Work and Woes

Research is just like any other job. This morning, I found myself comparing it to working in the army. Think about it: you start off wondering, where's the action? Did I sign up just to read stuff and think? Then the artillery fire starts and you start praying to God to just get you out of this mess alive. Well, I think I have reached that stage now. I am in my lab from 9 to 5 as usual, but I actually spend all that time working. All of it. No goofing around or extra long lunch breaks.

Then I come home and do more work. Weekends are no exception. Even Friday evenings, the sacredest of sacred times for me (in terms of being lazy, don't get the wrong idea), so sacred that I do not so much as think of work during that time, are devoted to writing reports. The good thing is that deadlines usually arrive before we know it. Plus, I am going to appreciate my vacation so much more this year- I'm already counting off days, whenever I have the time to do it, that is. Sigh.

Because I don't have a car, I have to rely on public transport (university transport actually) for my grocery shopping. I never understood what I do to deserve this, but I always end up having the strangest conversations with the weirdest people. One day while I was shopping, a guy comes up and asks if he can share my trolley. The fact that someone had asked me that in a hypermarket full of shopping carts and trolleys took me aback. This person took my blankness for a yes, and took over my trolley. I had to tag along behind till he finally finished his shopping and reached a checkout counter. On the way, he even told me his life story, which I remember very little of, except that it sounded a bit far fetched and unnecessarily sad. I didn't say anything and let it pass. After all, it had to be a one-time incident. I would remember to steer clear of this person in future for sure.

But a few weeks later, there was a new challenge. Someone came up to me and introduced himself. I gave him my name too. The next thing I know, he has sent me a friend request on facebook. Foolishly, I accepted. The week after that, this person started behaving like my best friend, asking me how my life was going and all that. "You seem like such a quiet person, but you have close to 400 friends on facebook. Now I feel like I know you, I even got your number from the sign-in sheet.", he said. I wanted to answer with, "I must have flunked the course on logic in college, because I have no idea how you got from point A to point B". Of course I didn't say it. Most of my good lines remain in my head.

See, this is why I need a driver's license (and after that, money with which to buy a car). And kids, here is your lesson: protest when someone hijacks your shopping cart, and do not accept friend requests without thinking. I just had a mental flash of Ted from How I met Your Mother saying that. Anyway, I'd better get back to work, on the work that I've been working on. :S