4 years to get what?

My fellow labmates have started writing their thesis. This act in itself makes me extremely jealous, even though I know they have been here longer and have more data (well some have more others I am not quite sure how they are graduating or what exactly they are going to defend ...another blog another day). Hearing about the few pages they have typed I get motivated to start analyzing my data. I may have over a year left, but when they tell me I can go I want o be ready. I have done one particular assay over and over for the past four years I have been here, not all successfully, but needless to say repeated many many times. I decided I could pick a hand ful and analyze them and do some statistics on them. I included tests I know didn't work , but I thought ..it should all balance out in the end. NOPE. I have spent four years of my life doing an assay just to get overlapping error bars. How sad. I knew I wasn't saving the world and finding cures for cancer, but all this hard work for overlapping error bars. hmph. Just will please someone bring some meaning to me. I would like a menu where I can order meaning on a silver platter. WHY am I still here? I guess it is for hopes that one day I can do an assay and get error bars with some space in between them! Sad life I live .

Doctor Knows!

So today I went to the doctor to get a refill on my allergy prescription. I was speaking with the doctor (who is not my normal doctor) about if I had any questions about anything else I say no. She gets to talking and now somehow I was convinced that I need to have my blood drawn and titered for antibodies. I then proceed downstairs to the lab, the whole way trying to figure out how I agreed to have blood drawn right then. I get called into a office by some lady who looks like she has no neck because she has a PURDUE windbreaker zipped all the way up with the collar flipped up. She asks me to sit in the comfy recliner chair (At least they give a comfy chair you know). she taps one inside elbow murmurs know I don't like that. Then proceeds to the other ahhh much better she exclaims. "Make a fist. This won't hurt (Who is she kidding?) . Well it doesn't seem to want to bleed. OOPs there...well I don't like to dig so we'll try the other arm. " (Why is it we? I am not about this.) Finally the other arm bleeds enough for her and as she is drawing my blood she tries to make small talk....

"So any plans for the summer? "

"No not really just working in lab."

"Not taking any classes then"

"No" "I am a graduate student"

She replies " OH THEN YOU REALLY HAVE NO LIFE"


"nope" Embarassed with the fact that yes I am in graduate school. I am one of those idiots that signed up giving their lives away in hopes of contributing so much to society like a cure for cancer. HAH I was fooled. She goes on to say how someone tried to convince her to get her master's once. She wasn't fooled. I was fooled. I wanna be done. I wanna go to work everyday (9-5) normal people working people days not having to try to find places that give free food away to not go hungry. (speaking of which I can't understand how I have managed to gain 20 pounds while being a starving grad student...another blog.) well at least everyone in the real world recognizes that it is true I HAVE NO LIFE!!!