October Update
I'm acclimatizing to Dalhousie and our new place in Halifax. It's hard to believe that we've been here over a month now. The time is going so quickly. In any event, Dalhousie is a quirky little school filled with friendly people who work too much and love Macintosh computers. Neuroscience kind of runs the show around the department, so I just find my quiet corner to work on my own little niche of research, and it suits me just fine. I think that I'm making a bit of a breakthrough in terms of what I want to make my program of research be. It just struck me one day that what I've basically been doing all of my life is collecting stories. I'd write creatively, archive my roleplaying sessions, reading books and case studies, and so on. During my MA, I had the opportunity to read about a bunch of life stories, and analyzed them for theme and content. I really liked doing it, and as it turns out, my supervisor here is amicable to having me use that method here at Dalhousie too. It's kind of hard to communicate exactly why this is such an important change in my research direction. I guess because it would really feel like it was integrated into my identity, for once. I can have my PhD, and still collect stories and be a storyteller.
Along those lines, I like teaching too. I have a small lab section that I teach, and I do really enjoy it. A lot of my collegues treat it like some unpleasant distraction, but I really try to put a of energy and focus into doing the best job I can as a teacher. It's not the sort of thing that I mind putting a lot of hours into, because it feels (psychologically, at least) quite productive.
I haven't had a lot of time to do much aside from school. I tend to work all day, come home for supper, then work some more, then just play videogames until I go to sleep to unwind. We've had visitors plenty of weekends though, which has been nice. Seeing friends and family is a good way to relax after a tough week.
Gave myself a tarot reading the other day; it was a pretty intense reading! I asked "how can I have more positive emotion in my life?" It's something that's always been an issue for me. I'm not depressed all the time, but I just don't feel excitement, joy or happiness very often. It's just a sort of flat, neutral state of emotion. Anyway, tons of major arcana in the center: The Tower, Death, the Sun. A few sorrowful cards too; the five of cups and the three of cups. Really pointing very strongly to a deep core of sorrow over loss, with enlightenment coming out of the trauma. The outcome was another major arcana: The Heirophant. Usually higher education, teaching, structured groups. I interpreted the trauma more like the loss of regular contact with friends, as a result of school. At the same time, I'm making a lot of progress intellectually, and focusing a lot on my research. I suppose I just have to enjoy and cherish what I have now, rather than pining for times long past. That's the same as any time though :p
Right, I guess that's about all for now. (Oh, I bought a shiny new laptop. Wireless sucks at school though, so it's not a whole lot of use). Looking forward to coming home over Thanksgiving!
Along those lines, I like teaching too. I have a small lab section that I teach, and I do really enjoy it. A lot of my collegues treat it like some unpleasant distraction, but I really try to put a of energy and focus into doing the best job I can as a teacher. It's not the sort of thing that I mind putting a lot of hours into, because it feels (psychologically, at least) quite productive.
I haven't had a lot of time to do much aside from school. I tend to work all day, come home for supper, then work some more, then just play videogames until I go to sleep to unwind. We've had visitors plenty of weekends though, which has been nice. Seeing friends and family is a good way to relax after a tough week.
Gave myself a tarot reading the other day; it was a pretty intense reading! I asked "how can I have more positive emotion in my life?" It's something that's always been an issue for me. I'm not depressed all the time, but I just don't feel excitement, joy or happiness very often. It's just a sort of flat, neutral state of emotion. Anyway, tons of major arcana in the center: The Tower, Death, the Sun. A few sorrowful cards too; the five of cups and the three of cups. Really pointing very strongly to a deep core of sorrow over loss, with enlightenment coming out of the trauma. The outcome was another major arcana: The Heirophant. Usually higher education, teaching, structured groups. I interpreted the trauma more like the loss of regular contact with friends, as a result of school. At the same time, I'm making a lot of progress intellectually, and focusing a lot on my research. I suppose I just have to enjoy and cherish what I have now, rather than pining for times long past. That's the same as any time though :p
Right, I guess that's about all for now. (Oh, I bought a shiny new laptop. Wireless sucks at school though, so it's not a whole lot of use). Looking forward to coming home over Thanksgiving!