Nerd Journal: The Nerd Lords Have Spoken

Here's an announcement, gentle readers.  My Nerd Lords have spoken.  More importantly, the Nerd Emperor -- aka Nerd Who Must Be Obeyed -- has issued his decree.  I must -- MUST -- finish my massive research-and-writing project by the end of this summer.  200+ pages, baby.  Failure is not an option.  Oh, boy.  I think I'm as terrified as I am excited.  So here is a new blog tag for all posts on this topic -- "Nerdpocalypse Now."  You can expect a slight decrease in the number of daily posts, but you can also expect a whole lot of blogging about the Nerdpocalypse Project.  You know, I'm almost glad to be given a hard deadline and what amounts to a Nerd Lord Ultimatum.  It's happened to most of my nerdy friends.  Besides, I've been playing around with research and whatnot for a while now, so it's probably time to Put Up Or Shut Up when it comes to nerd work.

Now the question is, do I have all the right moves?  Even if I don't, it's time to get them!  (The video by One Republic is fantastic, and there's a metaphor somewhere in there, amid all the masked dancers, about my life both online and off, don't you think?)

Nerd Journal: Exam-Time Metaphor

This is also one big Grad School Metaphor.  Watch this video!  You'll be on the edge of your seat!  Don't worry, though -- however harrowing it is (and it is!), all is well in the end.  All right, I can't help myself: All we are is ducks in the wind ...

Grad School Metaphor: Always An Uphill Battle

Perfect little visual metaphor for Nerdworld!  That little Italian mountain goat is climbing a surface that is almost vertical.

Grad School Metaphor: Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of -- RUN!

OH, YES.  Grad school nerds running for our lives, pursued by deadlines, Nerd Lords, personal neuroses, academic requirements, back-stabby frenemies, and our own creeping mortality.  Oh, the thrill of the chase.  Tally-ho!

Grad School Metaphor: Another Day in the Life

Via the Presurfer comes this fantastic photo.  If you have to ask which is the professorial Nerd Lord and which is the grad student, then clearly you've never been to grad school!  (Gotta say -- my favorite detail is the poor monitor lizard's floppy tongue!)

Nerd Journal: Summer Research Stinks

OK, so classes are over, but a history-loving nerd's work is never done. Like many of my peers/friends/colleagues, I still have plenty of research and writing that needs to be done over the summer. In fact, I have something due in 2 weeks. (No rest for the wicked. Or the nerdy. So you can only imagine what sort of rest there is for people who are wicked nerds.)

Hmmm, the weather is nice and I'm really tired of nerdwork. I'm still not fully recovered from the bibliophobia of final exams. What could possibly induce me to head back into the Library of Doom?

Allons-y.

Oh, I wish.

But, then again, the Doctor does spend a lot of time in "Silence in the Library" running for his life among the stacks. That does sound an awful lot like a grad school metaphor!

Grad School Metaphor: There Is Just Too Much Work and Not Enough Time

The deadline is WHEN???!!!

Grad School Metaphor: Comprehensive Exams!

Chicken run.

Grad School Metaphor: A Cell Made of Books

Need I say more?

Grad School Metaphor! The Wolf and the Vole

Yep, pretty much.

Grad School Metaphor!

You're minding your own business, you think that you're OK and that everything's going well, and then ... WHAMMO!

Grad School in Photos, Part 2

Remember the first post? Now here's something even better. Cannibalistic sashimi-mania!

Disgustingly Cute: The Leopard and the Mouse

Is this cute or terrifying? Actually, it kind of reminds me of graduate school. (And, yes, I am the mouse.)

RELATED POST: Grad school in photos!

Grad School in Photos!

Do you want a visual demonstration of what graduate school is like?

Click here, my friend, and get an eyeful of a mighty Nerd Lord and a penniless grad student peon!