Run and Tumble

Microbiology fascinates me.  I blame it on Cholera and Wikipedia.

A year and a half ago, Cholera came up in unrelated conversations multiple times.  When a topic keeps reappearing, I go to wikipedia and read.  80 browser tabs and an amazon purchase of The Ghost Map and I was hooked.

My appetite only increased with my reading. I didn’t stick to infectious disease.  The topics branched out and included Weizmann’s production of acetone during WWI, using E. Coli to store DNA libraries, phylogenetics, Venter’s Global Ocean Sampling Expedition, bioinformatics,  and, my personal favorite,  biodegradation of anthropogenic compounds.

A year ago, I’d started a course of self-study based off used textbooks, lecture slides from course web pages (Profs who make their notes public, you are making the world a better place, thank you!), open access journals,  the local library, and a very awesome wife.

The very awesome wife helped me realize that if I love microbiology so much, I should really do more than teach myself; I should consider making it a full time pursuit.  I haven’t completely made that decision, but I’ve just enrolled in a course at the local college and am extremely elated and extremely nervous.

I’m finally going to gram stain.

I’m 30, I will be that weird beardy non-trad guy in the lecture

I’m going to sample stuff and use a d-key to identify it.

Will I even like microbio when I’m learning it on someone else’s schedule?

I’m going to be following my passions, rather than passively allowing life to happen.

Oh man, what if I love it, but suck at it?

What if I love it, suck at it, but never even know because I never tried?