Money for something...

Last blog I was weighing the choices between two job offers: good project/unsure work environment vs. ok project/good work environment. The interview of option A left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Just soooo many red flags with the project and people. This made option B much more likable before the interview, but I was hesitant still as to what project was available. After two hours of chatting with the head advisor about option B, the projects (yes, plural) were upgraded from "ok" to "wow, this is really cool". Also, it was probably the most honest interview I've ever done. We were frank, we were direct, and we joked. I know that some folks like to keep things professional with their boss, but honestly, I'd rather have a good professional AND personal rapport with my advisor. The former is essential as their reference letter follows you for the rest of your life. The latter helps those long long hours in the lab. Really, would you want to work in any environment that the head boss doesn't even respect your input/dedication? I'm not interested in my boss being a close friend (that is kinda creepy), but I do want mutual respect and overall someone that I don't feel I need to avoid because of the odd-chance that he/she might bite my head off for no apparent reason.

So bottom line: I'm employed! With options even! I start in July in the new lab (which is just a few doors down the hall) as a casual employee until the end of August. This period is a trial time to learn the lab, the projects, and ultimately decide whether I'll be a lab tech for a year or sign-on as a post-doc for 2 years. It's nice having options within a job itself.

Other ramblings, I'm hearing groans from the majority of my Californian friends. So surprisingly (cough, cough - sarcasm, sarcasm) the top court upheld the vote decision on proposition 8. I know that it's against the Christian teaching, but honestly, I believe equal rights for all. The world isn't going to end just because lil' Timmy or Sally has two moms or two dads. But I guess the residents of California were only ready to take the step forward with electing a black president. Apparently electing a black president AND letting gays marry - well someone has to draw the line SOMEWHERE! (the link is a nod to Char and our inside jokes) The good news, I guess, is that all who were married before this final outcome are able remain in wed-lock. Just new same-sex couples aren't allowed to marry in California. Yeah, right, sure, make perfect sense. Only in America...

Other things, personal note, I'm heading back to my stomping grounds this weekend. The trip is on a somewhat somber note as the real reason for the trip is to attend a memorial service for a close family friend. But overall, I'm glad to have the time spend it with family.

Since I have a job a lil' retro and Dire Straits for all.

The road less traveled?

So some interesting developments in the past 72 hours: two interviews this week, both in science, both in microbiology, both in my current city. Sounds perfect right? Well, let's not put the cart before the donkey. They are interviews, not offers, so there's still that hurdle. But it's given me much food for thought (oooh I'm cliche galore today). One is with a lab familiar to me, I like the advisor, I like the lab, and the research is totally what I'm trained for, but it's not *exactly* what I want to do. The other, I'm not so sure of the advisor, I'm not so sure of the lab, the area is totally brand new to me (which can be both good and bad things: good being that I learn new techniques, bad being I'm totally clueless of what I'm doing in the first 6 months), but it's a post-doc position and I'm kinda keen on learning the ropes in this field.

I've worked in 4 labs so far in my lifetime and experienced the good, the bad, and the very ugly aspects. No lab is a nirvana, though I swear in some labs I see sunshine, rainbows, pastoral fields, and lil' bunny rabbits hopping happily about, it's like nothing goes wrong! Then again, I might just shoot myself more readily in a happy-go lucky lab - too much sweetness can be just as deadly. But on the flip side, some labs can be pure hell.

As a scientist, you're supposed to go for the project, as that is the number one driving force of your work. I don't begrudge any of my projects, each in its own I have found rewarding. But I've found that projects alone doesn't make your job blissful. The work environment (the people, the place, the funding) are essential ingredients as well.

So my choices are: good project/unsure work environment vs. ok project/good work environment. That's my first assessment going into these interviews. That outlook might change by Wednesday when everything's said n' done. Plus again the little issue whether the offers are there. So stay tuned... more to come on this soon.

Other things, I had a great weekend. Supper with a good friend on Friday. A brilliant bellydance recital on Saturday (followed by drunken singing in an Irish pub), and ball hockey on Sunday with aftermath drinks with the team. Busy-bee I was! Bigger woot as I did no work. I'm kinda getting used to this idea of weekends! Later this week I'm off to my stomping grounds for a few days. It'll be nice to spend time with the family and see some old friends. To start the week, some Tracy Chapman for everyone. She's on my short list of people who I want to see perform in person. "Mountain O' Things" has always been one of my top favourites of hers. Laterz folks.

If I only were a Goth...

I think I've developed an addiction: coffee shops. Of the past 4 months I've frequented a total of 5 different coffee shops to write the thesis. But with the tome finally handed in, I've been missing my cozy cafe corners. Literally. Most seats I've taken were next to a wall to plug the laptop for 8 hours of pure powah. So here I am. Back in a coffee shop. This time instead of making tables or writing why I believe this data means that, I'm writing up cover letters for more job applications.

It's been stressful of late. Oh wait, clarify: it's been stressful personally not JUST academically! It's been nagging my mind constantly, but I figured deal with the thesis first, then focus on job hunting full time. The irony is that with the current recession everyone is recommending that you go to grad school. Of course I've never been one to follow the trends. As you already know I have been applying for jobs for the past 8 months now. Only two nibbles of interviews, but both I was passed over. I've been trying to keep things positive, but with the looming unemployment status and the need keep a roof over my head, my nerves are getting frayed. Something will come. I know that. Just I'd rather have it much sooner than later. Anyways, I keep casting a wide net. If things get too bleak I might be doing MORE in a coffee shop other than typing.

Other things... I'll give a few Mad Beaker awards to some websites that deserve some kudos. First, I'm a long time fan of Katy Towell and Childrin R Skary. Her art and mentality are just brill. My fave movie is "When Genevieve Ruled the World" Char knows one reason why I chuckle to this one so. You may wonder, with a lot of other folks, if I am a closeted goth. I'm sure my fellow gothic friends would shout, "Hell no!" with much affection. This is also obvious during the moments when I'm standing in a goth store (yes, they do exist) in which I stick out like a sore vanilla thumb. I think the main reason would be that I go easy on the eyeshadow. But truth be told, I enjoy the dark humour, very dark. Katy's childrin are portrayals of my mind state often, just misunderstood souls with a dash of arsenic. Yes, do try my cookiez...

Another Mad Beaker to my good friends Matt and Roz with their geek blog/forum/franchise: Squirrels of Doom. This is a good dose of the geekiness to my personality. WoW, Joss Whedon, Star Trek, comics, zombie/horror/B-side flicks (though Matt, Roz... why no mention of MST3K?). The "Squirrels of Doom" title isn't some catch phrase coined during some offbeat convo (on second thought... yeah, I can see this the true story of SoD), it's actually part of the title of their movie script. I have a personal revelation with this script. One evening in the "luuuub", I went to print something off the communal lab printer. I plugged the printer cord into my trusty laptop, hit the print button, and suddenly pages upon pages start printing off of some script called "Squirrels of Doom". I'm alone in the lab, it's night, and wondering how did my three graphs turn into this now prophecy of killer mutant squirrels (cue twilight zone theme). Of course there's always a "scientific" explanation to these events, turns out that the script was just in the spool as my co-labrat Dawn was previously trying to print (she's in the cast as a sexy scientist who meets an undesirable end). Anyways, I'm anxiously awaiting the first episode or even maybe a trailer... yes Matt n Roz: TRAILER! Tease the geeks!

Alrighty, enough ramblings for today, moar cover letters to write on why they should hire me without sounding desperate. Musicwise... since I've been talking about my demented gothic humour, it made me think of Voltaire (no, not THAT Voltaire... this Voltaire!) and "If I only were a Goth". Enjoy folks!

All I ask is for a tall ship and stars to steer her by...

So after that rollercoaster week (thesis in YAY!! car vandalized GAK!!), I decided to end things on a more upbeat note and take in Star Trek on Friday afternoon. The bonus point was that the theater was FINALLY showing it with Rear Window Captioning so I could get ALL the dialogue and not just parts of it. It's true that all movies at ALL times should have this feature. But like everything else I learn with having a disability, change takes time.

Anyways, Star Trek. I confess that I'm a closeted Trekker. I've attended conventions AND thoroughly enjoyed myself (no, I didn't dress up, I'm not THAT a fanatic). I own 3 complete series and all the movies (whether I like them or not, seriously... ST5? It's just there to fill the gap between Voyage Home and Undiscovered Country). My closet houses a toy tricorder and phaser. And give me a quote and I'll give you the series, episode, who said it, to whom, and the importance of it (if any).

So I'm well vested in the Star Trek universe and was happy to hear that JJ Abrams was heading up the latest installment. I like JJ, he has a good vision as a writer and a director. Although I never was able to get into the series LOST, I was an avid fan of Alias. But I did hear that the 11th movie steers away from the Star Trek Universe canon, which I was weary of. Indeed while watching the film today, it profoundly changed the history of Star Trek. But the writers did make a loop hole that can explain things to satisfy the die-hard Trekker like me. However I WAS left wondering, is this movie a TRUE prequel? Hmmm huh? Oooh I can just FEEL this topic being debated upon in a few fan forums.


Aside from that quip of continuity, my gawd did I have fun with this show. The actors got the characters down to a science (pardon the pun). DeForrest would've been proud of Karl Urban. And I was LMFAO with Chekov and Scotty. I'm happy with this one, it breathes new life into the Star Trek franchise and that always means that more is to come. I give this flick 5 mad beakers out of 5 for entertaining me so. But truth be told, I'm still waiting for a DS9 story. They left too many questions unanswered from that series. Yeah, I know it wasn't a fave series of them all, so the probability of seeing a DS9 flick will be nil (man, I'm sounding like Spock).

Other news: on the license front, my car now sport a shiny new plate. Snaps to my mom for being a dear and promptly sending me out a replacement plate. This weekend is the May long weekend in Canada. And oddly enough, I'm going to take the full three days off. Strange but true. I think the past 6 years of hell and even the past 6 months of writing hell warrants a three day week-end... don't you?

Pressing print!

So I know I haven't been updating here for a few days... but you know the reason! As predicted, my deadline was extended til Monday. And boy did I need those two extra days! But yes folks! I hit the print button today! Took me 8 hours to put together the copies for the internal reviewers, but hey, today was a good day. The things clocked in at 299 pages, longest thing I've ever written in one sitting. Now it's in the hands of the examiners and the defense day (note... d-day) is set for June 12th. Another hurdle cleared today, just one more left to go.

Now what?

I'm not going to go into my life plans here, there's too many uncertainties as it is. But tomorrow I'm going to take the day, the ENTIRE day, to myself. Go for a walk, lounge in a bookstore, maybe pop into a good museum, stop to smell the flowers, take in some recreation with absolutely no guilt. Mmmmm, nice change! Oh oh.. a movie probably too tomorrow, hmmm Wolvie or Star Trek, tough call!. It's a celebratory week for me. So I'll keep you updated on those activities.

Music... the thesis is finally on its way! And so am I. Made me think of The Proclaimers. Now off to bed for a some REAL sleep.

Dealing with deadlines... kinda

It's funny how some sentences just stick in your head. Technically this thesis is due this Friday, but I'm thinking that no one will see the final version until Monday. Two more days can mean all the difference in the world!

While I'm in the midst of this madness, I am remembering a line told from a fellow high school student at my International Baccalaureate graduation. She was giving one of her valedictorian speech (she gave various, this girl had like a 99.89% average) and what stuck me was that from this seemingly perfect academic, she showed that she was still human afterall. She was talking about the course load, the long nights, the gut wrenching exams, and then, "we learned about meeting deadlines... kinda." Of course it was meant as a joke, but that line has always stayed with me. When you're working on a deadline, you feel utterly alone and that the entire weight of the world is on your shoulders. Not meeting a deadline is a horrid feeling. But since that speech, that one line, I realized that even 99.89% avg students also can't meet all deadlines (though it's probably only 0.11% of the time with this girl).

In my ear, an old one (and often looked over) from Savage Garden, "Violet". Why I like it? The catchy beat for starters. And like the voices inside my head, there's "the disco inside your head". It may not be always "disco", but there's definitely a beat in my brain.

Tick... tick... tick...

Alright, off to write something brill this hour... kinda.

Finish line in sight!

Alrighty folks, this is the week! Thesis revisions aren't going smoothly as I'd like and there's a lil minor detail that I'm going to need to fetch a signature out of province to get this thing off the ground. You know when it's truly time to finish your degree when your committee members start to retire or run away. Which is this case for me. One is on sabbatical and won't be back for the defense (no hard feelings, she definitely deserves this break!). The other one has migrated to greener pastures and moved to his retirement home. But because he's a great guy (really, he's been a wonderful committee advisor), he's coming back in June JUST for my defense. Awwww... how sweet. But that still doesn't solve the small dilemma on how I'm supposed to reach a secluded town in rural BC. Oh well, I've been able to pull off other miracles in the past...

Hockey still sucks for me. I can't get a break and my team is 0-3 so far in the season. Today, the team we faced were literally bitches. It's not often that I get angry. In fact as a goalie you have to maintain your cool the most. But today I almost hauled off and hit someone - like, manslaughter slash. Sure there's a crowd in my crease, I deal with it. But if I've trapped the ball and the whistle is blown, there's no legitimate excuse to either A) slash my legs, B) slash my head, C) charge and run into me well after the tweet, or D) push me further down in hopes that the ball will come loose. Today I had all four things happen with 10 minutes of play. My D-wings commented that smoke was coming from my nostrils. After a nice "chat" with the ref and a major penalty against them, the other team didn't touch me. Tsk tsk, don't they know the goalie shouldn't be touched... ESPECIALLY a goalie who is writing a thesis? That's like whacking a hornet's nest in an isolation room with a hungry tiger pacing about.

In my ear, (don't worry Char, no moar Ting Tings!) the incredible Brit artist, Joan Armatrading. I love her guitar chords, bittersweet voice, and slow love lyrics. Countless other female singers over the years have done renditions of most of her songs. Here's my ultimate fave, "Weakness in Me".

Back to sorting through data lists for me...

my MILFs...

My SoCal friend Kelly MSNd me today about possibly going to see the new release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine... for shame that she tempt me with that! There's a thesis to be written! :P

Already known to this blog, I am an avid graphic novel fan. But, I'm even MORE a fan of Wolverine, especially Wolvie played by Hugh Jackman. At some point of time, the stars magically aligned to convince movie execs to cast Hugh as Wolverine. Yes, the X-men movies don't really follow the actual comics, but I think it's now accepted among the fanboys to never expect continuity between what's written/drawn on the page and what appears on the silver screen. I just enjoy the stories on the films and cheer whenever there's a homage scene (in which I am always among the minority in the theater that cheers when this happens).

Anyways, Hugh... Wolvie... these are my MILFs. I know MILF really stands for "Moms I'd Like to Fuck", but in my book the M stands for "Men" (I could go with GILFs, "Guys" but that's also taken with "Grannys", yes, I know, we live in a demented world). In fact, I going to start listing them from now one whenever pops up, thus the MILF tag is born. I can't think of a nicer specimen of male to start off this new MILF tag list than Hugh. He plays a brilliant Wolvie (among many other roles) and is very easy on the eyes. Plus, Hugh has the Aussie accent that always makes me swoon. He sings n' dances, hosts the Tonys too! Hell, I'd probably be impressed to the fact he could chew gum and walk at the same time. I know he's married, lucky girl she is. And it's just a harmless crush. As for Wolverine, I really like this tormented character. Natch "he's the best at what he does" (I could sooooo read into that), but I enjoy the complexity, humour, and overall RAWR factor. But then again, any woman Wolvie loves meets an undesirable end, so I'd keep that affair under wraps.

So dear Kelly and anyone going to see the flick: enjoy! It's on my very long list of things to do when the thesis is handed in. Speaking of which, I should get back to thesis. God, I'm going to enjoy blogging without having to talk about thesis. Soon folks, soon...

In my ear: The Ting Tings, "Shut Up and Let Me Go". Good weekend to you all!