Learning from mistakes

Having done something I regret, it's easy to promise myself I will never do it again. But these words are meaningless when, sometime later, I do exactly the same thing again.

This week I decided I would not do the "last" experiment. Life was a mad panic when I left Ithaca, working late in the lab trying desperately to get the crucial piece of information that would tie everything together. I secretly hoped for a miraculous ending, even though my experience told me it was a waste of time and unnecessary stress. And a waste of time it was.

This time it's going to be different. If I work beyond what is required, it will be on the things that matter to me, the projects in which I will continue to collaborate after I leave Calgary. As for that last experiment, I am not indispensable, someone else can tidy it up after I'm gone.