You’ve done your literature review and you’re all set to do some experiments in the lab but you can’t start because the chemicals haven’t been delivered.
The long wait for chemicals to arrive is a deceptive one because there is a sense that you cannot really do anything else but wait until you get your hands on the chemicals; only then can you actually begin to do anything in the lab.
Of course I’m not talking about the common reagents that can be purchased over the weekend. I’m referring to the ”exotic” ones that often take between 1 to 3 months to get shipped. These are the ones that cost more than they weigh (imagine 300 dollars for a 25 mL bottle).
Waiting for chemicals was one of my problems in thesis; I spent two months trawling the internet for a decent supplier of the chemicals I needed. I couldn’t get started because I put it into my mind that the supplier needed to sell at a cheap price. I called companies from China, India and South Africa until I finally settled for the most conveniently located and yet most expensive option: Singapore.
While waiting for the shipment to arrive, my thesis adviser pressured me to start working on other things in the lab. Of course I didn’t think that there was any reason to go to the lab when my chemicals weren’t there. So I completely put off going to the lab for a month. I ended up focusing on extra-curricular activities and almost forgetting that I had a thesis to start. It wasn’t until the chemicals arrived that I realized I could have used the time to prepare what I was going to do with them.
Waiting for chemicals doesn’t have to be so idle. Looking back, I guess I could have used the time to plan my experiments ahead of time. At least I would have been ready for the moment the chemicals arrived. Also, the time could have been spent doing more literature reviews and writing drafts for the thesis paper.
