A ray of green in a lab overwhelmed by grey

May 28, 2009 By

By yesterday I reached my threshold for caca del toro (bullshit) at the lab, stopped at Taco Bell for dinner, and then knocked out while watching CSI on Spike.  I finished the Nacho Supreme, Beef and Potato Burrito, and a Cheesy Gordita Crunch, then got cold enough to curl up in the blanket lying on the couch.  Perhaps out of a fat induced coma, the next few hours were spent coming in and out of consciousness until heading up to my room to call it a night.  Taco Bell probably played a part in my drowsiness, but all the stress from the lab and pressure to finish graduate school essays probably deserve the real credit for tapping out so early.

The same thing happened to another co-worker last night.  She was out like a light and refused to wake up even after her fiancee begged her to take a shower before officially going to bed.  Her answer to his pleas was to continue sleeping fully dressed.  I can definitely relate.  It could be that we spent the entire day trying to coordinate 18 plates for nine PCR machines between the two of us, make enough gels for our plates, and then proceed to check those 18 plates on those gels.  Feel free to throw in a rude PCR machine nazi that feels the need to remind anyone even looking at a machine that she is signed up for it until after 2 pm, along with finding an overdraft fee hanging out in my checking account, and you get a very, very crabby Jessica.

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Filed Under: People, Personal, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Chicken and Tea help The Man go down.

February 6, 2009 By

There are days when nothing goes right, days when you wake up late and have to pedal your little heart out to work so your day ends at 4:00 and not at 4:05.  There are days when you find someone has left your light sensitive Big Dye plates in a brightly lit room, days when the one primer you need is the only one empty and the drawer containing the concentrated primer is frozen solid.  There are times when you can remember buying a breakfast taco but the moment it took to travel from the table to your mouth was hardly memorable.  The only proof there was any breakfast at all is the uncomfortable bloated feeling cutting off all circulation.  These are the times you struggle to not yell at the top of your lungs, “Why is there no hood?  Why can’t I find that DNA?  Where is my plate?  How long are you going to use that? TPS reports?  Why?!?”  Maybe I got a little carried away with the “TPS reports”-part courtesy of Office Space, but I swear that is what it feels like.

There are days when you arrive home at 4:10 instead of 4:05 despite your best efforts to blow that popsicle stand; there are days when you jump in the car at 4:11 to brave the throbbing metropolitan traffic only to discover your beloved debit card and all forms of identification are safe at home.  These are the times where you have to choose between backtracking through rush hour and buying the filet you’ve been salivating over all week or getting a couple pomegranates and using the rest of the cash in your wallet to do the necessary errands.  It’s not a fair trade by far, but life’s not fair.

I’m not sure how you overcome those days, but I cope by celebrating the small things that make me smile, events like 50¢ Boneless Wing Day or my green tea latte time.  I sit back thinking “Damn the MAN!” but then realize without “The Man” my 12 boneless buffalo wings doused in garlic-parmesan sauce or green tea latte with non-fat milk, no foam, and light syrup might not be possible or as easily accessible.  I may loathe spending 8 hours a day with Mr. Man, but I suppose I can momentarily put my feelings aside to make room for some chicken and tea.  Truce now.  Damning later.

Filed Under: Personal, Update Tagged With: , , , , , , ,