What am I doing right now?

This is the accretionary wedge question of the month. It relates to our jobs as professional geoscientists. However, geologists are humans too. And we have all the complications and work-life interactions that constrain other humans. So right now, the answer to this question is very simple:

I am on paternity leave. I've put my isotopic ratios and crystal chemistry aside for now, to care for LLLL-Y, a little man who is about 10¹⁰ times younger than your average zircon. This involves changing nappies, settling, and generally attending to any extraneous needs of his that don't require boobs. When I'm not doing that, LLLL-X still requires all the love and attention that she took for granted three weeks ago.

The zircons have been sitting around dutifully trapping the daughter products of actinide decay for hundreds of millions of years. They can wait until next week.