An Attempt at Describing My Interests - Part 1

My notebook where I keep my notes about
how to really talk about what I'm
interested in.

I had a meeting last week with my advisor to discuss what I could do with my funding, and steps I need to take (turns out, there aren't really any formalities, I think at least). One thing we discussed in particular was that I might benefit from writing down or really describing what I am interested in. He suggested this because I tend to ping around with my ideas and although they are all related, I haven't really articulated what I am "interested in" because well, I'm interested in everything. My advisor is, well, a frank man, a reason I really like him. He doesn't usually pull any punches. So he asks me, as I'm flying high with my vast display of interests and ideas, "Are you planning on dying any time soon?" And I look at him with some peculiarity, and respond, "Well, I'M NOT planning on it, but someone or something else might be." This was actually his way of asking, "Why are you trying to do everything now?" Fortunately, I did understand this once we quickly untangled the translation between dying and doing everything. Basically, my research interests don't have to be my bucket list completed all before June.

Indeed, I would probably benefit from writing down really what I am interested in, and not continue to rely on the garble-gook of "faculty organizational change non-tenure socialization agency stratification." But first, I must think about this and make little notes in my notebook. And once I do that, I will begin to write and blog about my research interests for REALS so that I can find the papers that come out of that. When I left my advisor's office he said three things to me. Read, Relax, and Do Work. I'm in the reading stage right now. Then I'll relax for a moment or two, and then I'll do work on writing things down. Stay tuned.