December 26, 2021

"You know, I'm something of a scientist, myself"

Warning: this newsletter contains minor plot details for Spider-Man: No Way Home

The Last (two) Week(s)

Unfortunately, I forgot to write a newsletter entry two weeks ago. Not really a big deal, since all I was doing was research and not much else. The last week, I spent time going into the lab, and (you guessed it) working on my thesis, drinking coffee, and lazing about on the couches.

On Friday, I went to see the new Spider-Man movie. I’m not a fan of Tom Holland’s interpretation of Spider-Man, but the fact that Tobey Maguire was going to show up meant that I had to go. The early 2000s Spider-Man films basically send me on a nostalgia trip every time they’re mentioned; I guess I’ll begrudgingly admin that Marvel knows what they’re doing. I’d say the movie is just like any other superhero movie, but with the nostalgia turned up to 100. Some fan-favourite lines like “You know, I’m something of a scientist, myself” and “The power of the sun, in the palm of my hand” are shoehorned in.

That said, the moviegoing experience was basically ruined by the fact that there were just so many people in the theatre who appeared to have forgotten how to go to a movie theatre. The person next to me was taking flash photography (I don’t even know why), while the person directly in front must have been a very important person, since he checked his phone (on full brightness) multiple times throughout the film.

I’m not sure if movies were always like this, or if I’ve become more sensitive to people around me in a theatre, but it was pretty annoying. This is probably why I’ve stopped going to movies for the most part (that and the pandemic).

Looking forward to 2022

Around this time last year, I was newly moved into my current place and writing an “end of year” newsletter while sitting on a folding chair from IKEA.

I’m not much of a new year’s resolution person, but I enjoy looking back and taking stock of what happened over the course of a year. I don’t think I’ll write as detailed of a write-up as I did last year, but here’s a quick summary:

• Finished all my course requirements for my Masters.
• Went on an internship.
• Stopped TA’ing, started my new job as a TA Coordinator.
• Found a thesis topic, started working seriously on research.

All said and done, I think 2021 was a better year than 2020 on the basis that I didn’t start the year out in a hospital bed because my heart decided to just fuck around (and find out). Did I stop and smell the flowers a little bit more this year? I like to think I did.

I still think this is a bit counterintuitive, but I think my time in grad school has been a lot less stressful than my time in undergrad. I guess the lack of exams, the fact that I’m surrounded by people who I actually enjoy and share common interests with, and the fact that I’m pretty much to set my own schedule and research whatever I’m interested in plays a huge part. This isn’t to say I hated undergrad; I feel like I had less responsibilities back then, and I expected a bit less of myself back then, too.

So what’s on for 2022? I honestly have no idea. I’m planning to graduate sometime in the fall, so I think I’ll start thinking about how to live life without being a student. If my time working at internships have taught me anything, it’s that I need something to do most of the time, or else I’ll just be bored out of my mind.

Although I know myself well enough to know that I need to go out and work for a bit, I still regret not applying for any PhD programs. I think if it came down to it, I still would have chosen to go work for a bit (student loans don’t magically pay themselves off). That said, it would have been nice to have a forcing function to make myself really think about what I want. I think I’ll work for 5 years in industry, and see if I still want to do a PhD by then. A lot can happen in 5 years, and I think I’ll be at the age where I’ll sort of know what I want to get out of life ¹.

To anyone reading this, I hope you’ve had a good year – see you in 2022.