The last time I did a big project like this, I did it mostly remotely while I was travelling around the maritimes a few years ago. (Didn't even have a laptop then!) But I had the best anchor, a student intern/slave who was actually mentally competent and moderately skilled.
He was a law student, (now articling with a judge in Pittsburgh) and, get this, answered the phone every time I called, did what I told him, made intelligent corrections and suggestions and obediently shut up when I told him to.
Oh, what it must be to have things like secretaries, fact-checkers, proof-readers...
Today, I'm proud to announce that I alphabetised my glossary.
I know, I know, it doesn't sound like much, but I was really planning on procrastinating on it a lot longer. Maybe even taking up smoking again so I could have the excuse of having to pop out for a puff every five minutes. I really DID NOT WANT to do this task.
I'll give you a sample:
5. Blastocoel: The fluid-filled cavity inside the blastocyst.
6. Blastocyst: A preimplantation embryo of about 150 cells produced by cell division following fertilization. The blastocyst is a sphere made up of an outer layer of cells (the trophoblast), a fluid-filled cavity (the blastocoel), and a cluster of cells on the interior (the inner cell mass).
7. Blastomere: a type of cell produced by division of the embryo in the early stages of life. Blastomeres of the inner cell mass of a blastocyst are the “embryonic stem cells” sought by some scientists for their pluripotent characterisitics. If the embryo is left undisturbed, these inner blastomeres will divide and differentiate to form all the tissues of the child’s body.
8. Bone marrow stromal (stem) cell: Also known as mesenchymal stem cells. Cells derived from the non-blood forming fraction of bone marrow. Bone marrow stromal cells are capable of growth and differentiation into a number of different cell types including bone, cartilage and fat.
Make you want to read more?
Meeee Neeether!
I must really really want to go to Britain, because I keep doing wildly uncharacteristic things to make it happen. Things I really hate a lot.
Some who know me well, will know that I have a pathological fear of filling out government forms. There must be a Greek name for it. I start to panic when I even see a government office. The sight of a queue, those little paper numbers they make you take, the light board pointing to which wicket you're supposed to go to, the invariably evil troll sitting behind the counter. I often panic and flee when my turn comes.
Some will recall that for the first two years I lived in Ontario, I didn't get medical coverage. I didn't do it until I had come to work with what everyone thought was pneumonia or possibly flesh-eating disease. I sat hunched miserably in my office, growling menacingly at anyone who dared venture into (what was later to be called) the bat cave. Finally, my boss, Jim Hughes came storming in and said, "Go get OHIP today, right now, or you're fired."
I slunk out, still snarling, and took the entire afternoon to go out to the OHIP office and sign up. I can remember every minute detail of the unspeakably horrifying experience. I think I remember the smell of the slidey blue plastic chair I sat in. It had little sparkly things embedded in the plastic that I found particularly menacing. It was too tall and made my legs ache, as I'm sure it was meant to.
This time, although there have been few (OK, no) trips to offices, there has been an apparently endless succession of forms to fill out, trips to the bank to get terrifyingly large amounts of money in money orders...
I haven't got the passport yet (they said four weeks; I think it's been two), and I really hope it was not all in vain.
Truth be told, I was never this interested in going into religious life. I think I'm on some kind of pilgrimage, and feel as if I'm in the grip of something.
Sleep-deprivation mania, perhaps.
No comments:
Post a Comment