*sigh* *flop*
16 November 2004 17:47![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enismirdalAfter a certain Elf decided to keep me up till nearly 3am, I've kept myself buoyant throughout the day by drinking coffee and eating sugar, and it seems to have worked reasonably well (except for the fact that I spent most of the Cells lecture doodling Elfsmut, but I managed to take lots of notes too, so I suppose that's OK.
Drosophila larvae, I maintain, were never designed to be dissected. Think about it.
They are about 2mm long. (The forceps you use look gigantic under the microscope.)
They are squidgy.
They wriggle.
Their guts squidge out everywhere.
Nonetheless, there I was, dissecting at least 10 of them.
Put larva on slide.
Chase larva round slide with forceps, all the time having to co-ordinate the x10 image you get on the microscope and where your hands are going.
Home in on larva with forceps in each hand.
Wonder why forceps haven't appeared in the viewing area of the microscope yet.
Look down at hands and realise forceps are waving about in air three inches away from slide.
Sigh and position tips of forceps close to larva and return to staring down microscope.
Grab hold of larva.
Lose hold of larva when it twitches.
Grab it again.
Yank off backside of larva with other pair of forceps.
Swear when backside doesn't come away cleanly and a weird stringy bit keeps it anchored to larva.
Pull again, harder.
Attempt to grab hold of larva's skin with forceps that are suddenly way too big, whilst receiving no real sensory feedback from hands because the movements involved are so tiny.
Eventually pull larva to pieces enough to expose most of its innards.
Go off to stain larva for further investigation.
Will find out on Thursday whethere CDB essay was handed in 2 minuted before deadline or two minutes after (deadline being subjective and depending on what time supervisor leaves college). Am hoping for the former, but I am usually good, so nothing bad will happen either way.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
l_j_b was enthusing about her Creatures story and then I totally forgot I had an essay to submit until I got to Cells and started moaning to my lab partners about the Plants essay which I am currently procrastinating.
Talking of which, I should stop procrastinating.
Au revoir - should be on later, after the Eucatastrophe debate.
Drosophila larvae, I maintain, were never designed to be dissected. Think about it.
They are about 2mm long. (The forceps you use look gigantic under the microscope.)
They are squidgy.
They wriggle.
Their guts squidge out everywhere.
Nonetheless, there I was, dissecting at least 10 of them.
Put larva on slide.
Chase larva round slide with forceps, all the time having to co-ordinate the x10 image you get on the microscope and where your hands are going.
Home in on larva with forceps in each hand.
Wonder why forceps haven't appeared in the viewing area of the microscope yet.
Look down at hands and realise forceps are waving about in air three inches away from slide.
Sigh and position tips of forceps close to larva and return to staring down microscope.
Grab hold of larva.
Lose hold of larva when it twitches.
Grab it again.
Yank off backside of larva with other pair of forceps.
Swear when backside doesn't come away cleanly and a weird stringy bit keeps it anchored to larva.
Pull again, harder.
Attempt to grab hold of larva's skin with forceps that are suddenly way too big, whilst receiving no real sensory feedback from hands because the movements involved are so tiny.
Eventually pull larva to pieces enough to expose most of its innards.
Go off to stain larva for further investigation.
Will find out on Thursday whethere CDB essay was handed in 2 minuted before deadline or two minutes after (deadline being subjective and depending on what time supervisor leaves college). Am hoping for the former, but I am usually good, so nothing bad will happen either way.
l_j_b was enthusing about her Creatures story and then I totally forgot I had an essay to submit until I got to Cells and started moaning to my lab partners about the Plants essay which I am currently procrastinating.Talking of which, I should stop procrastinating.
Au revoir - should be on later, after the Eucatastrophe debate.
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Why I'm glad I did physics and computer science
Date: 16 Nov 2004 18:01 (UTC)(Not ick about the innards, I'm sure that's fascinating, and it's probably fascinating to look at the inner workings. But ick that you have to kill creatures as part of your course. And double ick that it's by hacking them to bits. I'm sure it doesn't bother sensible people like you - good for you if so - but I'd mind if I had to do it)
Re: Why I'm glad I did physics and computer science
Date: 16 Nov 2004 20:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 Nov 2004 19:22 (UTC)Good luck with the drunken drosophilia, Eni! You made my husband laugh pretty hard when I told him what you'd fed them. And doodling elf smut?? I wish my brain could work on two separate things like that so well! ;D