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Apr. 13th, 2010 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ruSome of you I know are in grad school, or are thinking about grad school, and I have some advice: If you get the opportunity to see a lecture by Jorge Cham, creator of Piled Higher and Deeper, go. Rearrange your schedule, move mountains, and go. I saw him speak today, and I can't tell you how therapeutic it was.
For starters, I laughed for about an hour straight, which is beneficial in and of itself. But it was also massively comforting--I sat in a room (mostly) filled with graduate students, and heard someone who's been there voicing the fears and anxieties that I have, and bringing forth the realization that it's not just me that has anxieties over being good enough, putting together something worthwhile, feeling guilt over not working 24/7, and trying to make my advisor proud of me. We're all feeling the same way, and we were able to laugh about it until our faces hurt. In a way, it was downright cathartic.
There was a book signing afterward, and I got a copy of the volume that has the character Mike defending, which I got Dr. Cham to sign. He drew grass on it, along with a picture of Cecelia. It is now my talisman of geeky protection for when I defend next month. <3
For starters, I laughed for about an hour straight, which is beneficial in and of itself. But it was also massively comforting--I sat in a room (mostly) filled with graduate students, and heard someone who's been there voicing the fears and anxieties that I have, and bringing forth the realization that it's not just me that has anxieties over being good enough, putting together something worthwhile, feeling guilt over not working 24/7, and trying to make my advisor proud of me. We're all feeling the same way, and we were able to laugh about it until our faces hurt. In a way, it was downright cathartic.
There was a book signing afterward, and I got a copy of the volume that has the character Mike defending, which I got Dr. Cham to sign. He drew grass on it, along with a picture of Cecelia. It is now my talisman of geeky protection for when I defend next month. <3