Hey, I Didn't Have To Pay For It
They say a writer writes. Always. Actually, when I say "they," I think I'm just quoting the movie Throw Momma from the Train. Anyway, as the onset of a new semester of work looms large, I'm concerned that I may suddenly become less creative. In recent days, writing on this blog has become a much more common activity for me. It's either that or watching a movie, reading, or what is most likely - wasting time on my computer doing other, pointless things.
So what will my topic be tonight? I have been thinking a lot lately about last spring's trip to an engineering conference out in San Diego. It would seem to be a logical choice, given that I spent a few days hanging out with Brian, whom I mentioned in the last post.
It was an engineering conference, meaning that I was automatically out of my element, despite being an engineering grad student. On the whole, engineering researchers are of a certain personality disposition - that is, they don't really have a personality to speak of. When a group of them meet together and you happen to be in the middle of it, take a deep breath and embrace your impending deep emotional torture.
One of the first things I noticed as I registered for the conference was that there were a lot of Asians there. I've noticed that many Asians tend to associate with each other, since they share a common background, and very possibly a common language. I don't hold any sort of negative view of foreigners at all, but it's slightly discouraging whenever you see a group of people speaking a language you don't understand. You are and shall forever be an outsider by design.
Anyway, I spent most of the conference pretending to be interested in the presentations that were being given. At this point in my career, at least, everything that I haven't studied in great detail is highly esoteric and foreign to me. Somebody could mention something like "non-destructive intermittent thermal waves" and I'd just go with it, assuming they know what they're talking about. I always hated thermodynamics, which is what it sounds like to me. All I can do is hope that their Powerpoint images are plentiful and colorful enough to convey the basic gist of what they're trying to say.
Is this the sad life I've chosen for myself? Working months to put together a fifteen-minute presentation that maybe three people in the room understand? Well, a glimmer of hope came in the form of my former research supervisor, who arrived the day before our presentation was to be given. He told me that he would present it. He then explained that this was not because of any sort of doubt of my presentation abilities, but because he hadn't put it together yet.
Whereas most researchers had been rehearsing their presentations since the conference began, this man had established himself as my hero by procrastinating until beyond the very end and pulling a true all-nighter to create something from nothing by the deadline of the following morning. I promptly was very grateful that I didn't have to give the presentation, and went out for dinner in the Gaslamp Quarter. The point is, though, that my old boss hadn't conformed to the boring habits of everyone else in the world of research.
I've always tried to balance my engineering experiences with other pursuits. I ended up minoring in philosophy so that I'd have plenty of what I called "sanity classes" - easy A's that had nothing to do with any class in my major. Hopefully, I'll be able to retain that relaxed attitude and personality of mine as I start to delve deeper into the world of academia. I will try my hardest not to let these conformers to the nerdy, pensive engineering paradigm corrupt me. It might not be that hard, though, because I can't understand them in the first place. I think they're speaking Asian.
So what will my topic be tonight? I have been thinking a lot lately about last spring's trip to an engineering conference out in San Diego. It would seem to be a logical choice, given that I spent a few days hanging out with Brian, whom I mentioned in the last post.
It was an engineering conference, meaning that I was automatically out of my element, despite being an engineering grad student. On the whole, engineering researchers are of a certain personality disposition - that is, they don't really have a personality to speak of. When a group of them meet together and you happen to be in the middle of it, take a deep breath and embrace your impending deep emotional torture.
One of the first things I noticed as I registered for the conference was that there were a lot of Asians there. I've noticed that many Asians tend to associate with each other, since they share a common background, and very possibly a common language. I don't hold any sort of negative view of foreigners at all, but it's slightly discouraging whenever you see a group of people speaking a language you don't understand. You are and shall forever be an outsider by design.
Anyway, I spent most of the conference pretending to be interested in the presentations that were being given. At this point in my career, at least, everything that I haven't studied in great detail is highly esoteric and foreign to me. Somebody could mention something like "non-destructive intermittent thermal waves" and I'd just go with it, assuming they know what they're talking about. I always hated thermodynamics, which is what it sounds like to me. All I can do is hope that their Powerpoint images are plentiful and colorful enough to convey the basic gist of what they're trying to say.
Is this the sad life I've chosen for myself? Working months to put together a fifteen-minute presentation that maybe three people in the room understand? Well, a glimmer of hope came in the form of my former research supervisor, who arrived the day before our presentation was to be given. He told me that he would present it. He then explained that this was not because of any sort of doubt of my presentation abilities, but because he hadn't put it together yet.
Whereas most researchers had been rehearsing their presentations since the conference began, this man had established himself as my hero by procrastinating until beyond the very end and pulling a true all-nighter to create something from nothing by the deadline of the following morning. I promptly was very grateful that I didn't have to give the presentation, and went out for dinner in the Gaslamp Quarter. The point is, though, that my old boss hadn't conformed to the boring habits of everyone else in the world of research.
I've always tried to balance my engineering experiences with other pursuits. I ended up minoring in philosophy so that I'd have plenty of what I called "sanity classes" - easy A's that had nothing to do with any class in my major. Hopefully, I'll be able to retain that relaxed attitude and personality of mine as I start to delve deeper into the world of academia. I will try my hardest not to let these conformers to the nerdy, pensive engineering paradigm corrupt me. It might not be that hard, though, because I can't understand them in the first place. I think they're speaking Asian.
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