Deadlines, schmedlines

So I have learned a lot about myself in the past couple of days. And even more about NSF bureaucracy, which they have successfully ported over to their online incarnation via FastLane. Or perhaps the issue lies with our local research office, which expects/demands to review everything before we submit it to Washington. Suffice it to say, one needs more than a week to prepare an NSF proposal, regardless of the readiness of the proposal narrative itself.

Mostly what I've learned is that I'm tired of packaging myself and my research to try and sell it to anonymous strangers. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the semester concentrating on my classes -- all of which, for the first time in the history of the universe, happen to correspond to some element of my project. I'm *craving* the opportunity to add new theoretical pieces to the picture, and some of the works I'm reading this semester promise to help me do that. After tomorrow, I'll be done with proposals until April-ish when the Wenner-Gren returns. Then I'll have a frantic 36-hour period to revise and resubmit it, if the experiences of my elder-peers over the past 2 years tells me anything.

I *do* have to prepare a proposal to defend before the faculty committee this semester. I plan to use my abortive NSF attempt as the starting point. I have already outlined a lot of great improvements to incorporate -- tightening the links between theory and methods, and explaining the 'broader impacts' of my research. Right now I'm working on an altogether different grant that basically focuses only on the broader impacts of my research, and how it applies to development. It's interesting to approach my project from this perspective -- I hadn't realized before just how "applied" my anthropology may be. Hmm...

I should get back to writing. It will be nice to take a break from all of this proposing for a while, and return to "just" coursework for a few weeks.

Some productive deadlines I'm setting for myself over the weekend: update my CV and create a 'professional website' version, outline the first week of my do-it-yourself readings course, and identify suitable inauguration festivities for myself and interested parties. Also, blog about my new year's resolutions and why this year they may actually stick.