The other day I found out that those baby cheese wheels are covered in a hard yellow wax. You have to take that off before eating it. I was miffed when I comented on how hard the cheese was, and my mom cocked her head in confusion, and then explained. I felt sort of baffled by my ignorance. Surely being 20 means I should know the simpler tricks of the world. It was like when I was little and I tried to eat the skin of the kiwi. Once I found out that I was, in fact, normal for not enjoying kiwi skin, I felt sort of a bemused disappointment tainted with a strand of stuffy humility.
If anyone can make humility stuffy, it would be me.
For some reason I get a similar feeling when I go to the doctor's office, and sit on that paper-covered table/bed thing. I always want to swing my legs, and every time they hit the drawers underneath. For some reason I keep swinging. Then I feel embarrased when the doctor arrives 30 minutes later and I am sure they enter the room only because they hear a slight banging and wonder what I might be doing damage to.
Anyway, it makes me feel young and childish. Sometimes it is a refreshing reminder of the truth, though.
8.23.2005
8.06.2005
lazy days
My time in the lab has finally come to a close, and it feels SO good. I was really sick of the full time job, even though I loved it when I had stuff to do.
Turns out many things changed since my initial week of the lab experience.
Just to update, the scruffy Asian guy is Qing Hui (ching way). He thought that when I told him I was a junior, I meant in high school.
I guess that is no worse than the time I was carded while buying tickets to a PG13 movie (I was nearly 17). I showed the ticket lady my drivers license, and we laughed.
Sean and I actually became pretty cool with each other, and were always talking and joking towards the end. Don't get me wrong, he is still quite obviously pompous and such, but I like him. You can't totally blame him for his attitude- he played football in college, and is super smart and successful. He has the double whammy ego- jock and smart guy. So perhaps you can imagine that every time you address him while he is sitting down he leans back importantly and puts both arms up behind his head in the classic "I am a dominant male" body language sign. It is funny. I owe him though, there were lots of days where he kept me sane just by talking to me alot, or giving me some work to do.
Alfred and I never talked towards the end- he was always off doing his own thing.
Andrei spoke to me a few times, so that was interesting. I felt really bad one morning when he said "hello", and I had to ask him to repeat it 3 times before I understood. Finally he was just like "HI" (flem added of course). He never greeted me again.
After Dr. Toney and I became much more comfortable with each other (ie I could admit to him when I did something stupid, and he could openly agree), I found out he is hilarious. Absolutely a trip. Most of his humour is contained in long rants, so they aren't really quotable, but oh how I wish I had recorded them.
Quotes from the Lab
Toney: just had a brain fart huh?
Me: Yeah...I think the majority of my brain function lately has actually been farting.
Toney: (Laughs, but doesn't disagree)
---
Sean: Damn, it looks like a horror film in there Andrei.
(Andrei was learning a lumbar recording surgery- it(the rat)was a bloody mess. Pretty sick)
---
Me: Hey Sean look! I got good staining!!
Sean: It is probably mostly background.
Me: Man you are such a downer
Sean: (grins, leaves room and comes right back in) HEEY!! THAT is AWESOME staining you have there!
Me: AWW thanks Sean! You are always so encouraging!
---
Toney: Ok lets rock on down to the PVN and see what we can find! MMM MMM thats a beautiful structure.
~He gets excited in the microscopy room
---
Toney: I would KILL someone just to see them fire One neuron. ONE- that is all I ask. Imbeciles!
~His frustration with the people that installed the cabinets in such a way that the corner ones couldn't open because the doors ran into the adjacent cabinets. Pretty funny- his frustration was entirely understandable.
---
Toney: when I was on the admissions board for med school, we would always have to ask them why they wanted to be a doctor. their answer was always "I wanna help people" blah blah blah. Why the hell don't you become a PRIEST! There are PLENTY of ways to help people. Just for ONCE tell me you are in it for the money!...Sometimes to spice things up a bit I would start off by telling them, "OK, today in this interview, I really wanna focus most on quantum physics."...
~He really despises med students and doctors because they don't do real science. It is an interesting form of intellectual discrimination.
Turns out many things changed since my initial week of the lab experience.
Just to update, the scruffy Asian guy is Qing Hui (ching way). He thought that when I told him I was a junior, I meant in high school.
I guess that is no worse than the time I was carded while buying tickets to a PG13 movie (I was nearly 17). I showed the ticket lady my drivers license, and we laughed.
Sean and I actually became pretty cool with each other, and were always talking and joking towards the end. Don't get me wrong, he is still quite obviously pompous and such, but I like him. You can't totally blame him for his attitude- he played football in college, and is super smart and successful. He has the double whammy ego- jock and smart guy. So perhaps you can imagine that every time you address him while he is sitting down he leans back importantly and puts both arms up behind his head in the classic "I am a dominant male" body language sign. It is funny. I owe him though, there were lots of days where he kept me sane just by talking to me alot, or giving me some work to do.
Alfred and I never talked towards the end- he was always off doing his own thing.
Andrei spoke to me a few times, so that was interesting. I felt really bad one morning when he said "hello", and I had to ask him to repeat it 3 times before I understood. Finally he was just like "HI" (flem added of course). He never greeted me again.
After Dr. Toney and I became much more comfortable with each other (ie I could admit to him when I did something stupid, and he could openly agree), I found out he is hilarious. Absolutely a trip. Most of his humour is contained in long rants, so they aren't really quotable, but oh how I wish I had recorded them.
Quotes from the Lab
Toney: just had a brain fart huh?
Me: Yeah...I think the majority of my brain function lately has actually been farting.
Toney: (Laughs, but doesn't disagree)
---
Sean: Damn, it looks like a horror film in there Andrei.
(Andrei was learning a lumbar recording surgery- it(the rat)was a bloody mess. Pretty sick)
---
Me: Hey Sean look! I got good staining!!
Sean: It is probably mostly background.
Me: Man you are such a downer
Sean: (grins, leaves room and comes right back in) HEEY!! THAT is AWESOME staining you have there!
Me: AWW thanks Sean! You are always so encouraging!
---
Toney: Ok lets rock on down to the PVN and see what we can find! MMM MMM thats a beautiful structure.
~He gets excited in the microscopy room
---
Toney: I would KILL someone just to see them fire One neuron. ONE- that is all I ask. Imbeciles!
~His frustration with the people that installed the cabinets in such a way that the corner ones couldn't open because the doors ran into the adjacent cabinets. Pretty funny- his frustration was entirely understandable.
---
Toney: when I was on the admissions board for med school, we would always have to ask them why they wanted to be a doctor. their answer was always "I wanna help people" blah blah blah. Why the hell don't you become a PRIEST! There are PLENTY of ways to help people. Just for ONCE tell me you are in it for the money!...Sometimes to spice things up a bit I would start off by telling them, "OK, today in this interview, I really wanna focus most on quantum physics."...
~He really despises med students and doctors because they don't do real science. It is an interesting form of intellectual discrimination.
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