Angry, spiteful, self-loathing post (you've been warned)

I was going to start writing about how this week has started sucking ass. Then I looked back over the past few blogs, and I realized that this is one of the same theme. I'm not even going to bother elaborating on how much I hate research, the lab, deadlines, blah blah blah. Just read the last few posts that pretty much sums it up.

Oh yeah, I've also decided that I hate summer, which is sad since it used to be my favorite time of year.

As long as i'm at it, I might as well make a list of the rest of the things i've grown to despise during the past 3 months:

-research
-incompetant people who prevent me from getting my paycheck on time
-mealy bugs
-being poor
-people with high pitched voices who flap their jaws at every possible moment without contributing a single intelligent comment
-large trucks/SUVs (especially the ones that try to run my cute fuel-efficient car off the road)
-my awkward growing out hair
-telemarketers + overpriced phone service forcing me to cancel my land line
-souless cosmetics corporations that put teratogens and carcinogens into everything that I've been slathering on my body for years
-the vast right wing conspiracy to destroy everything that is good about the world
-any pretty girl that is younger than me
-90% of the male population

I feel slightly better now, thanks for putting up with that outburst. I promise the next posting will be more cheerful.

Research, reports, and rivers

This week officially sucked. I was working 12-15 hour days at the lab to finish my project and get enough results to write my final report that is due on Monday. I had long standing plans to go to the Frio river with my old friends, but my project decided to go to hell and I couldn't go. So instead of fun in the sun, I got toil in front of a microscope and a computer writing this paper. To make matters worse, I made the mistake of letting someone else turn my time sheet in, the result being that I didn't get paid because they turned it into the wrong place. Now with rent and a hefty bill from my health insurance company being due on the first of August, I had a minor panic attack. The payroll lady must have noticed my striken appearance, because she talked to the program director and got me an emergency paycheck. Thank goodness, because I didn't want to have to borrow more money from mom again. I think I'm done wallowing in self-pity.

I also found out that the mysterious white spots on my container garden was a bad infestation of mealy bugs. I was unable to save my plants, but a combo of bleach and sevin dust got rid of the little sap sucking bastards. I'm keeping an eye out in case they return so I can catch them before they set up a massive breeding colony like they did on my previous garden. I also invested in some insect resistant plants like artemesia and santolina to keep bugs away.


I've been listening to Silversun Pickups. I like them, dark and moody, but not too heavy. Kind of a throw back to those good old grunge days. Sometimes I really miss the 90's.

Summer shouldn't have deadlines

I decided that I had put off writing my abstract for the research conference at LSU long enought, so after yoga tonight I sat my butt down and typed out all 1,678 characters of it and sent it to my mentor for proofreading. It's past my bedtime but now I'm feeling energized and fulfilled. I may not have any results and my experiment is going to hell, but I have one fine abstract. Sadly this is the most exciting event occurring in my life at the moment. The conference is less than a month away, looming steadily closer to the time when I'll stand up in front of hundreds of people and make a fool of myself. In reality all of us are feeling the same way as we helplessly watch our experiments fail before our eyes. Research is very frustrating to say the least. I'm glad that I figured it out now instead of after I tried to make a career out of it.

On a happier note, I made a cd for Marc of gloomy songs to brighten his day. I call it Disturbing Delights:
1. All That Remains - And Death In My Arms
2. Rasputina - Doomsday Averted
3. White Stripes - One More Cup Of Coffee
4. Joy Division - Disorder
5. Siouxsie and The Banshees - Eve White/Eve Black
6. Severed Heads - Chiens Annex
7. David Bowie - I'm Deranged
8. Mazzy Star - Ghost Highway
9. Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
10. P.J. Harvey - Down By The Water
11. Rasputina - Transylvanian Concubine
12. The Cure - Same Deep Water As You
13. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Scarecrow