Small World

You know how if you wander around the internet enough, you keep bumping into the same people, again and again? Every time it happens to me, I have to resist the urge to say, "Small world, huh."

Because it really, really isn't.

On another note...

Surprise template change!

I might fiddle with things around for a while longer. And get the actual wintershark somewhere in here. I can't believe I've had a mascot for so long without a single drawing of it.

Sequencing Perfection

Anyone who has ever done DNA cloning knows how hard it is to get the sequence you want without accumulating any mutations, especially when amplifying the insert via PCR. Anyone who has ever done DNA sequencing knows how hard it is to get a clean, readable sequence with no bizarre misintepretations by the sequencer's software, or a chromatogram which looks like the frequency plot of a heavy metal track.

I have just looked at the results from sequencing the insert of the vector construct I made. 970 base-pairs of pure, untainted perfection.

Shh, let me enjoy this moment.

Roommate Chicken

In spite of sounding disturbingly like a recipe, "roommate chicken" is defined by Urban Dictionary as a situation where "a group of people sharing a living space each avoid doing a household chore for an extended period because each believes it's someone else's responsibility. The idea is that eventually the situation will reach a critical mass where the guilty party will cave in and do the chore." Urban Dictionary goes on to add that "in practice, the situation can escalate to extreme levels."

Ha ha ha. How many of us in shared houses haven't been there? I especially love it when someone happens to have a major essay or lab report to submit and feels that they are entitled to skip their duty for that week. Usually, further examination reveals that all of the housemates have some sort of major deadline due that week, and are all of the equal conviction that their deadline is of higher priority than everyone else's.

Take-home message: no deadline is a good excuse. Especially if you had a week to work on it but only started within the last remaining 24 hours. The dishes aren't going to clean themselves no matter how long you leave them in the sink, nor will the residual bacteria gain sentience, realise the shame of their existence and mop up their home for you.

Additionally, roommate chicken probably isn't limited to shared house situations. I've noticed in a variety of situations, that when a shared item runs low, most people prefer to survive without it rather than replace the item, even if the act of replacement is straightforward.

The worst part is perhaps that the one who finally caves in and rectifies the situation is usually the most responsible person, i.e. not the one who was shirking their duty in the first place.

Human nature, I suppose.

The Outcasts

"Hey, can you let me into the lab? My card's not wor- Oh, wait, yours isn't working either - is it?"

"Nope. I'm useless."

"Ummm... Everyone else is in the lab."

"Oh hey, it's J. Hey J - wait a minute. Your card's not working either, is it?"

"Hmm? Well, it wasn't working the last time I tried it..."

"Could you..."

"...so I don't have it on me now."

"Great. Just great."

"So both of you are...?"

"We're all locked out. What do we do now?"

Trapped

I think the key part to a trap is that you never see it at all right up to the moment when you try to step out of it. Then it clamps about your ankle and sinks its steel teeth past flesh into bone, and you know the meaning of agony.

I walked into what I thought was a voluntary situation. Now I find I can't pull out. The one person standing in my way won't let me go, allegedly because he cares about me and won't let me make a mistake. And all through this I keep thinking - if this is about me, why do you pull out your dirty tricks, your guilt-trips, your appeals to my sense of justice and your neverending assault on my logic, until I have no choice but to call a retreat before I agree to your terms?

What are you hiding? What egg are you sitting on, that you are afraid to move lest you crack it, even as you doggedly maintain your grip on to me?

Why won't you tell me? I would help you.

When will you stop pretending that you don't understand?

This conflict fills me with weariness. I do want to give in. It is the easy thing to do, here and now.

But as surely as the fox in the snare knows that if he does not fight, he will not see the next sunrise, so do I know that I will have to keep fighting, and fighting, and fighting, until at last I break free. I would rather suffer once now and have it all over with, than suffer for many years to come.

I just wish you would see, exactly how much pain you are putting me through.