Friday, 17 December 2004 10:42 am
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deckardcanineYesterday I cruised the Potomac on The Odyssey for an exceptional office holiday celebration that both my parents and their coworkers envied. We spent most of our time in the dining room, as this was a 2-hour sit-down lunch cruise, but it wasn't too cold for a stroll on the deck. Besides, as excellent as the music mix was, it played too loud for easy conversations even at the back of the room. I sat with my supervisors and co-trainees for some otherwise great conversations, culminating in two pun wars on the way back. The food was plentiful and delightful, tho I'm glad I've allowed myself to be pesco-vegetarian, unlike four years ago. I heard little of the intercom guide, but I did see The Awakening (a sculpture of a giant's limbs rising in anguish from the mud, presumably after what his friends did while he was drunk) and the tiny Titanic Memorial, which possibly no one else noticed. One ASM employee did an R. Kelly-style rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"; altho he restarted after a long pause of forgetfulness, he was much applauded.
At one point, the DJ called for dancers to come and draw in two more dancers each until everyone was up. Some remained seated with support from their tables, but I was sporting enough for two songs, sitting only when we got to one that preceded my birth. This is remarkable in that I have historically feared feel-good (not choreographed) dancing more than death. What makes it more remarkable is that co-trainee Mike had told me he was going to slip out the door, which he did. I said, "We could always do a Roxbury," but he didn't appear to find that funny.
This event made up for the slight stress I had earlier in the week. My concentration techniques have been effective but insufficient. My retention of the style manual is still poor: sometimes I'm pointed to a page I looked at thrice already. I grabbed a refill of At-A-Glance calendar pages, but chances are I'll be voted out of ASM on January 3rd.
It'd help if I thought to use Brain Gym more often. I studied it for my Winter Term Project in 2001, but the only "exercise" I've done from it for more than a few months is to drink plenty of water to stimulate cerebral electricity. The other activities, while clearly useful for getting in gear, require half a minute's patience. Perhaps more importantly, they look strange to uninformed onlookers, and I don't feel like explaining. Still, I believe I should resume it.
But my stress was reduced even without the help of distractions like the cruise, thanks to my realization of what really is on the line. My job pays well and looks good to future employers, but those are about my only motivations for extra effort at keeping the job. I thought I'd enjoy editing in a somewhat unfamiliar field, and science publications certainly need good editors, but the fact that I'm not noticing these subjects anywhere else even after five months tells me that it's too esoteric. As often as Bacillus thuringiensis and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium come up in journals, I expect never to see them in any trivia challenge. My C- in Human Neurobiology should have reminded me that I can't keep things straight on the micro level: the concepts are hopelessly abstract to me. I'd have a more fun time editing just about anything else, and whatever organization offered it to me would be less likely to have a 300-page style manual they expect you to read for an hour a day for half a year. Finally, my relatives and their associates confirm that after such a hard editing job, even one where I failed the training, I shouldn't have much trouble landing a good job elsewhere.
At one point, the DJ called for dancers to come and draw in two more dancers each until everyone was up. Some remained seated with support from their tables, but I was sporting enough for two songs, sitting only when we got to one that preceded my birth. This is remarkable in that I have historically feared feel-good (not choreographed) dancing more than death. What makes it more remarkable is that co-trainee Mike had told me he was going to slip out the door, which he did. I said, "We could always do a Roxbury," but he didn't appear to find that funny.
This event made up for the slight stress I had earlier in the week. My concentration techniques have been effective but insufficient. My retention of the style manual is still poor: sometimes I'm pointed to a page I looked at thrice already. I grabbed a refill of At-A-Glance calendar pages, but chances are I'll be voted out of ASM on January 3rd.
It'd help if I thought to use Brain Gym more often. I studied it for my Winter Term Project in 2001, but the only "exercise" I've done from it for more than a few months is to drink plenty of water to stimulate cerebral electricity. The other activities, while clearly useful for getting in gear, require half a minute's patience. Perhaps more importantly, they look strange to uninformed onlookers, and I don't feel like explaining. Still, I believe I should resume it.
But my stress was reduced even without the help of distractions like the cruise, thanks to my realization of what really is on the line. My job pays well and looks good to future employers, but those are about my only motivations for extra effort at keeping the job. I thought I'd enjoy editing in a somewhat unfamiliar field, and science publications certainly need good editors, but the fact that I'm not noticing these subjects anywhere else even after five months tells me that it's too esoteric. As often as Bacillus thuringiensis and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium come up in journals, I expect never to see them in any trivia challenge. My C- in Human Neurobiology should have reminded me that I can't keep things straight on the micro level: the concepts are hopelessly abstract to me. I'd have a more fun time editing just about anything else, and whatever organization offered it to me would be less likely to have a 300-page style manual they expect you to read for an hour a day for half a year. Finally, my relatives and their associates confirm that after such a hard editing job, even one where I failed the training, I shouldn't have much trouble landing a good job elsewhere.