I was sitting in Humanities Class the other day when the professor started a random hate fest on science students. It basically went along the lines of how we are androids that don't understand art or emotion, and don't truly understand what's important in life because we're too busy grinding away at minutia in order to fill in a big fat hole in our souls that we don't even know exist. Scientists can't, or won't, lead well rounded lives because they are incapable of caring about anything but their work and will die sad and alone.
I immediately jumped up to declare what a close minded statement this was, and thanked Humanities Professor for perpetrating a stereotype that has kept women out of science for a century. I continued to applaud him for deepening the rift between the sciences and humanities and really getting into the spirit of a true liberal arts education, before storming out of the classroom in a whirlwind of Righteous Fury.
Of course I don't have the balls to actually do this. I basically just sat and sulked while students chimed in with their stories about all grind no fun science majors who don't really Understand the Truths of Life. It was miserable, and considering I'm still thinking of it 4 days later, I probably should have just hopped up and given him some sass.
Liberal Arts Education my Butt.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Snow Day!
I'm enjoying my first snow day of my entire short life. I would be much more excited about this, but it's been hailing outside for the last 4 hours and I almost BRAINED myself walking to lab, so I'm feeling a bit wary of the outdoor world. Better to sit in this windowless room and gazing lovingly at my bacteria :)
But it's days like this that I feel like I'm beginning to be a workaholic. As far as I know, my roommate is still curled up in bed. I was planning to do that as well, but I always hit this wall of insurmountable GUILT when I'm enjoying myself. Which makes me not enjoy myself, really, and want to go do work. I think guilt is really my main tool for getting things done, but is that really how it's supposed to work out? I thought I'm supposed to have some sort of huge pile of passion sitting around somewhere? Maybe that's naive.
Even with all that guilt fermenting in me, I'm definitely not working on anything worthwhile (i.e. that Big Poster for Big Conference in a month!) Apparently large amounts of guilt does not actually make you prioritize very well.
Hmmm... motivation is funny. I think I should probably become less work oriented and more results oriented. I'm done musing on silly things.
But it's days like this that I feel like I'm beginning to be a workaholic. As far as I know, my roommate is still curled up in bed. I was planning to do that as well, but I always hit this wall of insurmountable GUILT when I'm enjoying myself. Which makes me not enjoy myself, really, and want to go do work. I think guilt is really my main tool for getting things done, but is that really how it's supposed to work out? I thought I'm supposed to have some sort of huge pile of passion sitting around somewhere? Maybe that's naive.
Even with all that guilt fermenting in me, I'm definitely not working on anything worthwhile (i.e. that Big Poster for Big Conference in a month!) Apparently large amounts of guilt does not actually make you prioritize very well.
Hmmm... motivation is funny. I think I should probably become less work oriented and more results oriented. I'm done musing on silly things.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Dreams
I had two distinct dreams last night:
In one, I was standing outside my lab in the hallway, getting daggers thrown at me by some unknown people dressed in black. Every time I tried to dodge a dagger, I actually jumped into it's path. It was a painful experience.
In the other one, I was having a mini argument with my PI about whether I should shave off my mustache for Society Meeting that we're going to in a little over a month. She said I should shave it off. I said I don't have a mustache to shave. Which I don't. She insisted.
I'm sure I could do a great Freudian analysis of this, but I think I'm going to put it down to spending too much time in the lab over the last 3 weeks.
In other news, classes! I'm really getting into some interesting stuff this semester. The only drawback is that I have to take an English class, which looks really bad and will probably drain a lot of my energy. Oh well, that's the price you have to pay to learn how to write!
In one, I was standing outside my lab in the hallway, getting daggers thrown at me by some unknown people dressed in black. Every time I tried to dodge a dagger, I actually jumped into it's path. It was a painful experience.
In the other one, I was having a mini argument with my PI about whether I should shave off my mustache for Society Meeting that we're going to in a little over a month. She said I should shave it off. I said I don't have a mustache to shave. Which I don't. She insisted.
I'm sure I could do a great Freudian analysis of this, but I think I'm going to put it down to spending too much time in the lab over the last 3 weeks.
In other news, classes! I'm really getting into some interesting stuff this semester. The only drawback is that I have to take an English class, which looks really bad and will probably drain a lot of my energy. Oh well, that's the price you have to pay to learn how to write!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Saturday Afternoons
Saturday afternoon is the best time to spend in lab. You get the perfect amount of smugness at being a dedicated lab member, relaxation from not having the PI standing over your shoulder, and sense of accomplishment by restocking the media that has been depleted over the week.
You can do the dumbest little piece of work and feel great because you did it on a SATURDAY. You can listen to your iPod without being rude. You can spread out over an entire bench without battling it out with your neighbor.
It wouldn't normally feel this great, but since it's vacation and I have the luxury of time, I feel like I can pat myself on the back for using it productively. I recommend you all do the same (even you doctorate students. I know it's practically in the job description, but I guess you guys deserve a bit of love anyway. Just kidding. Everyone loves you dudes.)
That being said, err. Welcome to this blog! I plan to blog a bit about everything, but hopefully focus a lot on Science (with a capital S). I'm at a small institution right now so my lab and work is a bit different than one might expect from a science student elsewhere, meaning that there are no doctorate students in my lab and my largest class was 50 people. For Bio 101. Be jealous. So all that being said, I hope you enjoy some college and a lot of Science blogging, and follow me on my journey to becoming a full fledged Real Scientist.
You can do the dumbest little piece of work and feel great because you did it on a SATURDAY. You can listen to your iPod without being rude. You can spread out over an entire bench without battling it out with your neighbor.
It wouldn't normally feel this great, but since it's vacation and I have the luxury of time, I feel like I can pat myself on the back for using it productively. I recommend you all do the same (even you doctorate students. I know it's practically in the job description, but I guess you guys deserve a bit of love anyway. Just kidding. Everyone loves you dudes.)
That being said, err. Welcome to this blog! I plan to blog a bit about everything, but hopefully focus a lot on Science (with a capital S). I'm at a small institution right now so my lab and work is a bit different than one might expect from a science student elsewhere, meaning that there are no doctorate students in my lab and my largest class was 50 people. For Bio 101. Be jealous. So all that being said, I hope you enjoy some college and a lot of Science blogging, and follow me on my journey to becoming a full fledged Real Scientist.
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