a week of an electrophysiologist

I ran experiment everyday last week.

I wake up 8 and take a train at 9.

I start the preparation at 10:30. From then on, non-stop until 22:30.

And take a train back home arriving around midnight.

Last Thursday, I ran two experiment, which means I stayed up all night. Came back home 11:00.

The experiment went ok. But I had a bit of problem of stability of the recording. I do not know why. Since I started to work at this laboratory 3 years ago, my success rate of double patch recording has not bee very high. Something is different from my previous experiences in Chicago and in Tokyo. I managed to get some data but clearly there is something that is causing the instability. What is it? I checked everything I can think of on that Thursday.

Frustrating. But that is how it is. "Men are always fixing something" is a line from Tennessee Williams's play.

No. "Electrophysiologists" are always fixing something.

And I keep thinking what the problem is. I even woke up in the night, coming up with some ideas of what could be causing it (and apparently I took a note of it -this is why I keep a notebook on the bedside).

Sometimes I feel it is becoming a religion. A zen. That, someday, I will get a fantastic data....