Since the last episode...

Hi everybody!

As both of my readers may have noticed, I haven't posted for ages. This has mainly been due to my starting a new job, whilst trying to finish off a PhD thesis in the evenings and weekends, and sorting out everything that applying for a place to read graduate medicine entails (such as interviews, vaccinations and volunteering at a hospice), and partly due to my not having an internet connection at home, so posting requires me doing it from work, or using the WiFi connection down the pub. I've finally got a first draft of my thesis (yay!), which I hope will be winging its way to the examiners on Monday courtesy of DHL, so hopefully I will have time to post occasionally. And maybe even have a chance to go to sleep sometimes (the past few months have been a bit tough).

Anyway, as I haven't posted for a while, here is a whistle-stop recap of what I've been up to since Xmas.

• I've started a temporary 6 month job as a process chemist at a major pharmaceutical company in Loughborough.
  

It's really good fun and I am loving it. It is a really refreshing change to my PhD, where the chemistry didn't work, and it was a real hard slog, which made me feel like I didn't know anything. By contrast, this has rebuilt my chemistry confidence as I've had a lot of stuff work, and a fair amount of that success has been due to my research. Not all of it worked, but the difference in industry is that if it really doesn't work, you abandon it and look for an alternative. Not to mention that it's really well paid (for my student-mentality standards anyway). I liked it so much that I applied for jobs doing it permanently, including one where I have the temporary contract. Sadly not long before I was due to be called for interview at my workplace, there were global layoffs of 500 research staff - net result, freeze on hiring. No jobs. Oh well. At least I'm enjoying it now, and have a few more months to try and do something good and hopefully lasting.

• I've moved into a new flat

I have a little studio flat in Loughborough. It's recently been done up, so is all shiny and lovely, with polished, laminate flooring, washer-dryer, dishwasher and a double bed that falls into the wall (just as well, because if it didn't, the room would be pretty tiny). It's gated, and even got parking. It's so lovely! It's not expensive by southern standards of anywhere in the south-east. Only downside is that it doesn't have internet or a phone line, and I was quoted £150 to get it connected. Which would be a bit steep bearing in mind I'm only there for five months (should have been six, but the credit checking people messed me around, so my contract is shifted by a month, so I'll probably end up paying rent for a month I won't be living there. Sigh).

On which note, if you're looking for a letting agent in Loughborough, Aidan J Reed were excellent (who showed me around 3 houses, including my current residence), but the other two; Belvoir and Hartley Estates were laughably bad. Belvoir showed me round two properties: one was quite nice, but still being built and very overpriced, and the other was so bad that it looked like a squat. It was embarassingly bad. The guy from Harley Estates turned up, didn't care, showed me round a tiny overpriced room and was damn rude. Rant over. Anyway, I love my flat, but hate all the admin associated with moving into a new flat. Like council tax. Don't mind paying it, just hate all the paperwork.

• I've been accepted to study medicine!

Current status: one uni - rejection without interview, one uni - interviews for 4 and 5 year courses - awaiting offer, final uni - offer conditional on my finishing my PhD before the course starts! Pleasingly, that's my first choice university anyway. As it looks like no-one in the pharmaceutical industry feels like offering me a job, it makes my decision easy. It looks like I'll be off to learn to slice'n'dice people up in September! Which is really exciting!

I think these were the major bits of update that were needed so I'll round off this post here. Hope to see you soon!

AcidCat