I don't know how many times I've started a blog post with some variation of: I'm tired, I'm wiped, I'm burned out, etc. That just seems to be my perpetual state right now. The good news is that I'm being very productive and solving my own problems (yay! I'm competent in troubleshooting-- I'm not sure how valuable a skill that is, though). However, I'm having a harder time focusing on my own project.
Let me explain. So: Labmate is going to propose her dissertation research plan/take her qualifying exam this fall. The prep has started now, meaning that she has started writing up her plan and discussing it with Advisor and, sometimes, me. I'm finding that after working on these particular projects for the past (gulp) three years, I'm way more interested in Labmate's proposed projects. (It couldn't be that I'm frustrated/bored with my own now. I'm sure that's not the case at all. /end sarcasm) Not only that, but I've got all these ideas of where they could go. The other day I pitched one to Advisor, who told me that it was way too much for Labmate to do. I told him that I could possibly work on it as a side project. He looked at me like I was nuts. Then he, kindly, reminded me that I had two major ongoing projects, one side project already, and he'd like to see me graduated before I ran out of funding. Basically, I need to focus on my project.
I know that I need to focus and I know that I need to get out of here before I'm out of funding, but-but Why does Labmate get to do all the interesting stuff, while I'm stuck here with the same old stinking projects? /end rather silly whiningLabels: Grad School, whining