Virtual Office (TM)
I just went to a seminar about writing and submitting papers. There were several ppt slides about dealing with the "narcissistic blow" of rejection/criticism. I'm glad to know i am not the only one who cries into her pillow. Or kicks things. Or ... whatever.
But it made me think: Science, especially if you're going to stay in acadmics and try and make a name in a big school, ends up being only maybe 60% about doing science; maybe less. The rest is about dealing with people. The thought of which, some days, doesn't bother me, but other days makes me think I ought to hole up by the sea and write novels, a pursuit which is about as rewarding and narcissitically blowing, but only is maybe 20% dealing-with-people oriented.
This was kind of a revelation to me, although one that has been brewing since I noticed that I am now a Person Who Knows Things in lab and have people tugging at my coat sleeves.
Perhaps if I just had an actual office where I could escape (instead of the happy dark microscope room). Putting in the old iPod helps, but then the punters just decamp in front of my desk or hover until I notice them. And of course, I feel obligated to assist. It's not like I resent assisting. I just find it hard enough to concentrate on my own stuff as it is without people chattering like magpies at me, or making demands on my brain space, or sucking up precious oxygen.
Maybe I will inform my colleagues of the Virtual Office, an invisible force field through which sound does not penetrate and which scrambles face recognition visual stimuli. I could wear a special hat to denote when I am in my Virtual Office so people will know and not be offended when I cannot hear or see them.
In fact (and I am not making this up) I happen to have a red cloche hat in my desk even now! Right, this is officially the Virtual Office Hat. I will distribute a memo.
God, I sound cantankerous, but I swear, I am really quite nice. I just need my head-space, you know? If you knew what a flake I was, you would never talk to me if you saw a flask in my hand.
But it made me think: Science, especially if you're going to stay in acadmics and try and make a name in a big school, ends up being only maybe 60% about doing science; maybe less. The rest is about dealing with people. The thought of which, some days, doesn't bother me, but other days makes me think I ought to hole up by the sea and write novels, a pursuit which is about as rewarding and narcissitically blowing, but only is maybe 20% dealing-with-people oriented.
This was kind of a revelation to me, although one that has been brewing since I noticed that I am now a Person Who Knows Things in lab and have people tugging at my coat sleeves.
Perhaps if I just had an actual office where I could escape (instead of the happy dark microscope room). Putting in the old iPod helps, but then the punters just decamp in front of my desk or hover until I notice them. And of course, I feel obligated to assist. It's not like I resent assisting. I just find it hard enough to concentrate on my own stuff as it is without people chattering like magpies at me, or making demands on my brain space, or sucking up precious oxygen.
Maybe I will inform my colleagues of the Virtual Office, an invisible force field through which sound does not penetrate and which scrambles face recognition visual stimuli. I could wear a special hat to denote when I am in my Virtual Office so people will know and not be offended when I cannot hear or see them.
In fact (and I am not making this up) I happen to have a red cloche hat in my desk even now! Right, this is officially the Virtual Office Hat. I will distribute a memo.
God, I sound cantankerous, but I swear, I am really quite nice. I just need my head-space, you know? If you knew what a flake I was, you would never talk to me if you saw a flask in my hand.
posted by Joolya at
1:20 PM
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