“Research is messy.” Ian remarked during our session this afternoon on learning some electronic tools we’ll be using in our individual research and projects this semester and as it would seem, that remark really struck a chord with me today.
The morning was spent with small groups to do ‘Neighborhood Walks’, an activity that all ACM students studying across the world are participating in this fall. [There will be a post about this coming shortly, so keep an eye out for that sometime over the next few days.] In short, I spent the morning walking around a neighborhood to the west of the Gold Coast and the program digs. Suffice to say, I wasn’t surprised when we were waiting for the bus back after a quick lunch that we had walked around five miles over the course of our meanderings. But more on that some other time.
I’m excited to learn to implement these new tools to help organize and on a night like this, I could use a forum to organize my thoughts. As I have written before, I nod to my college’s block plan scheduling in it’s efforts in making a multitasker out of me. But the curse of a multitasker and at times, self-identified overthinker like myself is that with so many ideas and mental catalogs of lists and things to think/write/accomplish at a given time, at times it’s a juggling act to know which ‘to do’ should go back on the shelf for a bit and what to do with a given amount of time. Minds, as I think we all can relate, get cluttered sometimes. Any fans of Sherlock will know the idea of a “mind palace”; tonight I’m thinking mine could do with some redecorating.
My mind palace is a bit full tonight with the reminder of an application’s deadline hanging around like a relative that wish as you may, you can’t quite see to the door. After spending longer than I would like to admit to on an email in regards to an administrative aspect of my application, I felt exhausted. And, 15 minutes later, I got an email back from the mentor I had cc:ed on the email, turns out, the email in question (in which I summarized my interest in the scholarship, personal passions and dreams, and specifics of how the program aligns so closely with my future goals) was…well…not necessary, as the letter would be written by another committee who already had materials to reference. …alrighty, then.
I’m sure there will be many trips back to my ‘mind palace’ and while I’m sure it will always change, tonight my mind is back in a favorite coffee shop near Cornell; the indie music from my Spotify syncs with the typical coffeeshop tunes and a dear friend sits across the table, working on some scientific reading that I will never understand. There’ll be the familiar long drive back to the hilltop campus and a mix of profound conversation and (poorly) singing along to the radio. But, at some point, I’ll have to leave my mind palace and with that said, I’m going to go heat up my own chai.
I’ll leave you with a Sherlock gif (be prepared for more gifs to come!) of the phrase I’ve mentioned. Cheers! 
trees, teas, and tomes 