(no subject)
I've been busy lately, really busy. The last time I left Jena was my Easter trip to Dornburg (a scant 15 minutes by train from the station at Jena Paradies.) I've barely been able to make it off of the hill for groceries, explorations, coffee, beers, anything.
Anyway, I was busting butt processing greenhouse plants, and I had to put together a report for the EPA. I'm over the hump with the plant processing (almost done!), and the report has been shipped off to the EPA. That is out of my hands. What a load off!
I may have mentioned that at times my body manifests stress - true, but that is usually confined to the onset of a cold or tension. The Sunday before the final report was due, I had a grueling long day in the lab, and I had to sink hours and hours into the report. I ate a frozen pizaa for lunch (yuck), and then my stomach started to HURT. I wondered if it was food poisoning, appendicitis, or accidental ingestion of some noxious lab substance. If I had been somewhere else (Mexico, Venezuela), I would have suspected parasites - I even wondered if some of the nasty microbes from my more southerly travels had been bottled up inside of me and now the bottle was uncorked. And I wondered, could this be psychosomatic? Am I doing this to myself?
Anyway, now that I am through with the EPA report, I am much happier, elated even. I feel like I have time to dream again- should I extend my stay for a few more days? Visit Wartburg castle this weekend? See if there is a Zara in Dresden? The EPA report might even be worth all of the effort and trouble. I'm going to check with my advisor to see if I can send a modified version to some other funding agencies. Maybe I could get a year's worth of post doc funding. That would allow me to relax and not worry about the immediate future. (How I am going to feed myself next fall and onwards is an interesting question.)
I went to the grocery store and bought Irish butter, Japanese style rice crackers ("snacky cracky" says the packaging), italian olive oil - I'm not so good about trying typical German foods. I do love that the wine is inexpensive, the beer is delicious, and the cereal doesn't turn to mush.
Anyway, I was busting butt processing greenhouse plants, and I had to put together a report for the EPA. I'm over the hump with the plant processing (almost done!), and the report has been shipped off to the EPA. That is out of my hands. What a load off!
I may have mentioned that at times my body manifests stress - true, but that is usually confined to the onset of a cold or tension. The Sunday before the final report was due, I had a grueling long day in the lab, and I had to sink hours and hours into the report. I ate a frozen pizaa for lunch (yuck), and then my stomach started to HURT. I wondered if it was food poisoning, appendicitis, or accidental ingestion of some noxious lab substance. If I had been somewhere else (Mexico, Venezuela), I would have suspected parasites - I even wondered if some of the nasty microbes from my more southerly travels had been bottled up inside of me and now the bottle was uncorked. And I wondered, could this be psychosomatic? Am I doing this to myself?
Anyway, now that I am through with the EPA report, I am much happier, elated even. I feel like I have time to dream again- should I extend my stay for a few more days? Visit Wartburg castle this weekend? See if there is a Zara in Dresden? The EPA report might even be worth all of the effort and trouble. I'm going to check with my advisor to see if I can send a modified version to some other funding agencies. Maybe I could get a year's worth of post doc funding. That would allow me to relax and not worry about the immediate future. (How I am going to feed myself next fall and onwards is an interesting question.)
I went to the grocery store and bought Irish butter, Japanese style rice crackers ("snacky cracky" says the packaging), italian olive oil - I'm not so good about trying typical German foods. I do love that the wine is inexpensive, the beer is delicious, and the cereal doesn't turn to mush.