my life, my pace

So I’m back from my retreat relatively unscathed. Here’s what I learned.

10. It’s not really a retreat when you have to listen to talks for 8 hours a day. I think they call that prison.

9. People are just not that good with computers. Still. Really, Powerpoint’s been out for awhile now. And so have those pesky projector things. Why haven’t they figured out how to use them yet?

8. Never underestimate the draw of free food, even if it’s not very good.

7. Respected scientists still have to prepare for their talks. And I thought they would have it down by now. You mean I’ll still hate giving talks when I’m a respected scientist? Not exactly something I’m looking forward to.

6. Even respected scientists surf the web (which they actually paid for!) during talks.

5. Did I just see those two go up to a room together?! I don’t think I want to know.

4. Lab cliques—I kid you not. Though I think they would all be classified as geek cliques anyway so I’m sure I’m not missing out on much. Whew.

3. Even respected scientists fall asleep during talks when they have to listen to talks for 8 hours straight. And here I thought it was just grad students. How comforting.

2. When the alcohol is free, respected scientists drink too much too. And then they talk too much. But about science. I think I’ll pass.

1. I still hate giving talks.

Related posts:

1. i hate giving talksSo after a previous particularly humiliating performance, I spent over a month preparing for (more like obsessing about) the last talk I gave this past fall. I simply love it when I’m up there about to die from completely illogical nervousness, hoping that I make at least a little sense when I look at my audience and see…well, that guy over there is looking quizzically at my slide (What? I didn’t dumb it down enough for you? There’s already practically no text!)…and over there, she’s looking quizzically at me (What? Am I not speaking English here? Or wait. Is my shirt buttoned wrong? No wait. My shirt doesn’t even have buttons!)…and over there, my major professor is staring down at his lap (What? Are you actually embarrassed to hear me talk?! Thanks a bunch for boosting my self-confidence.). And then the questions. “Did you look at the platelets?” “No. We’re not interested in platelet involvement in this process.” [Did you even listen to my talk?! What exactly did I say that had anything even remotely to do with platelets?] “Well, they’re important. You should look at the platelets.” [because I study platelets and could really use the collaboration and I think that making you look like an idiot will really make you want to work with me.] "Thanks for the suggestion." [No shit platelets are important. I just don’t care.] I hate giving talks. Really, I do. It’s right up there with, oh, I don’t know, cleaning up poop. Dirty,...
2. inspirational music for the graduate student 1.13So, as I mentioned before, our MD/PhD retreat was last week. And I had to give a talk. As I worked on my presentation at lab that week, I shrouded myself in secrecy and didn't even bother telling my major professor that I was giving a talk. I didn't want him to come and ruin it for me by looking like he's ashamed of me and/or jumping in to answer any questions I receive as if I'm too incompetent to answer them myself. But I got screwed because the MD/PhD administration sent a mass email out announcing the retreat. So he knew that I was giving a talk. And he's always made a big deal about showing up to every single one of my talks. So I knew that I was just screwed. But then as the of the retreat got closer and closer, he made no mention of how he was going to take time out of his busy schedule of surfing ESPN and harrassing people who are actually trying to work to come "support" his "prized" grad student. I began to suspect that he wasn't going to show up. And lo and behold, he didn't. Which was a relief because I was so full of nerves that his being there with his head hung down while I was speaking would have done me in for sure. But at the same time, his not being there was symbolic. It signalled the end of our mentor-student relationship. Just as I...
3. what i’ve learned in grad school…Ah. Graduate school. Quite a different experience compared to medical school. Completely different. So much more laid-back. So much more relaxed. So much more boring. It’s not that it’s not challenging. It’s just so not stressful or demanding when compared to med school. But it is a totally different culture, one that I’m glad to have gotten to know and appreciate. The oft-used generalization is that PhDs think whereas MDs don’t. In that sense, I’m sure glad that I’m doing both so when some PhD wants to accuse me of being a non-thinking MD, I can fire back with, “But I have a PhD! So then what?” All kidding aside, although I find grad school a little bit dull compared to med school, I do find it useful and engaging. If it weren’t for grad school, I would still believe everything anyone tells me and every single publication I read. But thanks to grad school, I’ve learned to question everything and how to turn everything into some sort of experiment, very useful skills in my opinion!...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.