Touching Base
If I didn't have subgroup later this morning, would I still be here? I've been on autopilot for the past few hours... I don't know how I haven't blown up something yet.
Things have been going pretty good lately. I was much more involved with the second visit weekend, and I met some really nice perspectives who I'd like to see come to Stanford. And on Friday night there was a grad student formal. I did not go with another man but I did have two beautiful dates to dance with. It was really weird though. I mentioned to a friend that it felt just like high school, but he pointed out that we were standing in line for hard liquor from the formal's open bar. Also, I bought a ticket the day of and wore a hodge-podge of clothing that amounted to me being noticeably under-dressed. But isn't that what grad school's about? Doing a half-ass job? (doo doo doo...)
I haven't really been in touch with the outside world lately, and it's debatable whether I know anything about what I'm doing in lab either. And as I continue thinking about it, the same goes for classes I'm taking and the one I'm TAing. The first year of grad school seems to be less about doing a good job and more about just not giving up. In a way I dread the first time I go home, because it's a glimpse of a somewhat normal life (similar to my brief dinner with quirkyfemme last night).
Edit (Post Subgroup) Wow... that was probably the most painful subgroup I've had so far. Basically I stayed in lab all night to get crappy results, but at least they were results. I'm also doing an experiment where I compare data plots at different times to see if a compound is decomposing in water... I took the last plot before going home to drop off my car (because I don't have a permit) without comparing it to the other plots. I got back just in time to go to my meeting, so I couldn't compare them. My advisor then asked me if I had seen any change over the past few hours. I said no, and when I handed him the plots, there it was, a huge shoulder growing on the side of my peaks. What could I have possibly said to cover my ass? *sigh* He also found out I didn't know a mechanism to one of my reactions, and got onto me about certain techniques I should be using. It's all for the better, but it's not fun in the meantime. But at least I know if I hadn't worked last night, it would have been really ugly.
Things have been going pretty good lately. I was much more involved with the second visit weekend, and I met some really nice perspectives who I'd like to see come to Stanford. And on Friday night there was a grad student formal. I did not go with another man but I did have two beautiful dates to dance with. It was really weird though. I mentioned to a friend that it felt just like high school, but he pointed out that we were standing in line for hard liquor from the formal's open bar. Also, I bought a ticket the day of and wore a hodge-podge of clothing that amounted to me being noticeably under-dressed. But isn't that what grad school's about? Doing a half-ass job? (doo doo doo...)
I haven't really been in touch with the outside world lately, and it's debatable whether I know anything about what I'm doing in lab either. And as I continue thinking about it, the same goes for classes I'm taking and the one I'm TAing. The first year of grad school seems to be less about doing a good job and more about just not giving up. In a way I dread the first time I go home, because it's a glimpse of a somewhat normal life (similar to my brief dinner with quirkyfemme last night).
Edit (Post Subgroup) Wow... that was probably the most painful subgroup I've had so far. Basically I stayed in lab all night to get crappy results, but at least they were results. I'm also doing an experiment where I compare data plots at different times to see if a compound is decomposing in water... I took the last plot before going home to drop off my car (because I don't have a permit) without comparing it to the other plots. I got back just in time to go to my meeting, so I couldn't compare them. My advisor then asked me if I had seen any change over the past few hours. I said no, and when I handed him the plots, there it was, a huge shoulder growing on the side of my peaks. What could I have possibly said to cover my ass? *sigh* He also found out I didn't know a mechanism to one of my reactions, and got onto me about certain techniques I should be using. It's all for the better, but it's not fun in the meantime. But at least I know if I hadn't worked last night, it would have been really ugly.