Just one of those days
I had planned on going running after our weekly lab meetings today, but the time came for me to change and I realised I left my shorts at home. What to do? Just funny.
Went to yoga at the Yoga House in South Pas with Julie and Elly yesterday. Having said that my previous yoga experiences were rather boring, I was a little skeptical about this place. After the 90 min class (I didn't realise it was THAT long), I have to say that while the whole sitting and breathing thing is rather new agey for me, part of the class was surprising difficult. And while I wouldn't say that I am now a convert to yoga, I do believe that it would be a good complement to the muscle tightening activity that I normally participate in, ie running. And it gives me an opportunity to work on upper body and core strength, parts of my body I normally ignore. Then we went to Tasty Choice in San Gabriel to pig out. I can never get over ther Hainanese chicken rice. While the rice is not as good as what I can make and find in Spore, the chicken is to die for. Never have I tasted chicken breast that is sooo good (and mind you I hate chicken breast). I almost would say that it is succulent.
One of my friends (I'm not entirely sure if she can be called a friend, we had spent a good deal of time together when we first got to grad school but hadn't really talked to her for >3 years now) G defended her thesis today. I had meant to go, but 10am was just too early for me so I didn't make it. If there was a focused grad student she was it. Sagar was telling me that some Chem labs require their incoming grad students to sign a statement to say that they will work 80hr weeks. And based on the analysis of how much us bio people work, we decided that that was the reason chem people tend to graduate soon......one needs to put in a certain number of hours before we can generate enough data for a Phd. Yeah dorky I know, but Sagar and I are both self professed nerds, and we don't really care what others think anymore. But thinking about G, I realised that perhaps I could be in that position if I had worked as hard as she did (which was all the time), but somehow I find that too great a sacrifice. I still enjoy chatting with friends, going out for dinners, movies, running/exercising, hanging out with Eric, knitting, watching TV and of course, choral singing. And yes I enjoy reading books and magazines not just journal articles. Is giving up on all these things worth a year or two less in grad school? Somedays I feel it is, but the other times when I look around and realise how rich my life is, I believe that I would not change a thing. Besides, what is one year in the grand scheme of things? Certainly I don't believe that they ask the newest faculty member at any college the dreaded "How long did it take you to get your PhD?" So sure, could I have worked harder/done more experiments/chatted less? Sure, but would I change a thing? I don't think so.
Went to yoga at the Yoga House in South Pas with Julie and Elly yesterday. Having said that my previous yoga experiences were rather boring, I was a little skeptical about this place. After the 90 min class (I didn't realise it was THAT long), I have to say that while the whole sitting and breathing thing is rather new agey for me, part of the class was surprising difficult. And while I wouldn't say that I am now a convert to yoga, I do believe that it would be a good complement to the muscle tightening activity that I normally participate in, ie running. And it gives me an opportunity to work on upper body and core strength, parts of my body I normally ignore. Then we went to Tasty Choice in San Gabriel to pig out. I can never get over ther Hainanese chicken rice. While the rice is not as good as what I can make and find in Spore, the chicken is to die for. Never have I tasted chicken breast that is sooo good (and mind you I hate chicken breast). I almost would say that it is succulent.
One of my friends (I'm not entirely sure if she can be called a friend, we had spent a good deal of time together when we first got to grad school but hadn't really talked to her for >3 years now) G defended her thesis today. I had meant to go, but 10am was just too early for me so I didn't make it. If there was a focused grad student she was it. Sagar was telling me that some Chem labs require their incoming grad students to sign a statement to say that they will work 80hr weeks. And based on the analysis of how much us bio people work, we decided that that was the reason chem people tend to graduate soon......one needs to put in a certain number of hours before we can generate enough data for a Phd. Yeah dorky I know, but Sagar and I are both self professed nerds, and we don't really care what others think anymore. But thinking about G, I realised that perhaps I could be in that position if I had worked as hard as she did (which was all the time), but somehow I find that too great a sacrifice. I still enjoy chatting with friends, going out for dinners, movies, running/exercising, hanging out with Eric, knitting, watching TV and of course, choral singing. And yes I enjoy reading books and magazines not just journal articles. Is giving up on all these things worth a year or two less in grad school? Somedays I feel it is, but the other times when I look around and realise how rich my life is, I believe that I would not change a thing. Besides, what is one year in the grand scheme of things? Certainly I don't believe that they ask the newest faculty member at any college the dreaded "How long did it take you to get your PhD?" So sure, could I have worked harder/done more experiments/chatted less? Sure, but would I change a thing? I don't think so.
posted by La Nuage at 7:00 PM
2 Comments:
You've got an amazing thing going, girl. Truly.
Yeah. I'd rather be happy and finish school a year late than forgo other things in life that add meaning to life. It will be a never ending cycle anyways. Rushing through school, working super hard after graduation, .. it will be never ending. And when do we finally live our life fully? As long as you are living it the way you want, and are happy. That's all that matter.
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