Okay, I gotta ask... is it tacky to start a post by "Hello everyone"? I do it quite often - probably the most among all the blogs I visit, LOL. I try to avoid it, but sometimes, I don't know... Like today, I was wondering if I should dive in and just start with what I wanted to say... but in that case, it would have been: "Sigh..." LOL. I don't think that's a better way to start a post... Am I the only one struggling with the first line?
Now, that aside. The past few days have once again been quite busy, mainly with work. You know the phrase "publish or perish"? Well it seemed like my boss just remembered it ^_^; Since the beginning 2010, he's been pushing my co-worker to write a manuscript, then he worked the whole month of March on writing one himself... and now, he wants to write another manuscript about the project I'm working on... before I leave for RT!!!! That's less than 2 weeks away! For the manuscript he worked on in March, he already had the figures and some abstracts... and it still took him more than a month!! Ugh. So he's pushing and pushing for more, partly because of the manuscript and partly because I'm going away for a week. Let just say the days have been long :(
Then, it didn't help that I had a presentation to give this week in front of our whole department. I really hate giving talks... and the worst is when you don't know what to say. One of the reasons why I "like" my current work is that it's pretty straightforward and I don't have to think too much. I do what my boss tells me. It's not mindless work, but I don't have to "analyze" the data - find what it means, what the repercussions are, etc. I'll find out what the level of a certain marker is, but I don't care what the level means. So basically, I was presenting our lab results... and quite frankly, I didn't know what to say about them... I didn't know the "story." Also, it took forever to get everything together - finalize the experiments, do the analysis, prepare tables and figures and then slides for the presentation. Ugh. However, it went pretty smoothly. Phew.
After the presentation, my boss told me to go home and rest. Mind you, it was already 4.30pm LOL, but I've been working long hours lately. So I was quite happy, especially since I didn't have to pick up my sister either. One street away from home, I heard a 'toc' and my car started making a lot of noise... something happened to my muffler. Sigh. Got home, asked my dad to take a look... My parents then sent me to the dealership. They took a look and indeed, need to change the muffler... but they don't have the parts, so can I come back, etc. By the time I got home, it was almost 7pm already :(
It just seems to me, things are always piling up at the wrong time. In May, there's going to be a symposium and my boss wants me to present. Ugh. I thought I could escape it when the resident that is part of our lab showed up to talk with the boss... but the boss believes we have so much data, we could split it in 2 and we could both present. Oh joy... not. Then, the reappearance of the resident means that we're going to start collecting urine samples again. I mean, it's part of the work, so I don't mind... but when your boss tells you something like: "Yes, we're going to start collecting more urine samples and it's going to be busy. Keep in mind, we also have the experiments to do." Seriously, I'm only one person!!! So yeah, I definitively need a break and I'm hoping that after I come back from RT, things will calm down. The good news is, I'm not afraid of losing my job soon!
Also, I don't know why, but I've been very moody/emotional lately... I thought it was PMS, but I think there's something more... maybe it's stress?
What about everyone else? How are you doing? How is work?
Oh, by the way, this is the song I've been addicted to in the past few days. It's from a chinese tv series, Chinese Paladin 3, which is based on a videogame. I haven't watched the whole thing and I don't think I will. I've seen all the parts I want to... it's really a lovely song though :P
