Summer Drama or DewarGate 2016

Lesson: Don't be a dirtbag

Lawd. It has been a minute since I had time (made time?) to write and think and not compute.  It is without doubt that I do all manner of better when I take a bit of time to put some words down.  I might start by answering the eternal question of "Sak pase?" , though despite the pithiness of the question, the answer is bulky. I'm in the midst of an impressive balancing act that may collapse at any moment. I've been concomitantly

• preparing to submit the first  manuscript from my PhD,
• planning and (thank the Goddess) finishing my last field season,
• processing soil samples and conducting experiments in the lab,
• preparing for the ISME conference in Montreal this month,
• spearheading efforts to bring more diversity to my department,
• and attempting to maintain a long distance relationship

The list seems tenable when written down with neat dots to organize, but it feels more like a Spin class where the instructor yells at you, and suddenly pedaling feels like too much (I've only been to one spin class so this analogy is a reach).  I've managed most of this pretty decently, even sparing time to host a few friends for a rosé-soaked weekend. There have been instances, though, where I wasn't capable of holding things together. 

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