(no subject)
i'm working on my paper for the millionth day. when i got the last draft back from gary he had deleted two important, kind of fundamental points. now my plan is to get it completely done before he gets to "edit" it again. sheesh!
of course i'm writing in here to procrastinate. i'm taking two seminars this semester, and it's kind of kicking my ass. way too many papers for one week! it's great to be on campus. being up at the lab is 200X isolating and 100X no fun, especially now that we can't eat at our desks. who knew they could make working up there feel more like a forced labor camp! way to go. i feel really safe now. and thanks for the 2 hour course in how to use a fire extinguisher. looking forward to the courses on how to dial 911 and the proper government procedure for opening a door and why it's safer to keep your shoes tied and any other micromanaging BS you all will be requiring next!
anyway, one of the classes is about transcriptional regulation in stem cells and the other is about gene regulation during development, both of which relate directly to my work. the professor teaching the development one is just about the most charismatic science guy ever. not saying much? maybs. he was consulted for the new evolution sims game, spore. last class he told this whole story about attending a science conference held in a former nazi palace (he's jewish, so it was that much more disturbing) where his roommate had such terrible foot odor that you could see it rising off his feet and snored so loudly that he got no sleep at all and spent the whole time being haunted by nazi ghosts and stinky feet - but in the end he gave the best talk of his life. i wish he'd just tell us stories the whole time!
before class i was telling steph that i was being buried under practical disasters like my car being in the shop for two weeks and my kitchen being torn apart, and he said, "and it just gets worse! you're young. while you still have time, pick a few things and do them to excess! hopefully one of them is science!" i think i've already done that, but it's nice to be reminded. my response? i spent the whole weekend excessively goofing off, but now i will get back to doing science!
OH, i have a new collaboration, and the guy already has the flies i need, so i actually have lab work to do. it has been months and months, and possibly years, so YAY for that. let's hope it's interesting.
i have to develop a protocol, but i'm sure i can get it to work. last week the lab went out to lunch at Bibi was saying that she thought it was impressive that i had done so much in my grad career and all of it independently. it made me feel better because sometimes recently i think i haven't done enough. i need to graduate soon, and i don't know if i will have produced the kind of results i had hoped for. it takes SO MUCH TIME to do everything, especially writing. i spent a whole day finding and reformatting data for other people last week, and i'm not even done with that. it's all so invisible.
today i'm working at home, waiting for a package with exciting clothing items. the repair dudes just came by. then the lady called about fixing my car. must keep my head above the lapping waves of the mundane! i'm trying to do excessive science, but the only thing i'm truly managing to do in excess is procrastinate.
i want to be inspired by something. now. maybe cookies will help.