The interview
25.08.06, 12:10 pm

So, interview time. I spent about five minutes the morning of standing in front of the bathroom mirror and asking myself out loud, �Would you give me a job? Yeah, I think I�d give me a job�. Wish life did actually work like that. Then asked both Lisa and Dave said question, and they said yes. Both clearly suffering from bias, but it was nice all the same. Dave gave me a lift there, and talked about the Leeds Festival the entire time. I wasn�t really listening, and just said, �Mmm yeah� every time he stopped to breathe. Seemed to work a treat.

I had to wait for ages before I went in, and when I finally did get let in found out that I had FOUR people interviewing me: Head of Department and Everything, who asked a lot of questions about cancer; Deputy Head of Department and Everything, who talked the most; Head of All Labs, who loves everything Health & Safety and talked about COSHH forms a lot; and finally Head of Specific Lab, who appeared to be married to a microscope and gave me lots of penetrating looks. Together they were a little intimidating, but I forced myself to sit back in my chair and look relaxed, and to look at everyone on the panel whilst answering questions.

The questions themselves were okay � I didn�t bollocks anything up and I could answer everything. I mentioned the ME as briefly as I could, and talked about loving research and science a lot. And it�s true� maybe not massively apparent in this diary, but I absolutely loved my degree and couldn�t imagine doing any other, and I love science in general and never get bored of it. Was maybe a little too peppy and a-lovin� of biology in the interview, but then that�s better than sounding disinterested. Fingers crossed anyway; I�ll hear within a week�s time either way.

Head of Specific Lab rang me this morning, just as I was settling down for a day of Bad Girls watching. She offered me the part-time job and I�ve accepted. It�s not official, as she has to recommend to the University that they appoint me, and then the University has to officially offer me the job, but it�s all just paperwork. She said that they were very impressed with my interview, and loved my enthusiasm and how passionate I was about science. And she said that they could be flexible with my ME, and that I can work a little every day, or maybe one day on one day off, or whatever was best for me. I�ll be starting at the end of September.

After I got off the phone I shouted, �YES! FUCKING YES!� at the kettle, did a little dance and then did the phone rounds. I cannot adequately describe the total relief that I feel; it�s like the biggest weight has just been lifted off of my shoulders. I don�t have to worry about money anymore, or incapacity benefits and council tax and food and loans off family members. I�ve got a job; a job that can be worked around the goddamnmotherfucking ME and is interesting and what I want to do in life. Ever since I picked my degree I�ve known that I want to do research, and the placement I did last year cemented that for me. And I love Sheffield, and I love the university, and the whole thing�s just amazing.

Oh, I should probably say what the job�s about. I�m working for a project that�s funded by the Leukaemia Society looking at multiple myeloma, which is cancer of the plasma cell, and as I�m Bone Biology Dept that means plasma cells in bone marrow. I�ll be doing specimen work for different people who don�t have the necessary lab skills � it�s very fiddly and time-consuming, and I�ll probably have to work at my patience levels a lot. I know it all sounds totally geeky and boring, but to me it�s fantastic.

The ME can go fuck itself. It�s not beating me � I have a job that means I can do �rest periods� and all that crap, and I reckon if I can handle half hours then they�ll let me do more. Plus, now I�m working for the Uni I get a pink staff card and will get to go to the Union still and Fuzz Club and stuff. I�m a crazy half-student. I�m employed. Everything�s fine now.

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