I am PICKING UP MY ROCKS from a partner institution tomorrow
these are The Last Rocks Of The PhD
I have 'til end-December to Measure All The Rocks
... which is a bit stressful because What If The Very Expensive Vacuum Leak Doesn't Cooperate
which is something I can't really schedule for, which means I can't make concrete plans for how quickly I'll get through stuff
not least because I've only got enough beakers for 2x sets of (=20) ready-to-analyse samples
and while I am only picking up ~26 samples, a bunch of those I will effectively need to analyse twice, for Reasons
so I can't even go "right let's get all the chemistry done and then blitz the analysis", I gotta actually swap back and forth between them, and if the mass spec isn't behaving then I gotta keep trying mass spec before I can do more chemistry
which would be less stressful if it hadn't taken me four multi-day sessions to get any data at ALL off the last sample set I was trying to measure
and then once I've done that I have? to finish? writing the PhD?
and I'm "only" going to have five chapters (introduction, three data chapters, conclusion), which I am currently feeling Inadequate about because the thesis I'm reading as background on these rocks has eight (EIGHT!!!) (8!!!!!!) chapters
and by the way I'm having a prolonged mental health crash for indeterminate reasons of therefore uncertain duration AND I'm still sleeping all the time FOR reasons that are still unclear
...
so if I am being Even More Dilatory Than Usual in responses/engagement/etc, it's not that I don't care, it's just that
*waves*
aaaaaaaaah?
oh right and weekend after next I'm going on An Holiday at which I need to be able to give Two Talks and, like, they're SKETCHED and IN MY HEAD but. um. I should probably make slides. and have a slightly clearer idea of what in the hell I want to say.
Um, I don't know what the hell a random internet person in Seattle could possibly do, but, like, if I can be of some help or support, I hope you'll say so?
one of them I was all "oh wait I already pretty much wrote this several years ago!" buuuuut I appear to have deleted all copies of it, b a h; one of them is honestly the book proposal for the Alex's Life Advice Book I may or may not write once the PhD is finished, and I'm letting that intimdate me a bit...
Exciting, and good luck! PhDs do, as it turns out, eventually come to an end. It sounds like you're pretty on top of things, even if you don't feel like it.
Don't worry about how many chapters you have! Theses are all different. Do what you need to do to discuss your research and findings. That's it. I threw in a poem and some stuff to guilt-trip my supervisors so yeah, turns out no-one pulled me up for it. It's your piece of work at the end of the day.
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You rock! with your rocks!
Rock on!Sending love your way
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I’m sorry you’re having a bad mental health time
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*love* and I am sure you will be fine with your talks.
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one of them I was all "oh wait I already pretty much wrote this several years ago!" buuuuut I appear to have deleted all copies of it, b a h; one of them is honestly the book proposal for the Alex's Life Advice Book I may or may not write once the PhD is finished, and I'm letting that intimdate me a bit...
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Ganbatte, and good luck. We shall still be about when you've done The Things! <3
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Don't worry about how many chapters you have! Theses are all different. Do what you need to do to discuss your research and findings. That's it. I threw in a poem and some stuff to guilt-trip my supervisors so yeah, turns out no-one pulled me up for it. It's your piece of work at the end of the day.