9 posts tagged “work”
Much has happened! I have a job!!!
Last Wednesday, I started getting calls for many of the jobs I put in applications for. For most of them, I had to go through an initial screen. I'm going to bullet the list to make it easier to follow.
- One of them was a research tech job in St. Louis at Washington University School of Medicine, in the bone marrow transplant unit. I interviewed for that one on Thursday, and they had one other person left to interview. I should hear one way or the other pretty soon.
- Another was a research tech job for a company in Kansas City that is working on developing new allergy tests. It was an okay job, probably kind of boring, but with really good pay. I have no idea how that one went.
- I had another one in Kansas City for a clinical lab that does diagnostic testing for immunocompromised patients (i.e. people who need organ transplants, HIV patients, etc.). It seemed like a cool place to work, but also very routine once you got trained on how to do everything.
- I was also supposed to have an interview with AmeriCorps St. Louis yesterday afternoon, but it got cancelled, and that's fine because I had really only just gotten back from Kansas City and needed to pack for the next big adventure.
- I was also submitted for a lab technician job at Pfizer and found out yesterday that I made it through the first screen.
It doesn't pay as much as any of the others, but it's really an incredible experience. It's in a brand-new (opened in December) state-of-the-art research facility. It's a part of a medical school, which means networking out the wazoo. He's going to let me pursue some of my own projects, connected to the grants, of course, and also to present posters at meetings and seminars which the lab will pay for me to go to! And since I'm going to try to move across the state line, I'll be establishing Kansas residency and I'll stand a much better shot at getting into the SOM when I eventually reapply.
It's all very exciting, and a little crazy at the same time. I had some problems related to my background check (nothing with me - someone has been using my SSN or something like it to buy houses and cars and things - AWESOME.) and so I'm still waiting for them to officially offer me the job, but it's nice to be able to stop looking for a little while. I'm going to Rainbow next week and I'm going to have to check my voicemail pretty rigorously for being at camp, which sucks because I hate having huge amounts of outside influence while I'm at camp. It's really my vacation. But, I've got to do it! I also have to go to KC to actually find a place to live, and then pack all of my things on a very limited schedule, as I'm nannying and then pretty much moving, and then taking a few days before I start.
But, I'm superexcited, in spite of the craziness!
I HATE MY JOB! ARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Exciting things today:
1. Today was the second-to-last day of biochemistry lab. It's been fun, but I'm pretty ready for it to be over. My students are, to put it bluntly, not of the highest achieving group. The "lab" was a final review, so they pretty much just did that while we handed out papers and answered questions.
2. I got a phone call from a scientific staffing firm who found my resume on Monster and wanted to interview me for a couple of lab positions in St. Louis. One would be doing wet QC work and instrumental analysis, and the other would be doing cell culture work and tissue manufacturing, which sounds incredible. It's arthritis research and development. The whole thing feels like having a sports agent, which is kind of weird, but a job is a job.
3. Not so exciting: my med chem project. It sucks, hard-core.
Dear Other Intern,
Poor planning and lack of foresight on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. If you were so worried about getting the damned banner from me, you should have called earlier - like on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, when I was around.
I know that there are people in this generation who can't live without their cell phones, and I'm sure that it irritates the hell out of them when I don't have mine. But I'm very open about the fact that your chance of catching me on my cell phone on a weekday is almost nil. At best, you can leave a message, but even if I have it with me, the odds that I'm going to think to check it before 5PM are not good. If I'm expecting a call or know I'm going to need to get in touch with someone, then I'll probably have it with me, but otherwise, it will be off, silent, dead, or at home. I've told you numerous times that if you need to get in touch with me, e-mail is almost certainly your best bet.
I resent the fact that I'm expected to be available to you twenty-four hours a day. This never happened before cell phones and e-mail and pagers. Before cell phones, this never would have happened to me. Before cell phones, you would have called me yesterday, I would have gone downstairs and looked for the damned banner, we would have set up a meeting time when both of us would have been available, and you would have gotten it there. But because of cell phones, you expected for me to rearrange my entire afternoon to go to my basement and search for something that, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't exist.
There is going to be a time in my life when I'm probably going to be tethered to a cell phone or a pager or both. I'm saving that time for the future. What would have happened if you wouldn't have been able to get in touch with me? I'm sure you would have blamed me and told the Boss that I was a horrible person.
I really believe in the cause that this organization promotes. However, I've never been so supremely frustrated with the lack of dedication on the part of the support system and my co-workers as I am right now, and that's a shame. It is not my job to single-handedly fix the organization. Things were so good last semester when there were other people who cared. I miss those other people.
So please, enjoy the conference that you are going to. I will enjoy seeing Billy Joel live much more than I would have spending it trapped in a hotel room/plane/meeting with you.
Love,
Melissa Ann
It's always painful to hear from a superior that you've failed at something. It's even more painful to be told that you've failed entirely. It's even worse when your superiors feel like they're setting you up for success, when in fact they've made it more difficult for you to succeed.
I'm glad that my affiliation with this organization is coming to an end. The first half of the experience was great. We had a great team of strong individuals who were committed to the cause. Every person was proactive, open, and fun to be around. Everyone took responsibility for things they wanted to do, and things they didn't. We all knew that one person was leaving at the end of the semester, but they had brought in a new person whom everyone swore was going to be great.
Except that she wasn't really. Trying to get her to do anything was like pulling teeth. She didn't want to take responsibility for anything. I'm really struggling to understand what exactly she got paid for. When I was lambasted for trying to do everything, it was so hard not to scream, "IT WAS BECAUSE SHE WAS DOING NOTHING!" The situation was made far worse when we lost a second veteran at the beginning of the second half, and I was left alone, isolated, to do everything on my own. It certainly wasn't that I wanted to perform every task on my own; believe me, I am not such a control freak. It was that, whenever the opportunity for action presented itself, she went AWOL, or told me to do it myself.
To say nothing of the fact that the "boss" was continuously telling me what my priorities should be. When I was trying to fulfill the terms of the grant that they forced me to write, she told me that I needed to be focusing on one certain program that really didn't require much planning. When I told her that I wanted to meet with her to discuss terms of the grant, or to discuss potential speakers, I constantly felt put off. Then, as it was getting closer and closer, she started telling me constantly that this needed to be my priority right now - and it was - except that by the time she decided this was true, I was travelling across the country for medical school interviews, missing class left and right, and trying to implement a large-scale program for another organization. When I tried to communicate this to my coworker, she remained non-committal, only furthering my frustration.
Moreover, I'm almost certain that she presented herself as at least somewhat of an angel during her own evaluation, or at least painted me a demon.
This ends perhaps the worst evaulation of my life thus far.
I've been in kind of a grouchy mood all day, some residual anger left over from the weekend, combined with the edge of a headache that is probably left-over from some of the weekend's indiscretions. But, it's amazing how an unexpected compliment can really take the edge off.
I was walking past the wall in front of the library, leaving my sociology professor's office. My professor is also one of my advisers, and she and I are pretty close. We walked back to her office after class, talking about the bureaucratic stresses of teaching for a large university and some of the crappy elements of my internship. She told me about her crazy plan to meet Jeff Goldblum and Larry David (and if it works, I will totally be at her house). I told her about how I kind of wish I had some idea where I was going to be in six months. Then, she had a meeting, and I left.
I took kind of a roundabout route to one of the student unions and ran into the guy that sits diagonally from me in my sociology class. I saw him from across the mall and he greeted me with a "Hey, beautiful" which was kind of sweet, because even though I know that it's just a pleasantry, it's still nice to hear sometimes. And I will not be so modest as to say that my hair does not look fantastic today. So we exchanged a few thoughts. He's going to Costa Rica for spring break, and I'm going to Amherst for a few days at the end of next week. He teased me about going to the liberal bastions of America and meeting John Kerry. It was kind of cute. He's kind of cute, actually.
So yeah, that's the story about how two words made me feel a lot better about the day.
I'm alone in my car with the "Check Engine" light. The events of the day are playing like songs on the radio in my head, and I'm suddenly immaterial. I'm a body separate from a mind, which has transformed into swirling words, pictures, snippets of thoughts that dissipate, wisp-like, into the atmosphere.
Thinking about my meeting with my boss from St. Louis today. I told her about why I haven't been down that road so much lately. I told her what happened, and she told me to make sure I was taking care of myself. Told me that I could trust her, told me things I already knew. Then as I was leaving, I was wondering if I crossed a line, if maybe I shouldn't have said. I'm not ashamed of what happened, but I still don't like to talk about it.
Thinking about Pennsylvania. Thinking about how much I loved the school and the town, about perfect fits and new neighbors. About getting in and how heartbroken I'll be if it doesn't happen. About destiny and puzzle pieces, and streets that smell like chocolate. About going to services at a synagogue with an organ. About how far away I would be from my family and this place that, over the last three years, I've fallen in love with. How much can my life change in four months? How much can I change, and how much from my old life can I keep?
Thinking about how the world seems to be spinning very fast lately. I used to ride the merry-go-round at Queen Ann Park, a few blocks from the old house. My dad would stand still and push it, faster and faster, and we'd hold onto the rails for dear life. When I was seven, I fell off. I scraped my whole back and I was sore for days afterwards. The days are going by faster than usual, it seems, and I'm afraid of falling off, of losing my direction. In two months and six days, I'm on my own, and I'm terrified. But, I know I'll be fine. How do I know? Because I'm always fine, and things in the universe tend to stay the same.
Thinking about what it would be like to never again take the walk with which I've come to be familiar. About driving a new car, about finding a new band to play in. What will my life be like in a year? Will I have moved on? Will I still want to be the same things? So many questions, but the answers don't come until they come. So I'm left pondering, of holding on to the merry-go-round, and driving alone in my car.
... that I'm not going to be around so much this week. It's a shame, really, because I live here and all. But I just don't think that what I was just told was very considerate. I mean, SIX nights? Really? Really.
The weather is supposed to get bad up here sometime soon, which cramps my plans a little bit. I might have to leave on Monday, or I might be able to squeeze by on Tuesday. I would like very much not to miss another week of teaching, so I'm going to try really hard not to leave until then.
So, the gameplan for the next week:
Sunday: Teach, do lots of homework, and make something tasty for dinner.
Monday: Go to class, take the GRE (maybe), do lots of homework, and/or drive home.
Tuesday: If in Columbia, teach and then drive home, go to the airport, fly to Charlotte, then Harrisburg, and take the taxi into Hershey. If in St. Louis, study all day, work on biochemistry seminar, and then fly to Charlotte, then Harrisburg, then take the taxi into Hershey.
Wednesday: Interview at 8:30 in the freaking morning! Interview is done at 2:30, then take the shuttle to the airport, spend lots of time in the airport working on my biochemistry seminar and buying Hershey-themed gifts, fly to Cleveland, maybe meet Stephanie for dinner, and then fly to St. Louis.
Thursday: Drive back to Columbia. Teach, then work at Hillel and ask if dogsitting requires my presence on Saturday morning. Do much homework.
Friday: If I'm not needed in Columbia until Saturday afternoon, then go to class, then head down 63 for the Rolla kegger!
Saturday: Drive back to Columbia, dogsit and work on seminar presentation.
Sunday: Wake up at the crack of dawn to walk Penny, go to religious school, and help Adam with the review session in the afternoon.
When this whole process is over, I think I'm going to sleep for six days.
I go to school at the University of Missouri. I'm majoring in biochemistry, with minors in rural sociology and chemistry. I work in a laboratory that studies the way ovarian cancer and prostate cancer get past the immune system. I also work as an intern for the a religious reproductive rights organization, teach religious school on Sunday mornings, and do PR and fundraising for the campus Hillel. I'm also involved in an organization called Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom.
Right now, I'm in my last semester, so I'm taking my capstone (a hellacious research experience with a lab partner who is dumber than a box of hammers) and applying to medical schools. I think I want to do family practice in a smaller town, or perhaps specialize in OBGYN.
I love all forms of art, and do my best to make my own. I love photography. I use a Sony Cybershot digital, and I have a Canon 35 that I'm still learning how to use. I play flute and acoustic guitar, and have piccolo and piano skills. I like to doodle, and I make snide jokes and cartoons in my class notebooks.
Right now, I have a boyfriend who goes to school about 100 miles away. It's hard, and we're handling it, but per usual, I make no promises as to its longevity. The fact of my life is that I don't know where I'll be in a year. I handle the distance a lot better than he does, which has been an issue recently. I'm pretty independent, and I know that I'm a hard person to live twith. It's just a fact of being me.
I have a mommy and a daddy in St. Louis who love me very much, and a sister in Cleveland who just started college and probably loves me more. As of this writing, I have two English bulldogs, Millie and Gus, and my room at home is inhabited by a gerbil named Ethyl. My cat, Heidi, was very sick and we made the decision to end her suffering yesterday. She was my cat, as cats can be, and it was very hard and sad, especially being away from home. I have one living grandparent. I have lots of cousins who are very distantly related to me, and recently found out that a girl who I became friends with in June is one of my two first cousins. My extended family is very fragmented; my mother doesn't talk to her sister. My favorite person in the world is probably my Aunt Ruth, who isn't really my aunt. I visit her whenever I'm home, and take her grocery shopping and we eat lunch together.
So that's me, at this very moment.
