I wanted to go to college for astronomy. No colleges in my area did astro majors so I found myself in an astrophysics program, despite not being so great at the physics part. Fast forward a year. A friend told me one of the profs in the department was looking for researchers, I’m poor and want a pretty resume. Within 45 minutes of hearing about this job, I had been interviewed (while having green hair and sweatpants and no less than 5 piercings on me), I had gotten the job, and the keys to the basement labs. I get invited now to all the fancy seminars. I meet people from around the world and make connections (and may have accidentally mouthed off to one of the fancy boys from JINA-CEE but I didn’t know it was him at the time I swear he was just an awkward bump on a log how was I supposed to know ((he was impressed at my ballsy-ness so it all worked out))). My research job is the hot-topic cutting-edge Thing of The Month and so I get to meet fancy boys from science clubs a lot which helps my recognition. One of the profs is a fan of the research I’m doing and offers to put me under the wing of his former advisor, Mr. Bump On A Log from JINA. I have been sucked into the rabbit hole of nuclear astrophysics despite most of what I’ve been doing is Networking and not hardcore research because fucking hell I’ve got classes too you know this was supposed to be a summer job I just started early because I needed gas money.

I have managed to get myself a Respectable For My Age reputation.

All either on accident or by sheer bullshit luck.

I just wanted to look at the stars.