The road goes ever on....

Today I sat in the microscopy room, as miserable as ever, taking shots of yeast cells stained with fluorescent dye (see lab tales part 3). The rest of my world consisted of four dark walls a microscope and a computer. I sit there all day wallowing around in my own filth praying to God for a meteor to crash down on me and bring sweet relief. Now I know how a hamster feels. Or do I? At least a hamster has a little exercise wheel and that little bottle with water. And a little container chock full of life sustaining pellets of hamster food. And light, my God I miss the light. All I needed was some shredded paper on the ground and I wouldn't even have to leave! Soon I would forget the taste of food... Or the sound of water or the touch of grass...

Well, as it turns out, envying a hamster is not a sign of good mental health. As such I thought it would be a good time to reminisce about my trip to Thetford Mines. You see, my trip there was the opposite of what I normally do in the lab. Thetford is countryside, vast fields with trees and other living things. Ah... the sweet kiss of sunlight... How I miss it.

So you're probably wondering, "Thetford Mines? Why?" Well, my long time friend Marie Eve lives up there and invited to show me around the place where she had grown up. Marie-Eve is what I like to call, extreme in that she does things other than watch movies and play video games. I'd never heard of such a thing! I was half afraid that she would pick me up on her motorbike. Here's pics of us posing on her motorbike in her biker gear. I think I look pretty badass and sexy. AND scary.





Being somewhat cowardly I asked if the air was bad cuz of the asbestos, and she explained to me as she coughed and wheezed, that the reason why asbestos is so dangerous is because of the way it's processed.

So we visit the mines. Human beings are kind of crazy. First of all, the rock from which they get asbestos seems rather ordinary. Who would even consider that it has any kind of insulation properties. Second of all, they had to drain an entire lake to actually get to the stuff. It's quite a breathtaking site. You can't tell just how deep it is from the picture, but yes, that is where you get asbestos from. You know, Vrej owned a set of Asbestos rings. I never told him, but their value was more than that of the entire Shire!



It's a completely foreign concept to me, but in the afternoon we decided to go blueberry picking. EXTREME blueberry picking. What makes it so extreme you may ask? The presence of the only black guy for miles and miles, that's what. I wonder what other black men have gone blueberry picking? 50 cent perhaps?
50 cent:"Hey, the Game, where's my gun?"
The Game: "You left it under that pine tree... But R.Kelly has it now."
R.Kelly(pointing his gun at 50 cent, the game, and a basket of blueberries in turn):
"Not another one of y'all sons of bitches say a word!
Cuz all of these blueberries I've picked is unheard!"

I figured we would have to drive to some farm... but no. In the country, you just walk down the road to any random field where there are evergreen's growing. Evergreen trees make the soil acidic, and thus blueberry's can grow. I got a bigass jar of them!!! It was a really charming experience. Her dog, Foxy came with us and romped through the fields. It was unreal for a city boy like me. Foxy's such a little lady too. I'm not a big dog person, but Foxy is so polite.



Later on we went to see some other places around Thetford mines and Disraeli. It's just beautiful. I could swear I have a picture in my Masta in China blog where I have the same cheesenormous pose, same cheesenormous jacket and the same cheesenormous smirk. Only true Gregg Factorphiles, like myself would notice.





There was a big piece of land, and she knew the owner. So we explored that a bit. Across a little stream we noticed some very interesting looking feces. It looked like cow pies, but how would a cow have gotten across the water. We had to cross a rickety bridge to get there. EXTREME feces watching took place.




I did a good job as the cowardly sidekick, letting Marie-Eve go first to see if everything was safe. Finally we got to the little island and found the much debated piles of s**t. Anyone able to identify what animal could make this?



Well, all really nice. Then we made some good food and played a game of Skip-Bo with her parents, her aunt and her uncle. Really nice people. Though I've never heard of Skip-Bo before, they all seemed quite fluent in the game. Fun times.

Then finally was the epic hike up that mountain. Extreme Hiking of course. It was exhausting, but well worth it. The sites were beautiful. The squirrels up there aren't terrified of people. I picked up some acorns for some reason. They're on my bureau now. At the top of the mountain we were able to see the mines from the other side. It was as if the entire trip came full circle.





Here's a nice pic of Marie-Eve beholding her place of birth... Like that Greek myth... where the guy looks out upon the world or something. I don't know, looks pretty epic.


So from now on when I'm feeling down in the lab, I'll conjure memories of nature. It's like at the beginning of Lord of the Rings. Bilbo just gets fed up with his mundane life, grabs a stick and effing leaves!!! "Eff the Shire!!! I'm out and I'm not even saying goodbye!" One day...

Thanks for everything Marie-Eve!