Comics about mathematics, science, and the student life.

Goals

A bunch of stacked boxes of various sizes. Some are: Family, parents, one mean peer, school, internet, friends, me. The caption: It was a shock to realize I wasn't the source of most of my goals.

A lot of what is in your brain was not put there by you. (Hat tip to Tim Urban.)

15 Jul 2022

Matching

A group of dots on the top (representing young scientists) and a group of squares on the bottom (representing professor positions). There are many more young scientists than professor positions, so only a few dots connect to a square. On the left is the caption, "Let's remember there are other careers."

This is a note to self.

13 Jul 2022

Outlook

An axis going from the past (on the left) to the future (on the right). A person stands in the centre, with binoculars looking to the future and thinking, "I hope I don't screw up like last time." The caption underneath the person is, "Never in the present".

You only get to experience the present.

11 Jul 2022

Boundaries

A horizontal axis labelled, "Hour of day". During the main hours of the day (separated by dotted lines) there is "Work". A woman stands inside of the boundaries, while a man is pushing the boundary to increase it. The woman says, "What are you doing?!" The man says, "You should love your work enough to always be thinking about it."

Be wary of “Do what you love”.

08 Jul 2022

Reflection

A graph of "Stress" over "How much you see your work as a reflection of yourself." The curve increases exponentially.

The sad part is that it’s very easy to move to the right of the curve.

06 Jul 2022

Hump

A graph of "Fear" versus "Trying new things". There's an initial hump, and then the fear diminishes. At the peak, there's a label, "Get over the hump".

The hump can be tall, but it is surmountable.

04 Jul 2022

Progress

A graph of "Progress" over time, with two linearly growing curves. The top one is labelled, "Invisible", while the bottom one is "Visible". There's a double-headed arrow stretching between the gap, with the caption, "You're not your CV."

Remember: Progress and growth is a multidimensional affair, and people often don’t see the full picture.

01 Jul 2022

Realms

Three "layers" representing reality. The top one is labelled, "The Platonic realm of mathematics", and has a differential equation, a graph, and the P = NP conjecture. The middle one is labelled, "What physicists think the realm of reality is", with the Schrödinger equation and a Feynman diagram. The lower level is labelled, "What engineers know is actually the realm of reality", with a circuit, a bridge, and a vehicle.

And then there are the social scientists, demanding why on Earth these realms seem to be devoid of people.

29 Jun 2022

Worry Cycle

A graph of "Worry" over time. It periodically rises and falls. The worry hits a peak when you think of something that could go wrong, then it lowers as you realize it's fine, then hits a trough when you forget about it, then hits a new peak when you remember that same thing again, and the cycle starts anew.

Sometimes I tell my brain that I’ve already worried and gotten over X, but then it finds creative ways to make me worry about X again.

27 Jun 2022

Better Detour

A start point "A" and end point "B" separated by a path. Instead of following the straight line between them, you end up going through a massive, meandering detour, labelled, "Maybe this is a better way". At the end of the detour, there's the label, "Of course not".

Every single time.

24 Jun 2022