Riding the wave....

I finally figured out why I was so fired up this past week.

I was having my manic period!

This wave was unusually strong and bouyant so I just figured that I excited about Spring coming and the snow and so on...but then I started looking back and things came into view.

For the two week manic period: I submitted one very long paper to a journal last week. I partied all weekend. I finished up the first full draft of another (that i am writing with my dad - how cool is that?) very long paper on Wednesday, gotten a bunch of work done on a variety of things, adapted some bitching Perl scripts quickly (thanks Enis for the help) to crank through some data for a collaborator, i have been on a total blog tirade (Bubba has said several times "Are you blogging AGAIN?) and I called Joe Solmenese the Devil.

This is the good side of being somewhat manic. Or bi-polar. Or some combo of the two. Using these waves, I can get some shit done. Its definitely been an asset in my line of work since mania (in general) has led to high productivity in lab. Often in a binge/purge cycle - I (and alot of my lab mates) would work several 14-16 hour days in lab and crank out experiments and then coast for a few days and digest the results. It was great fun to blast disco, pouring gels and spreading plates late into the night. The good ol' days of subcloning, transformation and hybridization.

This has been one of the hardest things for me to transition into my new position - I have to be at work during the day and most of the day. And I sit at a desk. And I don't do experiments. And I have to listen to music using headphones. It can get a bit difficult for someone who is a little manic such as myself. So I walk around alot and visit with the staff when I am feeling restless.

At work, I had a quiet start, a very bumpy transition, but my boss gave me a reality check and now I have settled down into a groove at work that has minimized my negative interactions and maximized my positive and productive interactions. Mania, much like a chemical reaction, is controlled by heat and pressure and concentration.

So I have learned to ride my manic wave (although sometimes it rides me). My tiny coterie has accepted my manic side long ago. I think they actually find it somewhat endearing. The vast majority of people, whom I never have clicked with, think I am loud, totally inappropriate, geeky, obtuse, etc. But I think that my mania allows me to be a good friend and a good person now that I have (sort of) figured out when to turn it down and when to turn it up. And this week was interesting becuase I didn't feel totally manic but I guess that I was.

I'm not sure I should have called Joe the Devil. That is not fair really. But I do think that HRC is misguided and I have talked with alot of people in my life about why. Some agree and some don't. So the HRC represents a part of the spectrum that I might not appreciate or agree with. So I might just blame it on the mania - but damn, the mania made for a good week. Sorry Joe. I'll buy you a drink and apologize in person when I see you out and about.