Never get emotionally involved with your work.
I've thought about one particular problem for far too long, and now there is too much momentum to stop .. and when I say a problem, I mean a problem. It's a mathematical statement, pure and simple.
I can't tell whether it's true or false.
When I try to prove it, I run into technical difficulties. If you know a little metric topology, the issue involves a lack of control on the diameter of a particular sequence of metric balls. If this is ever settled, then the proof is done.
I can't construct the right counterexample, either. The first things one tries, they don't work. Radial functions f(x) = x * F(|x|)/|x| don't work when F is a power function, and more complicated functions are too complicated and inconclusive.
I still think it's true.
I'm close .. but my estimates are crap, and there's still no proof.
This may as well be a matter of faith. The statement could be false, and maybe I'm missing something.
F*ck. I should leave this alone.
This statement came to mind when I was trying to prove something else, and I don't need this result to continue my research. I should be doing something more productive .. say, working on my Calc II lesson plans or preparing a grading sheet for another week's worth of Team Homeworks ..
.. nnnaaaargh. Gah. Bleah.
I don't want to think about that .. at least not now.
I should get back to work. Tomorrow's another meeting with my advisor, and there is plenty I want to talk about .. that is, if I ever have it ready.
The other aspects of my life are unimportant right now. They may as well be nonexistent, and if I ever stop again and think too hard about my life, I might become depressed again. Then I'd never get any work done.
Soldier on, then. All I need are rock music, calories and fluids, good paper and pens, and a good dose of luck. That's all I ask.
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