back up on the roller coaster

Little things are making me glad that for the week, or the start of it at the very least. My mentor here has looked over the new book abstract and likes it too and she made a few suggestions which tells me she read the document quite carefully. I do have to revise the abstract a little more and herein lies the difference between my mentor here whose research area is closer to mine and my 18th C person. I adore both women, btw.

In her email to me, my mentor here commented,"What a difference a year makes!" So, while I may not have published an article as another postdoc did, I can choose to be thankful for the progress I have made this year. The abstract will be the blueprint for what I hope to get done in the next year or so and it will help me to have input on the blueprint before I go on to read and write more extensively. I think my mentor here wants me to get it done within the year but I'll be amazed if I manage to finish 3/4 of the project by the end of next summer.

I know I'm always too hard on myself and I can sometimes be too sensitive about criticism but it is true that I have to do a lot of catching up, especially intellectually. (Criticism doesn't make me angry and I'm usually very thankful for any that I get, but it often affects me emotionally as well.) It has taken me so long to figure out how others write well and now, I have to figure out how to write well myself. This is my goal for the year and it's going to be incredibly difficult but if I do succeed in some measure, I'm going to be very, very happy.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the salad I made for lunch. I usually don't like lettuce-based salads and much prefer baby spinach but I had to use up the extra lettuce that didn't get used when I cooked for friends last weekend. Tossing shallots, pine nuts, and a boiled egg into the lettuce was really easy to do and it was yummy too. That's good news since there's more lettuce in the fridge.