hippyscientist

@MarineBluePsy I mean that's frustrating but fingers crossed they let you go with the cumulative GPA! 
I am pooped this week. Getting lots of work done and getting a ton of spontaneous unintended workouts in too! Just got back from playing basketball with the crew, and the bus schedule is sh*t without undergrads around so I'm walking like 4 miles a day to get to and from my car when it's parked on campus. Yay for random exercise!

*hugs* you're allowed to feel sad about this! Take some time to process. 
We're back in the lab full-time tomorrow. I've been watching football all afternoon. Great combination!

That pizza sounds incredible! And good luck with the vegan/veggie thing. I have a lot of respect for people who can do it but I find my body needs meat. I feel so much healthier when I eat it. But I found out doing my elimination diet that by cutting out all the processed crap, my weekly shopping costs went down by almost half. I was spending $80-100 a week on food, now its closer to $40/50. So meat and veggies is cheaper for me than meat and veggies and crap! SOrry don't really know why I went on a side-track like that. Good luck!
 
Alright, so over the break, I started a grad school website. I'm writing content now so when it goes live I'll have some stuff up there. I'm really excited by it actually, it's less of a blog about me and more of a blog about the field. Hoping it works and is a good way to get my name out there.
In other news, my fitbit arrived! It's currently charging but I really really really want to play with it now! And one of my best friends gets back into town this afternoon so we can watch the rose bowl together. Can't wait to see him! Hope this week is a good one for you all

There's some excellent suggestions already given but I'd throw in yoga really helps my mind switch off and to destress from the day. It might take a while to learn to empty your head but I find giving myself 45 minutes at some point during the day to stretch and be mindful and only in the present really helps. Exercise in general is wonderful, but not always possible - e.g. if you're injured. I agree that reading is great but I find my mind drifts a lot when watching TV. You know you best. If you're on a hike and find your mind starts drifting, bring it back to the present. Focus on the colour of the leaves, or the rhythm of your breath or the noise of the insects or something. Acknowledge the thoughts that pop into your head but say to them "this is not the time for you to occupy my head. This is me time." and return to focusing on the thing in the present. 
If you can get some social interaction, that's wonderful but sometimes you can just end up talking about research. So if you hang out, maybe allocate 20 mins for research venting then make it an off-limits conversation. 
Just a few suggestions that I've found really helpful. Hopefully there's something on this thread that works for you

You make a good point... I have grown a lot since I left them. I used to cry (literally) to them after a bad exam, but yesterday when they asked why I wasn't horribly depressed I just told them that if I fail out, I fail out, and I can still be happy even if that happens. They don't really understand - they think that being in academia is what every student should strive for, and they looked a little disappointed when I said that I don't think that's what I want. I have, in fact, grown to be my own person in the last few months, which I didn't realize until you pointed it out

MY ADVISOR <3 I could kiss him (I won't because eww) but when I asked what I should do over break for my research he responded "Sleep. Recover. Have a break. You've earned it. We'll start the new year fresh and ready to attack!" AND he loved one of my ideas! 

MY ADVISOR <3 I could kiss him (I won't because eww) but when I asked what I should do over break for my research he responded "Sleep. Recover. Have a break. You've earned it. We'll start the new year fresh and ready to attack!" AND he loved one of my ideas! 

MY ADVISOR <3 I could kiss him (I won't because eww) but when I asked what I should do over break for my research he responded "Sleep. Recover. Have a break. You've earned it. We'll start the new year fresh and ready to attack!" AND he loved one of my ideas! 

MY ADVISOR <3 I could kiss him (I won't because eww) but when I asked what I should do over break for my research he responded "Sleep. Recover. Have a break. You've earned it. We'll start the new year fresh and ready to attack!" AND he loved one of my ideas! 

So it looks like this project will finally get done. And I'm waiting upon a meeting with my advisor to go over my research and we'll make a plan for the holidays and then I'm good to get outta here. I'll be doing minimal over the break - tidying up two abstracts and working on some code. I really need a break because I haven't had one since starting my masters in September last year so I'm going to make the most of being able to sleep and watch shitty TV and eat delicious food.
Congrats guys on getting through semester 1, and I hope you all have happy, healthy breaks!

So it looks like this project will finally get done. And I'm waiting upon a meeting with my advisor to go over my research and we'll make a plan for the holidays and then I'm good to get outta here. I'll be doing minimal over the break - tidying up two abstracts and working on some code. I really need a break because I haven't had one since starting my masters in September last year so I'm going to make the most of being able to sleep and watch shitty TV and eat delicious food.
Congrats guys on getting through semester 1, and I hope you all have happy, healthy breaks!

Yeah, I'm with @Pink Fuzzy Bunny, this quarter definitely kicked me in the ass. Coming straight from undergrad into a combined MA/PhD at a top ten 10 university has sucked the life out of me. I barely coasted through one of the seminars, but it was because I had read most of the books already in translation. Thankfully, next semester I'll have a language course to help fix my situation. Literature PhD, making me look like a phucking dork all day long....
This video has helped me destress. It helps exercise the mind (the first minute is an intro): 
 

Woohoo I now have the 21st to the 27th off  Plus I made a MAJOR step forward in my code today, got my mechanical engineering final back & got a 95% & I got paid for dogsitting over thanksgiving. Good day on my end.
@Need Coffee in an IV that's so cool, I love museums, especially if they're natural history and/or science ones. 

Yep cadaveric feet. I look and work with ankles, looking at the effect of total ankle replacements now. The feet we can rig up to "walk" and look at the forces, stresses, strains etc in different movements with different loads applied. It's really freaking cool but it's a little bit disconcerting. We have 3 fridges full of feet and a license plate on the wall that reads "DED FEET". Nerd humor! 
 
@Neist you have a superpower! That's just insane! Insanely impressive. No wonder you're tired.
@Pink Fuzzy Bunny
Fuzzy , I do a whole bunch in biomedical engineering too so if you wanna chat let me know! 

I GOT A DISTINCTION ON MY MASTERS and it's thanksgiving break finally. Today is a great day!

I GOT A DISTINCTION ON MY MASTERS and it's thanksgiving break finally. Today is a great day!

I GOT A DISTINCTION ON MY MASTERS and it's thanksgiving break finally. Today is a great day!

I GOT A DISTINCTION ON MY MASTERS and it's thanksgiving break finally. Today is a great day!

So much this. I really don't care that much about my classes. At the end of the day I'll learn what's important by doing it as part of my research. Classes are just fulfilling a requirement for my college so they don't get a huge amount of attention. I do enough to get by and I've specifically picked classes that are useful so I quite enjoy applying what I learn to my research. Basically, I guess what I'm saying is classes aren't my focus, and I make sure the attention in those classes is focused towards my research interests. It seems to work. 

I'm taking a break from essay writing, and I thought I'd share a musical interlude.
You can thank me later.

Yep I have truly taken that on board. I feel SO MUCH HAPPIER than when I was doing my masters, where I really wasn't social and didn't have a life outside of studying and the gym. Who knew that having social interactions and a hobby would be good for your mental health? Apparently, everyone!

Yep I have truly taken that on board. I feel SO MUCH HAPPIER than when I was doing my masters, where I really wasn't social and didn't have a life outside of studying and the gym. Who knew that having social interactions and a hobby would be good for your mental health? Apparently, everyone!

I'm going on my first hike today  Having had some conversations with other grad students last night I have come to the conclusion I have found the best possible fit. My advisor is just so awesome. I love it here! Full of enthusiasm right now.

I'm going on my first hike today  Having had some conversations with other grad students last night I have come to the conclusion I have found the best possible fit. My advisor is just so awesome. I love it here! Full of enthusiasm right now.

Yep that counts! I went out on Thursday night (TAing 8am Friday morning was painful) so I use that as my long weekend social event. I might do something Monday but there was no point going anywhere today because football.