P got to play..at least a little

It has been 6 months since I last posted here!! I often feel like writing but can't think of anything that does not sound like cribbing and whining. So today I am going to look back on my last post and see what are things I got done on my to-do and want-to-do list to make myself happy :)

I need to:

- Round up all lab work meaningfully.

Nope, not done. Seeing some meaning finally and some hope that I will get done in next 6 months, but definitely nowhere near done yet.

- Publish, publish, publish.

Not really done. Submitted two highly over-due papers. The main ones still need to be written up.

- Start applying for jobs.

Applied to 3 jobs. Got rejection from 1 already. Waiting to hear from the remaining 2. It is just so hard to even find a job one wants to apply when one has very specific ideas of the 'the job' but an average CV and a geographical restriction. Totally frustrating!

- Prepare application package which includes

- updating CV

- coming up with a research proposal

- coming up with course ideas for teaching jobs

- writing up my teaching philosophy

- and maybe thinking of finding some funding options for future too

Done except for the funding part. The job application deadlines forced me to finish this, but the quality of the final product is very questionable. So definitely need to improve all the above for future job applications.

- Prepare for the interview process.

Will do when anyone calls me for one :)

Until now it all sounds so morose :( Next ones should be better.

And all I want to do is:

- Go to India and visit my friends and family.

Yes, did this one!! :D :D It was a really short-trip and it was split in two because now I have to spend time with in-laws too. Still managed to meet almost all family and friends in my hometown and had a great time at in-laws place too :) Maybe short and simple trips to home are the way to go :)

- Go on a long vacation somewhere nice.

No long vacation other than the India trip, but got to see little bit of HongKong on our way back...thanks to a 14 hours long layover, easy immigration protocols in HK, and an over-enthusiastic labmate from HK to give confidence and info. Of course lazy J was against the idea at first as usual, but when I told him that it can count as my anniversary gift, he agreed, and at the end of the day, he actually admitted that he enjoyed the outing very much :)

Since the date of my last post, we actually went on another weekend trip to a nice sea-side place not too far from where we live. It was my birthday gift :)

- Do something fun.

I guess all the trips mentioned above covers this one too. A few specific fun moments:

- The long hikes on my birthday trip was most fun.

- Shopping for India trip was fun. Buying gifts for others is so much more fun than personal shopping!

- Going out for Kolkata sight-seeing, dinner and shopping with J and my parents together for the first time was special.

- Taking J and almost my entire extended family for lunch together was interestingly fun.

- Spending second anniversary with J and his whole family on a house-boat in Kerala was marvelous.

- Spending New Year's eve watching Malayalam and some heavily-accented hindi song and dance performances in a small-town Kerala beach resort was hilarious.

- The never-ending cable car ride to some faraway mountain with gorgeous views all around at HK was breath-taking.

- Read lots of non-work stuff.

Not lots off, but read quite a few books in last 2 months as I came back from India with a new stock of Indian-author books :)

Additional achievement..

Learnt how to make some yummy Kerala food from Mrs. M, and somewhat successfully re-created some of them after returning to US. This made her crazy happy and she praised me so much that my sis-in-law got little jealous and started cooking even more than she normally does..he he. When people have very little expectations from you, they get extra happy with your little efforts and achievements :)

OK now I feel much better. Time to go back to work now....