First steps

Today I made progress.

That is what I want to be able to say every day for the rest of this summer (at least!). Yesterday I set goals for part of the summer, and today I took action on a task that has been sitting in my "procrastinate" box for at least a month. It feels so good to have it started. I just need to remember this feeling and keep doing things that get me here. And then I can ride the wave all the way in, right?

As I told Advisor yesterday, I'm making a deliberate attempt to be an optimist. Don't crush me! My normal cynicism aside, I'm typically pretty happy. But For the next month, I am going to be perpetually happy and looking for a silver lining. Like, when my labmate whines or insults me or goes googly eyed over some olympian that she doesn't have a chance with, I can go out for a walk with a friend and get a snack. Or when it freezes tonight - it's nice to have my plants inside to decorate my apartment. :)

So. Tomorrow, I will finish the task I started today, and cross at least two other things off my mini-goals list. (I have four major goals for each of May and June -- they're in baby steps, so I feel like I have a chance at getting them done, but still adequate to get me where I need to be at the end of the summer. The mini-goals list is lined out by specific tasks I have to do each week, and gets progressively more general out to about 1 year from now.)

Also - the fieldwork that got canceled last fall? On again for this year. YES. (Daily optimism: it will happen, and I will learn things that will benefit my career, if not my thesis. And it will be fun!)

I seem to be slowing down on my blogging - I suppose that's fitting, as just about everything else in my life has also slowed to the pace of molasses on a cold day, but it's frustrating. On both the life and blogging counts.

So. I have a conference next week, but after that (and possibly even during!), I resolve to get my lazy bum in gear and get working on my dissertation research and writing that paper that's been hanging over my head for years. Will do.

I am currently procrastinating on prepping for my talk next week (and my practice talk during lab meeting tomorrow)... It'll go fine, I'm just slightly more anxious than really necessary because 1) this is my first oral presentation at a meeting, and 2) I have no idea what the culture of this meeting is like, because I've never gone before. From all accounts, it's less formal and back-stabby than the October meeting, which is good.


Field work is now complete -- lots of good data, but short of the main goal again this year. Upsetting for my advisor, I'm sure. I personally think that new technology is going to be needed before we can get that data, because our lovely study species is doing a behavior that is just not working with the tech we have. So we'll see.

Random notes:
- People are confusing. And adorably sweet, but mostly confusing.
- Beets are kind of gross. Anyone have a recipe that can improve them?
- I love the weather. Especially as opposed to where my family is, which got several inches of snow yesterday. :)

And back

Back at school now, though the field season isn't over yet. Advisor and a bunch of other people are still out collecting data - they have some data points on species 1, and just last night got really excellent data on species 2. Go team!

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things now... I think I'll take today and try to catch up from home, and then go back into the lab and classes tomorrow. Have a conference coming up in a few weeks, as well, so I should be more than comfortably busy for a while.