Through the corridors of sleep/ Past the shadows dark and deep/ My mind dances and leaps in confusion./ I don't know what is real,/
I can't touch what I feel/ And I hide behind the shield of my illusion.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend/ My life will never end,/ And flowers never bend/ With the rainfall.
The mirror on my wall/ Casts an image dark and small/ But I'm not sure at all it's my reflection./ I am blinded by the light/ Of God and truth and right/ And I wander in the night without direction.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend/ My life will never end,/ And flowers never bend
With the rainfall.
It's no matter if you're born/ To play the king or pawn/ For the line is thinly drawn 'tween joy and sorrow,/ So my fantasy/ Becomes reality,/ And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend/ My life will never end,/ And flowers never bend/ With the rainfall.
(Simon and Garfunkel, of course)
What a long, strange trip it's been. I've been in a PhD program now for six months, and I love it. I did well last semester, and while I don't like my classes this semester they complete my course requirements and give me time to think about other things. Such as papers. I have three potentially publishable ideas I'm working on developing, and they're very exciting. I'm excited, anyhow. So it's good that I don't have classes that absorb my attention-- I can try to develop some exciting papers instead. And this summer I'll be in Guatemala and Chiapas, playing in the dirt and speaking Spanish. :)
The Flash Junkie moved to Pittsburgh-- and he's re-becomming a wonderful friend, after a false start of trying to skip the friends part and go for something more. When you haven't lived in the same city as someone for a long time, or ever, it's important to remember that being friends on an everyday basis is often harder than sharing deep secrets and confidences.
I've met some great people here. Friends I think I'll have for a long time. I also have kept in touch with some people from my past who I was afraid would fade away. A very good thing.
One of the papers I'd like to work on is a really interesting question and certainly a publishable idea. It does, however, require a LOT of commitment. And it's not exactly on the topic I'm planning to look at for my dissertation. One of the profs here thinks that this paper could be dissertation material-- but I don't want it to be my dissertation. Given that, I wonder if I should even do it. I'm afraid that getting involved in such a big project that's kind of off-topic for me could distract me from my dissertation (not likely; more likely that people will assume I'm distracted) or label me "unfocused" or "cross-disciplinary;" things which will make it difficult for me to get hired. On the other hand, it's a really cool idea, publishable, a very worthy project and probably worth an NSF grant on the order of $400k. How could I say no to that? Do I do the cool project despite the fact that I will not neatly fit into a job description pigeonhole when I'm done, or do I stay the course and forego the project in the interest of being more marketable later? I think I'm going to do it. But it's a kind of scary prospect. Academic jobs are so competitive.
Does anyone out there know anything about fluctuating asymmetry? Or genomic imprinting? These are integral to two of my papers, and I could really use someone to talk to about either or both of them. Just for the bouncing of ideas. :)
The MUD that I played in college is back up. Dangerous. I haven't MUDded in years, and while I was never an addict (it started as a convenient way to chat with high school friends who were now scattered over the country for college) I am easily distracted, and while I was never really deeply into that world, I don't want to fall into it now. Unfortunately, the only other person in town who knows it is the Flash Junkie, and he's WAY into it already. :)
So here I am, in my newly adopted city; buried under almost two feet of snow; teaching and being taught; doing research and trying to knock off a scholarly book a night; meeting people and trying to make connections; sometimes feeling very alone, but sometimes feeling entirely self-sufficient.
I always thought, as a child, that I'd understand things so much better when I grew up. I didn't realize that, in understanding, I'd see a much greater complexity-- a deeper understanding, and therefore a more profound sense of just how much I will never know. I think I'm getting the hang of this life thing. The secret, I've decided, is to appreciate beauty, experience joy, and seek as much love as the world will allow you to find.