I really like my job. I do all sorts of different things every day. Actually, every season of the year I get to do something different. I spend a lot of time thinking about things that are really interesting to me. I travel to speak with other people who think the same sorts of things are interesting. Then I think about how to communicate the interesting things to other people, so they will agree these things are interesting. (Or even if they don't agree, the hope is at least they will do well on the common final exam.)
I work with students, and teach them some of the most impressive accomplishments of human civilization. And every time I teach the stuff it's new for them, and I can watch the thrill of discovery all over again.
And then I go sit in my office and think of things that no one has ever thought about before and feel that thrill of discovery myself, as I try to look at problems in ways that no one has ever looked at them. And I call my collaborators and we argue about results, and we look for interesting things in the stuff we know how to do, and ideas for interesting things we don't know how to do.
And I write talks in which I try to keep people awake, while explaining stuff they've probably never thought about, and making it relevant and exciting. And then I write papers and outline arguments and send them to journals, and rewrite and resubmit and eventually find the articles a home under a respectable cover.
Or sometimes, I write papers and outline arguments and send them to collaborators for feedback. And then they languish on the collaborators' desk. Boo.
Come on, N. Really. You owe me some revisions.
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