Friday vent

The reasons are many, but lately I've been in a state of melancholy. Gripes? Factors that are particularly pissing me off? I've got plenty, here's a sample.

1. My pay, or rather, being underpaid. What do you think the salary of a postdoc in biological science should be? Keep in mind that postdocs have the highest academic qualification possible (Ph.D), are the work horses of US labs, and are doing a job to advance scientific discovery, a discovery that in the future may benefit your precious health. For example, thanks to medical science you no longer face a hideous death from smallpox, so I don't want to read any more shit about scientists being evil because we use animals in research or do things like genetic engineering. I don't want to hear people complaining that we don't have a cure for cancer already. Science is fucking hard OK?, this shit takes time so back the fuck off. If you're one of those people having a go at science and aren't a scientist or don't know a scientist, then you probably have no accurate idea what scientific research is about anyway, so in addition to fucking off, shut the fuck up. So back to my question, what's the salary of a postdoc? Well an entry level postdoc in the US gets the princely sum of around $37,000 per annum (before tax; according to government guidelines). Constantly working weekends, major job instability, the frustration of experiments constantly failing, that's the existence of a typical postdoc. All for what? not even 40-fucking K to live off. Pathetic.
   
2. Myself, for being too lazy to go to the gym this week. Plus me overall, but let's leave the self-obsessed deconstructive loathe-fest until next time shall we?
   
3. Overpriced piss-water Starbucks coffee.
   
   
   Starsucks by www.organique.com (top) and Kieron Dwyer’s take on Starbucks (bottom).
   
   
4. Cold weather.
5. The lack of hold that is provided by my hair gel and the fact that I can't find the brand I used to use in Sydney. Don't roll your eyes, I'm gay, I've got the bloody right to bitch about meaningless shit like this.
   
6. The slow death of my African violet. I water you, give you light, provide a moderate temperature, why are you dying?!
7. Having no idea what my future career will be. Do I stay in science or bail already?
8. My cell phone constantly having crappy reception. While I'm at it, a big fuck you to Verizon for making me put down a freaking $400 deposit just so I have the privilege of getting a shit-house cell phone with your glorious network. All because I don't have a credit history in the US. What bullshit. Fuckers.
   
9. Having to work out the fucking tip at bars and restaurants. I've had 8 beers already and now you're making me do fucking maths? It's insane.
   
10. American spelling, the way the day/month order is switched and the use of Imperial measurement in the US.
    
    Countries that use Imperial units of measure are in red (US, Liberia & Myanmar; the UK uses both metric and Imperial units).
    
    Seriously, why the fuck is arguably the most powerful nation on this piss-ant planet still not using the metric system? and don't spout the bullshit about it costing too much to convert the US to metric. If the US can afford $720 million per day on killing people in Iraq and Afghanistan (or half a million bucks per minute, with a projected cost of $2.4 trillion in ten years), then surely, metric conversion is attainable.
11. My constant misspelling of "Ex-flatemate" in a whole bunch of old posts, which I've now tried to correct.
    
12. This whinging nothing of a post.

Enough venting, time for me to venture into the hated outside cold to drop cash I don't have on some booze. First up, there's a battle with my hair gel I've got to see to. Fuck.