Grant Update + everything else

So, I've spent the last 4 months being so busy -- I haven't had time to blog. The good news is that I have SO MUCH TO SHARE now that life has slowed to a more reasonable pace.

First things first: I got the grant!!!

of course as soon as I got it, all the time I had turned into major crunch time.
So I really buckled down and took about 6 weeks to write my full thesis proposal.

Which brings me to my second piece of news: I proposed my thesis!!!!
(SUCCESSFULLY!)

...which basically means I did this for 15 minutes...(the "how you're doing it" was a little belabored, but I'm not an expert yet.)

also now I can do it in 3 :)

This semester has been a lot different form every other semester I've ever had so far. I wasn't teaching, I was managing the largest number of research projects thus far (and the largest number of independent study students), and was only taking one class. I tailored this semester to be supportive for my thesis development, so I was grateful for those things.

However, it was also the most difficult semester I've ever had. For the first month and a half of the semester, I was reading and slowly working away at a proposal draft, which took long hours that I didn't really feel very accomplished at the end of...

But at the end of March, I woke up and realized I had 60 pages (1-sided, double spaced, 12 pt font) of theoretical backing and design for a study I actually really cared about! And soon I was on my way to the proposal, and before I knew it, I was collecting data.

This semester was my first taste of what it would be like to be a real "career researcher". I can confidently say that it changed me in the following ways:

1. I am WAY more organized than I have ever been. EVER.
Everything has a folder or a binder, and I know where said folder and binder are. ALL of my computer documents have a folder. I can find lab meeting notes from months ago, it's incredible.

conveniently this has also spilled over into financial organization and home organization. I truly know where everything is (and what I can stand to get rid of).

2. I have better time management

mostly because my google calendar looks like this. I schedule everything. The reminders are obnoxious, but it works.

3. I control my thoughts.... (as much as possible)

I know how weird this sounds. But when you're working on your own thing, with your own deadlines, intrusive and non-productive thoughts tend to creep in and occupy your mind (and lets be honest...scary unproductive thoughts are WAY more interesting than the linguistics paper that's using a whole part of the english language I was completely unaware existed up to this point).

Thoughts like "you're wasting your time reading this paper" "this idea sucks" "you can't understand what this article is about" "you should be better at doing this" and so on, made it their goal to disrupt my goals and ruin my day.
But I imagine every entrepreneur, artist, scientist, or other creative person experiences this at some point. I'm adding "doubt" to my list of things you can always count on (it's right up there with death and taxes).

the only way to get over this, is to ignore them and keep doing whatever you're doing (whether it ends up being a productive part of the process or not). There were a few dark moments this semester.

But.....

And after faithfully "watering" this idea, I can see it starting to bloom.

But the best part is that I get to leave this all behind next week, to go on a road trip with this guy!

 Pictures to follow!