Lessons from Graduate School.

1. In graduate school, you are on your own. No one else does the same thing. No one else goes through exactly what you do. And so, no one else will understand your situation. You're alone, and you have to learn to deal with it and maybe stop trying to explain yourself to other people.

2. No one gives a damn about what you're doing, so it's a good idea to get used to that and stop worrying about what other people think of you. We don't realize that half of what we do is moulded by our concern of what other people think. The thing is - everyone is too busy trying to get a handle on themselves, they don't have time to think about other people. And even if they do - you simply have to stop caring about it. Because there's already too much to handle. In the end it's your journey. 

3. People get screwed up, but many do survive well enough. You can never judge another person, and you shouldn't, because again, you can't really know their whole situation. 

4. You need friends. You need a social circle, because you will need all the support you can get. Isolation will inevitably get you depressed. I used to be a person who loved being alone and did great without friends or a social circle, but being alone is not easy when you're overloaded with things. You need people to distract you sometimes.

5. It's hard to make friends because it's hard to meet people who will be interested in interacting with you beyond a purely professional level. So you should probably not have too high hopes about making friends. 

But if you like science and you like to learn, you can probably stay happy enough through all of it.

Here I am.

So, here I am again. It's been a little more than two months since my graduate school life started.
My life is extremely crazy right now but yeah, I would rather be here than anywhere else.
Whenever things get too bad (it usually is quite bad), I remind myself where I am. And try to be amazed that I'm at such a legendary place, walking through buildings where legends have worked, legendary science has been done, and is being done.
My house looks like its been robbed, my kitchen has not been entered for a month, I still have no furniture and I'm still living out of a suitcase and a sleeping bag (some improvement: I have a mattress).
I have no idea when or where I'm going to eat or sleep next, which makes me essentially nomadic.
Though thankfully I have friends who cook.
I try to get some sleep about once a week.
Summer is going away, and the lush green is slowly turning yellow and orange.
But I'm becoming better at things like programming. Which I always wanted to do. So I am pretty much getting to learn and do what I wanted.
Just like anything, it's taking time getting used to the language of biophysics. Like how learning biology was like learning a new language.
Here, I feel like I know something. I feel satisfied that I know things, sometimes things other people don't, and I can participate, and contribute to the common learning. Be atleast somewhat aware of discussions during group meetings and seminars. Just goes to show how every experience you have is valuable.
I'm still as scatterbrained as always, though purple and orange post-its all over my desk are keeping things in control. Also, my lab bench is pretty colourful :

I also have black muticolour polka-dotted boots that are colourful and cheer me up when it's grey and gloomy and raining.
Oh yeah, and I still don't use american spelling. I doubt I'll get into the habit.
Fall should be pretty, and colourful.