Addio, addio, o miei sospiri! O, pieno di gioia il cor!
Apologies for breaking into song like that, but I have some very good news: my long-shot Plan A for next year has come through.
I've just been offered the postdoctoral fellowship I applied for, and I've just accepted it. I'm officially going to be spending next year at the University of Virginia Library. [Update, to clarify: It's not a traditional academic postdoc; it's actually a Fellowship in Scholarly Information Resources, administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources.] I was all but positive that I wouldn't get it, but then late last week the call came through. I still keep catching myself thinking that I've hallucinated the good news; I think I'd forgotten what it feels like to be happy. But, so help me, I'm going to make sure I don't forget it it this time around.
(On a related note, Terry Teachout theorizes about why happiness is harder to articulate than unhappiness. I'll just add an inarticulate "what he said" and save the longer thoughts for later. Consider that a placeholder for the longer and more thoughtful posts that I haven't been composing because I've been distracted these past few days.)
And now I have to think about moving, which is going to happen at the beginning of July. And what books I can sell to the used bookstores without causing myself too much separation anxiety. And which pieces of furniture it won't be worthwhile to haul back east. And finding an apartment in Charlottesville. I've never lived there; do any of you, gentle readers, know the area? Suggestions concerning good restaurants, early-music concertgoing opportunities, interesting areas to live near campus, etc., would be greatly appreciated.
And hey, bloggers of the greater Virginia/Maryland/D.C. area! I'm going to be in your neck of the woods, sort of! Anyone want to have lunch in D.C. sometime late this summer or thereafter, assuming I have time to schedule a weekend excursion?
There's still the big question of what happens after the fellowship year is up. But I hope to have more of an answer to that when the time comes. Right now, I'm enjoying a startlingly novel surge of optimism about my future. It's all a bit overwhelming, like I might float away if I'm not careful — but this week my feet are still firmly on the ground, because I have portfolios to grade.
Congratulations! It sounds like a very exciting prospect.
Posted by: qB | April 27, 2004 at 03:10 AM
Congratulations!!!
Posted by: Invisible Adjunct | April 27, 2004 at 08:50 AM
Oh! Congratulations! I'm very happy for you.
:-)
Posted by: Clancy | April 27, 2004 at 10:29 AM
Great news! I just finished grad school at UVa. Send me an email and I can tell you everything I know.
Posted by: Frolic (aka Todd) | April 27, 2004 at 10:51 AM
Well done!
Posted by: Claire | April 27, 2004 at 02:07 PM
Congratulations!!! It sounds fabulous :)
Posted by: ladygoat | April 27, 2004 at 02:26 PM
Congratulations! You sound positively elated and I am happy for you.
Posted by: Michelle | April 27, 2004 at 02:49 PM
Huzzah!
Posted by: Rana | April 27, 2004 at 07:55 PM
Hooray!
Posted by: dale | April 27, 2004 at 08:11 PM
That's fantastic! Congratulations. Actually Baltimore is a wonderful center for early music performance (e.g. The Baltimore Consort). Also check out what's going at Peabody.
Posted by: Jeannette | April 27, 2004 at 08:43 PM
Oh, hoorah!
Posted by: yami | April 28, 2004 at 03:30 PM
Yay!!!!!
Posted by: cindy | April 29, 2004 at 12:08 AM
Congrats!
Posted by: ben wolfson | April 29, 2004 at 10:13 AM
Mazel tov! That's wonderful news!
Posted by: Naomi Chana | April 30, 2004 at 11:51 AM