In your honour - Week 10

Monday
Return Lee’s laptop to him before going to collect virgins. Return to Bio21 to open up my essay and read it a few more times before printing out four copies (17 pages each – it was a fair wad of paper). Mo and I wander over to hand in the essay at about 12, when it’s not due in until 4. We are told that we’re abnormal.

I start working on my presentation which I am to give to the department on Monday (the next one of course).

At 3.30 we head over to Genetics because one of the PhD students in my lab is giving him final presentation. Good on him, he spoke very well, but I slept every badly and it’s hard to pay attention to anything for an hour.

I felt bad about the fact that my attention was slipping but I caught one hons student and a RA asleep, one of my supervisors playing silly games with another hons student and the head of department was resting his head against the wall.

Play soccer. I actually kick a few goals this time (woot). Managed to get a soccerball pattern bruise on my leg that as of Saturday still hadn’t healed. After soccer I do my flies and return to Bio21 for my stuff. It’s pissing down with rain so I have a fairly fun time getting home.

Fly count Do you have any idea how hard it is to fill this in a week late? I believe I picked up some DB flies today. I have to try and breed them up, which should be interesting because they don’t survive too well. But they have curly wings and are really very cute.

Tuesday
Stupid Meeting Day!!!

One of the meetings is cancelled today and another isn’t compulsory, so I don’t bother. I do my flies and walk to Bio21 (1). I sit at my desk and attempt to do slides for a while before being dragged to the stupid non-compulsory meeting (2) by someone who thought it was worth going because of the lab meeting afterwards he didn’t realise wasn’t on. Idiot.

Meeting runs late and then we do the quiz. I need to go back to Bio21 (3) to get my lunch. On the way back to Genetics (4), Jeremy decides to show the rest of the Bio21 hons students the “secret underground tunnel” that I’ve been hearing about since October last year. This thing has been a rumour for so long for me, and it’s taken THAT long for me to find it.

What a waste of time. The thing goes for MILES! It’s ridiculous and meant we were late for the seminar so I couldn’t sit next to Sarah. Boo.

Walking back to Bio21 (5) I’m talking to a PhD student who tells me that he’ll watch the honours talks for the same reason he watches the Grand Prix. Because you want to see the crashes. That was encouraging.

Back at the lab I check my e-mail and find that I’m in trouble for not handing in the form I didn’t get given at a meeting I wasn’t supposed to attend. Figure that one out.

Return to Genetics (6) for a careers seminar in which we have a not very useful speech from a Genetics Counsellor and a very interesting chat from David Heckel, who is currently playing a cameo role in our lab. He’s from Germany and visits occasionally because he still has students here. Brilliant speaker at least.

After this I do my flies and return downstairs to chat to some of the PhD students hanging around after the speeches (there was food and drinks). There is apparently a rumour going around that I have a boyfriend (I don’t).

I honestly believe I spent an hour walking between genetics and Bio21 today (6 times – I counted for you). I think I did the trip 7 times on Monday.

Fly count: I collect my first fly that’s supposed to have mutated. It hasn’t. Keep it anyway and collect more virgins.

Wednesday
Today Sam helps me buy a new computer. I send off the order but don’t get a reply.

I suspect I spend most of the day fretting about my presentation, as I don’t remember anything else happening.

I also wash the dishes, as I’m on that duty this week. Keep splashing myself with the water, which sucks a little given the bottle is covered with labels like “Warning, do not contact skin” whoops.

Tonight though is a post-grad society meeting. Cool. I rock up and the Dean of Science is sitting in the meeting room with a bunch of important people. Ok…I’ll do something else then.

I hand in some chocolate money and wait in the PhD room for a bit. This is followed by speeches by two PhD students, one on scientific fraud, the other on the IgNobel awards. Very funny.

I do some flies and go home.

Fly Count: Have stolen more flies of Alex now, set up 7 matings I think.

Thursday
Do some flies and get a hot chocolate with some other people before heading to the room we booked to practise our presentations. All four of us, only Jeremy ain’t around. All three of us then.

Some silly receptionist double booked the projector meaning we didn’t get it, it went to the other person who booked it. That’s fair.

We wind up booking the auditorium in Bio21 instead. I go first, jump up and deliver my little speech, which is probably just about the right length of time. I get told a whole lot of changes to make and a whole lot of new things I need to say. Time is going to be a problem (you’re supposed to speak for 15 minutes and then answer questions for five). It feels like a lot of criticism at the time, but they’re just trying to help (it was in private consultation with PD and Sam later that the words of encouragement came).

So I get given a lot of advice, which I write down and disappear to lunch. Here I meet Carl, who is on exchange from Canada. I didn’t realise you could exchange in an honours year (or something like that).

Return after lunch and change all my slides, send them to PD for more words of wisdom.

At some point during the day, I’m sitting at my desk and PD sticks his head into the room and says “Do you have those flies?” Yes, flies. In any other work place you’d have to spell it differently.

Sam gets bored and chats to me for about an hour, meaning I don’t start my evening fly work until 6. Fly work takes a fair while as I’ve got to move flies from vial to vial and etc. This was supposed to be my going home early today. I run through Melbourne Central on the way home and pick up a KFC kids meal (the free toy I wasn’t given, unfortunately, as it was a PC version of a board game, I might have actually used it). It’s the first time I’ve eaten dinner this week.

Friday
Rock up first thing and do flies, before killing a few minutes before the Honours Talks start. Find myself a seat and then just sorta pay attention for some time,

Return to Bio21 briefly, eat lunch, watch more talks.

Sarah presents her thing. I kept thinking about the funny things she found out while researching her essay and struggle not to burst out laughing for a fair part of her presentation. Whoops. She did well, good girl. Everyone asks me where she comes from, as no one can place her accent. At least they aren’t accusing her of being kiwi again.

Return to Bio21 to watch Jeremy practise. Get an e-mail from the computer guy. “Call me.” Eep. I do so and Sam helps me sort out the fact that we’ve chosen a poor combination of parts to chuck in the machine. Whoops.

I wash the dishes again, do flies and then meet up with Gemma so we can go to comedy festival to see Lano and Woodley perform. They were fantastic. I laughed very, very hard and wound up in pain over it.

Return to uni at 11 to check for virgins. This means I can sleep in Saturday. Yay.

Saturday
What a shit week I’m having. I picked up the computer and attempted to install Windows. That didn’t work. I’ve taken the computer back to the shop and even though the guy I was waiting on a phone call from should have been back at his desk half an hour ago, I still haven’t heard a word.

Meanwhile, I’m currently at uni, waiting for flies to emerge. Well, just waiting until it’s late enough such that 16 hours later it’s an hour I consider plausibly involving me being back here again.

I WANT MY NEW COMPUTER! After all this damn effort in ensuring that I’d have power point working over the weekend and I’m stuck using the shared computer in the honours room.

Fly Count: I just morgued those guys that I’ve been collecting the past few days. So a few less, but I also found me some white virgins. Woot.

Later Saturday
YAY! They called, I can pick it up!!!!

Well, I can’t pick it up, Mum will. But YAYAYAYAY!
Fly count: I have 19 vials of white virgins, each with 1 to 2 flies in it. I have 22 lines of flies that are currently trying to breed. Then there’s a bunch of stock vials to get more virgins from. My tray is almost full.

Sunday
Arrive to find all the flies that are going to come out today have already done so.

Yipee! I can go home and make it to stick class.