Big News!!!
Before we get into the topic for today I wanted to tell you all some amazing news!
After two years of rewriting, figuring making, editing, reading, re-reading, and re-rewriting I have finally gotten my very FIRST first-author publication accepted!!! It is the first chapter of my PhD thesis and it will be published in the Planetary and Space Sciences journal. I am currently waiting on a final copy to review before it becomes publicly available online. I will let you all know when it is ready :)
Hi everyone!
The title kind of gives you an idea that something in my life needs to be restructured. It is not a personal or health portion of my life, but rather a mix of academic and leisure. I have been wanting to add something to my daily routine that does not involve a workout or cooking/baking. Not that I do not love both of those activities, they started to become too routine...It also does not help that because of COVID-19 that a majority of baking supplies are hard to come by. I thought about getting back into scicomm and outreach, continuing to talk about planetary science with the public and continue to develop my science communication skills. However, I have hit a bit of a brick wall (figuratively...) and have struggled to find the best ways to get my name out there a set myself as a scicomm member to whom people will listen to. I tried Instagram for a couple of weeks but the platform has already a large number of scicomm leaders that it is difficult to stand out. Twitter has been useful for my professional profile, but for scicomm its impact has been weak. I have enjoyed using my blog as a place to talk about scicomm and planetary science research, but I felt like there was something else I could do.
Recently, I was suggested by Dr Parshati Patel about either starting my own Youtube Channel or providing scripts for current Youtubers. In the back of my mind two thoughts came up. One liked the idea very much and the thought of me running a Youtube channel where I talk about space was cool! The second thought, however, was less optimistic and went over the amount of time, effort and support the channel would require. I have no experience with video channels, I know from others who have their own say the time it takes to make videos can vary. From a couple of hours to a couple of weeks (depending on what you are trying to do). In terms of scripting, well, I have no idea what to think of it. I know it would entail me writing out topics for Youtubers to discuss on their channels. So right now, I am not sure what to think. Part of me would love to run a Youtube channel, but another part of me thinks how would it stand out against other channels? I will be thinking of potential ideas and discussing them with Dr Patel next Tuesday. Nothing is set in stone, so I may not even get to start my own channel, but I feel I should talk it over with someone before making a final decision.
The scicomm is the academic part of this topic, now for the leisure. I have been trying to add some non-academic or any type of work related activity into my life. For those who have not met me in person, I tend to get anxious when I sit around and do nothing. Even after 30 minutes I have to find something to do, whether it is sweep the floor, wash dishes, do a load of laundry, read a paper, complete a couple of lessons on Duolingo, bake cupcakes, have a 7-minute power workout, etc. I cannot not do something during the day. I wanted to use this weird anxiety of not being able to not do anything and put it towards something fun. I thought back to what I used to do before university. I used to make model airplanes and Warhammer models when I was a kid. I thought about getting NASA and ESA space mission models to build, but a majority of them are very expensive. Playing the piano was another hobby of mine, but getting access to one is impossible during this situation. I would get a keyboard but I currently have no room for one :/ I am teaching myself french and spanish, but I do not think of it as a leisure activity. More of a building of character moment during the day. It is moments like this that I miss having the hobby stores open. I would happy run down to one and browse the various options and see what catches my fancy. Right now, I have to rely on the internet and what is available on online stores.
I am also trying to continue building on my cooking and baking skills, but it has been difficult to get certain ingredients. I have my eye on a focaccia bread recipe for next time. My brother made it back at my home in Scotland so I am going to try and re-create it, but mine will have olives as well as cherry tomatoes.
I realize the topic for today was more personal than usual, but I wanted to get this off my chest and share it with you guys. Working on my research and publishing results is one thing that drives me out of bed everyday. All I wanted was a non-academic and non-personal activity to drive me out of bed every day.
See you all next time.
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