Daffy's 'a nice cup of tea cheers you up' diary

Lemon_Tree

i like elephants, i keep asking OH if we can have one in our garden, along with a lion and a giraffe. I don't know why but he never says yes.

Cheery_Daff

Pah to your mother pippi! How sad We've got plenty of time for you :j :j

Rutland is a county! And also today, a marathon around Rutland Water, which is a large lake Fortunately I was just watching, and that seemed to involve lots of sitting in the cafe and drinking tea Met the gorgeous gallygirl too :j :j :j I was the first person she'd met off the internet, feel very privileged and hope I didn't come across as being tooooo scary!

(I'd like a friendly elephant hanging round too LT!)

Just been doing some research before meeting with examiner tomorrow morning. It would appear I have to pay a £225 fee for the privilege of resubmitting my thesis! :eek: :mad: That, along with the £70 it's going to cost to print and bind another three copies, means that's half of my extra wage taken up for the first month

Also means I won't be submitting before I've been paid at the end of January! Pah! (I could find it if I didn't pay my house contribution til late, but I'm not really willing to put myself out for them!)

Bit cross now But need to focus instead on doing something sensible - like preparing for tomorrow morning's meeting, and getting an early night!

<yawn>

Cheery_Daff

UPDATE ON WEEK 1 OF 50 DAY CHALLENGE

PHD
* [STRIKE]arrange meeting with examiner[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]decide agenda for meeting with examiner[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]put all participants in framework[/STRIKE]
* list of relationships/connections/findings made progress on this, but not as much as I'd like
* plan what goes in each subheading - kind of saving until after meeting with examiner, but could have made more of a start

CHRISTMAS
* [STRIKE]List of presents for everyone[/STRIKE]
* budget - where is money coming from, and how much? Oops need to sort this out!
* [STRIKE]master list of presents to make[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]decide dates of holiday[/STRIKE] - just need to let Fay know!
* list of what needs doing to car - oops, haven't done this yet either...

HEALTH
* 5x 30 mins exercise- done 3, must try harder
* no buying cake/chocolate/biscuits - haven't bought any, but eaten rather a lot :rotfl:

Altogether, a good start, but could do better! Next week's goals to be sorted out tomorrow :j :j

Cheery_Daff

WEEK 2 of 50 DAY CHALLENGE
PHD
* Meet with examiner
* meet with supervisor
* list findings
* rewrite and submit chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8
* plan deadlines and meetings until submission
* email supervisors and other people who've said they'll read chapters

CHRISTMAS
* confirm dates with Pippi :j
* list of things that need doing to car
* budget for presents (investigating offers, surveys, and amazon)
* write master list of presents to make
* print part of mum's present
HEALTH
* 5 x 30 mins exercise - plan into diary at beginning of week
* limit of 3 cups of tea a day
* eat 3 pieces of fruit a day
* get an average of 7 hours sleep a night

How's that looking? Lots to do, but then there's lots to be done!

Best crack on with preparing for this meeting with examiner. I'm afraid I'm wibbling a bit, but the only answer is to PREPARE properly and go into it feeling like an adult, rather than a scared teenager

redsquirrel80

It sounds like you've been having a fun few days Grr to the fees though! Good luck with the meeting today, I'm sure it won't be anything like as scary once you're there.

Karmacat

You're really organised! I think the secret is contained in your posts above - not only make the list, but keep track of it, part way through and at the end, well done you. You have the ability to prepare and organise in spades, just need to apply it to the PhD and the meetings with the PhD people - you'll sail through!

Lemon_Tree

sorry to hear about the fees, that's terrible!
good luck with your meeting today i hope it goes well.

Cheery_Daff

Thanks everyone Squizz, you're right, it wasn't half as scary once I got in there! :j :j

KC, it's really funny (and very valuable and instructive!) to hear you say about my ability to prepare and organise I've spent my whole life leaving things til the last minute, losing things, missing things out, not doing things properly... In fact, when I did my PhD interviews, I was so disorganised I was late for nearly all of them, and having got people to take photographs for me, I didn't print them off properly in advance, and ended up with tiny little black and white photocopes - very unprofessional!

To be honest, I don't know what changed! It was pretty recent though. In fact, I think it changed when I applied for this job - I decided I *really* wanted it, and didn't want it to be another thing I'd missed out on, so I decided that I would pull out all the stops and DO MY BEST. I'd always been scared of trying too hard before, in case it still didn't work out

So I prepared as much as I could for this job, and did a fabulous presentation, and when they asked if I was organised in the interview, I smiled and said I'd struggled with organisation in the past, but I was now very good at managing my time and work And they obviously believed me! And that confidence in me made me *really* want to prove them/myself right - so I've taken on board advice, stuck to writing detailed important/urgent lists at work (and crossing everything off by the end of the day) etc. Only working two days has helped too - HAVE to get things done or they get left for a week.

Then I realised that I could apply this to PhD too, so that's what I've been doing, and lo and behold, the whole thing has got a whole load easier :rotfl:

So it's lovely to have that recognised by other people, because it's something I've worked really hard on recently, and I'm slowly learning not to see myself as a procrastinator but as someone who gets on and does things :j :j

Speaking of which - I gritted my teeth and did lots of preparation for meeting with examiner today, and then took a deep breath and went in with a smile on my face I wanted to feel like I was at *work*, rather than 'just a PhD student', so I left my coat/bag in the research school, and just took in my papers, a pen, and a glass of water

Went really well And resulted in rather less work than I thought I had left :j :j I'm a *little* bit annoyed that all the 'necessary revisions' aren't really necessary :mad: but that kind of thinking ISN'T HELPFUL, so I'm ignoring it and focusing instead on what I DO need to do.

AND - the excellent news is - examiner will read through what I've done unofficially, and let me know if there's anything else he wants to see - and exactly what it is - BEFORE I submit the official version. So when I submit the official version, I KNOW it will pass :j :j :j (that's against university policy, but right now I don't care). Because of university policy, I still then have to submit 3 copies - entirely pointless waste of paper, time and money, but that is not an important battle to fight right now

So - an afternoon of analysis, and planning in terms of deadlines etc :j :j

Karmacat

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

KC, it's really funny (and very valuable and instructive!) to hear you say about my ability to prepare and organise

You're very welcome ....

I've spent my whole life leaving things til the last minute, losing things, missing things out, not doing things properly... In fact, when I did my PhD interviews, I was so disorganised I was late for nearly all of them, and having got people to take photographs for me, I didn't print them off properly in advance, and ended up with tiny little black and white photocopes - very unprofessional!

To be honest, I don't know what changed! It was pretty recent though. In fact, I think it changed when I applied for this job - I decided I *really* wanted it, and didn't want it to be another thing I'd missed out on, so I decided that I would pull out all the stops and DO MY BEST. I'd always been scared of trying too hard before, in case it still didn't work out

That mistrust of ourselves can run really deep, can't it ... "I won't try in case I fail" - we miss out on so much if we live like that.

So I prepared as much as I could for this job, and did a fabulous presentation, and when they asked if I was organised in the interview, I smiled and said I'd struggled with organisation in the past, but I was now very good at managing my time and work And they obviously believed me! And that confidence in me made me *really* want to prove them/myself right - so I've taken on board advice, stuck to writing detailed important/urgent lists at work (and crossing everything off by the end of the day) etc. Only working two days has helped too - HAVE to get things done or they get left for a week.

Wonderful! You know what they say, don't you - problems become opportunities - thats exactly what you're describing with the strictures of the two day week! Plus stepping up to the new level of organisation permanently.

Then I realised that I could apply this to PhD too, so that's what I've been doing, and lo and behold, the whole thing has got a whole load easier :rotfl:

So it's lovely to have that recognised by other people, because it's something I've worked really hard on recently, and I'm slowly learning not to see myself as a procrastinator but as someone who gets on and does things :j :j

You really do come over like that now.

Speaking of which - I gritted my teeth and did lots of preparation for meeting with examiner today, and then took a deep breath and went in with a smile on my face I wanted to feel like I was at *work*, rather than 'just a PhD student', so I left my coat/bag in the research school, and just took in my papers, a pen, and a glass of water

Went really well And resulted in rather less work than I thought I had left :j :j I'm a *little* bit annoyed that all the 'necessary revisions' aren't really necessary :mad: but that kind of thinking ISN'T HELPFUL, so I'm ignoring it and focusing instead on what I DO need to do.

And thats what I'm reading of in The Power/The Secret - have gratitude for what you like about yourself, just ignore the rest. Its actually a time-honoured method of child rearing, tho very out of favour with the mainstream nowadays.

AND - the excellent news is - examiner will read through what I've done unofficially, and let me know if there's anything else he wants to see - and exactly what it is - BEFORE I submit the official version. So when I submit the official version, I KNOW it will pass :j :j :j (that's against university policy, but right now I don't care). Because of university policy, I still then have to submit 3 copies - entirely pointless waste of paper, time and money, but that is not an important battle to fight right now

You're dead right - and so is the examiner.

So - an afternoon of analysis, and planning in terms of deadlines etc :j :j

Woo hoo! This sounds so great for you! And yes, to give your best to the job in the new year, the PhD has to get done now. And then you can cuddle Pippi's chooks to your heart's content

redsquirrel80

Fantastic news on the meeting - you sound relieved, which is great! And you do sound very organised! I'm only just coming round to the benefits of not leaving everything till the last minute too - it's amazing how much stress it does away with