I love May Day. Today's hardly the poster day for it here in New York -- it's gray and overcast out, threatening thunder storms at any minute -- but I love the old-world, witchy feel of May Day. Perhaps the fact that the U.S. refused to name it a workers' holiday, unlike all the other countries, means that it always will have that touch of pagan flower festival about it, rather than being a radical labor day.
May, this year, means the end of my second semester of my Ph.D. program. I didn't say the end of my first year, because I'll be taking summer courses until August, but for now I can take a deep breath and say "I made it." (Almost -- just another week and my papers will be handed in and my final exams over and done with!) Chuan and I have made a reservation at Peter Luger's Steakhouse to celebrate the end of our exams. It's a splurge, but we feel that it's important to mark the end of this semester, to remind ourselves that we have gotten through it all.
This month I'm also leaving my research job at the prestigious hospital where I've been miserably working all year. I am so glad to let this one go, I can't tell you! I'm about up to HERE with prestige and name-brand hospitals and being told that I'm so privileged to be entering someone else's data. Early-stage career exploitation is a terrible thing to experience, yet all so common to those of us who are in our 20's and have high ambitions. I know that I'll have to put up with a lot more before getting my Ph.D., but I still hate it. Eck. Now I'm ready to move on.
This May I'm visiting my parents in Minnesota over Memorial Day, so that's something else to look forward to. And on May 16 I'll be finishing the spring training program with my cycling club, culminating in a 108-mile ride (OMG) to Bear Mountain, New York. Yikes! This will feel like my greatest accomplishment all year, because cycling really has been what has kept me sane through all of the problems on my job and through all of the stress of graduate school. And there's a not insignificant satisfaction that I feel in being able to return to athletic endeavors now that I have put my eating disorder behind.
All in all, May is looking like a great month!
3 comments:
Wow, what an amazing ride! I hope that you'll share the details.
I definitely understand what you mean about being able to return to athletic endeavors. I'm still searching for that piece of my identity.
Sounds like a lovely month indeed! I'm glad it'll be a good one for you. :)
Congratulations on finishing your second semester! And I'm glad you get to be done with this job.
I love the picture of the poppies! So very beautiful.
with love and warmth,
~ej
P.s.: My verification word is readofed... read of ed... very interesting!!
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