Still writing March 4, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 4 commentsJust realized I have no idea how to punctuate this:
He asked me the best question of all time: “Is there anyone in your office that you can look at and say, ‘Wow, I hope I end up like him.’?”
I don’t even know what punctuation marks belong at the end of the sentence. Question mark? Period? Both? Is that colon correct? Next time I’ll just do a podcast.
Your thoughts?I’m a writer again March 4, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentThe Berkeley Graduate magazine is doing a special issue on life after graduate school. I understand they have an article by a student who went into industry, another who went into academia, and another who returned to work for Berkeley. However, there is apparently one more perspective to be presented, and I’ve been asked to provide the dropout’s point of view.
I finished my first draft late last night and should have a version ready for the editors today. It was a challenging piece to write because it’s so easy to hear about someone dropping out and think, “Well, he dropped out because he couldn’t hack it. But I’m better and stronger, so I’ll finish where he failed.”
I’ve tried to capture what I felt so that readers see leaving grad school as a choice to be made, rather than as a sign of weakness or failure. Did I succeed? I suppose we’ll know if grad students start leaving Berkeley in droves after the article is printed.
The opportunity has reminded me how much I enjoy writing. My blog entries can take ten or fifteen minutes, but putting together a piece I can be proud of takes days. It’s something I’d like to budget more time for in the future. You know, once I have an income again.
Also, I’ve learned that “undoubtably” is not a word. The correct spelling is “undoubtedly”. People looking for more nitpicky grammatical errors may find them here. I personally fall on the descriptive side of the prescriptive vs. descriptive linguistics debate, so it upsets me that I really enjoy reading grammar rules.
Your thoughts?Got my first critic! March 1, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 7 commentsI’ve got my first critic! Which is to say, I’ve already been insulted on my blog, and had plenty of insults thrown at me on a personal level, but this is the first time my work has been dragged through the gutter on someone else’s own site. Perhaps it’s a subtle distinction, but it feels significant to me.
There’s this rather lame wannabe-hustler trying to start a cult-following here to basically pay him for regurgitating pick-up tips that’s available elsewhere for free. Apparently, there’s a record low turn-out and now he’s threatening to shut it down. Good riddance! And go get a real job instead of trying to hustle money from people. - Be1Man
Past comments on this blog have already set quite a high standard for criticism, unfortunately. The best one is over two years old and would be pretty hard to top:
Dude you are a huge loser. Quitting grad school was probably the dumbest thing you have ever done, becoming a dating coach argubaly the 2nd (who would take lessons from you must be truly desperate), and this probably #3. I wonder if your daddy didn’t hug you enough as a little kid. Having your teenage rebellion 10 years late is going to cost you.
It’s a weird kind of ego boost to know that I play such a important role in someone’s life that he would take time out of his own blog to defame me. Someone out there is actually choosing to expend his own energy disliking me.
Plus, there’s also more than a little bit of a “Well, I’ll show you!” attitude to my self-motivation. A large part of the reason I did my half-Ironman triathlon was because my dad told me I couldn’t do such a long distance triathlon for my first one.
So bring on the critics! I know that failures are inevitable along the path that I’ve chosen, but I can’t imagine anything more satisfying than succeeding in front of those who reveled in my failures.
Your thoughts?