Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Confession

It says over there on the right why I started this blog. Take a minute, check it out. It is true. I don’t want to be grumpy at work and I am far too young to morph into a bitter and angry professor. So, I took my first step into the blogosphere. That was 20 days ago. A creeping desire then entered my brain, the same insidious need I felt after submitting my first manuscript. Would the editors and reviewers like it? Would I be published? Cited? My little slice of brilliance recognized? With regards to blogging, it started innocently enough. I put on one of those little blog counter thingys (you can see it down there on the right). It seemed like a good idea. Satisfy my own curiosity, a little peak into the blog readership world. I checked it, and holy shit. I don’t know who you are (which is good because I would like to stay anonymous too) but there you are. Not a lot of you, but at least a few folks appear to be reading this. Then the academic need for perfection kicked in, the need to excel. I will assume you, mysterious readers, have the same tendencies. I doubt this blog would seem remotely interesting to you if you weren’t overachieving sorts in academia. We have this in common I think. But who knows really, you could be in any profession for all I know (sorry plow scientists). Anyway, I started checking that little counter thing and got a little obsessed. Is anyone reading? Can they relate? Think its funny? I cracked myself up writing the messy office post, anyone else? Ugh, the curse of an overachiever. It is not normal, not healthy. I will keep posting because I thoroughly enjoy a) ranting, and b) the opportunity to write in a non-technical “sciency” way— something I rarely get to do. So dear readers, thank you for clicking on me. I will continue to assault you with my posts, but I have decided not to click on that counter thing for awhile. I’ll go back to obsessively checking my email just in case I have been notified by the MacArthur Foundation that my Genius Grant is ready.

8 comments:

  1. Well, mediaeval academic here, cheerfully bemused by anything scientific, but the academia translates perfectly well cross-discipline. :)

    And yes, the office post amused me highly - as well as the two friends whom I poked to say DO NOT EVER HAVE AN OFFICE LIKE THIS.

    Though one of them confessed that, in fact, she already does.

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  2. Your "Reply All" post is brilliant. Perhaps I'm simply prejudiced because I too work at a college in which the "reply all" function is abused by one and all. Nonetheless, I like to think that I can judge good writing and humor when I see it.

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  3. I'm actually a student, albeit a very geeky one and an aspiring academic. Yes, I can relate. Yes, I think it's funny. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't keep reading.

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  4. Hi Everyone-
    Ceirsearch: I am jealous, I wish I could ask a few colleagues to read that messy office post...
    Laura: Thanks, you have many geeky peers here.
    Clio: Perhaps we should send our comments to every blog on the planet. Wait, did I just "apply all" to all of you? Damnit!

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  5. I can't even recall how I found your blog- but I enjoy reading it as a fellow blogger!

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  6. Hilarious!!!! I've enjoyed your blog so much that I've had you on my blogroll for a few weeks now.

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  7. LOVE your blog! Your posts are hilarious!

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  8. BTW, you could get even more obsessive if you had a stat counter on your site! I use http://www.statcounter.com/ It's free for the first 500 hits. Google also has one that's free. http://www.google.com/analytics/

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