Literally Though If You Feel Like Your Life Is Slipping Through Your Fingers And Every Day Goes Too Fast…

another go at the eagle nebula

Tumblr Code.

December

fairy lights and holiday displays

neatly wrapped presents with elegant bows

the smell of pine trees

hot chocolate

mulled wine in paper cups

sucking on candy cane til it gets sharp

dark chocolate truffles

sliding on polished floors

long dresses and tailored suits

iron candelabra

the church choir

stained glass windows

listening in on family affairs

peppermint chocolate

garland wrapped around the banister

sitting in the dark with just the glow of the Christmas tree

the moon in the sky like a claw

cushions and throw blankets

your favorite sweater

dog-eared pages of a classic book

Achievements of 2021 (both academic and non-academic)

I'm still very much on break (basically just eating, sleeping, reading and swimming, it's delightful), but I want to sum up this year. It's been a fucking rollercoaster of a year and I still can't believe like half of the things that happened, both good and bad. Nevertheless, I want to focus on the positive ones to kickstart the new year in the most uplifting manner I'm able to pull off. Which is not very optimistic nor uplifting, but I can be at least not full of doom, haha.

I want to do this chronologically, just because I tend to forget the good stuff that happened more than two months ago.

Let's wrap this up!

Academic Achievements of 2021

presented at my first international conference (February)

prepped two PhD dissertation projects (April) and successfully defended them during the PhD programs interview (June)

wrote my diploma thesis while cooperating with the best mentor ever (January till June)

got accepted to two PhD programs and currently doing both of them! (June)

co-written three papers over the summer - two already published, one under a promising peer review (June-September)

defended my thesis and passed my state exams with straight As, meaning I got my master's degree! (September)

wrote a book chapter that got accepted (November)

Non-Academic Achievements of 2021

quit the job I hated (January)

got rid off so much stuff I didn't need (mostly July, August)

read 130 books, yaaay

stopped saying yes to meetings with acquaintances just because I felt like I should see them (big one!)

found a functioning skincare routine (September)

started swimming again (and loving it) (September)

A lot of this year has been mostly about surviving, to be honest. I was battling a lot of anxiety and depression, I was extremely stressed at times and couldn't sleep. Swimming and taking proper days off helps, close friends help. I'm gonna do a post with some goals for 2022, so I won't spoil here that, haha.

It was a good year after all.

Take care!

M.

The holy grail of searching through academic literature is coming across a string of publications that are like:

Here’s An Idea. Smith et al. 2016

Terrible Idea; a comment on Smith et al. 2016. Johnson 2016.

You’re Wrong Too; a response to Johnson 2016. Nelson 2016.

Guys Just Stop Fighting, None Of Us Know What’s Going On; a Review of the Current Literature. McBrien 2017.

Mucus Buster

Everyone's got lingering congestion this year, so as someone who's no stranger to phlegm, and inherited the folk wisdom of a stage actress (the show must go on!) I share with you my recipe for making things better:

2L water

the juice and rind of one lemon (just dump the juiced rinds in, don't zest them, you maniac)

a small thumb of fresh ginger, sliced in coins

about a dozen cloves, some star anise, peppercorns, and maybe whole cinnamon or allspice or whatever else you like, in a tea ball (except the cinnamon if it doesn't fit, obvs)

good dollop of honey, to taste

Bring the water to a boil then dump in all the stuff. Keep it hot but not boiling – a slow cooker is good for this. Keep this pot on a low heat all day and serve yourself a mug every so often, adding water as necessary. At some point you will need to add a new lemon and some more honey, but the spices can generally carry over two pots if you're drinking it regularly.

The acid helps clear the gunk, ginger is good for the circulation, and clove/aniseed/pepper have some sort of decongestant/soothing properties. Honey is both nice and antiseptic, and apparently is a cough suppressant as well? Anyway, I just got over another run of Covid and this was wasn't 100% effective but it worked better than phenylephrine.

last minute orgo studying before my exam; i did a study guide of every single topic covering the most important reactions and their mechanisms; ಥ_ಥ  it was worth it! 

How to Finish

I drew this poster for Jon Acuff and his FINISH book tour. Big thanks to Jon for this collaboration, his book has some great ideas about how to complete creative and life goals.

I would like to add a category to the academia aesthetics called Realistic Acedamia and it's where you show up to class everyday in jeans+hoodie with dirt cheap coffee and reduce Serious Conversations About the Nature of the Universe to memes.

Also includes messy handwriting, a collection of ugly free pens you got from library events, and complaining incessantly about your chosen area of study

told my project partner all she had to do was write the sql script following the logical schema i drew so carefully

this is what she came up with 🤦‍♀️:

where are the foreign keys, where are the semicolons, and why the hell are there STRINGs in an sql script

do i yeet her out of the window or do i yeet myself out of the window