Monday, September 07, 2009
Labored Days
Last Friday was my first day at my new academic fellowship. I got to visit my new office, meet my new colleagues, and get confused about my new tax situation. (I love how the guy in charge of handling my tax paperwork skirted between evasion and flat-out refusal to provide any specific information concerning my employment status.) All in all, the set up seems very nice and I hope it will prove conducive to working hard on my dissertation.
Unfortunately, there will be little time for that in the coming weeks. In just six short days I will be flying off to Europe for two conferences (one on the history of the electronic image and one on the history of science museums) and an interview with an important liquid crystal researcher. The trip will span 18 days and 3 countries (France, UK, and Germany). My hope is that I'll return feeling refreshed and eager to face the daunting tasks associated with writing my first new chapter since leaving my archive.
Whether or not reality meets these expectations is unclear. In the short term, my goal is to make sure that everything is prepared for the trip. If it weren't for the growing number of meetings and additional obligations that seem to keep popping up around my schedule, I'd feel a lot better about that. But the work has to get done, no matter how I feel.
Last Friday was my first day at my new academic fellowship. I got to visit my new office, meet my new colleagues, and get confused about my new tax situation. (I love how the guy in charge of handling my tax paperwork skirted between evasion and flat-out refusal to provide any specific information concerning my employment status.) All in all, the set up seems very nice and I hope it will prove conducive to working hard on my dissertation.
Unfortunately, there will be little time for that in the coming weeks. In just six short days I will be flying off to Europe for two conferences (one on the history of the electronic image and one on the history of science museums) and an interview with an important liquid crystal researcher. The trip will span 18 days and 3 countries (France, UK, and Germany). My hope is that I'll return feeling refreshed and eager to face the daunting tasks associated with writing my first new chapter since leaving my archive.
Whether or not reality meets these expectations is unclear. In the short term, my goal is to make sure that everything is prepared for the trip. If it weren't for the growing number of meetings and additional obligations that seem to keep popping up around my schedule, I'd feel a lot better about that. But the work has to get done, no matter how I feel.
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