Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

Not all who wander are lost...

by whataboutbob Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 04:55:52 PM EST

Hi everybody! Let's see, well...while good ol` ET keeps rolling along, I have been out wandering in the wilderness. As many of you know, I stopped doing the front-pager thing last summer, because...well...after two + years of being pretty heavily involved with the community and trying to keep things moving on the front-page on an almost daily basis, I was just empty. I had no more energy for the job. Anyway, In Wales and Migeru are doing a great job as the ,,new" front-pagers.

And as for me, it was high time for me to pick up the pace and get more serious in my getting job stuff together, so I could finally get through this interminable middle-aged career change transition I have been going through for the last 3 years. And I have good news to report! I have a new contract as a ,,senior researcher" for a long established (60+ years) research institute, being brought in to help boost an international project studying ,,risk-vulnerability-resilience", with me being the resilience expert. It is only a 6 month position at this point, but if I work hard and produce some good results, I have a good opportunity to parlay this into something more long-term. And not only that, I am finally making progress in my German, and enjoying that too! So things are looking up! (Fingers crossed!!!)

Which is all to say...I'm really  doing okay, and hope this finds all my old ET friends doing well too. And I'm still around, though I am mostly like a ghost these days, drifting in and out of ET on occasion to see what is going on. Life goes on...

Not all who wander are lost...surely there are others like me out here! Cheers all, and lets see what 2008 brings us!! Take care!!

PS:  How about everyone write at least one diary a month for 2008!!


Display:
Bob, you never give up ;-)

Good luck to you, sir.....

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 05:16:12 PM EST
Glückwunsch mit der neuen Arbeit, Bob! Hört sich spannend an.
by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 05:38:30 PM EST
Way to go, Bob.

Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
by LEP on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 05:59:02 PM EST
Good to hear that, whataboutbob!  I hope it helps you feel settled and comfortable.  Way to go!

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
by metavision on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 05:59:59 PM EST
Congratulations, Bob! It's nice to have good news from you! I hope you will have some time to post comments and diaries...

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 06:00:18 PM EST
Great to hear there's life after blogging... and hoping you enjoy the job... from one of the newcomers here

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 06:09:01 PM EST
Good luck at the research.  

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 06:30:19 PM EST
That's great to hear, Bob!

Totally excellent, dude.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 07:17:03 PM EST
Thanks again for your past encouragement, metatone. It has been a slog...but I at least now have a toehold. Not an easy business...

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
by whataboutbob on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 04:14:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hey, congrats on the job, Bob!  And thanks for the update!  Will you occasionally blog about your work?  

I can relate -- I don't think I've been quite as ghostly as you, but almost recently.  I've just had a lot of stuff going on.  

Which reminds me -- I haven't forgotten about the peanut butter!  Sorry for the delay -- will you email me again?  I was searching for that one last week and can't find it.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 07:22:45 PM EST
sorry to be pedantic, but the actual quote from Tolkien's epic is Not all those who wander are lost and it is constantly misquoted...

end of pedantic outburst :-)

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 09:01:41 PM EST
Didn't read Tolkien, but found myself thinking "Surely at least ONE wanderer is lost."

Great to hear good news about good people, makes things brighter for everyone.

Karen in Austin

'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher

by Wife of Bath (kareninaustin at g mail dot com) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 12:18:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
<heh!!>I actually never knew that this was a Tolkien quote, even though I love his writing!! But, it does make sense that this was the source of this quote, for where I saw it was as a Deadhead bumper sticker on an old VW van...back in the day when the Grateful Dead were still playing and we were still wandering. <sigh>
Anyway, good catch de anander, and I have updated my diary title!!!

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
by whataboutbob on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 04:13:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Pity, I preferred the shorter version ;) (Tolkien always was long-winded).

Hi Bob, and very glad to hear your news.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 04:18:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
he could have done with a good editor. there's 100 pages in the middle of his epic that need chopping out through being far too dull.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 05:33:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
it's a nice bit of verse actually:

all that is gold does not glitter,
not all those who wander are lost;
the old that is strong does not wither,
deep roots are not reached by the frost...

the opening line particularly with its twist on the old English folksaying "all that glitters is not gold", is rather fetching, and I personally have an affection for half-rhymes like "glitter/wither" in English verse.  Tolkien had a facility with metric verse (an unkind carping critic might mutter "doggerel", but imho unfairly) comparable to Kipling's...

... and that tradition comes home to "serious" verse with Auden, probably by a narrow margin and out of a wide field my favourite of the English poets -- and thence down to modern times in the bitter work of Larkin, another favourite...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 12:33:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Then I'll concede this one - I'd forgotten it was from verse (last reading of TLOTR 1968...), and he does do it well.

And how I like Auden and Larkin!

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 01:29:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Good luck with the new job!
by lychee on Thu Jan 17th, 2008 at 09:33:37 PM EST
Great news Bob and I hope it leads to even more exciting and interesting things! (p.s. should you ever find chance to stick up another resilience diary...)
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 02:44:29 AM EST
Congrats and good to see you around!

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 05:02:57 AM EST
Hi bob, great to hear that things start to work out for you. When are you going to start your new work?
by Fran on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 05:15:18 AM EST
I started on Jan 8th. Suuure like Basel!  ;))

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
by whataboutbob on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 07:02:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yay Bob!!!  We sure miss you around here, but I'm really happy to hear your good news!  Keep up the great work, and stop by & visit when you get the chance!
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 06:15:33 AM EST
Hi

:)

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 07:10:39 AM EST
Wonderful!

You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--
by tzt (tzt) on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 11:58:08 AM EST
Good to see you, whataboutbob!

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Fri Jan 18th, 2008 at 01:35:16 PM EST
Thanks everybody!!

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
by whataboutbob on Sat Jan 19th, 2008 at 02:11:41 AM EST


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