Worthless

This is exactly what I have been at work this summer. If you don't know, I have a research grant at school and it's great. $2500 up front and then $500 when I turn in my poster. With this system, I don't really feel like I've got any responsibilities, such as showing up on time. This past week I have consistently done less than half an hour of actual work every day. (Today was the only exception, I made my entire poster, worth $500, in under 2 hours.) Most other days I'm preoccupied with NPR, the internet, magnetic darts, or going to the farmers market. I don't even show up of leave on time. Compared to other research students I don't even do work. Some work 8 or 9+ hours a day, I on the other hand show up to work at around 11, take a generous 1 hour lunch and leave at around 4, making for a total of 4 hours of "work" a day.
Even though I've enjoyed the super relaxed working atmosphere and the fact that I'm slightly interested in my research, I'm really looking forward to next Friday when it ends. Research is one of those things that isn't hard, but is just annoying and you can't get away from it. I'll be happy when it's over. The one thing that I've learned this summer is that I never want to do research. It's boring. That's why scientists go to exotic locations and use expensive state of the art technology, they try their best to make it fun when it really isn't.
On another note, a young woman was arrested at gun point this morning right in front of our house. According to Drew, it took 5 police cars and 2 armed policemen to arrest this woman who appeared to be our age. All this, 10 feet from our house. I'm willing to bet that there's going to be a shoot out on our corner before we leave in 10 months.