Speaking words of wisdom, "Let it be".

[trenchkamen]

So, shit.

It's kind of hard not to have second thoughts about your carrier path when one of the post-docs you work with is basically telling you, for various reasons, to just go to business school like everybody else. No pay, long hours, no job security, "indentured servitude"... damn, I knew research was low pay and for the love of science, but now it sounds just outright terrible. And my supervisor is turning 40, and I find myself wondering if I will be doing the same DNA / RNA elution and blood processing the rest of my life if I stay this path.

This on top of having one of those weeks when I just feel uncomfortable in my own skin and neurotically trapped by my own life, when really there's nothing there trapping me. Buh.

At House of Rice last week I knocked my left mirror off against some guy's very beat-up truck. I left my number and name like the good citizen I am, and he calls back two hours later saying the damage isn't so bad, but hey, was I perchance at the bar (WTF there's a bar in that strip mall?), and would I like to "buy him a drink" sometime? I told him I can't even legally buy alcohol; he said "well, you know, you have my number and you can call or something if you can to have a drink." He calls back again two hours later, buddies guffawing in the background, telling me again the damage isn't so bad, but that I could still buy him a drink. I don't know if he's just a chill guy, or trying to get into my pants. Creepy, since he's never seen me and only knows I have a commonly female spelling of a common first name.

penguinfaery is my hero right now. She rescued my X-Japan poster from the airplane.

When is somebody going to fansub the second NANA movie? I wants moar NANA.

I should be writing, but I had a weeks’ worth of LJ to catch up on. You people and your posting. And, oh yeah, Phoenix Wright much?

Comments

[oats-n-honey.livejournal.com]

Well, lauren, the fact of the matter is that a post doc in anything can make a lucrative living in most industries...just not the ones saturated with post docs.

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

True, as of anything.

Like business school isn't ten times overcrowded.

[sumomonkeyninja.livejournal.com]

Of course, your pay may be dependent upon whether you choose to go academic or corporate. Obviously, the corporate path takes away lots of your freedom in return for stuff like money and...well...money. But then you have to deal with corporate culture. Depending on your personality, you might absolutely hate and despise corporate culture. Oh wait I just wrote two negatives, oh well. Now, look at the postdoc. Are they happy with the choices they are making and taking it out on you? A bitter jerk is still a bitter jerk, even if they have an MBA.

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's more or less what I've gathered. The problem is I absolutely cannot stand working for The Man any more than I have to, and it sounds like the corporate world embodies everything I hate.

[keichisfuuma.livejournal.com]

Please stop watching me on LJ. Thank you.

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

You mean having you on my friend list? For future reference, if you yourself un-friend somebody, he or she cannot see hidden entries.

But yes, I will un-friend you per request.

[nillion.livejournal.com]

That is hilarious. I mean, the part about the guy calling you for a drink. That never happens to me. (You know what would be hilarious? If my friend Sam left his number with someone, was assumed female, and the same thing happened to him. He's gay, you see.)

As for the research thing... yeah. I'll still never understand your sticking-it-to-the-man thing, but given your few words on the subject, I think I may have eliminated yet another career. I never liked doing science anyway, just knowing stuff.

(Oh, and when you said carrier path, I immediately thought of you steering a WWII aircraft carrier and worrying about mines in your I'm-bigger-than-the-Titanic sort of way.)