Potpourri

1. I love looking at crochet pattern sites, eventhough I crochet less than I talk about it. Here's a list of things I want to crochet (after the crochet olympics, of course!): yoga mat bag, plastic bag bag, flapper hat, chunky yarn hat kind of like one Mimi wore on Days of Our Lives once, slippers made from squares

2. Right now, I am working on a granny square bag, using these granny squares. I am going to make eight squares, connect them and line it all. So far I am three rows into the first square. I hope to prgress more on it after the Olympics and some more grants are in.

3. I thought the grant proposal was done, but it turned out I needed to do a few more revisions. I also had to wake up early on Sunday to work all day on a project that was scrapped later that day. It has all been quite frustrating and I have just been exhausted and stressed, as demonstrated by the blog neglect. To add to the frustration, during times like these I question my ability to succeed in academia. So many professors tell me these are the best years of my life and things will just get harder once I am out of school. I really hope this isn't true. I have a lot of issues with the workaholic culture of academia, and wonder sometimes if I should be in it if I don't want to participate in the unhealthy parts of the culture. However, I am convinced that when I am out of school and more autonomous, I will have a much better time. Usually when I am depressed about it all my depression lifts after some time working on my PhD project, which I am interested in and excited about. I need to remember that when I am doing my own work, I am happy about things.

4. Also I need more ideas about discrete subject to post about on the blog. I keep getting great ideas, but always when it is inconvenient to post or write the ideas down. Maybe, like the things to crochet list, I need a list of things to write about.