My Mind

As I sit at school “reading” about “Temporal discretisation errors in non-iterative split-operator approaches to solving chemical reaction/groundwater transport models”, I can’t help but have my mind wander to more interesting avenues of thought.

Part of my mind is occupied by The Environmentalist that is concerned with the arctic drilling, increased world oil consumption, climate change, and the ever increasing array of toxic and eco-toxic contaminants.

Part of my mind is occupied by The 20-Something Single Girl that is concerned with finding the perfect swimsuit, the perfect pair of shoes, and of course, the perfect guy. The Swim suit – 2 piece, halter style top with v-neck top and wide band around the rib-cage to hide my freakishly long body, plain old bikini bottoms that aren’t too low, and have enough material to cover my more self conscious parts. The Shoes – cute, comfy, flats (not thongs, they hurt my feet!) that go with my summer skirt collection. I must finally admit that, no, Teva’s are not appropriate foot attire while wearing a cute summer skirts. The Guy – I could go with the classic cliché of “tall, dark and handsome” but the truth is the only one of those is important to my 5’9” self. Yep, you guessed it, the handsome part :). Seriously, the perfect guy for me – someone who is laid back and can bring me back a notch or two when I get worked up (quite frequently as most of you know), someone who is outdoorsy and adventurous that would be willing to at least try what I’m into doing, someone who is active – not just in the summer, but year round, someone who is kind and caring and knows how to treat a girl right.

The last part of my mind is occupied by The Worrier that is concerned about how she is going to fit everything in during the next day, week, month, and year. Yes, I am already worried about what is happening in a year from now. Today I need to go to the gym, go for a run, get to M&Ms to pick up chicken, get gas, get cat food, and prepare myself for not having a car for the next month. Next week I have my final exam in the class I’m TA-ing, an extra help tutorial, assignments and exams to mark, and field work of another graduate student to help with. Next month I have to get my visa, get my prescriptions filled, be a great best friend and maid of honour, and get myself ready for my vacation – I know, this isn’t supposed to be stressful, but I tend to do things a little different than everyone else. Next year I have to finish my thesis. This time next summer, I’ll be submitting my master’s thesis and preparing for my seminar, thinking of that alone is stressful considering all the work I have left to do.

I think I’m starting to get a little ahead of myself here, so it is the nose back to the grindstone and back to life as a grad student trying not to freak out about my thesis and reading about discretisation errors, operator splitting, and the advection dispersion and reaction equation.