Not far from the truth...

An amusing little nugget from yesterday's Onion.

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Jim Bond....

I have something to say...

Daniel Craig is James Bond, and a splendidly entertaining one at that!

You have been told ;-)

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Event horizon....

It is, frankly, all a little scary.

Event Horizon. That is currently where I stand in my life. I have been very preoccupied with the impending end of my research contract. Hence the absenteeism. Come the end of February, I will no longer be working in my lab. I'd like to say it was all a conscious choice, but it is largely due to the rejection of our submitted research grant, which itself came down to some rather cranky politics and personal conflicts of interest that have left me rather bitter towards certain members of my research community.

So here I am, waiting to see what happens in my life. I'm busy trying to network and apply for the few research positions that I can find, i.e. those that don't require me to start my life all over again in some new part of the country. I'm staying North. For now.

Some days I find myself about as despondent as one can be, but other days I am joyful at the opportunity to do something a little different. I was, if I admit it, getting a little stale. I want new things to focus on and get stuck into. I'm too close to what I work on right now. I don't want to leave science (the thought leaves me cold), I don't even want to leave bacterial molecular genetics (my bag). I'd like to get into science communication and science policy. I like the bigger picture, I'm a little tired of the minutiae. As long as whatever I do actually means something, is useful, and ultimately keeps me in the fun of finding things out, I don't mind leaving the bench. That being said, some research money may be forthcoming in June, following the next round of grants. So if I'm not gainfully employed by then, I may crawl back into one lab or another ;-)

....and if I can't find anything better to do, I'll be the one streaking across Centre Court at Wimbledon next year ;-)

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