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comment by Devac
Devac  ·  806 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: February 2, 2022

I spent the last week in a kind of mental stupor, with background stress slowly going off my mind. Booster got me ten times more sick than the previous two doses combined, but at least it'll last a while.

From time to time, I get hit by the amount of time that past, but it's so rare I end up shocked by it.

This was two-and-a-third years ago. I'm on the way out and my niece is developing so ludicrously fast it's straight up saddening how much I missed and will miss. Despite everything wrong between us, I even miss my father. Every day before and since felt so dense with events and information, but when it's the norm, it's all too easy to lose track of those tiny changes, especially while everything tries to be in the spotlight. Nothing observant, sure, but I rarely slow down while remaining lucid enough to notice or reassess.

Take care.





am_Unition  ·  806 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I'm on the way out

Do you mean on the way out of your PhD program, or are you fucking dying?????

Devac  ·  806 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Wow, I guess the best way to really learn euphemisms is to commit them blindly and unwaveringly. The former, my thesis was accepted for the committee review last week.

am_Unition  ·  806 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm literally breathing a massive sigh of relief.

You are absolutely allowed to graduate.

You are absolutely NOT allowed to die.

Congratulations :)!! Any post-doc plans yet?

Devac  ·  806 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks. And I need to die some day, otherwise I'll be stranded in the infinite with morose sods like Dr Manhattan.

    Any post-doc plans yet?

Well, neither China nor USA, so not much beyond 'abroad'. Quite a few places doing condensed matter also branch into topological physics, and there's hardly a place that doesn't do something with some variant of DFTs, but didn't do much about it yet.

Frankly, it's FAR too early to talk about it beyond habitually-bitter, cynical grumbling. Assuming no administrative inertia (come on) and reviewers not taking their sweet-ass time, I might be able to defend around April. August is realistic. October-December is absolutely possible (or at least I think so). Not exactly good layout for planning.