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| "CJ's chance of passing this test is slim to none, and Slim just left town." Credit: ljworld.com |
I am not going to be the most productive scientist at my company tomorrow. Lifelong St. Louis fan! #cardinals #worldseriesIt reminds me of a terrible and amusing memory: election night 2000. I happen to have an inorganic chemistry exam at 8 am the next morning, so I decide to stay up and study with the TV on in the background -- not a good idea, I know. As Dan Rather was getting more and more incoherent ("If a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a hand gun."), I was as well. While I'm a big, big proponent of a good night's sleep, I found myself deciding to stay awake just long enough to see who the winner was...
Of course, there wasn't a winner. I bombed the test something fierce (possibly the worst grade I ever got in graduate school), but I have a story to tell my grandkids.
Readers, did you ever stay up in grad school? I'll bet you wish you'd had slept.
Seriously, CJ??? You're complaining about 10pm?? Think of us east coaster's who powered thru that game! ;)
ReplyDeleteand whatagameitwas!!
Some of us are just prematurely old. Aren't you a Cubs fan? Rooting for the Rangers?
ReplyDeleteah! this is a common occurrence for me. as you'll notice, the time stamp on my post is 3 am. :) I also might have been distracted by the game. But there really is not too much consequence as I'll just stay a bit later tonight for coming in a bit late.
ReplyDeleteThe worst was when I pulled an all-nighter to finish my Goldwater Application in undergrad, the next day I had an exam in Chinese that I ended up sleeping through in trying to take a "quick nap" before class. Like you, I've also never done worse. Laoshi was pretty harsh on missing class, no makeup.
Actually some of my most proud moments where when I said to myself,"Screw it!" and did what I wanted instead of studying for my graduate school exams.
ReplyDeleteMy department required a master's thesis even if you were a doctoral candidate, and that had to be completed before you could make your research proposal before your committee. The year I was proposing, my adviser was on sabbatical in Europe and was coming back just for my proposal. I pulled an allnighter just to finish my thesis and proposal, as if I missed the window, my adviser would have justifiably upset.
ReplyDeleteI got through the proposal just fine, but at my party that evening, I fell asleep. People assumed that I was passed-out/drunk, even though I had had only 1 beer!
Staying up all night in grad school? Come on, of course! Everyone must have done it. I did most of it in first year when I had to teach, take classes, and still get a ton of research done since the boss was a new assistant prof. I remember finishing grading at 11 pm a few times only to start my first reaction. Eventually, I just bought a sleeping bag and brought it to the lab to save on walking home and back time. Luckily, the chemistry building had a shower with some lockers.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I ever stayed up all night after second year. In postdoc, I stayed up all night to finish all the samples for Elemental Analysis due to the screwed up in-house system here. Or to get some work done after the rest of the labmates leave.
I remember Rather from that night. "This thing is tighter than the lug nuts on a '57 Chevy."
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