In anticipation of New Year's

So I was thinking about it being 2006 because we were talking about astrology today in lab. And also because I was labeling tubes and wondering if I'll keep forgetting to write 06 on everything next month, like I always do.

This year has pretty much sucked for me, career-wise. My personal life has improved, but since this isn't a blog about my personal life, you never hear about that.

But this year started with my getting food poisoning on January 1st. It was really awful and I probably would have died if I'd been alone, because I didn't have the energy to force down alka seltzer (aspirin for the fever, and liquids for the dehydration), much less call 911 and explain what was wrong with me or where I lived, etc.

Thanks to my boyfriend, I was mostly recovered two days later. But the older I get, the more I think these things tend to come in groups. You know, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Once one has landed on your head, you can't help expecting the other one. And it did. In fact, most of the year felt about as good as being repeatedly kicked in the head.

So anyway I am hopeful that next year will be better. It has the potential for extremes: either much better, or potentially much worse, than this year. Which is always a scary prospect. I'm not a gambler. I would be very happy with a gradual improvement, instead of this crazy extreme up (I have a thesis project that's actually working!) and down (all hell breaks loose in my thesis lab)... cut to a few years later and it's still up (might get High Impact Paper for incredibly cool story!) and down (I give up, go to more obscure journal just to get it over with)... and up (might get a job) and down (might be unemployed and eventually homeless)...