Anecdote Monday: Doctor

"Doctor, why is it that when I speak to God it's a prayer, and when God speaks to me it's schizophrenia?"

How did they know?

First, I would like to say that I look nothing like the uber-geeky dude in the picture. Really! If you met me for the first time in real life, you would never ever guess think that I am a geek. I promise!

Second, it is a little creepy that my first impulse after pasting my results into blogger was to get into the html and remove all the unnecessary things I don't want to muddy up my blog (ok, and I wasn't able to stop myself either).

Thirdly, I do not think of myself as socially inept. But that may be skewed by the base reference of geeks all around me (whose geekyness is becoming less apparent to me every day), and the fact that most of my friends live in my computer. Sheesh, maybe I am a geek?

Oh, and I blame the neuroticism on grad school (or am I confusing the cause and the effect?)!

Your Score: The Geek

You scored 30 anxiety, 51 awkwardness, and 56 neuroticism!

You stick out like a sore thumb, with your social awkwardness and mildly neurotic behaviors--but you don't let it get you down! You are The Geek, and are here to prove that people who know the first 1000 digits of pi and try to woo dates by talking about calculators can be happy too! You have friends...and they are probably just as odd as you.

Your low anxiety score implies that you are able to relax, can enjoy the here and now, and have a healthy amount of self-confidence.

Your high awkwardness score implies that you are socially inept, probably stick out from the crowd, and perhaps feel uncomfortable in large groups of people, such as at parties.

Your high neuroticism score implies that you exhibit neurotic behaviors--probably fanatic obsessions, counting compulsions, or other geekish tendencies. You may know every word to LOTR, or draw anime of all your friends.

The Neurotic Test

Upset

After a spurt of productivity early in the week, I am down. I learned a few things that are really pissing me off (unfortunately, I can't blog about them); while the incidents are new, they are all a part of the bigger picture of the lab I am working in. I can't change them, so call me passive-aggressive, but I am trying to go on at work as if everything is normal, and take my rage out at the gym and complain only to Hubby (I feel bad for throwing this at him, but he's such an important support to me now and always). I really can't wait to be out of here.

Anecdote Monday: Pravda and Novosti

Background:
The word "pravda" means "the truth." "Pravda" is also the name of the official Soviet newspaper, with the version of the news approved by Kremlin; it was a must-have newspaper for every newsstand. The word "novosti" means "the news." "Novosti" is also the name of the prime-time news show everyone would watch.

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A man goes up to a newsstand and asks, "Do you have any Pravda today?"
The newsman answers, "No, no pravda today."

--- or ---

No pravda in Novosti, and no novosti in Pravda.

Take it from the pros

A little while back, I had an opportunity to listen to a few women with careers in my field. Some were in academia, others in industry; all busy people with kids/families, two-body problems, etc. They took the time out of their busy schedules to share with us, students, so here are a few things that were the most memorable to me.

Find fulfillment, whether at work or not. Now, there is lots of talk about fulfillment. In fact, we are supposed to enjoy our work so much, that we should do it 60+ hours a week, with little pay, and in adverse conditions, right? It was refreshing to hear these accomplished folks be open about finding fulfillment in their families, and how being a whole person in fact made them better at their jobs.

Take care of yourself, physically and mentally. We all know people who brag about working so much they never make it to the gym, eat normal food, or take (gasp) a day off. These women were all adamant against such culture. It's what you get done, not how long you were in your office, any of them will tell you. And taking care of yourself is a must, else everything else will simply fall apart.

Find your own balance; it changes over time. When you know what you need, work on getting it. Things become trickier when you don't know what you need, but take the time to find the balance that is right for you. And don't be afraid to renegotiate when your balance needs to shift one way or another.