News: phd
Public speaking via zoom
I recently presented at my first ‘zoom conference’.
Of HDRs, annual reviews, and a mac and cheese toastie
I had an exceptionally reassuring Annual Review this year. I feel so very lucky to have an immensely supportive supervisory panel, but I’m also grateful to have an encouraging postgraduate coordinator. I was so motivated this week that I found myself writing into the early hours of the morning. I needed a couple of midnight snacks though. I wanted to make something easy, simple, and comforting. I also wanted to make something I could potentially turn into a lunch I could take into work the next day.
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What are your music playlists?
I have completed all my data-gathering for my doctoral thesis and now it’s down to analysis and writing. I am starting to appreciate how important music is to my process, especially having to work around my time engaging and caring for my darling nine-month old daughter. My supervisors have been so supportive and have pointed out that raising children while writing papers meant that there was hardly any time to procrastinate any more. I find myself writing in between my daughter’s naps, structuring thesis outlines on my phone while waiting for her during child care orientation, and so on. I started with just having one “Ember’s writing music” playlist and then I found myself needing different kinds of music for different types of music. I have Jane Austen-esque music for when I am composing words for this blog. When I’m trying to re-organise spreadsheets and data, or when I need to revise references and citations and don’t necessarily need to be thinking I put on music I can sing to. Sometimes they’re guilty pleasure type pop songs or the Beatles, or playlists from different decades or sometimes funk and soul classics. When I’m writing for a deadline, or writing with purpose, I have a playlist of instrumental music from movie soundtracks. Sometimes it’s from the Godfather, or Legends of the Fall or Cinema Paradiso or even Indiana Jones, among many others. I also created a playlist I listen to when I am trying to boost my confidence prior to a presentation or a talk.
Changing PhD
Many people warned me that my PhD thesis would be much more of an evolving process that a static, three-year project, but for the most part I tended to listen to their well-meaning advice and pretty much ignore it.
What's the big deal about an ear infection?
This week was a bit of a challenge for me. My nine-month old daughter picked up a bug from her play date at childcare. Our midwife and other parents have warned me about this of course, but there’s nothing like experiencing it all for the first time. I don’t know why I thought she’d never get sick. I tried really hard though. She’s up-to-date with all her immunisations, she’s had the flu shot, and she’s been having a healthy amount of probiotics in her well-balanced diet.
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Of health week and the journey back to true strength
Spring is here, and so is Health Week! I have been talking about getting back into shape for months and now I have run out of excuses. Lots of my friends have also started their fitness challenges and I’m finding a whole heap of interesting things. There are the eight-week fitness gym challenges which would be great. A couple of years back I would get up at 4 in the morning to meditate, scribe, and be mindful of all the things I am grateful for. After that it would be an hour’s workout in the nearby gym, before getting ready to head to work in the city. I don’t think I could commit to going to the gym as regularly as I used to given the demands of studying full-time, working part-time, and caring for my amazing nine-month old offspring.
[Read more about Of health week and the journey back to true strength]
When was the last time you saw an act of grace?
And what was it? ‘I work in an emergency department. There are a thousand tiny acts of grace everyday – every beat of the heart – most unnoticed by the bigger, glossier world, but they add up. In essence, the acts of grace are sometimes barely noticeable as the world rages away in its current state, but they can be seen if you pay enough attention.’
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Not all who loiter are lost
A group of my friends at uni are in their last few months of their PhD. They are in the home stretch. I can’t help but wish I was in their place. I tell them this and the reaction I get are genuine looks of trepidation and anxiety. They tell me it feels like they’re so close to the finish line, but also feel so far away from it.
Conducting interviews
I have recently begun conducting my field research for my PhD, in the form of interviews with politicians.
Michelle and Barack on a podcast and my reflections on ‘community’
Podcasts everywhere. If you’ve chanced upon on any of my other posts you’d have already surmised that I quite enjoy tuning into a podcast, especially when I’m going out for a walk or doing some of my chores. So now that Michelle Obama has started her own podcast, I was quick to check it out.
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