Challenge: A Day in the Life

Published 13 June 07 04:35 PM

What do research students actually do? It's a question we all get hit with: at family events, by undergraduates, by acquaintances from long ago randomly encountered at the shops, as an occasional wail of despair to ourselves, or to each other across disciplinary divides. So, my suggestion is that one week from now (Wednesday 20 June, according to my calendar) we answer the question by posting updates throughout the day on what a day in the life of a research student looks like. Updates can be as short or as detailed as you like, and as often or irregular as the mood strikes you. I'm aiming for on the hour every hour that I'm online. Tagging posts with 'day in the life' should make it easy for future generations to read it all together. Any takers? 

by Karen.Hall
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# sky said on June 13, 2007 11:29 PM:

I'm in! Procrastination ahoy! :)

# Sanna said on June 14, 2007 12:17 AM:

I'm up for it!

I can picture it now:

10am. Arrive at uni.

10.30am. Ease myself into work with a cup of coffee.

11am. Notice scribblings in the margin of a book I'm reading. The scribbligns are my handwriting. What, do you mean I've already *read* this book? How come I don't rememeber any of it?

1pm. Start to fill in travel grant application.

1.05pm. Despair, give up. Try again. Repeat.

2pm. Would work, but can't for the fear welling up inside me. The reason?

3pm. Meeting with supervisors. Feel very, very small.

4pm. Head home. Emotional trauma counts as progress, right?

# Karen.Hall said on June 14, 2007 9:21 AM:

I think mine might look the same - possibly with more coffee breaks, though! And I'm sure you can make emotional trauma count as progress: you can probably pick where I've been having bad days in my writing because at that point my argument is that all my authors care about is absence, rupture and loss!

# Procrastinatrix Extraordinaire said on June 15, 2007 11:08 PM:

This is me reminding myself and any readers (are we all being strangely quiet on the blog front in solidarity

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About Karen.Hall

I've recently submitted my PhD thesis, titled 'Discovering the Lost Race Story: Writing Science Fiction, Writing Temporality', for examination. In the meantime, I'm teaching in the discipline of Communication Studies at UWA and starting a new project on medievalism and media through a Whitfeld Fellowship.