helen-louise's journal

I haven't written much lately because I don't have a lot of spare energy with which to say anything. I am spending 2-3 afternoons a week in the lab, which wipes me out for the rest of the week. My chronic fatigue is such that 4 hours in lab requires the rest of the evening and the entire next day to rest. I don't even have to stand or walk much - I'm working in a tiny little microbiology lab smaller than the top floor of my house, where it is entirely normal to sit to do experiments because it's the only way to reach your arms into the laminar flow hood. But having to use my brain and my hands for several hours at a time is enough effort that I'm pretty much useless afterwards.

So I have been working, and making a ton of mistakes, and having to redo just about every experiment twice. Pretty sure this is entirely normal though, since they have been mistakes of inexperience. Like the other day I ran the PCR machine and didn't screw down the blue dial on the top to make the lid extra tight, so some of my samples evaporated. They're the kind of mistakes that a person who learns the way I do needs to make once in order to not make again. But it means that my progress is immensely slow. It really feels like two steps forward and one step back.

Other than that, I'm working for UESP. You can watch me on video most Monday nights from 9-11pm EDT (Tuesday 1-3am GMT) on the UESPodcast. (Broadcast live on Twitch and later on the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages YouTube. It's also available audio-only on various podcast services.) Although it's a voluntary thing and I don't get paid (except for the occasional free meal), I realised that I'm picking up a ton of Transferrable Skills which will be useful on my CV when I eventually try to get a Real Job.

Grant arrives on Monday 10th June for two weeks, and then I will have Both my Men in my house.