The summer of 2008 is fondly remembered as the lost summer, at least in my mind. 2008 was my last year of grad school and the summer of 2008 was the summer of my thesis. I defended my thesis in late august which meant that I spent the many weeks and months before writing.
My thesis is a collection of over 500 pages worth of text, images and data. Lots and lots of data. I'd say it's over half full of NMR spectra, experimental protocols and mass spec readouts. This massive collection of my brilliance was no easy feat to pull together. I would spend all day working tirelessly in the lab, trying to finish my project before my D-day. I would then head home and take up residence at the kitchen table. I would write introduction chapters, edit Chemdraw slides and resize NMR files. Images would suddenly jump to the next page and I would try to keep data next to the relevant text. The sun would rise and set and I would be there at my computer.
The summer of 2008 was lost in a blur of thesis writing and chemistry doing. Of course it was all worth it, in the end. I'm now Dr. Wilde in the Kitchen and my PhD has allowed me to become gainfully employed. So, while the summer of 2008 may have passed me by, the summer of 2011 is going to be mine. Here I come weekends, get the beaches ready, release the summer blockbusters, fill my calendar with festivals. I'm so ready!
