Everything's good except my brain.
I've just used Facebook to invite over 50 people to my birthday party next Saturday. I'm not embarrassed to admit I hope only a fraction of that number can actually make it; 28 is too old for full house parties. Or I'm too grown up; one of those. Anyway, even people without a Facebook are welcome to come along if they fancy a cake-and-jelly party. Someone had better bring vegetarian jelly.
Do we have time for a quick State of the Brat? I think we do.
Physical State: I had one of those colds that just wouldn't go, and I'm still leaking snot everywhere. Oh, and Kleenex anti-viral tissues smell funny.
Mental State: Brain isn't really having a good time of it right now. I've even had an unusually hard time meditating; I'm having to push myself to sit and even then staying put for even ten minutes is becoming a serious rodeo issue, so I'm falling short. and that of course, doesn't help me quiet my brain down. I'm still trying to practice mindfulness outside of sitting, but the brain is loud and distractable and makes it hard to do a lot of things. The biggest one of these,. of course is writing: I can barely manage this blog post, let alone theses and fiction.
Emotional State: On the one hand, I'm kind of OK. On the other, a noisy head makes for frustrations and the occasional bout of lashing out and cabin fever. There's also a couple of personal things going on, which are adding to stress. But really, I'm fine.
State of the PhD: Looking up despite brain issues. At a supervisory meeting last week we finally set a date for completion: September. Which means, by hook or by crook I shall have a completed PhD in seven months. This is already the greatest thing to have happened to me this year.
State of the Career: Volunteering is still the most fun I can have with my clothes on, and there are a couple of job applications in the offing, which is similarly taking up a lot of my limited attention span.
State of the Knitting: I'm running up against problems involving picking up stitches along an edge, and incorporating yarn overs into moss stitch. I'm sure that's not particularly interesting, but my high distractibility and easy frustrations are thrown into relief by this: I have a problem, so I walk away. I'm working on a coat for Abby, but I fear she may be growing faster than it.
State of the...
Oh crap, you know. I've run out of attention for this post. This is what my brain's like now. Tell you what, ask me a question about my life right now and I'll try and answer it.
Do we have time for a quick State of the Brat? I think we do.
Physical State: I had one of those colds that just wouldn't go, and I'm still leaking snot everywhere. Oh, and Kleenex anti-viral tissues smell funny.
Mental State: Brain isn't really having a good time of it right now. I've even had an unusually hard time meditating; I'm having to push myself to sit and even then staying put for even ten minutes is becoming a serious rodeo issue, so I'm falling short. and that of course, doesn't help me quiet my brain down. I'm still trying to practice mindfulness outside of sitting, but the brain is loud and distractable and makes it hard to do a lot of things. The biggest one of these,. of course is writing: I can barely manage this blog post, let alone theses and fiction.
Emotional State: On the one hand, I'm kind of OK. On the other, a noisy head makes for frustrations and the occasional bout of lashing out and cabin fever. There's also a couple of personal things going on, which are adding to stress. But really, I'm fine.
State of the PhD: Looking up despite brain issues. At a supervisory meeting last week we finally set a date for completion: September. Which means, by hook or by crook I shall have a completed PhD in seven months. This is already the greatest thing to have happened to me this year.
State of the Career: Volunteering is still the most fun I can have with my clothes on, and there are a couple of job applications in the offing, which is similarly taking up a lot of my limited attention span.
State of the Knitting: I'm running up against problems involving picking up stitches along an edge, and incorporating yarn overs into moss stitch. I'm sure that's not particularly interesting, but my high distractibility and easy frustrations are thrown into relief by this: I have a problem, so I walk away. I'm working on a coat for Abby, but I fear she may be growing faster than it.
State of the...
Oh crap, you know. I've run out of attention for this post. This is what my brain's like now. Tell you what, ask me a question about my life right now and I'll try and answer it.