Sending hugs! Sounds like you need them urgently. Can you find someone to sob irrationally on? It kinda sounds like you just have lots of pent up anxiety and need to let it out. It also sounds like you're in the middle of a panic attack. That doesn't mean you have a disorder! (Although if they happen a lot, you might want to talk about it to someone.)

Maybe try doing something really routine and relaxing, since I guess 45 mins after you posted, you've probably got past the stage of just needing to take deep slow breaths. Making a cup of tea, having a bath, finding someone to hug tend to help me. If you thinking talking to someone might help, you could consider contacting your uni's Nightline?

I shouldn't moan in the current climate but what I thought was my dream job has turned into the job from ######. Since I started, my job description has been changed at least three times and is completely different to the one I thought I had accepted. I'm getting ear bashed every day for doing something wrong and not meeting my targets and all I want to do is cry. I can't practice my music because including commuting I'm doing 12 hour days and I'm so exhausted- I don't know what to do.

Big hugs to everyone out there who needs them.

Aww, Lucky. I wish all of my students cared as much about their work as you do. I think your reaction is because you care about your work and care about the results, and you haven't yet learnt to believe in your own ability (which means that you rely more on results for academic self-esteem etc).

Why on earth are you still waiting for results from last term though? Surely you should have had them by the end of last year? You mean to say that you've had to do almost a full-term of your 3rd year without knowing how you did in your second year? No wonder you're feeling sick with nerves if that's the case.

Hm...my ears not feeling right is becoming even more frequent. The problem is that I don't think I've got an infection or anything. Flute playing is especially disagreeable. Not sure what to do or why it has started.

I haven't had a chance to ask the university accommodation people yet about moving, but I've decided to definitely do it on Monday. I'm feeling very upset right now because my flatmates were standing right outside my room talking about me (in a negative way, or I wouldn't be so upset). They thought I was at home for the weekend, yet they still started banging on my door and laughing. I don't see what they got out of it if they thought I wasn't here, but whatever... My sister and I just ignored them completely and pretended that we weren't here. I don't have an awful lot of free time on Monday to go talk to the accommodation office , but I'm going to have to MAKE some time. I can't handle this anymore.

One good thing is that at least my sister was here. At least I know I'm not being paranoid, since she was there to witness it too.

That sounds rotten, I'm glad you weren't there on your own. Good luck with talking to the accomodations people. Hopefully when you do it'll be much simpler and easier than you've feared, and you'll feel better for doing something assertive.

Hugs all round. It sounds like several of us are having a pretty rough time of things at the moment.

Thanks Tamsin - my friend came over, I had a cup of tea, we watched a stupid film and I snapped out of it a bit, but it was quite a scary half hour. I'm still really worried, but the strength of my own reaction took me by surprise. I don't think I've ever had a panic attack before, if that's what that was. It was horrible.




I think that having some very harsh (very useful and constructive, but harsh) criticism lately has knocked me for six a bit too. I've spent the past week feeling very stupid, and considering that, it's really no wonder that I'm worried about results. Thanks Flossie.

I don't understand the delay in results either - although we're marked on essays, which we hand in at the start of the next term. So I handed my assessment for last term in at the beginning of this term. Still - it's been eight weeks, I think. It seems like an excessive amount of time to wait, to me.

Sorry to everyone else having a rough time. St?phie, your housemates sound absolutely vile. I'd get out of that situation ASAP - it can't be doing you any good!

Panic attacks are horrible, but not particularly uncommon. What you experienced does sound like it possibly was one. There is a bit of information on the symptoms here:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Panic-disorde...troduction.aspx

I found it helpful to understand a bit more about them, as it makes it less scary on the rare occasions I have them myself. Just, read with caution, because as with all internet health information, you can end up convinced you're dying of something horrific before you know where you are!

I'm glad you're okay now, and will keep my fingers crossed for your results. Waiting 8 weeks for essay results back does seem an awfully long time.



Stephie: Let us know how you get on with the accomodation-people!

That's bullying, in my book. Do see the people in the accommodation office, Stephie, and I hope you get something sorted.

Thanks guys I'll let you know what happens when I go to see the accommodation people tomorrow.

Hugs to everybody else having a tough week

Hope you get it sorted soon Stephie

Thanks Juniper

Are you keeping a log of all the incidents, Stephie? If you aren't then you might want to consider doing so. This would not only give you evidence for the accommodation people, but would also give evidence if you need to apply for things like coursework extensions or submit for personal extentuating circumstances. Also keep a note of things like GP appointments for stress or sleep problems or anything else. What's going on will inevitably be affecting your health and work even if you're still getting decent marks. It's better to have the evidence and then find you don't need it, rather than needing to put together evidence you don't have...

Hope things get sorted.

That sounds horrid Blackbird.

Sending many hugs. Don't really know what to suggest, but sounds like something needs to change, hope things get better soon.

Oh dear. Been there done that. Hope it gets better soon.

Aaaaaagh, I'm working at home today (as I do most Mon's and Fri's) using VPN link to office, but the office email server is down ! I do most of my business by email. It's happened before but is rarely for more than an hour, but I started at 8 this morning and have no email yet.

Thank you for the hugs. I couldn't see a way out so I handed my notice in - feel very relieved at the moment but also very angry.

Stephie - I really hope you get things sorted and that these idiots get what's coming to them.

*hugs*

Well done for having the courage to make a decision. Best of luck with moving onto something better!

urgh. Sorry to hear it came to that, but I guess sometimes we have to look out for ourselves first. Good luck with the next one.

Well done. Sounds like the best thing you could have done adn sounds like the kind of situation you just need to get out of.

Good luck with finding something different.

Stephie - good luck to you too with finding alternative accomodation. I hope the accom office are sympathetic, sounds like a horrible situation.

Just as a kind of update to this - I got my results back. I scraped a first. I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, and I am disappointed, but it's not as bad as I feared. I'm not sure how to feel now - but I'm less panicked than I was.

Well done lucy

And well done, Lucy. I would have been DELIGHTED with a first!!!

Will you get useful feedback to help for the next lot of assessments (I should hope so after 8 weeks waiting!)? Its tricky when you don't meet your high standards, but being able to understand the mark you obtained (and what you can do to get a better one) helps! Try to remember that its [/i]really really hard[i] to get first class marks in essay writing subjects.

I get cross with lecturers who seem to mark out of 80. I don't understand how they can write off 20% of the marks before they even get going! But that's another rant.

I'm currently working on a peer review exercise, marking and writing feedback on some of my colleagues work. Its truely depressing in some cases. Writing "you put no effort in and hence the output is lousy" isn't constructive, but its most certainly what I'm thinking!

Thanks to everybody for their advice and comfort! I know everybody else is going through tough times too, so hugs all round for you all.

I went to the accommodation office this afternoon and talked with the lovely people there. My friend came with me because she knew I would have trouble talking about these things myself. I filled in an application form and they've found a potential room in the halls across the street where my friend lives, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they haven't already given that room away to somebody! They said that they'll be able to find me somewhere else anyway, so I'm not too worried. I just want to get out of this place!

This is progress, folks I'm feeling quite happy at the moment, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I hope everybody else's problems get better sooner rather than later

Glad it's getting sorted

Thank you!

Excellent news

And well done lucky045 on your results

*Hugs* to everyone who needs them. xx

Lucy, you can always call me if you need someone - I don't live far from you and know what panic attacks and things are like. Well done on your results.

Stephie, glad things are being sorted.

I'm feeling a bit... I dunno, in a rut at the moment. I've taken on far too much, and I can't see a way out of it although I desperately need one. I thought I would be ok working 19 hours a week on top of my degree, but combining that with having fibro and various other things, I'm left with no energy, a lot of pain and a mountain of work that isn't getting done. Really, I'd like to cut my hours down but I've only been there 6 weeks and don't know how they would react. Ideally, I'd just stop working but that's going to look awful on my CV.

Sorry to complain, as ever!

Your health comes first - it is a legitimate reason to want to cut down/stop and they should understand

They should understand that you need to cut down your hours for medical reasons, and if you get a letter from your doctor or something they can't say anything against you. I know my situation with insomnia is very different from yours with fibro - since you have the pain in addition to exhaustion - but I can completely sympathise with you on the tiredness level at least. It definitely isn't a good idea to try and do everything - you'll only exhaust yourself even further and it could end up getting much worse than you'd anticipated. And in addition to that, your degree work might be compromised as a result of you overdoing yourself. Like nicki_flute said, your health comes first and they should understand that!

I did a job for a company for 1 week at the end of October. I rang up to ask when payment would be made and to give my bank information so they could pay me. They said by the end of November but payment has still not arrived!

Why, given the adverse weather conditions, is Mr Willobie's train home cancelled due to vandalism?

W

Boiler has broken
Plumber came round last night and worked out it's an electrical fault. Is coming back with electrician today.
Boiler is very old - spare parts are still available (much to our surprise) but not the sort you can go and pick up at the shop. So would have to be ordered in for sometime next week.



We have an immersion heater as back up, so we are 'only' without heating at the moment - we still have hot water. Unfortunately it was soooooo hot that I couldn't get under the shower, even turned down to the lowest setting

So when I'm not freezing to death I'll be boiling like a lobster

oh dear. Hope you manage to get it fixed soon.

We have a back up immersion heater, and had the same problem, but there is a little thing on the top of our immersion heater with an adjuster to alter the thermostat temperature, are you sure yours doesn't have one ?

Thanks f#m, I will look when I get home this evening. There is a temperature thingy on the front of the tank but I think that relates to when the gas boiler is doing the work...

Turns out that my husband had a lovely warm shower after the immersion had been on for a bit when he got up, it had been on for another hour by the time I came along to get boiled. So we shall probably leave it at a good temperature for him [as he always gets up super-early], and I will just have a bath instead of a shower (so I can dilute the super-hot with some freezing-cold!)

But with any luck it won't be an issue for long as it will all be working fine by tonight, hahahahaha

Boiler to be fixed Monday.

Have two heaters at the moment, each heating one room. The computer is not in either of these rooms.

I have checked my email, read the essential importannt bits of the forum, and am now going to run off before I freeze to death...

We're being docked a day's holiday from work in respect of Wednesday - when the Garden Centre we are based at didn't open!

Is that not a bit unfair?...

Shocking!!!

Can they do that?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Emp...idays/DG_184199

According to this quote on their website, no.
'Workplace closures: If no work is available to you (eg the office has closed and you do not work at home) then your employer cannot dock your pay or require you to take annual leave.'

Thanks for the sympathy and guidance folks! I'll be speaking to management...

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/insider/snow-joke...ur-rights-3493/

This is a similar site to that already posted. Sorry to hear this Steve. Check your contract for any 'bad weather' terms and conditions, then speak to management. Or a Union rep. if you have one.

Sitting in the living-room yesterday evening, I heard the unmistakable sound of dripping water. Managed to persuade myself that it was just icicles dripping, then decided to inspect the conservatory (my music room), just in case...
The weight of the snow on the conservatory roof has caused the roof to bow slightly, opening a seam and allowing the slightly-melting snow to find its way inwards.
On to the pile of music stacked on the Clavinova, and thence on to the Clavinova itself.
10.30 at night is not the best time to attempt a complete re-arrangement of furniture. The Clavinova is now in the living-room, and the music is laid out on the carpet while it dries. All the rest of my music, a whole bookcase-worth, is in stacks elsewhere in the living-room.
Am REALLY fed up now

Oh no, what a nuisance!

Thanks for the sympathy katyjay! I'm just worried now about whether the Clavinova will be OK...

Argh. Just, argh