Categories: phd
Date: 07 August 2009 20:21:35
I came home early today as there is building noise going on at work and it's impossible to concentrate. Last year I shared an office with someone who was hyper-sensitive to background noise (she took the battery out of the clock because the ticking was annoying her so much, and when the radiator pipes started gurgling I thought she was going to explode), and I always thought this was a bit extreme. But this year I have found noise that previously I would have zoned out gets on my nerves so much it completely throws me off beam and wrecks my concentration in a way it never did before. I brought a ton of books and articles home with me and was full of good intentions (which I think is the story of my entire PhD, good intentions). Unfortunately I was so tired I had to have a lie down (and of course the inevitable happened, zzzzzz). I am also really struggling to get into my chapter writing - I kind of know what I want to say, but I want to say quite a lot of different things (I am writing my background/literature review chapter at the moment) and in the number of words available to me I can only write about them quite superficially, and this is very frustrating, so I look at the internet instead. I think the only way I am going to get this thesis written is to write it out longhand the old-fashioned way, with the computer switched off, and only switch it on to type it up in the end (I'm serious about that, actually!).
I wish I wasn't so sleepy though. A colleague told me I looked tired this week (I certainly felt it), and I just feel tired all the time.
We are meeting some friends from York up in town tomorrow though, so I'm looking forward to that, and catching up with an exhibition I've wanted to see too. And HD and I are going on another adventure on Sunday too, so life isn't all dull.