The other day I wrote about how anxious I am about being done with my dissertation, and moving on with my life. I also wrote about all the stuff I have read and know about in relation to my dissertation. When I think about those things, I get a little stressed out; I freak out about the amount of work that I have to do in order to actually be done.
Tonight I handed in another draft of my last chapter. I only have one more chapter to revise, and it is the introduction--the easiest chapter to write by far. Of course, I will have to give all of the chapters one more look-over when they come back from my adviser, but in the meantime I started thinking about all the time I am going to have when this is all over. There are three things that I really love, and I am going to direct all my energy to my favorite things: reading (not for school), running, and eating.
I already have a list of books that I want to read. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett is supposed to be fantastic, so it is on my short list for sure. I think that I am actually going to start a book club with a few other ladies, so that I will have some peeps to talk with about it. (If you want to read it, email me--join my book club! We are going to get matching shirts!) It is about a white woman in Mississippi before the Civil Rights movement, and her relationship with several African American women who are maids. It has been recommended to me by several people, and I am excited to finally have time for it. I am also planning to reread Ender's Game, a sci-fi classic, and its follow-up, Speaker for the Dead. My brother gave me the first book several years ago, and I loved it. Through a conversation about A.I. I was recently inspired to reread it, and its sequel. I doubt this will end up being part of the book club, but maybe I will just have to start a second, super-nerdy book club with my friend Ben, who has also promised to help me perfect my theory of time travel via a very large pizza (more about that another day).
When I am not reading about anything and everything, I think that I will spend a lot of time running. I love running. Not in a "Oh, it's nice to be outside" sort of way, but in a truly sort of obsessive, "Yeah, I will run across Death Valley until they pull me off the course because I am hallucinating" sort of way. Like the rest of you. So, more than anything, when I am done with my dissertation, I can't wait to put all this time that I have spent sitting here writing my dissertation towards covering miles and miles of Massachusetts. I have already committed (at least verbally) to two marathons and an ultra relay race for 2011. I am sure there will also be a health dose of 5ks and half-marathons mixed in. I also want to take up trail running, just for a change of pace and scenery. And so that one of these days I can do the Vermont 50. It is amazing; I cannot sit here in this chair and write for more than 15 minutes straight without having to get up and putter around. I cannot even sit through a 30 minute TV show without getting up at least three times. But when I am running, I am there for as long as it takes. That has to be love, right?
Of course, I can't just read and run all summer. There is one more thing that I will be sure to make time for: eating. I love to eat almost as much as I love to read and to run. Of course, it is not hard to eat while reading, but I am not sure about eating while running. I know that people do it, but I just can't imagine that I would get the same joy out of sucking on a goo packet as I do from sucking down a basket of cheese fries or a giant ice cream cone. And that is the kind of eating that I am talking about: the kind where every bite is like a tiny explosion of joy inside your mouth, and you think "This is the best thing that I ever ate." Obviously, I am still eating now (just as I do make some time for reading and running), but it is not the same. Right now my diet consists of whatever I can throw together in the shortest amount of time without having to think at all. That depresses me. Food, for me, should make you happy, not stressed out. When I am done with school I will once again have the time to cook and to give my food the time and attention it deserves, so that I am truly happy when I am eating it.
But before I get back to all of my favorite things, I have to finish my work. My dissertation is about motivation, about working towards a specific goal and managing your behaviors so that you ensure attainment of that goal. Many days, I loose sight of what it is I am working towards. But then I just have to look at my book shelf, and my running shoes, and my Kitchen Aide mixer, and I know that it will all be worth it.
Oh, and you will all have to call me Dr. Kortz and that will be pretty sweet, too.
I run - a lot. And while I run, my brain passes the time with all sort of random ideas, thoughts, and questions. Then I come home and write about them. So this blog is about all the crazy things my brain has to say while I am out, just trying to find some peace and quiet! Mostly I write about running and food, but sometimes I write about cats, parallel universes, neuroscience, or werewolves. Really, there is no telling what my brain will come up!
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