your supervisor about your exact worries, he will hopefully be well placed to help with possible solutions, and he won't want anything t stop you suceeding either.:-)

If she's been attacked it's nothing to condone.

What does her post achieve though? It's just a torrent of abuse at the UK interspersed with a bit of rubbing her religion in everyone's faces (which she *is* free to do, but having lived in the UK for ten years should know is generally rather frowned upon and thus probably won't make her many friends).

If she has a problem, I'm sure people would be happy to help, it's just she'll get on better if she:

a) Doesn't insult people;
b) Specifies what precisely the problem is.

Not being funny, but do you always come across this friendly? Calling an entire country racist, Nazi demons is hardly the way to endear yourself and integrate, is it?