Friday, September 30, 2005

Signing off

I am sure lots of people will sympathise with me over this!

I have been finding that over the last few weeks I have had to write a lot of emails to various people. I have been trying to get a few things organised and have had to submit various applications. I am finiding it very hard to find proper signing off signals!!! I find "Yours Sincerely" too formal and quite superficial. I don't like using "Cheers" because I never actually say "Cheers".

I end up using "Regards" or "Thanks" and after a while it really starts to get to me! I sometimes find that my emails read something like:

"Thanks for your immediate reply. I will look into it. Thankyou!!. Thanks, Vidya"... That is just weird!

Anyone have any proper signing off ideas that I can use???

Also, this problem is not restricted to the office environment! I find it just as hard to find proper ways to end emails to friends too! I guess that's why with friends, I no longer sign off...

Over and out,
Till later,
Bye now!
Tuduloo!
Ta,

Vidya

PS: FOr future reference, people who sign off with simply the first letter of their names like "-V" really annoy me too!

Monday, September 19, 2005

AIYOO!!! *forehead slap*

Sunday the 18th of September, 2005. Vidya goes to the Hospital. Starts an experiment. Decides to get something to eat. Locks lab door. Goes to tea room. Has breakfast. Comes back. Can't get back into lab as door is locked! I have locked myself out!

I called up security...

*TRINGG TRINGG*

Me: Hi. I am calling from the Clinical Sciences building. I have locked myself out od my lab... Could someone please let me in??
Sec: Sure *chuckle*. I will send someone over.

A few minutes pass.

A tall English man walks in.

EM: So you have locked yourself out have you?
Me: *nod*
EM: Ahh. It happens to the best of us. Everyone except me - cuz I am perfect.
Me: Yeaaahh...
EM: COuld I ahve your name?
Me: Vidya - V I D Y A.
EM: It's just so that I can say that I have opened the door for you...
Me: You mean so that you can add me to the "REALLY STUPID" list???
EM: Hey! That's a good one. We might start one of those! Nah. You aren't on the list yet - only if you do it a second time...
Me: Ummm I may have done this allready....

Thank god we got to my lab door by then! Otherwise I may have embarassed myself even more!

Anywys, my pellet should be dry by now! Going to book my tickets to India today. Will update you guys on the dates tonight! :D

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Bullets

  • My last post was written very badly...
  • My PCR decided to work yesterday - but it wouldn't work today :S
  • I have to hand in stuff for my annual review in about two weeks time *biting nails*
  • I have been procrastinating with my Lit Review!
  • I wish the people in Perth would hurry up and give me a date!
  • I am leaving for India in about 5/6 weeks:D:D:D:D
  • I am hoping to see a friend of mine from Sweden in India - go figure!
  • Uni is getting "mildly" stressful
  • I can lift my own body weight on the leg press now:D:D:D:D
  • Thinking of joining some kind of a hobby course - preferably sketching or painting - any suggestions?
  • Have to start buying pressies to take to India...
  • Christmas in 12 weeks - where has this year gone???????
  • This post is worse than my last one!

Hope you all have terrific day. KEEP SMILING! :D

Friday, September 09, 2005

Do you cry when you are hungry?

Honestly, DO YOU??? I do!

When I get hungry I get quite snappy and emotional. When I was younger (less than 10...), I used to cry because I didn't know how else to express myself. Even now, when I get hungry I find that I get quite down and I am really on the edge...

Is that normal?????

Is it seriously very wierd?? If it is, what is your wierd behaviour??? I dont want to be the only one!!! :P

I am thinking about the other wierd things I do...

- I don't like drinking softdrinks that are green in colour (usuallylime flacoured stuff)...
- I write with my book held at 90 degrees to my hand...
- My glasses sit about half-way down my nose so they only ever cover half my eyes...
- I always eat crust first...

Hmm... I am sure there are lots of other wierd things I do. I am sure everyone has little wierd things they do... please tell me I am right and that I am not just generally wierd!!!

Dumb moment of the week
At morning tea on Tuesday morning:

Heading of magazine article: "I used to have $2000 a week coke habit"

Me: How much coke would you have to have?? (Calculating in my head) About 270 cans a day! How can you do that?? That has got to be wrong...
(Everyone looks at me strangely...)
Me: Doesn't that sound wierd??
(Everyone still looking at me strangely. I do calculations in my head again to make sure I haven't done anything wrong...)
Me: They must be giving some away or something else...Imagine the caffeine! The sugar!
SW: Ummm... Vidya... its a different kind of coke...
Me: Ohh... (thinking) OHHH!!!! (finally clicks!)

Apparently "coke" is short for coccaine!

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Seeing the Big Picture...

Went to a symposium last night that I had been looking forward to for a long time now. I got to listen to Sydney Brenner talk - again! I heard his Nobel Laureatte speech at Uppsala in 2002 and yesterday I heard him present a talk entitled "Humanity's Genes", in which he spoke of the new genome project.

Sydney Brenner is a great public speaker - he is not only extremely intelligent, but also VERY funny! I loved his Nobel speech and I had to skip a Microbial Genetics prac to listen to it... I told my Microbial Genetics Lecturer (another great but crazy scientist!), that I thought Prof. Brenner was soo humble. My lecturer laughed at me and he said "He is SYDNEY BRENNER!! HE IS NOT HUMBLE!!".

When I heard him talk yesterday, I kept picturing the Swedish Scientist saying "He isn't humble!!". Brenner isn't humble - but he has no reason to be. He has done amazing things for Science and has a lovely way of presenting his ideas and is critical about things most scientists take for granted and gets his views across in a truly charming fashion.

There were a series of talks yesterday - presented by various people I truly look upto in the field. I saw Robin Holliday present for the first time yesterday and while everyone else used flashy powerpoint slides, he used the good old over-head projector! He was like a teddybear and I just wanted to go down and give him a hug! (I didn't offcourse - It would have been a tad odd :P).

It was a great day though - sometimes it is necessary to see the big picture. I am only working on one verrrryyy small protein and as excited as I can get about it, I can't and I don't expect the same amount of excitement from everyone else. When you get bogged down on all the little details of your project like primer design and Mg concentration in a PCR reaction, it is lovely to hear from people who have gone through all that and are now able to look back and see and tell you that that one PCR truly revolutionised the way they saw everything else.

Hearing a few people yesterday, reminded me of why I am doing all this in the first place. Why am I subjecting myself to low pay, long hours, dark labs, tedious experimentation and repeated failures?? As much as I can joke about it being the easiest way to avoid "real life" (although there is a degree of truth to it), there is another reason which I need to be reminded of once in a while.

The reason is simply that I actually do believe in what I am doing and I DO enjoy it!