Honours makes life so hectic! If you'd told me earlier this year that I'd be in the lab til 7 or 8pm most nights...or that I'd be in on Sunday evenings....well OK you probably just would have scared me a little bit. But really. Working (relatively) long days, then going to work afterwards or on weekends, plus footy is back*, plus new people to go out and have a social life...I have no time for me! At least I don't have bloody homework/study anymore.

* Hey go Bombers :D Two weeks in and we've won two thirds of the games we won last year...let's not get our hopes up too much, but they really do look a different team this year. Much to look forward to. <3 my bombers!

So how is my project going? Well it started off pretty slowly, I had to do some bioinformatics (sequence searching and analysis) for the first few weeks, and also so I could find the right information for what I want to do for the most part of my project - mutating the sequence so I can find out which bits are important (mutagenesis). The last few weeks have been good, everyone in the lab is so helpful, but very frustrating as I just couldn't get these particular yeast to grow...

BUT...

yesterday...

ta da! It looks like my yeast are finally growing! I don't know what it is that made it work this time, I added some different stuff and didn't purify like I should have (sshhh) which is where I think I was losing something essential...anyway...cross your fingers! I've got a couple of colonies which I'm going to streak out and see if they grow like they should. Now if I could just solve the damn problem of the bacteria not taking up the DNA like they should...little bastards...

I guess that's what being an honours student is all about....not being able to do things that seem relatively simple! Oh, that and contaminating stuff that you borrowed from your lab mates...and having weird stuff growing in your own growth mediums...I don't think I ever want to know what that was...

Oh and see the Pixies down there...my lab supervisor went to see them! (How cool is that.) I am so jealous. Well hey maybe they'll come back....one day...perhaps....

Rightio, back to lab duties, it's my week for cleaning and sterilising stuff. I guess I should consider myself lucky that they're not exploiting the honours student and making me do it every day for the rest of the year...but hey if they did that I could always contaminate their stuff in revenge. Mwahaha.

(I'm nice. Really.)