The Writings of a Research Student

The Writings of a Research Student

Amanda Lindsay

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All is well in my world

[Apr. 30th, 2012|07:07 pm]

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Current Mood

bouncy

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Just letting you all know that all is well in my world, I know I haven't posted recently, I just haven't feel that I have anything much to talk about. Work is going well, think I'm getting the hang of this normal work day thing. Aikido is going really well, newbies are continuing to attend and this is good for the clubs finances and very good for my chances of getting the money the club owes me back. I am still writing quite enthusiastically, it would be nice to stick to one universe for more than a few minutes but they are all puttering along. My bounce is generally back.

My major news is that I am just back from a weekend in Glasgow catching up with Ben and Sarah (whose blog I really must track down again). They moved up about six years ago and I promised I would go and visit, this is the first time. I know I haven't have much time/money/energy in that time but I still feel like a bad friend :( Any way I made it. Scotland is beautiful and it was really great to see them. Couldn't believe it had been as long as it has, felt like no time at all had passed.

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Updates	[Feb. 8th, 2012\|08:57 pm]
Sorry all in LJland I know it's been a while. It's Feburary all ready, I intended to do a New Year's update to match up with the one I did last year. 2010 I felt chewed me up and spat me out. 2011 was a brilliant year. Got my phd and got a job and what's more it's a job that doesn't make me feel that I wasted my time at university. The Met Office has extended my contract so i will be working there until the end of March next year. I am working on getting a permanent job there. I have also formally graduated now. Whole floppy velvet hat and gown occasion and the weather stayed more or less good. I had a brilliant day with friends and family. Aikido, neither of my brown students graded last year, both are talking about going for blackbelt this year. I'm a touch sceptical both because they have been attending patchily and because they are both are going to become fathers again. It's not something I have to worry about at the moment though. I'm not the only teacher at the Exeter club now which a bit less stress and I have two new students, maybe three. :) This is really good news. I'm still writing. Mostly a mixture of James and Dan, 'The story with no names' which is currently around 22,000 words with no names for any of the people or places therein. And in contrast 'The story with too many names' in which the (first person) narrator character has used about six different idenities in 2,000 words... I consider this an indication that there is some sort of balance in my head. More muses have been coming back since graduation. Apparently me being a graduand does not make my muses happy. I bought a PS2, yes 2, while I was with my parents at christmas. Having a retro moment, or rather longer than a moment, but I have some games that I played once upon a time a long while back and they are even more fun than I remember.
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Well deserved ends	[Sep. 25th, 2011\|10:47 am]
No I haven't been bumping off the people who made my life hel or even gleefully reading obituries. I have however, submitted my final version of my thesis (despite issues with the postgraduate admin people) which means it is done done done - Just got graduation to concern myself about now. I have also asked that my PGCE registration be closed, I won't be going back. I am awaiting the arrival of my transcript and the associated credits. I'm planning to go to the OU and put those credits to use. Something good has to come out of the mess that was my PGCE. I've learned in the last couple of months that the PGCE is still a bit of a sore spot for me. I suppose I shouldn't be surprise by that but I was still trying to ignore the whole thing, that's not really possible any more (if it ever was...) and I want to move on. I am hoping that closing everything down will help. - I have (more than) a few issues. sigh It was the annual black belt grading last weekend, no one from Exeter club was grading but several of my friends were grading. I thought I might end up partnering someone but I didn't. I was only involved in one 4 person attack. There's the national BAB course coming up in early October and I'm going to go and combine it was a weekend at my parents. Generally speaking my life is pretty good. I just need to avoid stressing too much.
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Happy Days	[Aug. 7th, 2011\|12:41 pm]
I'm still justing to being 'Doctor' I haven't got round to getting my name changed at the ank or whatever yet. I've done my corrections and will be heading uo to uni in the next few weeks to submit my final version. I'll be submitting electronically although I will get a hard bound copy made up, mainly for my parents. My muses all went completely AWOL for about two weeks after my viva, it was horrible, it was so quiet in my head. Two of them have now returned so I am writing stories / character studies about my two federal agents James and Dan. The rest are still AWOL. It has been a very long time since the inside of my head was this quiet, I'm not sure what I can do about it, I guess the rest will show back up at some point. My other good news is that my contract has been extended so I am employed until the end of March. This news is very good for my nerves.
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Viva

[Jul. 11th, 2011|01:48 pm]

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Current Mood

ecstatic

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It's all over now, I passed (with minor corrections). :D :D :D It went on 2 and half hours and seemed more like five minutes. I got hand shaking adrenaline come down but I'm feeling pretty good. I made it. It has been a very long road.

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Viva is Imminent	[Jul. 9th, 2011\|09:38 am]
My Viva is 9 am Monday morning and is thus less than 48 hours away. The nerves are jangling a bit but I'm generally optimistic about the whole thing. I'm oscillating between that nd looking for the nearest table to hide under, although the former is winning. Yes, I know I've been terrible at updating this journal, I am keeping up with my friendspage but I've noticed I only tend to write when I'm stressed and life is pretty good at the moment. You'll be getting a viva update sometime on Monday and then I'll do my best to update more generally.
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Updates Galore	[Jun. 26th, 2011\|11:21 am]
Hi All out there in LJland. I am still having a good time of it, although as always I'm doing a lot and could really do with more time for myself but there you go... Work: I love my job although it's only a 6 month contract so I need to convince my boss that I'm worth keeping around beyond that and then he needs to make a case for my continued employment and so on up the chain. I think I've got a reasonable chance of getting my contract extended but it's still pretty nerve racking. PhD: Viva is on the 11th July which is a Monday at 9:30 am which is one way to start the week... I'm mostly looking forward to it by the thread of nerves is starting to grow. I'm having a minor case of imposter syndrome over this but it's not my decision whether I deserve the doctorate or not. Aikido: Still going, although now seriously low on students, will probably only have one student doing black belt this year, the other has been hit by some fairly major family problems. Really need to get some more students or we're going to end up in financial issue sooner or later. Writing: I'm writing quite happily at the moment although I am working on two 'short' (inverted commas because I have no idea how long they are going to end up being) and a series of character studies about of a pair of federal agents. Something tells me I have been watching too much (or maybe exactly the right amount) of American cop shows. Also unusual because they are the first thing I've written in ages that has no scifi or fantasy in it.
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Happy Days

[Apr. 10th, 2011|08:49 pm]

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Current Location

At Home

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The end of March turned out to be a bit stressful as my supervisor was so busy with exam marking that he couldn't read my thesis until the Easter hols which didn't start til April I wasn't exactly impressed by this but there was nothing much I could do. Yes, I could submit it wihout him having read it but I don't want to wreck our relationship. I have been granted another month of interruption, this means that this phD had taken four and a half years. This interruption was granted on the grounds of my supervisor being busy rather than on medical grounds like the iinterruptions I actually wanted. I haven't heard anything from him yet and I'm hoping that's a good sign. I wanted to get my thesis submitted before I started work and also the end of Marh gave me time to get everything done in time to graduate this summer. If I submit at the end of April then it's just about possible for meto graduate this summer, if my examiners manage a turn around of a month, which i consider rather unlikely.

Still, that frustration is rather an aside as I have now started work at the Met Office. I started two weeks ago and am still in the stage where everything is new and shiny. I am really enjoying it.

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