Restless Autumn Nights...
So I'm having some trouble sleeping. It is the strangest thing. I feel like I'm wasting time by trying to sleep...but it's 2:30 in the morning. Is it because I have a lot of stuff to do? Maybe, but that's the norm so it doesn't fly here. Maybe I feel like I didn't do enough today. I suppose that's reasonable. I could always have done more.
My research for instance. Today I finally got some positive results, and planned to move on to another experiment. However, I forgot (the theme of my day) that that particular experiment required a few hours of prep-work. Culmination? Got very little done in the lab today. Balls.
I slacked off reading a few weeks ago. This summer was like a golden wind of books for me. Then "A Feast for Crows," and everything seemed pitiful in comparison. I bide my time, read a few small things, then "The Deathly Hallows." Everything is pitiful again (I still don't know why I enjoyed it so much, but who cares?).
Right now I'm reading the 7th and final book in the Crown of Stars series...entitled "Crown of Stars." Very creative. I really enjoyed the series up to book five, but now it's dragging on way too much. I don't feel connected with the characters and events anymore. It could be because it's been a while since I read the last one, but I think it's because I find the writing to be inferior now. There are multiple series I have dropped and picked back up without forgetting characters and events, so why this one? Maybe it just isn't my cup of tea anymore.
The graduate school applications drag on as well. Mostly because finding hours to devote to them is a bitch, partly because they are rather intimidating. I would be overjoyed to get into any of the schools on my list, but there is doubt. Are my grades good enough? Hell yes. GRE score? 1370, not bad. Have I been more than a student and gotten involved? Again, hell yes, but grad. schools don't care about that one so much. What about my research? Aye, there's the rub...not published. It isn't required, just highly encouraged. It hasn't been a smooth ride with my research. I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to ask my professor for a letter of recommendation because let's face it...I haven't given her a lot of results.That's what I get for not spending more time in the lab. Bah!
So where is this going? Well, straight to the bank. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to apply to graduate school? $15 per school for GRE scores (x8 schools). Then $50-90 per application (say $65 average). So that's $640. I should have applied to fewer schools, but I would like to cover my ass so there goes my money.
I have finally decided on a profession...Microbiology. Yes, my love affair with viruses cannot be denied. Biochemistry and all the rest be damned, all I'm really interested in are viruses and bacteriophages.
Where will that lead me, you ask? Not a clue. Hopefully, not to academia. There are enough drug and biotech companies out there working with viral vectors and capsids that I should be able to find a real job. It would be nice to work somewhere like OMRF (Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation). Basically you work and are privately funded (lots of money, application oriented research), but you get grad. students and can teach at OU (mostly health sciences center). What a sweet deal. I'm sure these places exist elsewhere. Thank you Military-Academic-Industrial Complex!
Right, I would like to write more, but I don't have anything to say. Umm, Triangle rules but is a headache.
wyrdtimes is amazing.
particleman149 is an inferior chemist than I. Robert Jordan is dead (WWWHHHYYYY!!!!!????).
Happy Thanksgiving!
My research for instance. Today I finally got some positive results, and planned to move on to another experiment. However, I forgot (the theme of my day) that that particular experiment required a few hours of prep-work. Culmination? Got very little done in the lab today. Balls.
I slacked off reading a few weeks ago. This summer was like a golden wind of books for me. Then "A Feast for Crows," and everything seemed pitiful in comparison. I bide my time, read a few small things, then "The Deathly Hallows." Everything is pitiful again (I still don't know why I enjoyed it so much, but who cares?).
Right now I'm reading the 7th and final book in the Crown of Stars series...entitled "Crown of Stars." Very creative. I really enjoyed the series up to book five, but now it's dragging on way too much. I don't feel connected with the characters and events anymore. It could be because it's been a while since I read the last one, but I think it's because I find the writing to be inferior now. There are multiple series I have dropped and picked back up without forgetting characters and events, so why this one? Maybe it just isn't my cup of tea anymore.
The graduate school applications drag on as well. Mostly because finding hours to devote to them is a bitch, partly because they are rather intimidating. I would be overjoyed to get into any of the schools on my list, but there is doubt. Are my grades good enough? Hell yes. GRE score? 1370, not bad. Have I been more than a student and gotten involved? Again, hell yes, but grad. schools don't care about that one so much. What about my research? Aye, there's the rub...not published. It isn't required, just highly encouraged. It hasn't been a smooth ride with my research. I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to ask my professor for a letter of recommendation because let's face it...I haven't given her a lot of results.That's what I get for not spending more time in the lab. Bah!
So where is this going? Well, straight to the bank. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to apply to graduate school? $15 per school for GRE scores (x8 schools). Then $50-90 per application (say $65 average). So that's $640. I should have applied to fewer schools, but I would like to cover my ass so there goes my money.
I have finally decided on a profession...Microbiology. Yes, my love affair with viruses cannot be denied. Biochemistry and all the rest be damned, all I'm really interested in are viruses and bacteriophages.
Where will that lead me, you ask? Not a clue. Hopefully, not to academia. There are enough drug and biotech companies out there working with viral vectors and capsids that I should be able to find a real job. It would be nice to work somewhere like OMRF (Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation). Basically you work and are privately funded (lots of money, application oriented research), but you get grad. students and can teach at OU (mostly health sciences center). What a sweet deal. I'm sure these places exist elsewhere. Thank you Military-Academic-Industrial Complex!
Right, I would like to write more, but I don't have anything to say. Umm, Triangle rules but is a headache.
wyrdtimes is amazing.
particleman149 is an inferior chemist than I. Robert Jordan is dead (WWWHHHYYYY!!!!!????).
Happy Thanksgiving!