For the past 18 months I have killed rats for a living.
Its OK, it was approved by an ethics committee.
They
said it was OK for me to put albino rats in a bright room for 24 hrs
then inject them with an overdose of muscle relaxants. When the rats
heart stops I am then allowed to take out its retina and try to find out
how and why the rat can no longer see all that well then relate this
back to human diseases. See? its all for a good cause. Trust!
That's
what I kept telling myself as I realised I very much disliked the whole
being-a-scientist racket. Killing rats isnt fun even if it may cure
awful diseases one day so I have decided to leave it to others more
motivated by the ends.
Unfortunately I just completed a degree in molecular biology so I am supremely qualified to do that thing I don't want to do.
When
big life decisions like this occur I avoid it all by working for a
while, saving dollars and cents and blowing it all (literally), (the all part), on a trip.
The
first one was a few years after my father died. I was 19 and, like now,
had no idea what I was doing. So I managed to get a job with the aim of
quitting and skipping the country when I reached $20,000 in savings.
Which I did.
The second time I broke up with a girl and spent 3 weeks diving in Thailand.
This
time I have realised that this is actually it; life is up and down. I gotta deal with the downs and there is no old asian
guy who will teach me how to wax. I must teach myself to wax, both on.
And off.
So I have bought a ticket to Vancouver, do some diving, then go up to Toronto, visit friends, fly out from NY and see ICEYLAND.
From there I will go to Scotland, Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland,
probably.
