Well, I’m now beyond the halfway mark of my retreat and I’ve been on the one project all this time. I’ve made progress here and there, had some setbacks, and have got very stuck at times. It’s just one of those things with this sort of work. Par for the course.
There are times when you think that if you do just a bit more on the project, it’ll get over the hump, as it were, and then coast along. So far I worry that there may be simply an infinite set of equally spaced humps of similar height all the way down the road**, in that every now and again I discover a rather pretty little gem of a result that’s quite encouraging, but these gems don’t seem to have anything to do with each other. So it’s a little scattered gravel pit of gems as opposed to a lovely… Ok, cvj, enough with the gem metaphor.
The issue here is whether I should jump ship and use the last of my quality time here to embark (or re-embark) upon a different journey, picking up on one of the other projects I’ve been wanting to get on with, and immersing myself in that instead. It’s a tough one, since I’ve invested a lot of time and energy getting fully immersed into the current project. (I know I have not told you what it is. I’m sorry, but I mostly only discuss completed projects here, for perhaps obvious reasons.)
I’m sure there are many who recognize everything I’m saying in one shape or form. It’s the price you pay for stepping off into ocean of the unknown, of course. When you strike a piece of firm ground after the floundering, it makes it all worth it. The trick is to somehow keep that hope in mind while bobbing up and down in the in between.
Hmm… An excellent energizing trumpet solo from Lee Morgan helps too. Ok, back to hidden solution-generating symmetries and so forth…
-cvj
**Of course, if it really is an infinite lattice of humps, I could try a different, Bloch wave approach to the project. Poor inside joke that few if any of you would get. Has to do with crystal lattices and certain sorts of states that can traverse them. Sorry.
Thanks!
For sending links, if you can’t find a post to which they might be immediately relevant… email is probably better.
Cheers,
-cvj
Since we’re the only ones leaving comments here, I’m sending you a link I thought you might like: http://shopnatgeomusic.com/ I read about it on one of my over 400 blog subscriptions. They sell international music organized by continent or genre. It’s fun to browse through even if you don’t purchase anything.
Hi,
Great to meet you! Thanks for saying hi. What an excellent concert!
-cvj
Nice running into you at the concert. I counted four black faces in that sea of Caucasian/Asian audience members–and another one in the orchestra. Doggedness in the face of despair–a good motto for a t-shirt (or a life).
The point is that you cannot always tell which projects will involve forever-bobbing, and which won’t. It’s an issue of knowing when to go a bit further, and when to cut your losses. Some projects take years to come to fruition. A lot of the really really good stuff comes from a certain degree of doggedness in the face of despair.
I met and chatted with two of the players for that Bartok work at 13,600 ft on the weekend. I might well go and listen too.
Enjoy!
-cvj
Well, but is it possible to *always* make progress in a subject like physics? As a lay person, it seems that the scientific process involves lots of bobbing up and down, some of which will get you nowhere in your own lifetime. So, to maintain the analogy, why not float off to another project instead of working on one where you may not reach firm ground for years? Just asking. I’m off to the tent this afternoon to listen to Bartok. That should inspire me to undertake *something* upon my return (or maybe not).