On victories large and small
As I mentioned before, I voted for one of the other guys (and no, not McCain). This doesn't mean, though, that I am anti-Obama. I couldn't help but tear up over this:
He's got a big job ahead of him and, I think at the very least, the prospect of change in the White House (not just in ideas, but in demographics) will give people a positive outlook. Also, I hope that having a president who is widely supported in other parts of the world will improve our international image, which in turn should help towards solving some of our problems. I will follow the news with interest in the coming months, as he shapes up his plans for the White House.
In smaller news, I met with my supervisor yesterday. I was dreading it, as I usually do. But even though he said my most recent chapter draft will need major restructuring, he approached it with enthusiasm and gave me the impression that it was promising. He even read out parts that he liked and said were well-written. Those little things give me the push I need to keep going, which is always a plus.
And on that note, I went to see Jorge Cham give a talk today. His talk was about "The Power of Procrastination" and was basically a motivational speech for grad students. His comic strips encourage people that they're not alone when they're doing a doctorate, which is something I think we all need to be reminded about from time to time. I didn't get a picture with him, but I bought one of the comic books and had him sign it. I also had him sign my copy of Don Quijote, which may sound weird, but hear me out: if his strips motivate people to get through their doctorates, I thought having a drawing of his in the book I research would provide a little spark of motivation from time to time.
I told Jorge that the topic of my research goes really well with the topic of his talk: I'm trying to show how Cervantes makes a case for the value of fiction, showing that reading books for the sake of entertainment only can be beneficial to the reader. Having a rest and a change in mental activity can be stimulating if you're studying all the time or dealing with difficult stuff. Fiction can provide us with this mental escape and, as Cham argues, so can procrastination.
Maybe that's a little far-fetched, I know. But it sparked in my mind while he gave his talk, so I figure, why not?
In smaller news, I met with my supervisor yesterday. I was dreading it, as I usually do. But even though he said my most recent chapter draft will need major restructuring, he approached it with enthusiasm and gave me the impression that it was promising. He even read out parts that he liked and said were well-written. Those little things give me the push I need to keep going, which is always a plus.
And on that note, I went to see Jorge Cham give a talk today. His talk was about "The Power of Procrastination" and was basically a motivational speech for grad students. His comic strips encourage people that they're not alone when they're doing a doctorate, which is something I think we all need to be reminded about from time to time. I didn't get a picture with him, but I bought one of the comic books and had him sign it. I also had him sign my copy of Don Quijote, which may sound weird, but hear me out: if his strips motivate people to get through their doctorates, I thought having a drawing of his in the book I research would provide a little spark of motivation from time to time.
I told Jorge that the topic of my research goes really well with the topic of his talk: I'm trying to show how Cervantes makes a case for the value of fiction, showing that reading books for the sake of entertainment only can be beneficial to the reader. Having a rest and a change in mental activity can be stimulating if you're studying all the time or dealing with difficult stuff. Fiction can provide us with this mental escape and, as Cham argues, so can procrastination.
Maybe that's a little far-fetched, I know. But it sparked in my mind while he gave his talk, so I figure, why not?
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