The first post

My phd advisor told me once that we scientists should spend some quality time writing every day. That is, we should find time to practice putting our thoughts into coherent sentences beyond the fragments that come to us only in our own heads.

At the time I didn't really understand why. I usually didn't have much on my mind worth writing down. Or so I thought. In reality, I had too much on my mind that finding the clarity to pick any single thing to write down was the hurdle. So with a few sporadic attempts I mostly failed and have not written, for the sake of writing, every day.

I hope to change this, starting now.

I think things have come to a head. I wish I had one of those penseives they have in the Harry Potter universe. Then I could put my thoughts in safe place outside of my head and not worry about never finding them again.

I want to put some thoughts down here so that I can avoid the hours I spend laying awake in bed at night thinking about things. Maybe then I'll wake up when the alarm goes off, instead of an hour later.

I am in the first year of my first postdoc. At an arguably fantastic school, in a top notch lab. My advisor is well respected, and a terrific person to boot. However, this advisor (who shall be henceforth referred to as PA - postdoc advisor) is often away at meetings, or otherwise terribly busy, and I rarely even have interactions with them. I sometimes wonder if I will have made enough of an impression on PA when it comes time to ask for a reference letter.

I have been thinking about the next step in my career. I was told that hiring season for faculty posistions begins roughly in August. I don't think I'll have a strong enough application this year (as I said, I'm still in my first postdoc year) to be really competitive, though I am pretty good on paper. But the main reason I've been thinking so much about this is because my husband and I might want to have a baby. We are not actively trying just yet, and I'm not even sure if I ever want to for sure. But the thought of being 8 months pregnant and having to schedule interviews for faculty positions is enough to scare me into trying to plan for better timing if we do end up getting pregnant.

Sigh.