Utter failure and other stuff

So I started my new job in the research lab on Monday. This week has only emphasized the fact that I'm a complete failure (as much as Marc tries to convince me otherwise.) I've spent most of the week observing the grad students and my faculty mentor while trying to cram a whole molecular biology course in my head. I did successfully complete an ELISA test yesterday, but today I couldn't perform a simple metric conversion much to the amusement of the grad student, and I complete screwed up a plasmid recovery again much to the amusement of the grad student. He even gave me a copy of the gel photograph so that my failure can be captured for posterity. Sigh, I was warned that the first month of this program is going to be spent trying to figure out what's going on, the second month trying to get things to work, and the third month actually getting some data. And I can't even begin my project until my virus samples come in and right now they are being held hostage in Georgia somewhere. Oh well, at least they're paying me.