Gutsy

I delight in people who - by some action or phrase - make me blink in surprise that someone was brave enough to say something that's true and important, but perhaps a bit uncomfortable. Given that I may be a bit too free in what I write and say, it seems I'd start being a bit more sensible about this habit.

The saving grace is that when I've become most vulnerable and honest, I've received the most lovely responses. People seem to stop and read more carefully. They write comments and emails that are both comforting and informative and often reveal some rarely-divulged experiences of their own. So I think the posts that are a bit hard to write are often the most rewarding. Given that I've been rather superficial and boring of late as I buy and sell houses, settle in to a busy schedule in industry and sleep, I have noticed a few posts of late that I thought were surprising and important.

Friend wrote the first, discussing academic suicides. It seems to me like Former Institution has seen more than its share of loss. Said opinion breaks my heart since I liked and respected many people there. I don't know what to comment in response to her thoughts, but I did think they were well written and worth considering.

ScienceWoman provided the second in an honest explanation of personal circumstances. I've always been impressed with her, and, having written some soul-baring posts myself, I know it's hard. I also think it's rewarding and love that she opened a door to a space where people can share similar struggles.

Lastly - good things come in threes, yes? - Gaussian Noises is an all too infrequently updated blog. This is evidenced by a post I hadn't written but I've considered discussing the temptation of cheating. I often thought it would be so nice to just nudge numbers and call it done. But I would sigh and decide it was too important - I respected my collaborators and wanted to publish something useful and simply didn't want to succeed in that particular way. But I thought Scartaris's post was wonderful.

Given that I've left academic research for a position I don't feel as comfortable discussing in detail, I'm likely to begin pointing to posts rather than writing them. But I do think academia is a profoundly important part of society and that the pressures within need to be highlighted and discussed. I found myself very proud of this blogging community while I was reading those posts.

In far more boring news, all is well in my house. Sprout has arrived and finally appears to be settling in. The fence was started on Friday and should be finished on Tuesday - it'll be beautiful. I bought a hutch for Grandma's china and love how it looks in an otherwise empty dining room. Mom worked on my bedroom and now my master suite is organized. We put up shelves in one guest bedroom so the Care Bears could be proudly displayed. We've continued to unpack and hang art and shop. Dad is driving me a bit crazy - "See you," I said when he told me he was going home because he was tired of being bossed around. Mom convinced him to stay - they have separate cars but weren't planning to drive home until tomorrow. "I'm not asking GrumpyPants to hang around so he can disagree with everything I say," I told her later. Then I obediently went to play WebKinz games to earn WebCash for Little One's WebCat.

So, you know, my life isn't so interesting. But I can take more house pictures tomorrow! So that when you're tired of reading meaningful posts elsewhere, you can see how nice my repotted rubber tree looks next to the new hutch!