So, I think i’ve decided that even if there is a position available in Dr. Murphies lab for the school year, I’m only going to take it if its not an organic chemistry project. I’ve come to the realisation that I 100% completely hate it, and don’t ever want to do it again. I’m also not going to be taking Dr. Wee’s organic chemistry III class since he is a big fat jackass and I can’t stand him.
This all started yesterday when I was having a normal mellow day. I needed a certain piece of glassware that only Dr. Wee had, so I e-mailed him asking if I could borrow it. So he says yes, and I go to get it. The first conversation went like this:
“Have you ever used one of these before?”
“Not really, but I looked up a diagram of how to use one and I think it makes sense to me.”
“That wasn’t my question, you need to be more forthcoming when it comes to these things. Now, I’ll ask you again, have you used one of these before?”
“*Me already getting pissy* No, I haven’t.”
“You really need to tell me these things, glassware is expensive and I don’t like students breaking my glassware.”
So after that little conversation, we go get this thing.
“How much water are you expecting?
“Well, I have 1.5 mL of half ester, so I think I could get around roughly 12 depending on % yield.”
“What? You can go from ml to ml, the densities are MUCH different.”
“Actually, the densities are quoted around 1, so I kind of can.”
“No, I meant the MOLES are different.”
*Note how he said densities the first time*
“OH, then I guess I don’t know that because this is a scaled down trial run.”
“You know, you won’t be able to see much water come out if you have that little product.”
“It doesn’t matter how much water I accumulate, I just need to get it out of my reaction mixture.”
“You know, by the sounds of things your a poor organic chemist”
(Me thinking to myself: NO BLOODY FUCK I’M A POOR ORGANIC CHEMIST I DIDN’T WANT TO BE DOING THIS SHIT IN THE FIRST PLACE. I LIKE KINETICS, MINERALIZATION, SOLID STATE ANALYSIS, NOT FUCKING ORGANIC CHEMISTRY)
“Yeah, I’m still new to it and its not really my strong point in chemistry.”
“Thats no excuse, you get paid every month to work in an organic lab, so make it your strong point”
So at this point I almost be the shit out of him and walked out with my piece of glassware. Yeah, I know, I hate organic chemsitry and I think its a waste of time. At one point I used to like it, but not that I see what it holds for me, I’m definitly not enjoying it as much.
“So, you clamp your flask here and to the bar.”
“Ok.”
“Make sure that this is secure before you place your condenser into this part, or clamp torque will rip the arm apart.”
“Ok.”
“Do you know what clamp torque is?”
“Isn’t it when your clamps are place in 2 different ways and the pull in the opposite directions?”
“No, its when your releasing arms are on the different sides which is why it gets pulled apart.”
*Basically the same definition as mine*
“Ok, so is that everything I need to know?”
“You know, I’m reluctant to give this to you, but I will anyways. You break it, you buy me a new one.”
“Great”
So I ripped the fucking piece of glasswear out of his hands, and stormed out of there, then almost burst into tears. You know why so many people drop out of chemistry, or we produce such poor chemists? Because people like him think its ok to walk all over people like that and do whatever they hell they want. No, its not ok. We’re still learning, and you have to come to that realisation too.
So, after I vent, James tells me to calm down by making some capillary tubes. These are extremely thin glass tubes for sucking up minute amounts and dotting them on a TLC plate. So, what you do is take a pipet and place it in the blue 1000 degree heat part of the flame and then stretch them as wide as you can. So, my first one went a little shitty, but my second one was ok and my third one ROCKED!
Until…….
The one end of the capillary tube dropped to the floor. Me, being the idiot I am grabbed it to pick it up. Yes, I just touched approximatly 900 degree heat with my fingers. And yes, I burned them to a crisp. And no, I didn’t have anything for burns in my lab (actually, the clinic we have at the school has nothing for burns either). So I sat with my fingers in ice cold water for the rest of the morning, losing feeling then gaining it back.
However, I just remembered that I needed to go see Dr. Coulson to buy some books off of him for me and mandy. So, I bit down hard and endured the HORRIBLE AGONY of my fingers just BLAZING with pain, while I waited for him to come to his office. Then, I couldn’t bear it anymore so I went to the bathroom to put some cold water on them. Well, apparently on this floor the only have hot water, so I made my burns even worse. I was almost in tears when I was writing him that cheque, it was awful. Then, I grabbed my cantene and filled it with cold water which eased my pain greatly. Then, at about 2 in the afternoon, they both stopped hurting. One blistered, and the other one just scorched my skin.
So yeah, yesterday really sucked.
And now I’ve come to the realisation of my career choice in life. YAY! I’m just hoping that Dr. Murphy does have a job that doesn’t involve synthesis that I can work on for him, otherwise I need to find a job for when school starts. I’m hoping there is something in the school that I can do, so I don’t have to be driving around all the time.
Anywho, time for work!
PS: pics of my new apartment coming soon. I FOUND MY CAMERA!
