Return of the Mini Boss
23.08.06, 11:16 am

Sat drinking strong coffee whilst writing this� I appear to be in the middle of a crash for no reason at all, but I don�t mind because I felt pretty good over the weekend. Day 5 of taking the St. John�s Wort. They taste like hamster food. I never actually had a hamster for a pet, but I did have a few gerbils. The first one I had lasted just one afternoon � we left the house for a couple of hours, came back and found him sticking out of the black cat�s mouth. I have no idea why I love that black cat so much when all he does is cause trouble.

My dad rang me during Silent Witness the other night purely so that he could set the volume on his phone. He did say that he�d ring me tonight though, so that we could run through all the things I shouldn�t say during my interview tomorrow. At some point today I�m going to have to do some background reading into current oncology lab techniques, specifically bone cancer, which will be as boring as it sounds. God, I want this job so much. Also need to iron my shirt, as it�s been living on the floor by my bed since graduation (haven�t got round to buying a wardrobe yet� it�s a working progress).

No fascinating recent news, which is why this entry has no structure. Think I�m pining for the housekids. Becky sent me some more ME stuff the other day, all about only using up 70% of your energy otherwise you�ll suffer a big crash, and that maintaining blood sugar levels will minimise dizziness. She really is one of the most fantastic people in the entire world, but I�m still apprehensive about this strange disciple course thing she�s going on in September.

It�s true when they say that you should never live with a couple. I really like Linda, and we get on very, very well, but it�s still true what they say. The other day she said that I was charming, and that I�m one of those people who just draws people towards them, which inflated my ego no end. But it�s still true what they say.

Dave�s staying over tonight, as he�s going off to Leeds festival tomorrow. I was originally going to sack him off, on account of not wanting to knack myself before the interview, but he was so cute and upbeat on the phone that I relented. Plus he�s giving me a lift to the interview. He was the last person to tell about the ME, and his response was, �Shit, that�s not good. Well, we�ll steer away from that because I bet you�ve had to talk to loads of people about it already and don�t want to talk to me about it too�. Ha! I LOVE Dave. Hope he brings me cake or something.

Got the following email from Mini Boss yesterday afternoon:

Hi Holly,

How are things going? Have you found a post yet? Uber Boss asked me to enquire, as after your email I mentioned that you were looking and we may have one coming available in the next month or two - a 12 month research assistant post - screening 100 cases for mutations in a 34 exon gene! It will be lots of sequencing, but may be a platform for further studies. Let me know if you are at all interested and I will let Uber Boss know.

How did you get on with your degree? (or did you tell me and I've forgotten?!)

Best wishes,

Mini Boss

Obviously none of you are complete geeks like me, so I�ll explain the exon bit as briefly as possible � genes are made of exons and introns, with exons coding for proteins and stuff and introns coding for total crap. So exons are where the action is at, and mutations of exons can cause diseases. In practical terms I�d be screening each of the 100 samples of DNA at least 34 times, so that�s a hell of a lot of sequencing. But despite that, big yay, because it sounds like I�m maybe guaranteed that job if it all goes tits up tomorrow. I think I still want the job tomorrow more, but if not then I�ll hopefully at least have some form of lab job soon.

Might go have a bath now. God, I miss Uni already. Everything was a lot more eventful then.

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