No worries then

I am sorted financially. And he's so supportive my supervisor. I just dread for the day when he'll just snap and kick me out of the lab.
My chapter is moving on. I might even dare say that I now understand why I did the work to begin with. It's a revelation really.

Intention to submit

I filled in the form that I intend to submit my thesis. That gives me 2 months to finish it....And my super said today: "You must be almost done now?".Hmm, it all depends how one defines the word almost,I guess. I'm meeting him tomorrow for a chat. Let's see how that goes. I'm curious if I'll need to look for a new job when my contract ends in a couple of months.

Tired and stressed

Damn this chapter! I hate it. It never ends and once I read it again, it sounds too weak and make even more changes.

About competition in science

Public consensus largely beautifies scientific research. One thing that is overlooked it how competitive it really is. Big fish academics compete with each other over who has the most, or any, publications in important journals aka Nature and Science. Then, that all important Nature paper becomes the fish hook for PhD and sometimes project students, that drives them to work like mad, or at least pretend so. And,oh dear, such grief when the paper is rejected and people have to downgrade and send it to a lesser journal. The worst of all, for me, is that they become so full of themselves even at the notion of such recognition. People who are most of the times emotionally immature and cannot cope with either fame or failure. I sincerely worry about some of my colleagues, and wish they could see the forest for the trees. This way they could try to fit some pragmatism into their life plan, and become better scientists in the way. Perhaps even turn into more decent human beings.

7:35 de la manana

Ιστορία εν μέσω πολύ βαρετής ανάλυσης φασματογράφου μάζας

Σκηνικό: σκοτεινή επαρχιακή πόλη Αγγλίας.
Φοιτητικό σπίτι. Χτυπάει η πόρτα. Είναι ο N., πλούσιος κολεγιόπαιδες που μας φορτώνεται συνεχώς ως πρώην συμμαθητής της συγκατοίκου μου.
-Κερδίσαμε παιδιά, κερδίσαμε!
- Τι έγινε, Ν.;
-Κερδίσαμε την υπόθεση του βασιλιά στο ευρωπαϊκό δικαστήριο.
(Η έλλειψη του "πρώην" στη πρόταση του έπρεπε να με είχε υποψιάσει.)
-Ναι, θα τα κρατήσουμε εμείς;
-Τι, τι λες; Κέρδισε ο βασιλιάς, είναι ανθρώπινο δικαίωμα του να κρατήσει την περιουσια της οικογενειας του.
Σε αυτό το σημείο κατάλαβα ότι αν σχεδόν μισό αιώνα μετά τον εμφύλιο και τον διχασμό, ακόμα υπάρχουν δεξιοί και αριστεροί, και σημαίνει κάτι αυτό. Στο περιβάλλον που βρισκόμασταν δεν ήτανε ιδεολογικό το περιεχόμενο της διαφοράς, αλλα μονο θέμα ψυχής.
Επίση κατάλαβα ότι έπρεπε να αλλάξω συγκάτοικο...
Και φυσικά, μερικά χρονια μετά ο πρώην ξεπούλησε την περιουσια της οικογενειας, κουτάλι κουτάλι και πιάτο πιάτο, σε δημοπρασία.

About today

The weather has been better these past two days, although I haven't been out of the house for at least two weeks. My thesis is now 130 pages and my last experimental chapter almost finished to a high level. I think it''ll be about 160 pages long with 50 pages of appendices.
I had the best dream this morning just before I woke up. I was in Strefi Hill (Λόφος Στρέφη) in Athens and had a walk with V. and A., two friends from uni that have now moved to Barcelona. We chatted and walked and it was summer. I love that place. It's an bizarre Athenian mutant of Park Güell and Green Park, only with the occasional added flavour of dealers and junkies.
Now, I can go back to what my 48th plot in my 54th page of chapter III really means !!???