I still enjoy blogging (and here's the...) but I don't have many exciting things to post about. However, it seems that everyone else is in the same boat and I figure no one is forced to read my blog. So, the worst that happens is that no one reads. And, hey, that's not all that bad of a consequence.
This got me to thinking about consequences in the lab and, then, about roller coasters. Ok, this isn't as tortured as one might think-- so stay with me if you can. Now, I spend a lot of time in the lab. Too much time in the lab some might say (I'm looking at you, Dr. Man). But I'm trying to graduate-- not any time too soon, but before December-- and lots of time here tends to be a consequence of that. However, now that graduation is on my mind every experiment that doesn't help me get there (failed or just not the expected result) I get very upset about. Conversely, every positive result makes me elated. (And now you can see where the roller coaster bit comes in.) I feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster. Up one day and down the next.
Ok, it's not that far apart. I get something that indicates a good result and a few hours later I start panicking over all the ways that it could just be a false positive. So, it's more like up for a few hours down for a day. I'm trying to temper that attitude a bit. (I do tend to be an all-or-nothing kind of person.) This is a four-pronged process. (1) I allow myself a bit of excitement. (2) Remind myself of the caveats and that I still have confirming experiments to do. (3) Imagine the worst thing: It is a false positive and that I'm going to be here until December. (4) Remind myself that I have a back up plan (not raising alpacas, I mean, experiment-wise). And it's Not. The. End. Of. The. World.