Working hard or... working hard

Japanese work long, long hours!

It is 11:15pm in lab right now. I will be here for another 4hours (maybe more?). I love that there are several others folks here still. I doubt there will still be someone here when I finish, but I bet there will be a postdoc here at 1am still. As I am in this foreign country, in this foreign lab to work, I like that the folks in my lab work a lot also.

I would love to be home by now, especially b/c I have a lot to do tomorrow and would like to begin it before noon, but I didn't feel the need to be home before 10pm. What would I be returning to? A small, crap-hole of an apartment. No, things in Japan are not pristine. That is a fallacy. Things here are old, run-down, and moldy.

It has gotten me thinking...
I wanted to live in a nice place next year, one I could live in for 3 years continuously and make a real, home of it. But now, I am thinking about getting a small, crappy apartment, or living with 5 other people. Something so that I would prefer to spend time outside of my home... like I do here. Unfortunately, I go crazy sitting in the tiny closet that is my office back in the A-T-L and the lab would be empty. Okay, so maybe a tiny crap-hole is not an option. I don't even think my belongings could fit into a studio apt. Mostly I just want to live closer to campus and spend less on rent. It works well for here though. 

Welp... two folks just left so the office is empty. I think there are still some (2?) folks in the lab still. I'm probably not going to get home until 4am. Stupid cells, grow faster.

EDIT*

The last person to leave departed around 2am. Still, there WAS someone in lab when I left... someone had come in for the next day at 4:30am :-o I did not see them but I knew someone was there b/c the elevator was back on the 4th floor, instead of the basement, and our lab is  basically the only one on that floor. I looked around in the office to see if anybody was inside, before locking the door. I found one person... sleeping on a small mattress in the back office (behind a occupied, do not disturb screen). I only saw their feet so I am not sure who it is. I know they were not there all night because the keys for a lab bike were hanging on a peg and none were there at 4am when I had gone down to the basement lab. Good to know there is a mattress in the office... not sure how it works and not sure if I want to ask about it...

I despite my long hours there, I was still able to ride my bike home in the light... of sunrise :-o