happy post

Phd: week 2. Brilliant! Now I see how it's supposed to be, a job should involve thinking and learning and freedom to explore. This is why I've never been interested in any before, this is what was lacking.

OK, so it's not a job job... I still count as a student. But it involves the 9-5, it involves projects and aims and various groups of people (unlike, say, most undergrad stuff), and I get paid. That's a job, it just happens to be one that gives back a lot too. And besides, the post-grad I'm working with – for whom it is a proper job – does much the same work: he just has more experience, and a salary rather than a bursary.

The thing that is surprising me most is the energy I've suddenly developed. I seem to have found a capacity to think about stuff all day then come home and do stuff. No collapsing in front of the TV, all will to life sucked out for another day. NO! It feels so good!

Yeah, it's probably partly because it's summer and it's novel (summer and the phd), but if it carries on even half as enjoyable as this then I will be very pleased. And at least when there are dull parts or deadlines I know that there's a purpose to them, not just endless, grinding, repetition.