Musings and Rants

When you've left grad school, and you read about the world you just left, you experience two things: alienation and PTSD. Right now, my life revolves around what my publication's stance on treated wood is, or whether we are properly using the serial comma. There's stress, sure, but nothing like the mind numbing, soul sucking stress of school. And I get thanked for thngs that I do on a pretty constant basis: a co-worker and I got a big report out the door and we got thanked with cookies and lemonade!

What's funny about reading the travails of friends still in school is that I still understand, I feel like I still get it, like I'm still part of the crowd. Then I realize that there was that tamale party that I knew nothing about, or that I haven't thought about my orals lists in months and I'm not sure I'll ever think about them again.

I guess what I'm saying, in my roundabout way, is that I both miss grad school and don't. My life now is really amazing in so many ways, particularly the fact that I get to come home every night feeling like I did a good job at doing a good thing. Plus I'm in love, I'm living in the middle of a paradise, and I'm starting to make friends. I do miss teaching, though. This makes me think I might teach a class sometime soon, or start tutoring in writing. Or perhaps I should write a book or an article to get back in touch with that deep intellectual work I was doing.

Hard tellin', not knowin'.