Balance

It's getting to crunch time here, I am trying to submit my thesis before August 31st so as to avoid registering for another semester, and also as that's 2 years exactly for my degree completion. If I can pull it off, it means I can spend September up north, conducting a few final interviews that would really help our publications and running the school program I developed, as well as trying to push all my papers for publishing. Then, I head to Italy and a few precious weeks of relaxation before I start my *gasp* grown up job.

I am shocked about how calm I'm managing to be through all of this. There haven't been many panic attacks, nights up fretting and I'm managing to take pretty good care of myself. I took last weekend off after spending the last work week going through draft after draft and making some really important progress, and enjoyed sleeping, cooking yummy (and healthy!) foods and hanging out with my friends who I really am going to miss when I move. Last night I got home and decided to make use of a lovely evening by continuing my slow progression into becoming a jogger.

Balance has always been a bit of a struggle for me. I've always tended to throw myself into work to the detriment of my health, both mental and physical, and one of the things I'm really proud about as to my time in graduate school is that I seem to have taken some important steps forwards into making myself a priority. Right now, this thesis is the most important thing in my life but I can now recognize that in a few years, there will be many more important things, and this will be a significant part of my life, but not nearly as significant as so many other things in making me a good and rounded person. I feel very lucky for having finally managed to figure that out yet still hope to continue this as I start a new and what I think is a pretty exciting portion of my life.

It hasn't been easy getting this thesis written, and the fact that both of my supervisors have been away (ie. in the furthest reaches of the province with no internet, or in Africa) hasn't made it any easier. But they both should be back next week and hopefully can dedicate just a bit more time to helping me make this thesis the best it can be. I still have a lot to get through but it seems to be doable and I am quite confident that I can indeed do this. It's been a challenge, but a good challenge and I've risen to it, with just a bit higher to climb. Wish me luck!

Summertime academia

Despite the great deal of rain we've had this summer, I've been greatly enjoying the time as the campus has shifted from the regular portion of the school year to this time of relaxation that comes May-September. As the last undergrads filter away, either hungover after partying to celebrate final exams, or partying to drink away failing exams, the campus takes on an entirely different feeling. I'm hardly the first to remark on this this summer, but today especially I've had time to drink in the atmosphere. I stayed downtown to work on the main campus of McGill, where you really feel the lack of undergrads. At Mac, we've lost a good part of the student population but nowhere near the proportion that undergrads make up downtown. During the school year, I often didn't bother trying to work in the libraries downtown because I knew they would be crowded, noisy and towards the end of term, filled with a sense of DESPERATION. Today, I wandered in at 1:30, got one of my favourite spots right away and settled down to work. If I had gone to get a snack, I wouldn't have had to wait in line for 15 minutes while overprivileged 18 years old use their Daddy's VISAs to pay for their 5 dollar coffees while screeching over their oddly decorated smartphone about their exploits from last night... Ahem, sorry. Though, with the undergrads gone some cafes close down so I would have to be careful when I go.

In any case, when its just grad students, staff and professors on campus, I think we all become somewhat cheerier and relaxed. One way this is reflected is in clothing choices people make. Just this afternoon I saw a number of different categories of summer academic dress represented:

Nerdy grad student (either sex): T-shirt from a conference/with an equation on it, ratty shorts, Tevas.

Hipster grad student (female): T-shirt from American Apparel over leggings without any sort of skirt or something. Odd gladiator sandals that do nothing to improve the look of their pasty legs. Accessories include 80s sunglasses and cigarettes.

Hipster grad student (male): Tight pants, Vans, Obscure t-shirt, same accessories as above.

Reasonable grad student (female, AKA me): Cute jeans, flip flops, bright tank and coordinating scarf to complement the designer bag currently holding most of my life.

Reasonable/cute grad student (male): Nicely fitting but not TOO fitting jeans, polo shirt, aviators, messenger bag.

I need a few categories for professors:

Geeky science prof (co-ed): Very close to the grad student (ie. hasn't changed their style in at least 10 years), but usually are wearing the tevas with socks (shudder).

Humanities prof (male): Inexplicable brown cordoroy jacket, mustard yellow shirt and black pants. I am not joking. I wish I were.

Humanities prof (female): Hippie skirt with button up shirt that don't quite match. Birkenstocks.

Sporty prof (co-ed): Waaaaaay too tight/ short jogging/biking outfit. Seriously. No.

Awesome prof, either science or business like (female, AKA who I would want to be one day): Nice chinos with a very cute bright button up blouse. Comfortable yet stylish sandals paired with a discreet yet designer bag.

I'm sure there are more but these are the ones I noticed today. If you have another category do let me know. Now for another great part of summer, Friday beers!

Erm.... hello

Sorry for the long lapse in posts. I think that most of my mental/writing energies have been so directed towards the thesis, of which there is now a DRAFT, that I just haven't had the ability to come up with witticisms for this as well.

I read a comment somewhere that a lot of blogs are languishing while their authors have become Twitter fanatics and I had to completely agree. With Twitter, I only need a short, hopefully funny/interesting statement and boom! Here, I feel as though I need a point, pictures, etc.

I have actually been quite busy since the last update. I attended a party for my dear friend Chantal's housewarming, and we rejected our pending adulthood (houses! weddings! jobs!) by having waaaaaaaaaaay too many jello shots, really early in the evening. I was quite tipsy around 10 but mercifully, almost totally sober when we left around 1! That weekend also included some great hanging out with former housies and checking out my dear friend Zu's new apartment! I've also had lots of fun in M-ville with my peeps there, seeing Stevie Wonder in concert, drinking lots of beer, almost winning at trivia.... I really can't complain. Am currently back in the O-town for the last real set of lab work and enjoying seeing my peoples here, eating my parent's food, etc.

But back to the thesis front. We are moving, I'm currently waiting on comments on the whole draft from my supervisors, so am even relatively on track! I'm still going to be doing a lot of writing/editing once its September but the prospect of having a completed thesis is JUST SO EXCITING. It's Sunday evening and I was in the lab this afternoon so am now rather dozy and so that is all for me.... Ciao!

Summertime!

Oof. I've had a lot of sangria this weekend. What was supposed to be a weekend of working, tidying, some low key hanging out kind of exploded into a whole bunch of awesome times, so its hard to complain about not getting much accomplished. I did do laundry, and install my a/c. Even took out the garbage! That's something, right?

In any case, the weather has finally taken a turn for the fabulous and the whole city seems to have gone summer mad. One of the great parts about living in Montreal are all the pedestrian areas, including streets turned into pedestrian areas. You can just amble, soak up the ambience, people watch and chill out. I have a lot of work to do in the next two monthsbut weekends like this are what will help me keep my head in the game. As I excited as I am to be moving home come September, I really will miss this city and will be back a lot!

Now for some good couch hanging time...

I'm baaaaaa-ack

So I have returned from South Carolina!

It was gorgeous. Seriously. Usually I am not a hot weather girl but when its hot and the palms are swaying and there's a candy coloured city to expore I seem to be OK with it. Especially if the exploring includes shopping, ESPECIALLY especially if it includes shopping for hilariously preppy sandals at stores that we do not have in the Great White North. Stores that sound like Cay Drew. I could've spent a lot of money there, I should get a prize for restraining myself.

But hey, I did get a prize! For best student presentation! I must admit to being quite shocked, there were many wonderful talks, including many by PhD students. The advisor told me that it was quite rare actually for a Masters student to get it. So I was quite humbled and am very appreciative of it. Both of the moolah involved and the encouragement it provides. 

All week, especially post talk, people asked where I was going to be doing my PhD after finishing up my Masters. For the most part, they were quite understanding when I said I was going to be stepping away from academia for the forseeable future, even saying it was a really good idea. But almost all encouraged me to return. When I decided last year that I was going to step away it was during a time that I now admit I was quite ill, quite stressed and quite sick of being in the lab when I was mainly running troubleshooting. A year later, when I have some really interesting data in hand, I am less certain of my previous statements that I will never return to the Ivory Tower. I do still have my concerns, namely about teaching and the impact it would have on me having a family at some point, but I now feel more certain that if this bureaucracy thing doesn't work out, the PhD is a very doable option.

So yes, Charleston was hot and beautiful and awesome. Though I was a little nonplussed by the cars driving around with 'JESUS SAVES' flags on them.

I am however happy to be back and especially sleeping in my own bed again. While I didn't mind all the travelling this week, I was not impressed with the fact that the airline almost lost my bag on the way down and actually did on the way back. Further, upon recieving my bag today it seems it had something heavy on it, for my shampoo and conditioner bottles are rather smushed and there is stuff all over some of the pockets. I have been meaning to jettison this bag for a while however and so this seems to be a sign. I'm going to get some in fluorescent green this time, I'm tired of peering at seemingly indistinguishable black roller bags. 

Slept in this morning, went for lunch with another runner in the race towards finishing a MSc by August, shopped (am looking for a small bag that will go across my chest to take to Italy, any ideas?). Then had coffee with the roomie on a lovely patio, made dinner and saw the Hangover with roomie and J. HILARIOUS. You must go see it. It made me want to go to Vegas.... and not to any of the things they ended up doing, silly boys. So a pretty great day, another relaxed one tomorrow and then back to the lab on Monday - will finish the last assay this week and then write write write!!

P.S. Have I mentioned I'm going to Italy here? I AM! In October! So excited. It's a very generous graduation gift by the parentals, it's a definite motivator to get this done. If you have any advice/stories about going to Venice/Florence/Rome, do let me know!

Pure, actually dumb, luck

So I overslept thi morning, I think I must have forgot to set my alarm last night due to being really really tired. I slept like a rock though, but woke up a little after 8 (when I should have been on my way to the shuttle that goes out to the other campus) to my cellphone ringing. It was my dear friend and fellow plant lover J, who was calling to tell me that the power was completely off on that campus. Sweet! I then went back to bed.

The stress, it cometh

Things have been going really well recently, I completed another assay and even managed to analyse motst of the data already (though I've heard through one of my labmates that I may need to change some of my equations). I got to go home and have an extra long, long weekend (for us Canucks, though its been rather wet and cold so not exactly a time to celebrate summer) and even got some work done here! Despite the weather, its been a great weekend, seeing people, including a newly significant person (we saw Star Trek in IMAX - geek squee! squared!). I'm currently sitting in my PJs and making cupcakes for my Daddy's birthday.

However, this relaxation shall not last. I basically need to have all my data in hand in 2 weeks, along with preparing them to go into a presentation I'm giving at a conference in slightly less than 3 weeks. Cue the freak out. I've so far avoided a total breakdown and as things are seeming to be working should be able to do so. I'm bribing myself with the promise of a massage once I get through a particular annoying set of results, which should help as well. But even once I've gotten through this presentation it still means I'll have less than one month to have a draft of everything in hand to have it ready to be pre-reviewed by my department for early August. As I've said before, it'll be tight. 

However, the promise of getting to move back to the O-town, along with a trip I'm now planning to Italy in October, there is a lot motivating me. I will definitely miss Montreal though and I will be definitely taking the time to enjoy it and all my friends while I can. I am resolved to make my days productive and my nights/weekends a ton of fun. Wish me luck!

(P.S. if anyone has any MUST SEES in Rome/Venice/Florence, please let me know!)