| 100 in 1000 |
- Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
- Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
Hold a conversation in Czech (only)- Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
PilsnerStaroprammen- Budvar
- Velke Popovice
- U Fleku
GambrinusKrusovice
Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are
also acceptable)Travel across the AtlanticReturn to South America- Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
- Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
Have my nose pierced- Have my next tattoo drawn
Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)- Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
- Bake Viv's cheesecake
Make David's casserole Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut StirfryInvite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner- Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
- Attend a book group for at least two books
- Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
- Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
- Take an architecture appreciation course
Join an all-girl group and sing a soloPublish in a scientific journal (top two authors)Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary PractiseHave a pedicureMaintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser- Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
- Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
- Don't eat out for one month
Find a flat and flatmate- Purchase one Joseph sweater
- Purchase one of the following pairs of
designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4
different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks,
Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
- Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
- Go hanggliding
- Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
Moll FlandersEverything is illuminatedMadam BovaryZen & the Art of Motorcycle MaintainanceCatch-22OdysseusOn the Road
- Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
- Send Christmas Cards on time
Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wallBuy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in itGo to AfricaHost an 'event' (classified as and when)Organise a 30th Birthday PartyWear a costume- Sing on stage
- Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar- Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
Win something- Draft a will
- Take a roadtrip
Go to Italy already- Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
Get plantsTake a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.- Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
- Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
Go to a dentist. *sigh*- Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
- Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
- Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
- Marvel over lack of tiredness
- Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
Bet on the nags- Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
- Walk along the Champs Elysee
- Do 100 sit ups in a row
- Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
- Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
- Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
Find a mentorBe a mentorLearn what mentoring is all aboutMeet an online person in real lifeResist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)- Send a care package to someone
Get a Tata Bojs CD- Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND
LIKE AN IDIOT!
- Order new contact lenses.
Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions- Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
Back up the blogPut everything onto an external hard drive- Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
- Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
- Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
- Join the Municipal Library of Prague
- Move to another country
Go to a live concert of a band I actually like- Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).- Get an agent (literary or theatre)
- Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
- Ride a rollercoaster
- Hold a snake
Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!) |
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| Dilettante |
| Thursday, 1 February 2007 |
 Someone called me a dilettante today.
I totally understand WHY they called me that, because I expressed an interest in ‘not settling down in one topic’.
You see, when you do a PhD, you put blinkers on (as well as strapping yourself to a bed of nails upon which you lie each night, further burdening your load with a concrete slab of ‘guilt’ tethered to your chest) and narrow your field of vision down to one particular thing. In my case, it was the epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni in commercial broiler flocks in New Zealand.
Pretty specific, no?
Then I spent two years working on the surveillance of outbreaks. Not outbreaks themselves, you’ll note, but looking at how many there were, where they were etc. I also did some work on genotyping strains of TB. Not DOING the genotyping, just talking about how it will be a good idea in a few years time, if you’ll please continue to fund the project. Still, it was all reasonably specialised, as well as “not really what I wanted to do”.
When they interviewed us for EPIET, one of the main questions they asked was, “what area do you want to work in?”. You can pick between things like, “gastrointestinal diseases”, “respiratory infections”, “sexually-transmitted infections”, “nosocomial infections”, “zoonoses”, “vector-borne diseases”, “vaccine-preventable diseases” etc.. You can even get even more specific if you so deside: TB, FLU, HIV. Those diseases often get their own special departments.
But what if you are vehemently against specialising? What if you think you’re not much good at specialising (because you get bored too quickly, too easily) and are better placed in a position which coordinates, which has to know a little bit about each of those family of diseases, and see over-arching common goals etc. That way the knowledge that person has can possibly be applied to new situations as they arise, and can see things from a fresh perspective, or can see where efficiencies can be made due to undertaking similar tasks across all programs (you follow?).
So what I really really really want (apart from zigga zigga ahh) is a job that allows me to do that. Is that a crime!? I came into epidemiology with the understanding that my attention span is short (almost to the point of ridiculous) but that I love learning new stuff, and preferably under pressure. The idea was that this field would provide a variety of disease problems/issues/situations and I would constantly have to learn how to deal with them, because they wouldn’t be like each other.
When it appears that, in reality, people don’t want some bloody ‘jack-of-all-trades’ dilettante with a bit of veterinary science background, some food science background, a dangerous amount of knowledge in laboratory techniques, a PhD and an EPIET diploma (not to mention a smart mouth) merely dabbling in their precious disease fields.
So what do I do? Who wants what I’ve got to give?
And who EVER thought that my work situation would so acutely reflect my personal life?Labels: Navel Gazing, Rant |
posted by Nomes @ Thursday, February 01, 2007   |
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