What's going on?

Hello to any of you who still read this blog (if there are actually any of you besides my mum). I realise I haven't really been on here much lately. It's hard to think of things to post at the moment - I don't have any silly anecdotes, not many science-y things have been happening in my life (well I got a paper accepted which is great, but still no word from my thesis examiners), and spouse wise: things are fine, except Husband had a bad flu for quite a while. Thankfully he's mostly better now. 

As for other people's spouses, my sister is getting married in a week and half. I'm the maid of honour (technically 'matron' of honour I think, but sounds like such an unattractive word so I'll stick with maid), so it has been a busy time the last couple of weeks. Enjoyable of course though. I'm definitely looking forward to the wedding, however I'm not looking forward to the 100 reports that I'll be receiving to mark that same week. 

Because I don't really have a photo to go with this post I'm including a picture of the shoes I'll be wearing with my bridesmaid dress. Pretty, hey!

Job-wise, still nothing. I had an interview via skype about a month ago which was nerve wracking (seriously I clenched my leg muscles so much during the interview without realising that I had aching legs for a couple of days after!). It was a good experience but I didn't get the job. I've also applied for several others and unfortunately I don't think I got those either since I should have heard by now.

So that's what's been going on. 

P.S. As an afterthought, I do have a slightly silly anecdote. The other day I heard Husband coming home from work and I decided to hide behind the door in the computer room to jump out and surprise him. However I forgot that I had left my bag in plain sight so it was pretty clear I was home. He walked around calling my name and I remained silent. Next he called my phone and you could clearly hear it ringing in the bedroom. He kept walking around calling my name, but I waited until he walked into the computer room. When he finally came in and I jumped out, he was really unimpressed. He said since all my belongings were still home and the door was unlocked he thought I'd been kidnapped and he was getting extremely concerned. Oops. I guess I did let it go on for a little too long. 

P.P.S. I just realised that this blog has been going for a bit over two years now. Wow. It doesn't seem like that long.  

Husband Quotes: Sleep Talking Edition #5

I was just falling off to sleep the other night when...

Husband: "Excuse me darling, can you move out of the way for a second please?"

Me: "Okay, where am I moving to?"

H: "Oh, I wasn't talking to you. I was having a dream."

Me: "Who were you calling 'darling' then?"

H: "An old lady at the shopping centre".

I just laughed and went back to sleep. Husband was asleep for that entire conversation, as evidenced by his surprise when I told him about it the next day! Husband often talks to strangers, and if they're older ladies they usually get called something like 'darling'. So I could totally see this dream being enacted in real life. Being an introvert and fairly socially avoidant I'd prefer he didn't talk to randoms, and also the terms of endearment I find a bit weird also! It does make for some amusing situations, however.

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Question for you: would you call a random old lady 'darling'??

A new normal

To my surprise I realised today that it has been five weeks since I submitted my PhD thesis. That means that for five weeks I've been sitting around doing nothing much. Honestly. I've watched a lot of daytime TV in my pyjamas (mostly cooking shows for some reason), attempted some cooking experiments (with varying levels of success) and walked/run on my treadmill a bit. That's pretty much it. It is strange how quickly I've become accustomed to this lifestyle and yet how much time has passed with nothing much accomplished. 

This is me. [via]

I don't like it.

I do think I needed a long break after all the stress of the final couple of months of my PhD. My brain is starting to come out of the fog though and I want to start being active again... and yet at the same time sitting around and being a hermit just seems easier. It's a weird state to be in considering how ambitious I usually am. 

The other difficulty is the uncertainty. Not knowing where/when/if I'll get a job is very unsettling, as this is the first time since I was around 15 that I've had no idea what's next.

At least I have some more undergraduate teaching lined up as of next week. Nothing big or permanent, but something to tide me over until I get some sort of grown up job. Fortunately I haven't been booted from the PhD office yet (often they make people give up their desks once they've submitted) so I may also try to finish writing up my papers when I'm at uni. 

Err, so yeah. That's what's going on with me. What have you been up to? :)

WOOHOO!

Still here.

I thought I'd mention I'm still alive.

We moved house last weekend, which I'm still recovering from I think. Husband has been really great in taking over most of the responsibility of the move so I can focus on my thesis. It seems to be paying off too - my supervisor seems to think I can probably submit my thesis NEXT WEEK. I don't particularly believe that yet though. I keep expecting something will come up, like some big unforseen-yet-obvious mistake that means I have to start my thesis again from scratch. My supervisor also warned me that when I finish I am unlikely to have some big feeling of joy and relief, but rather a feeling of unease. That is because it will too late to fix any of those possible mistakes and the examiners will be reading my thesis and judging it (me).

People have asked me what I plan to do when I finish. So far my answer has been: sleep and probably some existential crisis about what I'm supposed to do with my life. Husband's answer has been: BABIES! In all honesty though I really need to work on finding a post-doc job first - long before any baby-related options. 

Anyway. Perhaps I'll report back next week with the good news that I am in fact finished. Or I'll just avoid posting since I don't want to admit I'm still going. 

Or I'll just not post because I'm asleep.

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