I went to a seminar last night.
At the seminar, I noticed that one of my current professors was in the crowd. The crowd was predominantly graduate students and professors from the various bio departments so yeah, of course he would be at the lecture. I spoke privately to the scientist giving the lecture (he was the same guy who once told me that he was proud of my taking the class, he lectures for fun at my school) after he was finished, I had a few initial doubts answered but overnight I developed a few more questions. Well I stayed after class today to ask these questions to my current professor and instead he gave me thoughts on the seminar. Apparently it was some kind of audition for a possible faculty position, this blew my mind. Yet it made sense because it seemed masturbatory (more so than usual) but he didn’t hesitate to drop CAL references when he could. The point is that we eventually started talking about the material within the seminar and he directed me towards some researchers, told me what classes to take in the near future and then asked me to contact a certain someone at Sangamo. I guess my questions and the subsequent conversation awoke something deep within him but he seemed thrilled by the prospect that someone is as excited or at least thinking as deeply about the material as he seems to be at his elderly age. Now this may seem dull or mundane to you but 10 years ago I was living in garages in barrios, it’s all still new and exciting to me. Now excuse me but I think I’ve earned a beer for the day.
