Jiggity Jig

Almost home safe (thank you Acela!)

Almost positive that I don't want to be a journalist, but could see myself as a science writer. Love getting into the weeds of it and massaging the data. Lecture on risk assessment and coursework in the same and on ethics has me spinning with paranoia about how I report the information. Am I inserting a bias? Have I inadvertently plagiarized or misquoted? Have I confused odds ration, relative risk, and statistically significant? Am I exhibiting deeply conserved risk aversion behavior? Have I not considered the opposing point of view objectively, but only exerted my confirmation bias? It's enough to make me sit on my hands and stare out the window at the inky blackness of sleeping New Jersey.

I definitely felt an apartness from the other attendees. In general, they are extroverted, congenial, gregarious, and fun-seeking. Some were quarrelsome, antagonistic, cynical. Yale campus was pretty and depressing like almost all city-based universities. I spoke with one student who wanted to be a journalist but the school did not offer it as a major. When I asked about that, she said they tried to avoid anything as plebeian as a trade degree. She should be careful with whom she shares that comment!

However, it is hard to be reflective and enjoy the intellectual afterglow. I've a big project due on Wednesday at work, and not the first clue how to resolve it. I'll be at another workshop in Philadelphia all day Monday, and have class Tuesday nights (so cannot stay late at work), so when, exactly, am I going to get this done? Plus, my boss is OOO on Monday, so she'll be no help. Am I catastrophizing again? Or right to be anxious?