Finally, my new lab

My transition into the new workplace was full of small excitements and disappointments. First I was excited to start work after a two-month hiatus because I was just feeling too bummy and financially poor to keep bumming. But on my first day of work I realized I had no where to sit and no bench to work on and instead they were clearing a space for me one level up from where the rest of the lab was. This is a bummer because 1)it is lonely 2)all the equipment and reagents and facilities are downstairs! I comforted myself that this was only a temporary arrangement as we're moving to the new building in March and besides I will probably take over marc's space when he leaves. Marc's an fyp student and has 2 mths left on his project. The next day my space was cleared and my mood blipped upwards a little cos I realized that my space was a nice quiet and SPACIOUS space, unlike downstairs where the entire lab of 7 people share just two short rows of space. I had an entire row to myself, discounting the agarose gel packs that were on the far end of my bench. Then it dawned on me. Agarose gel electrophoresis. This means there could be ethidium bromide if the person using the method was old school! He is. And to my further horror, (thanks people for not giving me a headsup and instead choosing the ignorance is everyone's bliss path), I found out that my very space had been used for EtBr work!!!!!! BAH! I don't want to get cancer! What have I touched already that is probably contaminated with EtBr???

Then another bummer followed this one, the fact that I did not have an assigned computer. Sure, my colleagues were very good about letting me use theirs but still it felt like an invasion of their space whenever I needed to use a computer plus, this is like a huge step back from my previous lab where I had a whole bench, work station, and PC to myself, and I sat in a very convenient position in relation to equipment (albeit the very exposed orientation). Right. So in this lab I have a crappy space that is lonely, inconvenient and dangerous, and no computer. And all this for a substantial reduction in salary because the lab was outside of the family. Wana know how much the reduction is? Let's just say I can take a comfortable taiwan trip once a month just on the amount alone, and if I saved it up for four months, there's my trip to the US to visit loris. Sigh.

So I guess quite a few things were not going ideally for me, but my consolation is that I am really interested in the research, and for once I feel sure that I am in the right lab because this is what I want to do when I finally become a clinician scientist. I have a lot to learn from my PI- I'll probably be following in his footsteps. Btw I didn't mention that I have faith in my PI's capabilities (which is rare)- he is organized and coherent, and has a long term plan and it seems like also the brains and shrewdness to pull it off. Hence I am very hopeful that I will stay in his lab for my PhD, despite the former plan to consider a PhD in Duke. That's one happy thing for me. Another happy thing that happened, well two, is that yesterday, I asked for and got a computer for myself and a day off on Tuesday.

I forgot to mention another two good things I found out about my new lab. A lot of people like to play badminton and I heard some were quite good at it, and also, a number of people lurrve karaoke like me! I'm hopeful that I can occupy my days in their company, because I predict that I will feel quite lonely without loris. Luckily though, I am so interested in my new lab that loris says I am becoming a workaholic. I hope so, because my research will also become one of my lifelines. Something to keep my mind of the time.

I have more things to tell but I just have to wait because I wasted enough time already on this and I need to get my secondary essays done by Wed. Today's my only free day to do it.