Keep Going

Engineering Masters student. Trying to be the better than I was yesterday.

[inspiration-and-motivation]

[leriseddust]

Reminder after a shitty week

[biblichorr]

to whoever is reading this:

i wish you restful nights, productive mornings, sunshine, smiles from strangers, happy surprises, the fulfillment of your dreams and wishes, good grades, clear skin, great memories, the kind of happiness that fills all the little cracks in your heart and soul and heals all of your wounds, love, the resolution of your problems, that your fears evaporate like rain on a hot summer day, peace, and everything good in this world✨

[defineyourgrind]

sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. -Winnie the Pooh

[solassitudes]

my singing voice is good for showers and mornings in the kitchen and drunken nights and lullabies for babies who need sleep and im okay with this

[solassitudes]

i think it’s silly to be ashamed of your art because it’s not in a museum and of your voice because it’s not selling out stadiums. there will always be people who enjoy and appreciate what you can do.

[rosesastrology]

Idk why but this hit me really hard and I’ve been staring at it for a couple minutes.

[ethuil]

[defineyourgrind]

[study-with-kb]

So, remember when I was really cute and organized and posting regularly about productivity in the month of August?

And then dropped off the face of the earth towards the end of August, seemingly never to post again? 

Yeah, full transparency…

I’m a first year PhD student, and it is kicking. my. ass.

I am overwhelmed with reading, my mind is spinning with research questions and ideas, and I feel permanently confused. I told my adviser yesterday that my brain looks like the tornado scene from Wizard of Oz, when all of the things are just flying past her window with no particular rhyme or reason.

He said that was okay.

Here’s the thing though- I am also loving it. Like I cried last week from stress, but also I can honestly say I am mostly happy every day. I feel intellectually stimulated. I have creative vibes flowing all through my body. People actually want to hear about my research interests?? Every day feels at least somewhat interesting, and I’ve met the best people, and, god, I just love it. I really do. 

I know I sound crazy here.

This last week I fell behind, because I was panicked about falling behind. I spent so much time trying to figure out how to organize my stuff, and what systems worked and what didn’t. Schedule reading time? Or no? How do I plot my research? Do I like to print my articles? Or should I save trees? 

But! It was not all for not. I honestly did figure out a few things I liked. So… maybe, just maybe, I can help save you some time. Here is what I liked:

OneNote for task lists; I know there’s some die hard Notion people on here (and maybe I’ll try it one day), but right now I have my life organized by notebooks and pages in OneNote and it is working for me!

Google Calendar; I’ve scheduled out reading blocks in my google calendar. I can’t do anything else during that time! It helps me get my head around how much reading I can actually manage in a day and also removes the guilt I sometimes feel when I’m not reading (we can’t read all day, every day, we’ll go crazy!) 

My writing group; I joined a writing group on Mondays, where we ring a bell, and everyone shuts up and writes for an hour; we can’t do anything else, and it’s been awesome. You can do this on your own. 

Mendeley; holy hell, Mendeley is a gift from the Lord that should be cherished. It’s a citation manager, but it is serves as your personal, virtual library. It’s free. It’s multi-platformed. I can read on my personal laptop, my work laptop, and my phone if I really need to. 

Quitting; I quit a side gig. I had to. All is well, and I can work for them again next summer. 

I just reblogged great advice from post–grad, but I want to reiterate.. give yourselves a break! I need to give myself a break! We are so badass for all we get done! Go us!

[graduatechronicles]

Humanities in ‘Crisis’? A one-pager describing a research question that is meaningful to me.

Humanities departments at universities have been, for decades, ‘in crisis’ due  to a combination of under-enrollment, under-funding, and modern society’s predilection for STEM fields. Campion (2018) does not believe in this ‘crisis’ and proves with qualitative data that the humanities are rather in a position of stagnation. Students are still enrolling in humanities departments, at the undergraduate and graduate level. However, they are not staying (Lewin, 2013), or if they do, they cannot find jobs afterwards (Benton, 2009). Students and their parents seek workforce preparation from universities more than anything else (Lewin, 2013), and the humanities are not delivering. 

Campion (2018) argues that departments are contributing to the stagnation of the humanities because they are faculty-focused and not student-focused, thus ignoring learning outcomes that students want. Mills and Moulton (2017), following a synonymous hypothesis, proved that there are differences in the student’s goals and the faculty members goals in Foreign Language departments. The problem at hand is not what is thought of as the humanities crisis described above nor is it that students cannot find employment—these are merely factors. The problem itself is that departments are not conforming to their students in order to help them meet their needs.

My degree in Classical Languages and Literatures made me a ‘better’ person—from critical thinking to decision making to articulation—skills that overwhelmingly helped me in every job I’ve held since. These soft skills are valued by employers “over the long term” (Lewin, 2013), and championed in defense of the humanities. But they don’t help grads to initially enter the job market (Lewin, 2013). While I consider studying the humanities was the best thing I have ever done, it was true: I was not adequately prepared for a job upon graduation. Was that the fault of humanities? I would argue instead that it was the fault of the institution. Universities need to step up and meet their students where they are, regardless of their field.

This problem is meaningful to me because it is my reality. As someone who may soon take the risk of pursuing a PhD in the humanities, which is warned against by professors themselves (Benton, 2009), I want to be supported by academe and society alike. I was appalled in my research to find articles boasting that we should just cut humanities departments because they do not produce jobs (Cohan, 2012). Studying the humanities is what made my life worth living again after my father passed, and I wouldn’t want anyone to lose the opportunity because of the fear that is associated with it. 

Benton, T. H. (2009). Graduate school in the humanities: Just don’t go. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 30.

Campion, C. (2018). Whither the humanities?—Reinterpreting the relevance of an essential and embattled field. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 17(4), 433-448.

Cohan, P. (2012). To Boost Post-College Prospects, Cut Humanities Departments. Forbes.[online][Accessed: 09/18/2019].

Lewin, T. (2013). As interest fades in the humanities, colleges worry. The New York Times, 30.

Mills, N., & Moulton, S. T. (2017). Students’ and instructors’ perceived value of language and content curricular goals. Foreign Language Annals, 50(4), 717-733.

[programmerhumour]

But it runs

[post--grad]

hi friends, just 2 quick notes because ‘tis the season:

i love you

grad school is fucking hard. around september i start getting messages from first-year grad students who are in various stages of first-year panic–i’ve made a mistake, i can’t do this, everyone knows more than me, i don’t understand what i’m supposed to do, why did they accept me, i’m an idiot. few things here.

it’s okay if you are having a rough go of it. you’re not alone in that. if nobody’s told you that this is normal, here it is: this is normal. that doesn’t make it suck less, but it may be comforting to know.

nobody “does academia” naturally. we learn it at different stages, and it also looks different at different institutions. just because other folks seem to have a different mindset or approach to grad school than you do, this does not mean yours is incorrect or inferior. we all do it differently. that is a good thing. 

faculty are humans too. some of them are better teachers than others. don’t make someone’s bad teaching your fault. if you’re showing with a desire to learn, and you’re doing the work, you’re doing good. 

it is often a steep, steep curve. give yourself a break, be kind, and trust yourself to get there. i have been on grad admissions committees. we don’t make “mistakes”; nobody gets in accidentally. if you’re there, you’re there because they believe you can do it. it’s up to you to decide if you want to.

finally: it’s okay to hate it. that’s allowed. it doesn’t mean shit about you as a person, as an individual, as a human. discerning “i can’t do this” from “oh i straight-up dislike doing this” can be really hard!! especially when you are feeling both of them simultaneously. deciding that grad school is not for you does not mean you’re not smart, engaged, whatever. it means grad school isn’t for you. i promise you’re still a whole entire human being, and i promise everyone who loved you before will continue loving you after.

[illinicoise]

“But if you forget to reblog Madame Zeroni, you and your family will be cursed for always and eternity.”

[spn-fandom-breathing-heavily]

not even risking that shit

[codyslipring-deactivated2015060]

scrolled past this, re-evaluated my life, then SCROOOLLLED back up and hit the damn reblog button. 

[isamaegreenleaf]

Last comment same thing. Sorry to the next person who sees this. I just can’t risk it. I have things I need to do before my life becomes hell. Lol

[nnfirnid]

man i fucking hate yall who tf put this up knowing damn well we all gonna reblog it im heated im really sick af bout this 

[modelinterrupted]

I don’t play that shit lol sorry

[latenightsugar]

WHyyyy

[badgyal-k-deactivated20190901]

Sorry everyone

[just-jay25]

If only if only the woodpecker sighs the bark on the tree was as soft as the sky why the wolf waits below hungry and lonely he cries to the moon if only if only

[kixgbear]

Shiddd

[angiebkxo-deactivated20180626]

this post followed me to Facebook and im sooo annoyed!

[manynamedshe]

It’s been a MINUTE since I’ve seen Madame Zeroni, fr fr

[glamhoeour-deactivated20251207]

I HATE TUMBLR FKKKK SAKES

LMAOOOO

[venusians]

Not tryna fuck up any of my planetary Returns~

[edge-of-great]

One time I didn’t and I was broke for like a month but the next time I seen it I rebloged it and a bitch just got 500 out the blue and a 20 gift card

[cals-desk]

Not doing great right now so let’s not make it worse

[eintsein]

Flexible Time Blocking: A More Breathable Way to Get Things Done

I’ve met a lot of people who struggle with sticking to a schedule - myself included - so here’s one way you can get things done without restricting your spontaneity.

Linked: The ABCDE Method: Accomplish Tasks More Efficiently

Hope this helps!

[samsstudygram]

types of study breaks for every situation

if you realize you’ve been studying for hours: grab a snack to refuel your body and watch a sitcom to refuel your brain. then back to the books.

if you’re feeling stressed out: take some deep breaths, text your friends, maybe stare at a wall for a few minutes. gather yourself.

if you can’t seem to focus: get moving and get outside. take out the garbage, check your mail box, maybe walk your dog. just get moving and get fresh air. it’ll help bring you back.

if there’s something else going on in your life and you can’t get it off your mind: write down what’s going through your head, sort of like a diary entry. it’ll help you work things out.

if you’re just mentally and physically exhausted: set a timer for 25-30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll hit REM and you’ll wake up feeling just as tired. once you wake up, get some caffeine in you.

if the material is boring as hell: find another way to study. see if there’s a crash course video online about it or draw out what you’re trying to learn in diagrams and pictures to make it fun.

if people around you won’t shut up: listen to some music. soundtrack and classical music is always good because they won’t absorb you as much as music with lyrics. white noise (like ocean waves, rain sounds, etc.) also works.

if you only half understand a concept: call/message a friend who’s not in the class and try to teach the material to them. this will help you mentally work through the material and will help you remember it as well.

[defineyourgrind]

[dukeofbookingham-deactivated202]

Pro-tip for baby grad students: other/older grad students are one of your best resources. Have a stupid question you’re too embarrassed to ask a faculty member? Talk to your vertical cohort, because odds are they’ll have the answers, they’ll be happy to help, and they won’t judge you–because they’ve been there.

[did-you-know]

Traffic jams would be greatly reduced if people stopped tailgating. 

2017 research from MIT shows that if we all kept an equal distance between both the car in front of and the car behind us, like how birds fly in flocks, we would get to our destinations nearly twice as fast. 

(Source, Source 2)

[leriseddust]

Reading the abstract of a scientific paper: ok I got this

Starts reading the introduction: ok I don't got this

[coiour-my-world]

Mountain Jewels ~ Perri K Schelat