there are times when i miss grad school. i don't really miss the paper-writing and the late-night stress, but i do miss getting to know a great group of people with shared interests and life goals. and i miss the learning. i've been out for four years, and while the professional learning certainly hasn't stopped, that curiosity about how the world works isn't being satisfied as regularly as it used to be. also, i miss math. so i put it on my list to make sure i went to an academic lecture of some sort (#9), and it turns out that my most recent job gave me that opportunity.
i'm working on a campaign to pass a city ordinance that would require all employers in seattle to provide their workers with paid sick days. a couple weeks after i was hired, it just so happened that a visiting professor was giving a talk at the university of washington on whether providing paid sick days increases worker retention. so i volunteered to go along with a coworker in the hopes of a) gettin' my learn on and b) pitching our campaign to the people in the audience.
turns out not a ton of either happened. the talk was focused solely on the researcher's methods, and she was essentially crowd-sourcing her paper (a draft) for things she may have missed and suggestions on how to strengthen her analysis. it was stuffy as hell. and while the topic seemed relevant enough, everyone was content just to nitpick the methods and nobody was interested in whether paid sick leave is a good policy decision. i left the lecture reminded of why i decided not to pursue a phd -- i really believe that for all the interesting and potentially good work being done in academia, the people doing that research live on their own islands of isolation where not much is transmitted to the real world in any meaningful way. after the professor was done, we tried to hand out flyers and talk to people about how to bring paid sick days to seattle (c'mon!) but no one was interested.
i completed another goal this week with the help of kyle's mom, who knows a thing or two about gardening (#62). she was in town for a week, and we got to chatting about my list and the things i still have to get done, and she was really excited about teaching me how to plant. and so was kyle, since the project would take place at his home. i live on the third floor with no patio or outdoor space to speak of. kyle has a big west-facing lot with another small patch of sideyard that was in desperate need of landscaping. so we borrowed some tools from a friend, kyle's mom made a run to get the seeds, soil and pots, and we got down to it.
i was trying to illustrate that the bag of soil was near human-sized, but it was so bright out we couldn't see what we were taking pictures of. missed opportunity.
in a couple hours we had planted tomatoes, lettuce, bell peppers, zucchini, basil and cilantro. there are future plans for peas and beans in the sidelot, which we started to landscape and will revisit at a later time.
finally, i've come up with a replacement for #4, which was previously "go to church four sundays in a row." i just can't get back to the place i must've been in when i wrote that, because this is no longer important enough to me to sacrifice consecutive sunday mornings. so here's the new plan.
i've bounced the idea of a tattoo around in my head since i was in high school, but no single image ever stuck with me for more than a few months at a time. lately, though, i've been thinking about it again, and thinking about dr seuss. his books played a major role in my upbringing - i vaguely remembered my parents reading them to me when i was super duper little. those are actually my earliest memories, though foggy they are.
about a year and a half ago when i started this list, i ordered all the dr seuss books i could find in an attempt to reconnect with the young me. when they arrived i sat down and read through them for an evening, which turned out to be one of the most moving experiences i've ever had. a whole host of emotions came pouring out of me -- bad ones, good ones, red ones, blue ones. it was like i had accessed my oldest memories, memories i never knew i've always had. since then i've been exploring more of theodor geisel's (dr seuss's) work, and it's inspired me to strive for a better understanding of what life for little liz was like.
as my good friend emy said, "if you're able to link an achievement in your adult life to something meaningful from your childhood, that's the primer for a proper tattoo." i agree with her. so, i'm changing goal #4 to one that i think will have much more meaning for me. when i reach day 1001, i'll get a tattoo to commemorate it, and it'll likely be seuss-related.
i'm working on a campaign to pass a city ordinance that would require all employers in seattle to provide their workers with paid sick days. a couple weeks after i was hired, it just so happened that a visiting professor was giving a talk at the university of washington on whether providing paid sick days increases worker retention. so i volunteered to go along with a coworker in the hopes of a) gettin' my learn on and b) pitching our campaign to the people in the audience.
turns out not a ton of either happened. the talk was focused solely on the researcher's methods, and she was essentially crowd-sourcing her paper (a draft) for things she may have missed and suggestions on how to strengthen her analysis. it was stuffy as hell. and while the topic seemed relevant enough, everyone was content just to nitpick the methods and nobody was interested in whether paid sick leave is a good policy decision. i left the lecture reminded of why i decided not to pursue a phd -- i really believe that for all the interesting and potentially good work being done in academia, the people doing that research live on their own islands of isolation where not much is transmitted to the real world in any meaningful way. after the professor was done, we tried to hand out flyers and talk to people about how to bring paid sick days to seattle (c'mon!) but no one was interested.
__________
i completed another goal this week with the help of kyle's mom, who knows a thing or two about gardening (#62). she was in town for a week, and we got to chatting about my list and the things i still have to get done, and she was really excited about teaching me how to plant. and so was kyle, since the project would take place at his home. i live on the third floor with no patio or outdoor space to speak of. kyle has a big west-facing lot with another small patch of sideyard that was in desperate need of landscaping. so we borrowed some tools from a friend, kyle's mom made a run to get the seeds, soil and pots, and we got down to it.
i was trying to illustrate that the bag of soil was near human-sized, but it was so bright out we couldn't see what we were taking pictures of. missed opportunity.
i can't tell what i'm doing. soil-sprinkling?
in a couple hours we had planted tomatoes, lettuce, bell peppers, zucchini, basil and cilantro. there are future plans for peas and beans in the sidelot, which we started to landscape and will revisit at a later time.
__________
finally, i've come up with a replacement for #4, which was previously "go to church four sundays in a row." i just can't get back to the place i must've been in when i wrote that, because this is no longer important enough to me to sacrifice consecutive sunday mornings. so here's the new plan.
i've bounced the idea of a tattoo around in my head since i was in high school, but no single image ever stuck with me for more than a few months at a time. lately, though, i've been thinking about it again, and thinking about dr seuss. his books played a major role in my upbringing - i vaguely remembered my parents reading them to me when i was super duper little. those are actually my earliest memories, though foggy they are.
about a year and a half ago when i started this list, i ordered all the dr seuss books i could find in an attempt to reconnect with the young me. when they arrived i sat down and read through them for an evening, which turned out to be one of the most moving experiences i've ever had. a whole host of emotions came pouring out of me -- bad ones, good ones, red ones, blue ones. it was like i had accessed my oldest memories, memories i never knew i've always had. since then i've been exploring more of theodor geisel's (dr seuss's) work, and it's inspired me to strive for a better understanding of what life for little liz was like.
as my good friend emy said, "if you're able to link an achievement in your adult life to something meaningful from your childhood, that's the primer for a proper tattoo." i agree with her. so, i'm changing goal #4 to one that i think will have much more meaning for me. when i reach day 1001, i'll get a tattoo to commemorate it, and it'll likely be seuss-related.
__________
