I was just finishing up a 2-hour-long XRD analysis on the corundum sample I recently dialyzed when suddenly, the room plunged into sudden darkness and silence. Most likely, the campus-wide power outage was caused by an error at one of several nearby construction sites. "Maybe someone made a discovery at the (new) Discovery Institute (site)," someone said. So, I waited in the lab and stared at the screen like an idiot for the next few minutes while I attempted to come up with a plan to get everything done on schedule anyway; power outage or not.
Slowly, we all began to realize that this situation wasn't going to change anytime soon, removed my sample, picked up my belongings, and with a heavy heart, trudged back upstairs to my office. Other grad students were beginning to emerge from their labs and offices as well-- as if from a deep hibernation. Since the labs are generally located in the core of Weeks Hall, they lack windows and were simply too dark to work in. Windowless offices also fall into this category. The network and Internet were both out of commission as well so anyone doing computational research was also out of luck.
People gradually congregated in larger and larger clusters. Eventually, the "collective" came to a consensus about what should be done-- there was really only one thing we could do: go to the bar! It was just past 11:30 as we wandered down Orchard St. to Jordan's Big Ten Pub and yes, it would have been too early to start drinking (not that I could have anyway). We had a nice lunch and by the time we finished, the power was back on. Unfortunately, by then it was too late for me to squeeze in another XRD session before I had to leave for the pain clinic.
It's times like this that I really resent all the added responsibilities I have because of my chronic condition. Here I am trying to make the best possible impression and I keep getting interrupted... It wasn't just that appointment really; that was just the tip of the iceburg. What really got on my nerves were all the phone calls and messages I'd been getting from all of the clinics I have to visit all week long prior to that!
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I had my own wheels. Most of the clinics are off-campus and more than a single bus transfer away. Unless my departures and arrivals are timed perfectly (they never are), and I'm not kept waiting at several crucial junctures during my visit (and I always am), or asked to hang around to fill out forms (and I always do so they won't call me in the middle of an experiment later) I would still be gone from the lab for at least an hour. Adding all of these to a long bus ride means I might as well cancel the whole afternoon.
As it turned out, they not only wanted me to have some films taken (for tumor hunts even though I feel just fine), they thought I should see a few other specialists too (sure, why not just completely strangle my academic career before it even gets off the ground!) on top of the docs I already have. If my lab mates didn't know better, they'd probably swear I was a hypochondriac! Aren't there any sick people around here who truly deserve all this attention? I'm hoping that once the films come back clean, everyone will just relax and let me be!
No comments:
Post a Comment