#papersoup

I mean, don't get me wrong, my entire life is a hell-pit of stress and anxiety basically every minute of every day until it's due on December 3rd.

But the truth is, I feel really good about the research I'm doing. The paper flows nicely. I've learned how to make the literature into a cohesive whole whose points play off one another and actually form an argument. And I'm...well, honestly I'm really enjoying learning more and more and more about a subject into which I've invested so much of my time and attention. My field research is unpredictable and fun. I'm beginning to feel, basically, like a real researcher, a real social scientist, and that is an undeniably amazing thing to suddenly realize about yourself - that you picked the right major, because it's not just a four-year topic of study, it's a calling, and one you feel good about pursuing for the rest of your life.

I was sitting around between classes with my good friend papersoup the other day while a mutual friend was telling us about something strange and tragically sad that had been left behind in her apartment by its previous inhabitant. When she finished her story, I sat back and said, "Wow, that is messed up...but I kind of really want to see it."

A moment of silence followed, and then papersoup said: "Man, freakin' anthro majors. That's like your life motto, isn't it? Shit, that's fucked up. I need to see it." We all laughed, and I replied: "Yeah. Pretty much." It's true. I want to know about everything.

Working on this paper, this culmination of all my hardest work and all of the skills I've learned and honed over the past three and a half years, is reminding me every day that I love learning, and I couldn't be more excited at the prospect of doing just that, forever. Curiosity will motivate me to the ends of the earth, and if there is a single thing in this universe I can freely admit to liking about myself, that's it.