Marvelous Monday Blues

What a bummer of a day. It started off well - I was in a "Marvelous Monday" (I'll save that story for another time) frame of mind. The weather was beautiful despite the weather man's predictions of clouds and rain. It was warm (upper 50's) and the sun was shining. I was listening to my new Ray CD (from the movie) as I walked to the bus stop, and I was even awak in my 9am class (at the beginning anyway). But after that things started going down hill.

About 45 min into the lecture my energy ran out (thanks to my late night reading my "non-science" book), and it was a struggle to focus on the molecular mechanisms of motility - myosins, actin, kinesins, dyneins, and all that jazz. (And I must say as a side note that I find the idea of motility really interesting, but the actual details and mechanisms just do not float my boat). Bottom line was I didn't make it. I saw the prof looking at me a couple of times, and I swear she knew that I was barely awake b/c I know that I had the bug-eyed look of someone who is desperately trying to keep their eyes open but is only barely succeeding. Somehow I made it through the 2 hour lecture and was there was a bounce in my step as I headed off to lab.

Today was supposed to be the day before our first "big" experiment. It was prep day. I was all excited b/c today was going to mark the beginning of 2 weeks of doing experiments and being busy. However, when I walked in the door, Gus told me (and not for the first time) that he had made a mistake. Evidently, the reason why our cells weren't growing so well was because the plates we were growing them in were not actually TC (tissue culture) grade, and thus something in the plastic was killing our cells or at the very least making them extremely unhappy. So he called up a supplier and got TC grade petri dishes and passed our cells into those. The good news is that this hiccup will produce only a short delay in our plans (ie. instead of starting the big experiment tomorrow, we'll start it on Thursday). The bad news is that there's nothing for me to do until Thursday. So it appears that this will be yet another week of doing nothing in lab.

I was also supposed to meet a friend (okay, well more like an acquaintance) for lunch today. I ran into him last week and he suggested lunch later that week, but I had lab meeting and seminar during the noon hours for the rest of the week. So I suggested Monday. He even emailed me back yesterday confirming lunch today at noon in the Clark Center. So today, a few minutes before noon, I head off to Clark with my lunch in tow (I'm a poor graduate student). I assumed, since the weather had turned kind of yucky just like the weatherman predicted, that we would be eating inside the little cafe. So I went inside to wait. I sat down and unpacked my lunch and waited. And waited. And waited. I was starting to get a little self-concious about sitting alone at a table (not eating mind you). I had specifically chosen a seat that faced outside so that I could see if he arrived and was waiting for me. But nope, he was a no show. Eventually, I just ate my sandwich and left...a little piqued. I had been stood up, and to make matters worse, it was raining and I had no umbrella.

When it rains, it pours, right? And it usually comes in threes. Well, I'm waiting for the third shoe to drop. (Until then, I'm off to my next 2-hour class of the day...whoopee. And I need a nap!).