I've finished up most of this beast of a paper. My grand finale, so to speak. My legacy, my investments, my several clumsy self-stabbings with syringes carrying various types of toxins, tea times with my boss, my first real collaboration, and four years of developing a disease model and a successful intervention are all wrapped up in these pages.
Did I mention that I'm still waiting on 1/5 of the data?
Not that there is any build up of pressure, what with less than three weeks to go before this baby is submitted and my butt is out the door headed for warmer climates.
Final projects are straggling along, throwing tantrums left and right as if I don't have an urgent need to get their boots and jackets on.
Coworkers are combative at every step, as if everything I attempt to teach is an attack on their person (I cannot emphasize enough what a drag this makes everything).
The only things that save me from unleashing a smackdown are tea times with my boss (when he is in town, which is not often these days). Mornings of discussing data, the general state of the lab, the future of science and fine loose leaves. These are why I work late on Friday nights. These are why I do not dread going back to the lab Monday mornings*. And they make it very, very hard to leave.
*only with the most recent stresses (see... most posts from June) has this ever been an issue. In the four years prior, I have only ever loved to be at work. It is amazing what negative attitudes do to their surroundings.
I think that negative attitudes have the power to change one`s thoughts about one`s work surroundings. Good luck with finishing your paper!
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