My thoughts on stress and a funny story from work

Today I was planning to go back to the original purpose of this blog, which was to express my thoughts about life (ha), and write about how I cope with stress but then Sara came along with a great idea to share a funny story from work which I alluded to but did not disclose in my conversation with her. So I've decided I will do both, beginning with the one you'll be most likely to read.

"It looks like a worm!" - Funny story from work

I work in the same office as Alexis, who is the graphic designer for the chemistry department. When we got the new digital signs over Christmas break, she was given the added responsibility of creating templates and slides to put on them. I use her templates to make most of the slides while she is in charge of doing the special ones, including the ACS Molecule of the Week.

This week's molecule is Methyl Isocyanate, a long, clumpy-looking molecule. Alexis' friend brought her lunch while she was making it and stayed a little while to talk and eat. When Alexis put the picture of Methyl I.'s molecular structure on the slide, she (Alexis) commented, "It looks like a worm," and her friend laughed.

"Do you even know what the description is talking about?" Alexis' friend asked.

Alexis didn't mind being teased. "I have no idea. It's all beyond me. If I had to write the description, it would probably go something like this: This molecule looks like a worm. Worms live in the earth and eat dirt. This one is colored gray, blue, black and red."

Her friend joined in. "I had a dream about a worm once," she said, and they both laughed. (So did I.)

Alexis' friend stayed for about another 45 minutes, providing good conversation the entire time. Every so often, I would laugh or interject something just to remind them I was listening, but mostly I just stuck to eavesdropping. They didn't talk about anything personal.

Then today, Sara came by so I could go over her essay really fast before she turned it in and she took a minute to read the descriptions on the Discovery of the Day and the Molecule of the Week slides while I read her essay. When I was finished, I looked over and saw her reading about Methyl Isocyanate. Alexis was working quietly at her own computer on the other side of the room, and I just had to say it for her benefit: "That molecule looks like a worm."

Sara looked at it and said, "Yeah, it does," while Alexis laughed softly.

"There's a good story behind that," I said, conscious that Alexis had stopped laughing and gone back to her work.

"You could blog about it," Sara suggested. And then we went on with her essay.

My thoughts on stress

The end of the semester is near, and everyone is stressed.

One thing that really helps me deal with stress is breaking down what I have to do into small parts so it looks more manageable. I can do it if it's in steps. But sometimes that doesn't work. Sometimes it's better I write a more general to do list so it looks like I really don't have that much to do and then I can trick myself into thinking No problem, I've got plenty of time to get all this done (which is funny because you'd think I'd procrastinate more if I thought I had lots of time. Not so. In this case, even though I'm "tricking" myself, I'm really not because I know exactly how much I have to do, it just looks like I have to do less when I write a general list).

When neither of those things work, it's time to take a break and rejuvenate myself with something- ice cream, a book, piano (but I have to be careful, or my "break" will stretch for hours) and/or look ahead to life after finals. I will have taken my last final and turned in my last assignment by April 22, and then I have three full days of no class before spring term. (Mom and Dad, can Jill and I and maybe Sara come over on one of those days and make s'mores while burning all our papers from winter semester?) I'll get to live with my grandparents for spring (is that still okay, Grandma? I talked to you about it a few weeks ago) and take my first-ever college Spanish class (wish me luck) and hopefully set up regular lessons with my piano teacher again. After spring, I'll have about a month of just work to worry about before I leave for California (I still haven't figured out how I'm getting there...), the Draper family, and 10 piano!

As John Bytheway says, "This too shall pass." A month from now, I'll be able to look back on this unfun time and say, "I'm so glad that's over."