Happy New Year's

My God, if I did this more often it wouldn't be such a Herculean effort when I do. Last post October 30th? Really?

First, from a November 6th draft for a new post: an intriguing article from Nature magazine on the life and work of Gabriel von Max (1840-1915), a German painter from Munich who combined a love of art with his passion for collecting objects of science and natural history. His exquisite paintings are thought-provoking remarks on the relationships between science, art, humanity and the natural world:

http://www.nature.com.proxy-ub.rug.nl/nature/journal/v468/n7322/full/468376a.html

And then, a summary of 2011 (don't worry; I won't; I did write a 4-page PDF version if you really want it, though). There's a laundry basket of cliches and euphemisms and sentiments that I need to pick through for its description -- yet riding home through the park today it dawned on me that that's sort of the point. A brilliant golden early-afternoon sun was streaming down through the trees, reflecting off the puddles and warming the air so much that it really felt like spring, and not mid-winter; jubilant flocks of ducks and geese babbled about in the pools of open water on frozen ponds; streets were littered with shattered glass and spent, disintegrating remains of last night's fireworks, and a few other bleary-eyed party-goers, older couples arm-in-arm, and young families wandered the wet and glittering pathways.

I realized that at every moment we choose between a basketful of emotions with which to colour the hours ahead: is today one to lay reminiscing, or paining over losses, waxing nostalgic, grieving mistakes (others'; our own) and slights (real; imagined)? Or will we choose to pick out a few moments to take the longer route home, bask in the winter sunshine, revel in the little glories that life strings along just within our reach, enjoy the people with whom we pass our hours rather than spending too much time missing the ones that are far away, in time or place.

It's been a tough year, to be honest - and yet if I think of the harder times they're outweighed and overwhelmed by the positive ones, the happier times shared with friends and family: my weeks spent in Dunster over the summer, gardening and cleaning and spending time on the land; moving to Europe, and finding new classmates quickly have become close friends; enjoying the heady bliss of new romance (thanks K.) and the more grounded comfort of having their real support through some of the toughest moments.

As the new year opens up today, I think about things like resolutions and goal-setting again, something I haven't really spent time on for some years. I focused for so long on reaching an academic goal that I didn't really keep up along the way to lay down new ones for the path ahead. As a result, 2011 starts with a sort of blank-slate feeling, that I have some reinvention but also careful consideration to do.

In April I'll be heading to Munich to start a research project there. I've been speaking with a lab group through the Technical University of Munich about working in environmental microbiology; at the same time, I'm interested in biological clocks (and genes); but also cultural evolution, politics, literature, history of disease and social effects, indigenous cultures around the world, and just plain old travel.

Every day the kaleidoscope changes: this time last year I had just submitted my MEME application, and now here I am -- so what balls that I set in motion now, will be actively rolling this time next year? How do I choose which ones to set into motion, which ones to put more energy to, which ones to pull off the table or to "wait and see" on? After Munich I'd like to go to Montpellier (France) and Uppsala (Sweden) but also am required to spend a research semester back in Groningen - not an unpleasant prospect and certainly if K. is still here, a good one. Each university has something distinct and unique to offer - a different research direction, a new focus, diverse opportunities. Which to choose; and why; and what will be the consequences?

Some fitting cliches apply here: whenever one door opens, another closes; and yet sometimes when a window closes a door opens... So I'll spend some time today to iron those things out; work on some proximal things (writing a couple of overdue letters; working on a student lecture for our January summer school) and more distant ones (a five-year plan; where to go in my break between February and April; long-term goals), and maybe reach some conclusions or at least new ideas by the time school starts up again on Wednesday.

Wish me luck. Things change quickly; North Korea is proferring fearsome threats towards the South again; a bomb at a New Year's mass in an Egyptian church killed 21; the Ivory Coast inches towards civil war; France and Germany are flooded as the heavy snows melt with the onset of warmer weather, and Australia is similarly under heavy flooding in the northeast. It's hard to know which direction the world goes in at any given time, and I'm starting to believe the best tactic may be just to go with what you know, forget the big grand-scale plans and work on what's under your feet.

Best of luck, then, in 2011. I think it'll be a good year - in fact, I'm going to plan on it.