Synthesis

So Wednesdays (or early Thursdays, depending on how the week has gone, I guess) are when I send off my weekly progress reports to my advisor. I’ve been doing a lot of background reading the past couple of weeks, and it’s really interesting stuff – my problem this week is that I’ve just been having trouble chewing through what I’ve read to put it into some kind of perspective in terms of my problem. Of course, the problem I’m working on is still fuzzy around the edges anyway, but I just feel like my brain needs to ferment a little to get some of the ideas in place. This always takes some time, and the reading is a lot to fit into one’s head all at once, but I’m determined to have something to show for the week, even if it means staying up super late tonight to write it.

(Note that it is now super-late Wednesday – er, Thursday now, I guess, so this is now officially frustrating. Time to put on the coffee!! This was much easier at 19 than in my mid-30s, you know…)

I’ll be back at Purdue for a couple of days in two weeks, and discussions there should help pull things together a little more sanely, but right now, the process feels a little bit like the way my husband cooks – me, I usually use a cookbook when cooking something new. Christian will just pull stuff out and start dumping it into the pot until it’s right. (And, I might add, it’s usually delicious!)

I need to learn to let go and do more of the latter…