Its Dr. Evil, I didnt spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called mister, thank you very much. -Dr. Evil, from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Graduate school is hard work, and Ph.D. programs in Physics and Astronomy are some of the most demanding and competitive ones out there. Its well-known that its incredibly difficult to strike a good work/life balance while youre in graduate school, and that between classes, homework, reading, research, and any teaching or service duties you may have, you cannot expect to spendonly40 hours a week on all of your responsibilities, combined.

There is simply too much.

Reading through incredibly dense textbooks is only a small part of what must be done.

But if you are in graduate school for physics, astronomy, or anything else theres presumably one reason that everyone who does it has in common: theres something you want to learn so bad, that youre so passionate about, that you mustlearn it for yourself. And that means jumping through all the necessary hoops, learning how to use the tools you need to, meeting the necessary requirements, and keeping the right people happy. It means doing the things you have to do in order to be able to do the things you want to do.

For me, that thing I wanted to do was this.

Image credit: Matthias Bartelmann.

Cosmology, the Big Bang, the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe, Inflation, Dark Matter and Energy, and everything that goes into and comes from that. That was and is my scientific passion. You may or may not have one; yours may or may not overlap with mine.

Its one of the greatest joys in my life. But it doesnt definemy life, and I always resented the idea which exists at many top Universities around the world that it ought todefine my life. Im not a scientist who lives science, breathes science, eats science, craps science, dreams science, and spends 100% of their time immersed in science. And I dont want to be. I want to be myself, which includes science, but which also includes lots of other parts of being a human being, and having what we colloquially refer to as a life.

A selection of some of my "finer" moments in the non-scientific portions of my life.

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Hey, Physics & Astronomy Professors? THIS IS NOT OKAY! [Starts With A Bang]