The Plight of the Post-Doc

11.07.2009

Week in Review

It's been quite a week.

After a rough Saturday night processing the fact that my K-99 was in the bottom half of the applicant pool, I was feeling better Sunday.  I screamed myself hoarse at the NYC marathon (and really, there is little that does a better job of making your problems seem insignificant than when there are thousands of people--especially those who are older than your parents and/or missing limbs--streaming by you who are Running. Twenty-six. Miles.), and then came home to cook all afternoon for a mini dinner party J and I were having that night.  I love entertaining, and there's something about all the prep work for a party that I love almost as much as the party itself, so I was a happy camper chopping veggies and whatnot for a couple of hours.

Monday, though, the wounds were opened fresh again when I went to lab and had to tell everyone what had happened with the grant.  It was hard because of course people wanted to talk about it, when really talking about it is the last thing I wanted to do, because there's nothing talking can do but make me angry and sad.  Had I been more forward thinking I'd have had a t-shirt made that read "The grant's been triaged; can we talk about baseball?"  Instead, I fielded sympathetic looks all day, and while I adore my lab-mates, I despise the feeling of people feeling sorry for me.

Things brightened on Wednesday, when THE YANKEES WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!  I feel like I've been waiting forever for this, because I only started going to games regularly in 2002.  I actually had tickets to game 7 had it happened, but I was genuinely happy that it didn't have to.  And if there's anything that can make you forget your troubles for a while, it's throwing your arms around strangers and singing "New York, New York" at the top of your lungs while champagne is passed around.  Yesterday J and I played hooky and went down to the ticker tape parade, and while there were way too many people for us to get anywhere near the parade, we did see a lot of ticker tape paper floating through the buildings downtown, which was very beautiful.



 With respect to my career (this is what this blog's supposed to be about, no?), Thursday was the best day and here's why:  I went to hear a visiting speaker, and the speaker turned out to be someone from my graduate program!  She had been in her 4th or 5th year when I started so I didn't know her too well, but now she is a bona fide Assistant Professor at a super Classy Institution!  Her work is so sexy it hurts (in a good way) and it was just so incredibly inspiring to see someone from my generation be so successful.  What's more, she is still the very down-to-earth and nice person I remember her being, so it's encouraging to know that one doesn't have to become an aggressive bitch in order to make it as a woman in science.

So I'm back on the horse, as they say!  I have more applications to send out this week, and thanks to Candid Engineer's excellent synopsis of what she learned at the  Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position (NIFP) workshop and DrdrA's comprehensive guide to applying for faculty jobs, I think I've tweaked my cover letter and research statement for the better.  Onward and upward!

3 comments:

Candid Engineer said...

I love entertaining, and there's something about all the prep work for a party that I love almost as much as the party itself, so I was a happy camper chopping veggies and whatnot for a couple of hours.

Can we please be best friends? No, don't laugh at me, I'm serious. Really, let's entertain together. I have a restaurant-quality recipe for arancini.

Things brightened on Wednesday, when THE YANKEES WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!

Woooooohoooooooooo!!!!!!! High five.

thanks to Candid Engineer's excellent synopsis of what she learned at the Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position (NIFP) workshop and DrdrA's comprehensive guide to applying for faculty jobs, I think I've tweaked my cover letter and research statement for the better.

YAY! So glad it was helpful to you. That post was a beast to write, and I've been procrastinating writing more, because I know the pain will be ample.

Comrade PhysioProf said...

Instead, I fielded sympathetic looks all day, and while I adore my lab-mates, I despise the feeling of people feeling sorry for me.

How many times do we have to fucking tell you that getting triaged on one single grant application doesn't mean jack diddly fucking shit about how qualified you are to be a scientist or how interesting and important your science is? It means absolutely nothing except that two or three particular individuals in one particular review cycle decided that they didn't think this one particular grant application that you wrote was truly outstanding!!

IT MEANS NOTHING ABOUT YOU OR YOUR POTENTIAL!! EVERYBODY GETS TRIAGED!!!!!!!!!!!

Becca said...

Thanks, CPP. I think the number of times you've now told me is the exact number of times. Hopefully it came across in this post (if you read to the end) that I'm now done moping, ready to move forward, etc etc.

And CE, I would love to be best friends, seriously. Your arancini sound amazing! I think they would pair well with my steak tartare. I also make a mean bread pudding. And cocktails, of course. Hmm...for some reason I'm starving all of a sudden--is it dinner time yet?

Post a Comment