A nice cloudy weekend. Today, a holiday from work. So I've tidied up my messy bedroom (so it wouldn't be driving me mad), turned down a couple of potential social engagements, and I am sitting here with a cup of tea and... my corrections!... I got through about half of them yesterday (in seven tomatoes), leaving one or two of the trickier ones for later. I wonder how many (bearing in mind that a trip to the library will be necessary) I can do today...
Sitting here with a cup of tea and dressing gown and some PhD to do reminds me of the lovely first year of PhD. Before the stress got to me. That year was fun. I must remember that there were times when the PhD was good to me. It may not have been the most amazing thing in the world, and maybe I wasn't really best suited to it, but it was a good job, and in a sense a good friend, housing and feeding me and giving me interesting things to do. I shall remember it fondly.
Now: corrections. (Thank you, examiners, for making this relatively easy, and mostly telling me exactly what it is you want me to do. And thank you to a kind soul named Argggggg, for inspiration; your idea of using the cloudy weekend for corrections = genius.)
Xx
:-) That's great! I'm happy I could help :-)
ReplyDeleteApologies for hijacking your blog.... but I just had some more thought to share. It was nice that you said that you shall remember your PhD fondly. I initially found your blog by googling I hate my PhD in some very dark moments just before submitting. Now I am waiting for my corrections. On one hand I think, that PhD was horrible, what a waste of money (it took far long then I anticipated, my scholarship ran out, I worked in some horrible jobs to finance myself) and so many weekends spent at uni, rather than going out with friends or visiting my sister’s farm and seeing my very cute little nephew, far too many sleepless night and I gain 9 kg from lack of exercise and wayyyy to much chocolate (I should have read the procrastinators bible too and learnt to have guilt free time, especially for exercise!). Still now I feel like it tortures me! My supervisor would like me to write some papers from my thesis (and I should following her providing a reference for me). Plus I am genuinely scared of the corrections – the examiners will surely discover I am a fraud!
ReplyDeleteBut... (yes there is a but) then I remember I met some absolutely fantastic people along the way (I would never have thought Maths PhD student could be so cool!), also conferences – I had such a great time at many of those (including an awesome trip to Vienna!). I remember those days when it was absolutely pouring with rain and I didn’t have to go to uni, but rather could work from home – something you could never do if you had a proper job. An amazing research cruise (yes, a trip on a boat and this was “research”) and many good memories from other field trips. I also remember some days when I was enthralled by my research (before The Stress). Furthermore, I took off during my PhD and had two month round the world holiday where I met my now wonderful boyfriend and had many other great experiences, again something a real job just doesn’t allow for... so when I think about all these things, which would never have happened if I had done that PhD, then I think I would have missed out on a lot. So regardless of the outcome (please, please let me pass), I think I shall remember fondly the great experiences I had during my PhD.
Finally good luck with the job search, don’t let the rejections get you down. There may be another even better position around the corner that you have even seen let alone get if you had taken one of these earlier jobs.
Best wishes!
Oops - lack of proof reading "never have happened if I had NOT done that PhD,"
ReplyDeletehey there! yes, the PhD wasn't all bad, right?... yeah, you could argue that it's a bit of a waste of money, and not exactly a CV-enhancer, but... on the other hand, there were so many amazing times (waking up in bed on a rainy day and just settling happily to work in the living room with a cup of tea; the smell of books in libraries; having coffee at 3pm; travelling; meeting cool people; realizing that you are getting paid to THINK and write); and even the bad times, for me, were kind of instructive, because without them I would never have discovered amazing things like The Procrastination Bible, or the therapist; if I hadn't done the PhD, I have a feeling that maybe, sooner or later, something else would have got me down, and I would have found it just as difficult to deal with. Now that the PhD storm has passed, I feel like I am better-equipped to deal with life's ups and downs. (maybe. we'll see. :)
ReplyDeleteand handing in the PhD feels amazing. it was a real achievement to be able to finish something so big and significant, and no-one will ever take that away from us. (by the way, I think everyone feels like a fraud over the corrections. You will see that the examiners will think you did just FINE.)
hold on to the great memories, and be happy! (ps I am very jealous of your round-the-world trip! I did think of such schemes, but I didn't quite dare take the time off and do it - wish I had! I guess you can't have everything, and I more than made up for it by gallivanting around Europe on little mini-weekends away, and spending my money on its finest vintage clothes shops and restaurants.)
:)