Sometimes I don't feel the same way as you feel

Wow. This is the seventh (or eighth?) post that I've submitted today.

Everyone can stop complaining that I don't blog enough.

This is just a little something weird my mum said.

"Is that why you've been so happy since Easter?"

We were discussing Sean's brother.

The married one (yes, you).

She had, somehow, gotten it into her head that I'd managed to pick up this married man, who is currently residing in America.

Good work.

Living on the Moon

OH WHAT THE HELL?

My day just got weirder. But it starts last night.

I went to my cousin’s wedding (the first I’d ever been to actually) and it was a nice little affair, even if none of the groomsmen or bridesmaids stayed quiet throughout the service. Besides the point.

Then there’s the reception and speeches which are all lovely dovey making me feel all sad and alone.

I’m pretty miserable by the time I get home.

What do I do to cheer myself up? Go to a rock show.

The Sparrows are at the Espy at midnight.

It’s ten o’clock. I go anyway.

I’ve not been out much lately so I had to check the melways to remember how to get to the Espy and I do make it there as a band are setting up. I perch against a post and watch them play.

They’re incredible. I’m instantly cheered up. They mention tonight they’re launching a single, and to come talk to them if you want one.

Now, I’m quite a shy person but I want a copy of the CD, so eventually manage to work up the courage to chat to this brilliant, brilliant guitarist who is named Michael. We talk a bit, I ask him for a CD. We chat a bit more and asks “So, you liked it, did you?” Well…I’m buying the CD…

He introduces me to Paul, the bass player. And the singer, Johnny. And one of their friends/roadies/manager who eventually rocks up with the CD. The band, it turns out, is called “Magneto.”

I keep talking to Paul as the next band starts playing (The New Electric – also fantastic, a bit weird but brilliant) and he shows me the bassist from the Fauves with whom I exchange a funny face and a wave as he’s smoking and can’t shake my hand. He also introduces me to Andy.

Andy is the one on the right.

We all talk a bit, they decide to leave, I watch the rest of the Sparrows set and chat to the singer for a little bit (we know each other vaguely).

I wander off home with a copy of the Sparrows EP for Sarah (I’ll get another for me later) and go to sleep in a great mood.
Today. (Saturday)

I have lunch with Sarah and the others. She loves her CD and is wowed by the night I had last night.

She breaks my heart a little because she’s going to start doing a med degree mid year and may just be dropping out of honours.

But let’s not think about that for now.

I go home and look at my Magneto CD. I read the names of the guys I had spoke to (and the sole member I didn’t) and stopped on the guy I’d spent the most time with. Paul Inglis.

It sounds so familiar to me. And he was talking about some other band he’s a member in. So just now, I’ve googled it.

Prettymess.

That’s the other band he’s in. Another band I’ve seen support the Sparrows. Another band I fell in love with almost instantly.

Wow, what a fucking night that turned out to be.

(For anyone who isn’t aware of it – I do really, really love the Living End as well)

In your honour - Week Eight

Monday
Well, this is Jesus Zombie Holiday so I had today off. Nice.

Tuesday
I’m supposed to have today off as well, but Alex told me I had to clear the adults from my fly vial so I did that. I also checked for more little microinjection survivors and I found a single one. Yay.

I then sat around trying to do my essay, which was hard given it’s a literature review and I left all my literature at home. Whoops.

Wasn’t too much of a problem as Lee decided he didn’t want to do any work and spent about two hours chatting to me over the course of the day.

Fly count: One vial at the department + a bunch of transgenic larvae in my lab

Wednesday
Today I rocked up late as I slept in, and had to go get all the literature I left at home off my Mother (I slept in Hoppers Crossing you see).

I eventually get to the office and tap tap tap tap tap tap tap etc on my stupid essay.

Wander around getting photocopies for my stupid essay, and reading articles to talk about in my stupid essay (I think you may get the point).

After lunch Alex starts the microinjection again and I help out a little while I can before having to run off to the “Post grad talks.” I had no idea what they were until I got there.

They won’t be the same every month, but this time they had the distinct taste of an Applied Pests meeting. Because all the students talking were from the lab that enjoy dominating us at the stupid CESAR group meetings.

I can’t help it with all of these meetings and presentations and whatever that I’m always attending. I’m constantly reminded of a line from a Harry Potter novel of all things “ ‘Always the same,’ said Mr Weasley, smiling, ‘we can’t resist showing off when we get together.’ ”

Fly count: One vial at the department, a few microinjection survivors now also at the department and however many embryos survived Alex’s good mood this afternoon.

Thursday
Erm.

I worked on my essay.

Fly count: One vial at the department, a few microinjection survivors now also at the department and so far about 20 survivors from Alex yesterday.

Friday
Photocopied stuff for essay. Sat down to write my essay.

Had a supervisor meeting for the first time in quite a while, in which we discussed my essay (and other things).

Had pub lunch and then left to go to my cousins wedding. More on that episode later…

Fly count: One vial at the department, a few microinjection survivors now also at the department and maybe more than 20 survivors (I left before Alex checked them).

Saturday
My first weekend stint. I picked up fly food and put cotton wool in the tops of the vials.

I also collected my first virgin.

Fly count: One vial at the department, a few microinjection survivors now also at the department, Alex’s survivors and a sole transgenic adult. =)

In Your Honour - Week Seven

Monday
Today I became so sick of not being able to reference my essay that I made a phD student who enjoys wasting time sit down me and the hons guys and show us how to use a program called Endnote.

That proved useful.

Fly count:zilch. Please note the new fly count. These will refer to fruit flies, as they’re the only ones I deal with while they’re alive more or less. Any blow flies I get are generally crushed, frozen or dissected immediately.

Tuesday
I went to the doctor again about chronic fatigue. I’m perfectly healthy. I hate it when they say that. Why do I feel so crap then?

She gave me a vitamin shot though. Then I sat through a bunch of meetings (I did miss one though – late from the doctor).

In the evening I did something called a microinjection. This involves mutating fly embryos by injecting DNA into them. This is a very, very painful process.

I left at seven o’clock (the view from our lab looks amazing at night by the way) having spent four, four and a half doing the stupid injection.

I go to bed that night and can see little embryos when I close my eyes. These things are about as big as a full stop and I spent so many hours looking down a microscope trying to align them (yes, line these stupid little things parallel to each other down the edge of a glass slide).

And after all this, it doesn’t look like many of them will make it.

Which means we have to do it again.

Fly count:Maybe a few little babies that survived the injection.

Wednesday
Today Alex taught me how to deal with the fly lines I’m about to get. It’s going to be a lot of work.

He also gave me a vial of adult flies that will be important for all the fly work I’m about to get.

I also froze a bunch of older baby blow flies for crushing. I still need primers before they are of any use though.

It may have been today, but instead of bringing in his son’s rabbit, today Tek brought in his son. He gave us all easter eggs.

Fly count: A vial of adults with white eyes (normally they are red) and possible injection survivors.

Thursday
Today was the day I looked for more injection survivors and could find a single one which a phD student told me how to deal with (this fly would later die and some might be tempted to blame the advice I was given for this).

I call the fly room so I can speak to Alex to ask his advice. Jin answers the phone. Jin is a phD student and is quite a character. I had a five minute conversation with him, during which all I said was “Is Alex there?”

Alex comes over and finds another half dozen survivors.

We need about 50. Not good.

I got some primers. Still waiting on another four though.


Fly count: a few more survivors and my vial of adult white eyed guys.

Good Friday
I did not attend uni today, but rather went away with my sister et al. for the weekend. I read a phD thesis about esterase-mediated OP resistance for some of the weekend.

In your honour - Week Six

Monday
Today the question was raised as to why there were no longer chocolates in Bio21. We sell giant freddos etc to fundraise for the Post-grad society.

It was then that I became the Bio21 chocolate rep. I don’t do much, but it’s a very important role.

Tuesday
Stupid meeting day.

Spent the morning polishing my essay intro and e-mailed it to PD and PB.

Went to stupid meeting and acquire $90 worth of fundraising chocolate to sell at Bio21. Good fun.

After meetings PD tells me to come chat with him about the essay. It appears he then walked off out of the building and didn’t return until a few minutes before home time.

Get my sequencing back – it was fact, I was right.

But I’m in the lab preparing bacterial growth (from my blue guys who weren’t supposed to be blue) for the massive DNA extraction I’m about to do.

I get out and wander aimlessly to find PD for half an hour before finding him. I pretend to cry, he laughs, we both go home after agreeing to meet tomorrow.

Wednesday
I went to a doctor today and didn’t ask about my foot. I asked about chronic fatigue instead. So I got manhandled by a pathology nurse.

I arrive a little late and jump straight into the quiz (I got to read it today, how special). Then there was a short meeting with PD about my essay intro, which was pretty bad it would seem. Oh well.

After lunch I started work on the world’s most hideous and painful DNA extraction. I spent 4.5 hours on it and it still ain’t done. Grrr.

Thursday
I do believe I screwed up my PCR again.

I went to a dermatologist this morning and said “What’s wrong with my foot?” “Oh that’s easy, it’s granuloma annulare.”

Well, that was easy.

Finished doing the stupid, stupid DNA extraction.

Then, this afternoon was my lab versus the other CESAR lab at netball. My team nickname was Jude “Don’t mess with me” Mitchell.

I played centre. I’m not very fit, but it didn’t matter because I played really well (and that’s not just my opinion). But that’s besides the point because we won. 28-15 or something. Woo hoo.

Friday
When I got to the office this morning I met with a nice surprise. There was a rabbit in the office. It’s name is “Bunny.” It was a very sweet little thing and I spent a fair amount of the day cuddling it.

I actually did manage to have my weekly supervisor meeting this week (even if one of them is still in Texas). During the meeting I was given some bioinformatics work to do as well as the decision to do a new experiment which will require me to do radiation training. Boo.

Oh well, I might learn something interesting from the experiment. But, I personally, believe it comes down to PD’s predisposition to thinking that his experiments are great and can be applied to everything (see back to Bio21 symposium day – everyone does it).

Then there was pub lunch where Emily and I shared a “fat-ass parma” and we didn’t even get the whole thing eaten.

I also discovered the best way to get one of the post-docs to do something for me. I just followed him around until he finally coughed up what I wanted. Maybe I should try that more often….

In your honour - Week Five

Monday
So…in the lab there are these stupid duties. It would seem it’s my turn to do one this week.

Waste disposal.

It involves taking waste to and putting it through a thing called an autoclave, which sterilizes it.

That’s all well and good until you realise I don’t know where the autoclave is and I don’t know how to use it. This is probably for the best given I’m also not allowed to use the autoclave.

Tuesday
Today I had to give a little talk in lab meeting.

It was horrific.

I hate public speaking, and I’ve been so nervous about it. I kept telling myself that they were all my friends and I shouldn’t worry about it, but it still sucked.

Everyone told me I did well.

In the afternoon I did an experiment. Yay. I genetically modified some bacteria. Cool, cool.

Wednesday
There was a morning tea at Bio21 today from which I got a bunch of free pens. Hooray for free pens.

I suspect I did some things to my bacteria from yesterday, but I’m writing this entry at the end of week 8 so I hardly remember.

Also today was the Post-grad AGM. Nothing all that exciting happened. People were voted in to new positions. I almost volunteered to be activities co-ordinator, but it’s supposed to be a phD student doing that. Oh well.

Thursday
I had some rather strange results from my genetically modified bacteria which was “You’re wrong.” It was telling me something I knew to be fact actually hadn’t occurred. Because it was blue. The bacteria aren’t supposed to be blue.

So I had to do a pain in the arse sequencing reaction to ensure that my fact I once believed was, in fact, true. Problem is, I don’t have a password to submit sequencing reactions. Bugger.

I went to see a surgeon today and said “What’s wrong with my foot?” He said “I don’t know, go see a dermatologist.” This was after waiting three weeks for the appointment followed by an hour and a half in his waiting room.

Friday
Another meeting with the Phils. Pub lunch. Work on the essay.

Use Henry to submit my sequences.

That’s about it.

Ever wonder what happens to your days?

In your honour - week four

Monday
Today I had some marvellous thing called a committee meeting. It includes my supervisors (PD and PB) and two other members of academic staff (MH and DG). MH is someone I’ve never encountered before, but in telling people that he was on my committee, have been offered condolences.

DG I thought was safe, as I’ve actually worked for her and met her and chatted to her on several occasions. So what happens when I walk into the room? “Hello, Louise.” Damn it.

They asked me a lot of questions and I felt rather concerned by the end. PB tells me I did well, I just need to learn to speak louder (I would later learn he was praising me to another Hons student in another committee meeting).

Then I went to the Commonwealth Games. Jason (FIND A LAST NAME) is my hero.

There was quite a mess getting out of the MCG. It took me 45 minutes to get from my seat in the stadium to my platform on Richmond station. Think about it.

Tuesday
Today I had a meeting (in addition to department meeting, department seminar, lab meeting) with all the people who are studying the same organism as me. There ain’t many of us.

Me, one of my fellow honours students, the RA I do a lot of work with (Alex), the guy who never gives me primers no matter how many times I ask him and a population geneticist (shudder).

Population genetics is the reason I hate the Applied Pest Meetings. They look at genes to guess which way bugs are moving. It’s all statistics.

PB called the meeting as he believed t was a good idea. He was at the Games. That was a small error in communication. Not to worry. We all gave the population geneticist our e-mail addresses (he’s in a different lab) and got on with our lives, event to be re-scheduled.

Wednesday
I picked up some little maggot guys and froze them. They’re now sitting in a box in the minus 80 degree freezer. I don’t even need them because I borrowed Alex’s when I did that experiment.

Then I went to Ronald McDonald House. Yay.

Thursday
I don’t actually remember this day, and didn’t write down about anything I did.

At the very least, it meant I could continue with lab work.

Friday
Another meeting with the Phils (PB and PD if I haven’t said this yet). They are apparently very happy with the work I’ve done. That’s nice to know.

I’m not so hot when it comes to the literature research unfortunately. All the facts are just too messed up in my head.

I managed to avoid going to the waste of time “Applied Pest Meeting” today. Only time will tell if I actually get away with it.

Meanwhile, I spent the afternoon cataloguing all the papers I’ve read and fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

PB recommended some guys who did some great work that I should read. They did such great work that they felt satisfied they’ve solved the problem and gave up researching any thing I care about 15 years ago. What this means is I can’t get copies of any of it, because online journals didn’t exist then.

Conclusions for the day: I don’t know a single useful fact in the world.

Weekend
Everything I’ve read so far is useless.

But at least it’s organised now.
Fly count:

In Your Honour - Week Three

Monday

I hand in my stupid research plan. I’m not sure I’ve done it correctly, but it’s done. PD gave me the go ahead.

Tuesday
Meeting day. PD requests someone draw him a picture of a fruit fly (an organism we study a lot) holding a coffee cup (it turns out caffeine does something to the flies that we find interesting). That’s right up my alley I think.

Wednesday
Oh wow! I get a sample. I run eagerly to the genetics building and carry back some baby flies frozen in liquid nitrogen. This means I have to take the stairs, which got a little boring.

Wow. A sample. I begin to do an RNA extraction and screw it up completely. I have learnt the value of buying an mp3 player as it helps subdue the boredom of waiting for an incubation.

Thursday
I did so much junk in the lab today. I did in situ preps for Henry. I did sequencing for Alex. And I did my own RNA extraction (again).

All these experiments involve 10 minute incubations or whatever so I was constantly running from one thing to the other with my eye on the time so I knew which one I had to run back to just as soon as I’d added 10 micro litres of….

My RNA extraction worked this time. Everyone was so happy for me.

Friday
I had a meeting with the Phils today. One of them didn’t realise it was on. We discussed the essay topic I was going to write about, and I wound up with something I was rather pleased about. I was also prepped for my committee meeting on Monday. Eeeeeeek.

PB loved his coffee drinking fly.

In Your Honour - Week Two

Details start to get hazy here. I can’t remember specifically what got done.

Monday
Take ultrasound photos back to the doctor – What’s this lump on my foot?

Tuesday
Meeting day. All the same meetings as I had last week and an extra special bonus this time a presentation and writing skills presentation. Admittedly, it was given by one of my heroes, John McKenzie who was Dean of Science last year and has since been promoted.

Wednesday
I attend a session on risk assessment training that it turns out I didn’t need to go to. That was the world’s biggest waste of time.

Thursday
Chemical management training. We get shown a whole bunch of dangerous things and get told

“don’t.”

I also get a silly photo taken to stick up on the wall in the department outside the main office.

Friday
The Bio21 symposium. Everyone in the building got together and gave a little presentation on what they spend their days doing. Then they get asked questions. The questions often, to me, seemed to be “Why don’t you do experiment X?” coming from a scientist that spends all his or her time doing experiment X.

I worked the displays to get free samples, pens and post-it notes from all the scientific supply companies. It turns out Invitrogen pens are just the greatest things in the world.

Also, in the morning is the applied pests meeting.

That sucked.

The whole thing was studying insects from a very different angle from us. I don’t think the guy even said the word “gene.”

In Your Honour

Weekend One - Portsea

Friday
Down we go. Jeremy and Mo discuss music in the front seat and I sit in the back having thumb wars with Alex. The trip was a long and possibly incorrect one, but we eventually made it to “Port Campsie.”

The four of us arrive, dive into the ocean and proceed to throw around a tennis ball until dinner. Which was pizza and fish and chips from town.

After all that had been done there was a table tennis tournament in which the rules constantly changed. I don't remember who won, but I was paired up with Jim-Lad. I just remember sitting on the side with the phD students from my lab, heckling/cheering with as much enthusiasm as I've done at any football game. The rest of the night was spent with those boys in a similarly silly fashion.

I also discovered that it's often seen that PB doesn't take on a large number of female students. "Why me?" I ask. "There'll be something about you." "There'll be a reason."

Maybe PB does love me after all. I heard that he rang someone else who is an hons student with me, begging him to be part of the lab because he didn't trust the hons co-ordinator to do the job proprely. I'd been struggling with how well I fit into the lab/was wanted to be there up until that point.

At about 12.30 the camp CEO comes in and threatens to kick us all out unless we shut up. Ok. The karakoe was a little loud. But still, one warning at least?

We all go down to the beach but I go to bed shortly after.

Saturday
I wake up, have breakfast and go swimming.

That's the way life should be.

In the water I play a lot of frisbee. I think I may have gone swimming again after lunch.

At some point all the honours students gather together to prepare our play for the night. All the costumes are there and the props because we've already decided it's going to be a take off of the life of an honours students, safety meetings and other meetings and etc.

I volunteer to help dress Mo in his safety gear. Nice quiet, easy part. Not embarassing or difficult at all.

And I've forgotten my lab coat. Shit shit shit.

Moving on I come up with an idea thanks to recent flights to and from Tasmania. "Why don't we make the safety presentation like the ones they give on aeroplanes?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea. You do that, Jude."

Hang on.

I'm a pretty shy girl, so standing up in front of a lot of people I don't know and trying to be funny doesn't sound like my cup of tea. Bugger.

Then ice cream. And more swimming.

Then the competition starts in which very stupid games meet very geeky games and a few meet drinking games. My team (SyBr greens) blast the first comp (karakoe) by convincing the department's only Professor (and a few others) to get into skirts and preform "i feel like a woman." We lost everything else though.

Not to worry.

The comp ends and the room goes silent as everyone glares at the hons students, immediately expecting us to be entertaining.

We wander off and prepare. Put on lab coats (I don't mind you - it's at home).

Me, I'm nervous as hell and shaking like I always do.

The play starts, people are laughing (and shouting all sorts of jokes out at us - makes it hard to concentrate).

My turn. I walk up and start my half-scripted bunch of jokes with a small, nervous voice.

They all laugh.

And laugh.

And laugh.

And applaud.

Yay. I'm elated. We finish up, but not without getting a few people wet in the process.

Best of all, afterwards we all start drinking and chatting again and PB walks up to me

"You were fantastic."

This, coming from a man who used to produce amateur theatre "You've got a future in this."

=)

I then find Andy, who I wound up bumping into a lot while I was trying to get into honours. He gave me a fair amount of advice I believe I've never thanked him for.

Any way, we start talking.

Three hours later we stop talking and go to sleep.

Sunday
Unfortunately, i was desprate to get home to sticks and so left fairly early on Sunday. But a fair few people did.

The trip home was quieter but still enjoyable.

I find myself now wanting to do a phD just so I can go to Portsea again.

In your honour - Week One

Monday
I arrived this morning in a state of panic. I was sure there’d be trouble for the fact that I was starting a week late. Fortunately I appeared to have gotten away with it. Quite the opposite, in fact, it was hard to get people to care that I had arrived.

I met my new collegues and was allocated a desk (the one right next to the door) before being told to sit down, and not given a great of advice other than this. I turned on the computer and set up my e-mail before beginning to download some papers to read.

At 2.30 I wandered over to Genetics (I’m actually in a building a stone’s throw from the campus) to attend a safety seminar. Given I’d already read a massive document on safety, I didn’t learn much. All it seems was that it was a waste of time reading the document.

Tuesday
This morning I went to see a university doctor and asked him what the lump on my foot was. I waited in a queue to see him for about 40 minutes before he even walked into the building. I get in to see him then run to Genetics for the departmental meeting. Then the lab meeting. Then lunch. Then the departmental seminar.

I finally get to Bio21 at about 2 o’clock and somehow haven’t done a single thing during the day.

I read some papers and go home.

Wednesday
I arrive today and call for someone to let me into the building. Despite the fact that I agreed to this honours project some three months prior to the starting date, no one thought it might be a good idea to grant me access to the building. Oh well.

I do however, have a key to my drawer. Which will come in handy if I ever need to lock anything in it, which seems unlikely at this stage. Print outs of papers perhaps?

At 11 am I wander over to Genetics to see how to play with blowflies (allegedly I may be doing this at some point in the year). They smell.

More to the point, they like to eat off meat. That smells.

I read some more papers and get shown some really, really basic lab skills.

Am starting to regret signing up for this thing.

Thursday
I don’t have anything written in the diary for this day, so I assume I read papers.

I also have to call someone for help when I go to the bathroom. The door to come BACK from the toilet will keep you locked in a small corridor for eternity if you don’t have the access card. It’s getting annoying.

I am really starting to regret signing up for this. I'm sad and stressed and desprate for something to do.

Friday
I go to Royal Melbourne Hospital this morning and get an ultra sound of the lump on my foot. When I get to Bio21 after this I call someone to let me into the building.

I had a small meeting with my supervisors PB (head of the lab) and PD (a post-doctorate fellow). They inform me I’ll get to start work on Monday. I’m rather excited by this prospect.

The rest of the day was spent reading papers.

That is, up until we left for Portsea….stay tuned.