Routine pleasures get me through the day — that, and the grandiose dreams of a scientist in training. Welcome distractions pad out the path to a higher degree.

When I awake I'm slightly panic-stricken — have I slept in? A minute later my alarm goes off. I relax and go back to sleep. At work I check my e-mail every 20 minutes. Sometimes I become embroiled in esoteric arguments. I print off lots of articles and pile them on my desk with the hopeless intention of reading them all. I make sure to minimize the television schedule as my supervisor walks past. I scurry past her door a few times in my lab coat in the hope I look busy.

Often, I decide that I can't go on another minute without rating my favourite songs in iTunes or tidying my stationery drawer. I daydream that my lab mates look like the cast of ER. Occasionally I envisage myself making a major discovery and winning a Nobel prize.

When my supervisor heads home I check the latest celebrity gossip and turn the music up loud in defiance. Lab life rocks! When a sad song comes on I lapse into self-doubt: why aren't my experiments working? Am I the worst graduate student in the world? Early evening I go for a run. Afterwards I meet some fellow students and have a couple of drinks. I leave early 'to work'. Once home, I watch TV. In bed as I am about to nod off, I think of that great experiment I must do. I fall asleep dreaming of my Nobel prize acceptance speech.