What a day yesterday was. Started off with a meeting in which the ethics application I’ve been working on for past 4 months was shelved. Which is fine, as apparently the work will go ahead, but in a slightly different format. This decision was made by Boss #1. This prompted Boss #2 to call a strategy meeting. By the end of the day the grant proposal I’d been working on for the past 12 months had also been shelved. Gulp.
It all makes sense in the long run. I’m just desperately trying not to think about the hours and hours I spent on it. Plus, it does seem that someone will do the project I proposed, it just probably won’t be me, as it seems that in around 28 weeks time I will be producing a small baby that I will be expected to look after.
Which got me to thinking about this blog. The idea was to write about science and what life is like as a researcher. However I have lived the past 3 months through a fog of mind-numbing nausea. Far from life being a whirlwind of stimulating lectures and academic meetings, I’ve either been laid on the sofa eating water biscuits or in the bathroom with my head down the toilet.
So maybe I’ll shelve this little project too. Don’t know. Or entirely limit its content to ‘stuff off the telly’. There’s been a lot of telly watching lately! Either way changes are afoot. Watch this space eh?
1 year ago
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7 comments:
First off, congratulations!! On the baby, not the shelving of projects. ;)
I do hope you keep blogging, in whatever form, I so missed you when you left last. You're too smart and witty to go unread.
Hope all the changes work out, in the end. xo
Allison thanks! That's so nice of you to say. My head is swelling a little :)
I missed the blogging to be honest. I'm not *planning* on stopping it, I'm just not sure how ANYTHING is going to pan out! I liked the more science-y angle because it took up less time! Just blog about work! But as I won't be at work...
But as I won't be at work...
Oh deary, you will be at work!
But don't think of it as being away from science, think of it as having a built in blog post subject.
You know I am thrilled to death for you, and I echo Al in saying please continue blogging.
Yeah I know what you mean Barb. Although I never really got used to blogging about personal stuff. Maybe I'll be like B. F. Skinner and study the child. I'll get a cute lab book and everything.
And thanks :)
You should absolutely get the lab book! After I gave birth, I charted her sleeping times and made coloured graphs. I am serious.
I'm going to repeat what everyone else has said, but I hope you'll keep blogging, and congratulations on the upcoming baby!
I am familiar with that feeling, when everything you've been working on has just been hung up. And it seems to happen to my husband on a regular basis throughout his career -- when one of his projects actually made it to completion without being cancelled, he was nearly bewildered.
I think what you've experienced is (sadly) indeed part of what life is like as a researcher -- staccato bursts of activity, wild slaps in the face, steps forward and backward. And talking about it here helps give a full picture of the frustrations as well as the fascination. That said, we don't care what you blog about -- we think you're interesting :-)
Hope the first-trimester whirlies settle down soon and you can enjoy the rest of the pregnancy!
Thanks Valerie! And you're dead right, it *felt* like everything was reorganised because of my maternity leave, but actually it also had a lot to do with a recent change in the funder's priority areas. Which is definitely something I'll have to get used to. Just unfortunate timing I think.
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