Things I will miss about lab

And now, a light-hearted look back at things I will miss about lab, to balance out the things I don't miss.

• Slime mold jazz hands.

Physarum was always quite the performer.

• Making cheesecakes for coworkers.  Chai cheesecake is their favorite!

• Laughing hysterically to shouts of "ETHIDIUM BROMIDE!?!" (Long story about a lady 500% over-reacting to something out of context.)

• Ridiculously cozy working spaces

 

 Only I was brave enough to work there.  

The beams were to keep the ceiling from falling down.

• Seeing my Star Trek buddy.

• Micrasterias, Haematococcus, and Volvox.

• Weirding coworkers out with the glove hives.

 Yeah, I know, I never took a good picture of it.

• Making trips to the grocery store to buy edible mushrooms and cheese for the fungal classes, and seeing the wide-eyed look of the grocers who are confused by the sheer volume of mushrooms.

• Access to really cool glassware and lab supplies.  Though I did get this awesome kitchen scale, which satisfies my sciency side.

• Growing teensy, tiny, itsy, bitsy Psilocybe mushrooms. 

 Not the psychedelic kind... or was it?

• Bunsen.  Burners.

• Did I mention bunsen burners?  Burning stuff, all day?  Sterilizing was pretty cool.

• And lastly... all the pretty algae colors!

 Mmmmm, yes.

Truth be told... in the end, my parents were 100% right.  No matter how much loyalty you feel like you have to a position, your coworkers, your students, or your employer... once you are on to different things, it feels like it was ages ago and and moving on is easy.  I don't miss it much at all, because science is always in my life, and I grow algae/bacteria/fungi at home anyway.*

*Algae: in fish tanks.  Bacteria:  in yogurt, kimchi, sourdoughs.  Fungus:  in breads and garden.