(no subject)
How to play:
- Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile".
- I'll respond by asking you five questions to satisfy my curiosity.
- Update your journal with the answers to your questions.
- Include this explanation and offer to ask other people questions.
1. What's the thing you like best about your current job?
My coworkers are probably the best thing about my job. Though I've had some trouble making the transition from science classes to basic research, our group is very cohesive and friendly. I think we're glued together by sarcasm and very sick (but not abrasive) humor.
2. You said recently that you want to leave Vermont. Have you thought about where you'd like to live in the future and why?
I liked the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest a lot, though I can't claim to have spent a lot of time there. While I don't think I would go back to Western New York, I wouldn't mind living in my home state either. My major difficulty with living in Vermont is that it is not a great area to go without a car. What I really want is access to cultural diversity, and I am not THAT far from Massachusetts or even NYC, but the distance is magnified by not being able to drive there. Lower costs of living wouldn't hurt, either. If I could REALLY branch out, I'd try another country- a life goal is to learn German.
3. What appeals to you about the prospect of med school? What I like most about the idea of medical school and the medical profession is the degree of separation that your work has from a visible (and hopefully positive) impact on the world. One of the really difficult things about basic research is that it is difficult to get a sense of perspective of your project's worth, even if you are critically honest. The world at large doesn't necessarily know about or benefit from your work in any discernible way, and that has been psychologically hard to stomach as a newbie to the world of research.
A desire to positively impact the world doesn't necessarily recommend someone to the medical field, however. Regardless of my feelings about benchwork, I still love science and the internal mechanics/chemistry of the body and I think medicine would be the ideal intersection of human services and science.
4. You wrote recently about working towards being received into the Episcopal church. What appeals to you about it above other denominations?
There are three things I like about the Episcopal church:
1. It is liturgical/ritualistic. This doesn't work for everyone, but I appreciate High church as the most reverent form of worship.
2. The Episcopal/Anglican church, such as it is now, is messy. There is a growing divide between liberal, progressive "Episcopalians" and conservative, traditional Anglicans within the council of Bishops and leadership that makes up the Episcopal church. Often, this divides regions into either liberal or conservative diocese, but no formal divide has occurred. I like that this much difference can exist under one umbrella because I feel that this church is a good representation of the body of Christ: united in or despite differences. I don't like how fractionated Christianity has become, or claims that Baptists or whoever is going to heaven over heathen Catholics. Personally, I am more comfortable on the liberal end of things- I like seeing women and gays as priests and bishops.
3. I like that the Episcopal church doesn't exclude the world. There are sects of Christianity that are anti-intellectual/ anti-evolution/ anti-culture/etc., but the Episcopal church doesn't seem to espouse a lofty doctrine of cultural separation or being "above the world." Frankly, this sort of message seems not merely ill-advised, but also dangerous. I believe in the Christian message and I don't think it is at all separatist.
5. If you were going to mod a journal game, what kind of game would you do and why does the idea appeal to you? I think I am rapidly losing my tenure in the HP world. I am very into the idea of post-apocalyptic games or war games in a supernatural context because games without a tangible struggle or some sort of conflict really aren't worth it to me. The supernatural has just become a safe atmosphere for me. I'll edit and expand my answer here later.
- Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile".
- I'll respond by asking you five questions to satisfy my curiosity.
- Update your journal with the answers to your questions.
- Include this explanation and offer to ask other people questions.
1. What's the thing you like best about your current job?
My coworkers are probably the best thing about my job. Though I've had some trouble making the transition from science classes to basic research, our group is very cohesive and friendly. I think we're glued together by sarcasm and very sick (but not abrasive) humor.
2. You said recently that you want to leave Vermont. Have you thought about where you'd like to live in the future and why?
I liked the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest a lot, though I can't claim to have spent a lot of time there. While I don't think I would go back to Western New York, I wouldn't mind living in my home state either. My major difficulty with living in Vermont is that it is not a great area to go without a car. What I really want is access to cultural diversity, and I am not THAT far from Massachusetts or even NYC, but the distance is magnified by not being able to drive there. Lower costs of living wouldn't hurt, either. If I could REALLY branch out, I'd try another country- a life goal is to learn German.
3. What appeals to you about the prospect of med school? What I like most about the idea of medical school and the medical profession is the degree of separation that your work has from a visible (and hopefully positive) impact on the world. One of the really difficult things about basic research is that it is difficult to get a sense of perspective of your project's worth, even if you are critically honest. The world at large doesn't necessarily know about or benefit from your work in any discernible way, and that has been psychologically hard to stomach as a newbie to the world of research.
A desire to positively impact the world doesn't necessarily recommend someone to the medical field, however. Regardless of my feelings about benchwork, I still love science and the internal mechanics/chemistry of the body and I think medicine would be the ideal intersection of human services and science.
4. You wrote recently about working towards being received into the Episcopal church. What appeals to you about it above other denominations?
There are three things I like about the Episcopal church:
1. It is liturgical/ritualistic. This doesn't work for everyone, but I appreciate High church as the most reverent form of worship.
2. The Episcopal/Anglican church, such as it is now, is messy. There is a growing divide between liberal, progressive "Episcopalians" and conservative, traditional Anglicans within the council of Bishops and leadership that makes up the Episcopal church. Often, this divides regions into either liberal or conservative diocese, but no formal divide has occurred. I like that this much difference can exist under one umbrella because I feel that this church is a good representation of the body of Christ: united in or despite differences. I don't like how fractionated Christianity has become, or claims that Baptists or whoever is going to heaven over heathen Catholics. Personally, I am more comfortable on the liberal end of things- I like seeing women and gays as priests and bishops.
3. I like that the Episcopal church doesn't exclude the world. There are sects of Christianity that are anti-intellectual/ anti-evolution/ anti-culture/etc., but the Episcopal church doesn't seem to espouse a lofty doctrine of cultural separation or being "above the world." Frankly, this sort of message seems not merely ill-advised, but also dangerous. I believe in the Christian message and I don't think it is at all separatist.
5. If you were going to mod a journal game, what kind of game would you do and why does the idea appeal to you? I think I am rapidly losing my tenure in the HP world. I am very into the idea of post-apocalyptic games or war games in a supernatural context because games without a tangible struggle or some sort of conflict really aren't worth it to me. The supernatural has just become a safe atmosphere for me. I'll edit and expand my answer here later.