Life Update

[ermingarden]

It's official: Job interviews are some of my least favorite things in the entire world. I'm trying to find a summer internship, and it's so stressful.

At least there are a bunch of great fannish things happening right now:

(1) The ever-amazing independence1776 started a Jedi-focused DW comm, elphrona_outpost. I am so excited!!! Time to finish up that meta I've been thinking about….

(2) maythe4thbewithyou nominations are open, which is nuts - hard to believe it's been a year already! I'm really looking forward to this year's exchange.

(3) rthstewart's Three Sentence Ficathon is running: Part 1, Part 2. I've posted one fill so far, for the prompt "mistaking the cosplayer for the real thing," and I'm working on a couple more right now.

Finally: Lent started on Wednesday, and even though my relationship with Catholicism (and Christianity generally) is...complicated, I decided to do a Lenten penance. I'm giving up Facebook, Instagram, and - the only one relevant to people here - Tumblr, and trying to focus my energy on offline life and on places like DW where I'm actively creating and engaging with other people rather than endlessly scrolling. So I won't be reachable via Tumblr until Easter.

ETA: Not five minutes after I posted this, I got an email from a professor I interviewed with yesterday for a part-time summer research assistantship - she's hiring me! Her research is on corporate crime and enforcement, and I hope to work in white-collar prosecution after graduation, so it's perfect! And I already know her because I'm in her reading group, so I'm confident she'll be a good boss. I do still need to get an internship, but this is great news.

Comments

[ysilme]

Congrats on the assistantship, and crossed fingers for the internship search! *\O/* I totally hear you on doing job interviews... *hugs*
I've found that at times, it really helps to vent somewhere semipublic like here on DW, and the dreaded thing starts to work/is happening after all. *g*

Good luck also with your lent project, I hope it'll bring you the desired effect! Doing media fasting is a very sensible thing IMHO. I'm doing this on and off depening on my personal needs since I realised that I have more or less severe sensory overload issues, and had to accept that certain things I can't even do for that reason (like tumblr or discord, much as I regret it for I'm missing out so much in fandom). Kudos also for the plan to rather return to the spaces where it's about interaction and creativity and less about consuming.
I'm doing lent, too, food-related. I'm protestant and although we don't have that tradition, it's become common enough in our parts to use the time of lent to forego with some typical stimulans you're otherwise having regularly, mostly alcohol, chocolate, or any sugar/sweets. I drink so little alcohol that it doesn't really signify but forego of it anyway, then also any kind of meat/fish (since I stopped being vegetarian three years ago), but mainly sugar though not completely (I know myself well enough, and due to my intolerance and allergy restrictions, my diet is already rather restricted in normal times). But no store-bought sweets or cakes, no added sugar, no chocolate, and only the barest minimum of what I'm still allowing myself (dried fruit and fruit(plant)joghurts, and only in case of extreme cravings something home-baked with as little sugar as possible, to avoid any uncontrolled binge-eating *ahem*. (I normally don't drink soft drinks so that's not an issue). I've done that twice by now and found that I also change habits, become more self-aware, and manage also to increase other things I want to change and do for myself, so it's a quite welcome time.

[ermingarden]

Thank you!!

Yes, I've done social media fasting in previous years and it's been a rewarding experience. I've given up sweets before as well and I've also felt that increased self-awareness you're describing. I considered doing sweets as well this year, but I decided to keep a singular focus.

[independence1776]

Good luck with the internship search! Congrats on the job!!!

I can't do Maythe4th this year due to timing, but I probably am going to do genfreeformexchange instead because it's right up my alley and the timing being a week earlier makes it juuust manageable. (I don't know where I'm going for my internship yet or how much time I have between the end of the semester and when it starts… and my semester ends April 30.)

I hope the penace works out for you. (Okay, that's a terrible way to say that. I hope you get the gist of what I meant.)

[ermingarden]

Thank you!! (Good luck with your internship, too!)

Oooh, that exchange looks super cool!

Yes, I get what you mean - thank you!

[stellar_dust]

Oh, congratulations on the assistantship! That sounds like a fantastic opportunity.

[ermingarden]

Thank you! Yes, I'm super excited :)

[chestnut_pod]

Mazel tov on the RAship!

[ermingarden]

Thank you!

[hhimring]

Good luck with the internship and congratulations on the assistantship!

[ermingarden]

Thank you!!

[shirebound]

Congratulations!!

places like DW where I'm actively creating and engaging with other people rather than endlessly scrolling.

I like that. :)

[ermingarden]

Thank you <3