An extended essay

Studying

Lost?

For about 5 minutes Sunday night I thought I had lost all of my data from the last field season. This was particularly bowel-twisting given that I thought I'd lost it both from its original home and the back-up CD. There was cursing, there was crying, and even though it was found in the end, it was real enough that it took me a good 2 hours to fully calm down. I just kept seeing my committee, and tried to think of some plausible reason for having nothing from that time period. Like I said, humiliation is a very strong motivator.

To re-assure myself, today I saved the data to the lab computer. There can not possibly be too many ways or places to save this! There is also a copy under my mattress. It is lumpy.

New

This is my first personal blog, and as I write this I'm not even sure I want to let people know of its existence. Which would be the whole point, wouldn't it? Anyway, my motivation is to have something to work my thoughts out in the hopes that I will be more productive at my full-time job, a MS student who will be applying to PhD programs within the year. Other major life stressors are also upcoming in the next 12 months: fianc-band coming home from second tour in Iraq, continuing renovations on house, afore-mentioned applications, last field season and writing thesis, putting house on market and selling it quickly, figuring out where to live assuming I get into a school...oh yeah, and we're getting married. The only major life stressors not on this list are illness (Thank God) and kids. So I'm making damn sure to take my vitamins and my BC pills.

This may consist chiefly of political rants and to-do lists. The first because I am a liberal pagan living in the uber-Christian, conservative Deep South. The second because my advisor, though having many positive qualities, tends to be rather hands-off and I myself tend to have motivation issues. Sometimes the only way I get things done is via fear of humiliation or a talking-to from a superior. So when I blog about my work, it makes me accountable and should give me the kick in the ass I need.

Another reason for starting this is that I'm not able to cuss on our family blogs, and that fucking sucks.