Continuing my preparation for the review meeting (coming in 10 days), I have read some crucial books for writing Chapter 2 and kept records of the summaries.

I am so stupid! I spent the whole week thinking about and trying out whether to keep a notebook (of the summaries) as handwritten materials or digitise all of them. Since I started my PhD programme, I have used Evernote to keep and manage my records of everything including papers, a reading diary, my drafts, session notes, summaries of meetings, important links, documents, cooking recipes, and whatever. At the same time, I have been using my Moleskin notebook and diary to physically write some summaries of my reading and referring to some websites to find useful formats and examples to organise information for a literature review. I was obsessed with finding a new format and eventually found that the digital tool, adding a piece of note in Evernote, is the most suitable for me. This feels like I have wasted a week.

Luca’s work contract finished last week, so he has been staying at home to apply for new jobs. I am not sure if this is because he is staying at home, but I baked buttermilk scones and lemon drizzle cake this week.

On Friday, I took him to a Chinese buffet restaurant for lunch and an Italian ice cream shop for dessert, and we eventually spent the afternoon eating, walking and shopping. That was a nice weekday date, for a change. We ordered from Pizza Hut for Saturday dinner, like we did during our MA programmes. I understand that thinking about the future and what you want to do for a profession while being under undue pressure from family is one of the toughest situations to be in.

Goals for Week 39:

• Continue my preparation and practice
• Finish some translations of my field notes
• Celebrate a memorable date!