Hahah so yes... I was feeling a little blue. I am into my second year and the second year blues that every one has warned me about has hit me hard. Honours was hard work, but it felt so productive. One year of stress but one year of exciting results and opportunities. PhDness however has been completely different. One year on and I still feel like I'm barely cracking the surface of it all. The method development has been incredibly difficult. Machines not working, setting up methods that nobody has done before, or trying to come up with the best method given 3 different papers have been published on three different ways to do the same thing. The whole thing has been so exhausting.

Just last week I had a really long day of labwork and no conclusive results, and the months of frustration that had been building up made me quite blue that day. But Andrew was so excited, telling me about all the job opportunities coming his way, travel, promotions, new graduate courses. And I know it's selfish and bad, but I just couldn't feel happy for him. All I could do was be miserable... and I ended up in a big crying heap, venting all the emotional and chemical problems I had been having. But he was lovely as always and ended up convincing me that what I am doing is worth it, and finishing it will be an accomplishment that I will relish. And he gave me suggestions on how to fix some of my analytical problems. From an engineering point of view... not so useful, but amusing nonetheless! At the end of that I had a huge smile on my face, and I am even more in love with my boyfriend than ever :)

Cautionary note: Don't go around doing a PhD for fun. There is no such thing!