internet, i would just like to report that i had an exceptionally awesome day.

my thesis draft was due today at 1400, for which I'd been writing for 2 weeks solid. deb needed it for the one-week-notice email announcing the defence itself - which is next thursday the 10th at 1630 in GHC4405, not suggesting anything, of course - and I'd been using ( Read more... )

i don't remember where i found it, but i've had this article in a firefox tab staring at me for the past couple of days. it's all about how there are okay researchers, and there are great researchers - the kind that change the world with their work; and what characterises the different tiers of impactfulness in the work that you do? and so on. i ( Read more... )

i intentionally skipped the kgb underground tour yesterday. it's striking how little pull i feel anymore to undergraduate life, as though i'm already a year or more grown out of it; striking how much more clearly i enjoy sitting around in the 412 lab playing chess and grading and working. even though i feel socially stable now, it still doesn't ( Read more... )

five kernels, five kernel interviews, one compilers project, one paper, one poster, two research meetings, thirty miles run, one shpongletron experience, and innumerable little moments of gratification. holy shit, it's been a long week.

it was a struggle the whole way through to suspend the healing-myself-mentally for as long as i needed to buckle ( Read more... )

one of the most remarkable things i've found from intensive running training is how in tune i become with my body's needs. apparently, humans are alternately very durable and very delicate; when i don't ask much of my body, it says "sure, i can give you 110% whenever you need me to", but as i get more and more involved, my resources are more ( Read more... )

what a whirlwind, today. i ran sigbovik, for those not in the loop - with the help of many excellent people to do my bidding for me, and many more who showed up to gratify the event ("my" event).

it was the strangest mix of so many people telling me what a great job i've done making everything happen (and, you know, the rest of the organisers - you ( Read more... )

partly due to consciously realising it's "break", partly due to the constant input of music i've been giving myself, everything has started to seem more vibrant since getting back to town: the way slices of plum leave purple stains in yogurt, how utterly perfect it felt to complete a v4 at the climbing wall (i swear they read my mind when writing ( Read more... )

break had its ups and downs. the ups were pretty good; i got a bunch of stuff done, though not quite as much as i'd have liked, and i relaxed a bunch, though not quite as much as i'd have liked. i suppose 75% of both worlds is better than all of one and none of the other.

i've been home for less than 48 hours and already it's hit me repeatedly how ( Read more... )

i close my eyes and see it all fall together; open again, wish it would stick.

burnout, it is too early for you to be here. can we talk two weeks from now instead?