warning: gushing and extreme optimism ahead!
Now that I'm slightly calmer...and because I'm still awake and Paul went to bed and I just opened another beer, I thought I'd update.
This afternoon my supervisor called a "meeting" in the lab to finish off the rest of the beer in our lab-fridge in celebration of my "NSERCedness"! (haha, apparently lj doesn't like the spelling of NSERCedness. or lj for that matter.) He really is a kick-ass awesome supervisor and I really really like being supervised by him, and in a couple of weeks, working for him. And when I told him about NSERC he said something that made me even happier! He pointed out that "wow, that'll be great for moving your career forward" or something to that effect. Which, from what I've heard, is true. Once you have NSERC and you can keep putting that on your scholarship/postdoc/grant applications, they'll tend to keep giving it to you. As long as your research doesn't go in the toilet. That means a WAY better chance of me getting an NSERC postdoc fellowship after PhD which is ANOTHER ticket to research anywhere I want and so on and so on... I really really cannot believe I actually got it. it is so much more than just a scholarship. It is a validation that the government is effectively now paying me to do research. I am a scientist. I am not just a student "getting through" all of this until I finally get out into the real world to get a job (which is the way most people seem to take it when I say I'm still, and will still be for a long time, a student.)
this might become gushing.
Lately I can't stop reflecting on how lucky I am. I LOVE what I do. I have found what I am meant for, and I am good at it, and I am being rewarded for it, and I never look forward to the end of the day so I can stop doing it. Heck, most of the time I get on a roll and regret when I have to leave because I'm too hungry to keep working. I have the supervisor I have always wanted for my PhD, and when I got NSERC I was so excited to tell her because it meant I could already help her feel like she didn't make a mistake in choosing me. She's going to be proud of me, and happy that I'm in her lab, just like Rob is because i LOVE. THIS. SHIT. And if you love anything this much you're going to be good at it I think. How did I get this lucky?
I also really like how for a long time my career is going to continue in this vein of big monumental jumps and changes. like "WOW I found a supervisor who can fund my M.Sc! I'm moving to Thunder Bay!" and "WOW, I got an amazing supervisor for my PhD! I'm moving to Vancouver!" and hopefully in the future... "WOW I found an awesome opportunity for a Postdoc in some cool foreign location! I'm moving overseas for a year or two!" Maybe leading up to those big jumps it can be a little more on edge and could go either way (and I remember it going the wrong way for a long time too!) but when it happens it's the most amazing feeling!
and on a TOTALLY different track... book review! Actually, this isn't so much of a book review as more gushing. I am re-reading Johnathon Strange and Mr Norrell lately. It's humungous (sp??) so I started another one along with it (Templar Legacy by Steve Berry which I assumed would be a nice light, quick read to counteract it) but haven't even picked it up lately because I can't stop with JSAMN. Words cannot describe how much I love that book. But it's odd because I know people that have hated it as well, and I can see how it might really turn people off. But honestly. It's part historical fiction, part fantasy, but NOT written in a fantasy sort of way. In fact, forget i even said that. Just imagine that magic is real for a second: the plot is 2 magicians in 19th century England who want to restore practical magic to a purposeful, respectable profession as it was 200 years before. There is a whole mythology, folklore, history, built around English magic which is, of course, entirely fictional but makes you believe the author is drawing from real sources. There are footnotes (some 3 pages long!) of accounts from books that don't even exist! BRILLIANCE! Read it. Now.
Well. Apparently I haven't had enough beer to be drunk, but enough to want to bore all of you with all of this. It's ok. I'm done now.
This afternoon my supervisor called a "meeting" in the lab to finish off the rest of the beer in our lab-fridge in celebration of my "NSERCedness"! (haha, apparently lj doesn't like the spelling of NSERCedness. or lj for that matter.) He really is a kick-ass awesome supervisor and I really really like being supervised by him, and in a couple of weeks, working for him. And when I told him about NSERC he said something that made me even happier! He pointed out that "wow, that'll be great for moving your career forward" or something to that effect. Which, from what I've heard, is true. Once you have NSERC and you can keep putting that on your scholarship/postdoc/grant applications, they'll tend to keep giving it to you. As long as your research doesn't go in the toilet. That means a WAY better chance of me getting an NSERC postdoc fellowship after PhD which is ANOTHER ticket to research anywhere I want and so on and so on... I really really cannot believe I actually got it. it is so much more than just a scholarship. It is a validation that the government is effectively now paying me to do research. I am a scientist. I am not just a student "getting through" all of this until I finally get out into the real world to get a job (which is the way most people seem to take it when I say I'm still, and will still be for a long time, a student.)
this might become gushing.
Lately I can't stop reflecting on how lucky I am. I LOVE what I do. I have found what I am meant for, and I am good at it, and I am being rewarded for it, and I never look forward to the end of the day so I can stop doing it. Heck, most of the time I get on a roll and regret when I have to leave because I'm too hungry to keep working. I have the supervisor I have always wanted for my PhD, and when I got NSERC I was so excited to tell her because it meant I could already help her feel like she didn't make a mistake in choosing me. She's going to be proud of me, and happy that I'm in her lab, just like Rob is because i LOVE. THIS. SHIT. And if you love anything this much you're going to be good at it I think. How did I get this lucky?
I also really like how for a long time my career is going to continue in this vein of big monumental jumps and changes. like "WOW I found a supervisor who can fund my M.Sc! I'm moving to Thunder Bay!" and "WOW, I got an amazing supervisor for my PhD! I'm moving to Vancouver!" and hopefully in the future... "WOW I found an awesome opportunity for a Postdoc in some cool foreign location! I'm moving overseas for a year or two!" Maybe leading up to those big jumps it can be a little more on edge and could go either way (and I remember it going the wrong way for a long time too!) but when it happens it's the most amazing feeling!
and on a TOTALLY different track... book review! Actually, this isn't so much of a book review as more gushing. I am re-reading Johnathon Strange and Mr Norrell lately. It's humungous (sp??) so I started another one along with it (Templar Legacy by Steve Berry which I assumed would be a nice light, quick read to counteract it) but haven't even picked it up lately because I can't stop with JSAMN. Words cannot describe how much I love that book. But it's odd because I know people that have hated it as well, and I can see how it might really turn people off. But honestly. It's part historical fiction, part fantasy, but NOT written in a fantasy sort of way. In fact, forget i even said that. Just imagine that magic is real for a second: the plot is 2 magicians in 19th century England who want to restore practical magic to a purposeful, respectable profession as it was 200 years before. There is a whole mythology, folklore, history, built around English magic which is, of course, entirely fictional but makes you believe the author is drawing from real sources. There are footnotes (some 3 pages long!) of accounts from books that don't even exist! BRILLIANCE! Read it. Now.
Well. Apparently I haven't had enough beer to be drunk, but enough to want to bore all of you with all of this. It's ok. I'm done now.