Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell

~The Flaming Lips

The Eugene Gazette

Eugene, OR - Still severely lacking in the energy department, Katie Klug, 22 , was about to throw in the towel today after a discouraging few days in graduate school and "do something fun with her life," she said, "like waitressing, becoming a full-time traveler, or possibly just hiding at mom and dad's place for a while and starting fresh." Finding out that The Willamette Valley Company and Dynea had not offered her chemistry internships on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, when Katie thought she had done quite well in both interviews and meshed well with the former company especially, was disheartening. "I'm not too accustomed to getting turned down like this, especially when I thought I'd nailed those interviews, and my confidence has certainly seen better days," she lamented Wednesday after returning home at 6pm from her hour long commute.

Perhaps her lack of energy is not simply tiredness, but rather a vicious cocktail of lonliness, getting up at 6:30am, mild depression and laziness. "The frustration is palpable," Katie admitted, "but today almost sent me over the edge when I poured my polymer/solvent mixture into a fresh bottle of Toluene and looked like a complete douch (sic)." Katie is generally quite saavy and successful in the laboratory setting, as colleagues at Seattle Pacific University can verify, but Wednesday's events brought back frightening emotions and memories from the Great Quartz Cuvette Fiasco of Summer 2005, when she borrowed two cuvettes (between $150-200 each) from another lab at the University of Oregon, and upon returning them, set the precious package too close to the edge and watched as, to her horror, the cuvettes plummeted to the tile floor; one shattering into pieces about the size of Katie's self esteem at that moment.

Katie realizes that everyone has bad days, and is determined to get some good sleep tonight, even though this means sacrificing a bike ride. She says her plan of attack is to pray more for some serious patience, energy and job offers. She also understands and admits her need to learn how to properly use commas. Katie still has the possibility of Forrest Paint Company somewhere out there in the stratosphere, but has not yet heard back from the technical director who seemed so eager to hire her a week prior. She finds solace not only in the Lord and his everpresent nearness, but also in her favorite quote from Shakespeare in Love: "It will come out alright, it always does...It's a mystery." ~ Gu Xiao Chen