#journal paper

[5leggedlamb]

My first attempt at paper mache oh lord it's horrendous

[streamacademe]

Week 176, Day 1228.

A late post this week as it was MY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY!! Although I didn’t take the day off, I did eliminate anything moderately non-essential on my to-do list for the day, which included writing anything non-thesis related. 🎉

Irrespective of it being a lockdown birthday, I had the best day. Aside from all the messages of love, and extremely thoughtful gifts, my other half also picked up Zizzis takeaway pizza for us and bought me my favourite ‘Rory the Lion’ cake. And yes, I am aware that this is not a typical choice for someone in their late 20′s, but I also do not care. 💛🦁

Photo: My all time favourite cake. Source: Phone camera - HUJI app.

One of the most meaningful gifts I received was a mug with my first journal paper printed on it. The friend that this was from is currently 24 days away from her official thesis deadline and yet found the time to do something so considerate. Respectfully, I christened the mug with an honourable drink of Bailey’s hot chocolate. ☕

Photo: My journal paper mug being used as a vessel for Bailey’s hot chocolate. Source: Phone camera - HUJI app.

The week leading up to my birthday, however, was a little meh. Although my supervisors didn’t hate my analysis technique or the report that I mentioned last week, and gave me good feedback, I must’ve worked on it too much and at around 10 pm on Saturday hit a wall with it and burst into tears. 😂 So I decided to park it until my next supervisory meeting, which was yesterday. I was honest with them about hitting a wall and having a meltdown and, honestly, they were really helpful and made me feel both back on track and more confident in my abilities, which was probably one of the best birthday gifts I could’ve asked for right now. 

I also had a bit of an emotional trigger from someone who I cut ties with back in 2019. I needed him to be either in or out of my life and he couldn’t choose, so I made the decision for us. However, he briefly reappeared the other day and it kinda messed me up for a few days because I really miss him and have had to work really hard to keep a distance. There’s a lot of unprocessed hurt still, linked to his actions, which I can’t resolve without answers that I doubt I’ll ever get, so I’ve been shutting it away instead. Hey ho, such is life. Mentioning it on here because there is no shame in feeling a strong way about something or someone. Let it be known that pretending like you don’t will only make things worse and is exactly how him and I ended up in this position in the first place. Own your feelings. 💔

Anywhom, the positives from the last week definitely outweigh the negatives, and now that my brain feels more awake (partly fuelled by cake), I better go get on with the million things I still have to do today. 💡 Ciao!

Photo: Final year PhD mood. Source: Google. 

[studying-engineering]

[2020.06.17]

Trying to get back my writing mood after the conference. I wasted most of my time by lay-outing stuff such as my indecisiveness where to put the figures and tables instead of actually writing words to finish the paper  🤣. A very gradblr thing brought to you by studying-engineering...  🤣 🤣 🤣

[betulvargun]

winter morning scenes

[streamacademe]

Week 144, Day 1002.

Wow, I have officially been on this PhD journey for OVER A THOUSAND days!!!

As if to commemorate this milestone, on the 999th day I had an email to say that my journal paper has been ACCEPTED for publication!!! Now to figure out this whole publishing process malarkey...

I am also just 8 days away from my self-assigned deadline for the first draft of my ‘Methodology and Methods’ chapter of my thesis. So, Ima go eat some snacks and get on with it. 

Also, the virtual wine tasting experience was a blast, although I struggled to keep up... 

But what a way to celebrate! 🎉

Photo: Me trying to keep up with the wine tasting. Source: Phone camera.

[studying-engineering]

We are pleased to inform you that your paper has been accepted.

[streamacademe]

Week 149, Day 1036.

It has been tough getting back into a working routine since coming back off holiday. Mainly, I think it’s because the chapters I’m currently working on are not as clear cut as my previous ‘Methodology and Methods’ chapter, and are therefore lacking the structure I need to feel like I’m making progress. However, the way I see it, as long as I am turning up to “work” each day and doing at least something towards my goal, I’m doing okay. I guess the other issue is that I am so desperate to see the end of my PhD, that I feel like any progress I make isn’t good or fast enough. When you feel overwhelmed, it is also hard to start or focus on any task without itching to get up and run away from it. Sigh. But with 35 weeks to go before my first deadline, I better crack on with it and do what I can.

Picture: Mood. Source: Tumblr. 

Working from home can also be really tough when you’re struggling with motivation. Mentally separating work and home life is difficult when they’re in the same space and not having your peers around you to support you can also be a challenge. However, I am lucky to be a part of a brilliant research group, with whom we have weekly group meetings where we spend half a day working together via a virtual video call. It helps us feel accountable, focused, and supported. Nevertheless, PhDs are difficult. But I guess that’s the whole point and I’m trying not to beat myself up about having some challenging days. 

Hope y’all have a grand and productive week!

OMG, in the process of writing this post I found out that MY PAPER IS FINALLY PUBLISHED OPEN ACCESS, so you can all check it out here, if you’re interested in drinking water distribution systems that is!!! 🎉🎉🎉 Yay!

Picture: Note to self and others. Source: Tumblr.