First off.

There's this thing that has been bothering me for a little while now. I catch myself thinking about it at odd times and noticing it around me wherever I go. It distracts me from my work and my everyday life. I know I need to deal with it, but I'm not quite sure how to go about doing that.

If there's anything I've learned in my past 7 years of postsecondary education it's that when something is bothering you this much you need to do something about it. This bother is what makes the scientific community tick. We notice something and it gets to us, we feel angry about a situation, confused or frustrated because we don't know, so we learn all we can and we ask questions. We ask clear, consise, well-thoughtout questions. Then we take these questions and develop hypotheses and predictions to study. And so it goes.

This thing that I'm thinking about is too big right now for me to put it down in one post. I think I'm going to need a few good, long ramblings just to sort this all out. I know it has to do with communication, disconnect between the scientific community and the general public, the division of arts and science, being pigeon-holed as a scientist when there is really so much more that I do. I suppose I'm struggling to define my own identity right now. I'm at this funny-feeling changing-over graduating and looking for the next big project while I try to satisfy my craving for adventure place. I've spent the past year trying to live in the moment and manage my anxiety, but it's tough to enjoy my current situation while I deal with all of these new ones.

So, lately I've been looking for some way to focus all of this chaotic energy. I've been trying to find myself a personal challenge or project. A lot of people on the internet seem to enjoy documenting some aspect of their daily life with pictures and blog entries. I think I want to do this too. I've made three previous attempts to join the blogosphere. All regarding topics I thoroughly enjoy, but I haven't been able to commit. I'm not making any promises about the content here, but I am going to attempt to stick with it for awhile. Maybe I should think about giving myself a more well-defined goal in that respect. I'll think about it for awhile.

Just had to get that out there,
Cass