After the last entry, I've gotten busy. There's almost two weeks gap. Oops.
A major reason is grant writing. National Institutes of Health (NIH) guideline estimates that it would take 22 hours to prepare for a grant application. But the estimate must be a very straightforward addition of the time. My personal average preparation time is (10-)14 days of nearly full time work. It includes reading announcement and format specifications, making a list of necessary attachments, doing research for scientific component, digging up preliminary results, writing, communicating with collaborators, working on budget estimates, facts and reference checking, and all other associating work. Administrators can help some (thanks), but I got to do my part first.
Science is a unique business. To some extent, contemporary science is a service. You propose a project that contributes advancement of public health (in case of NIH). Also to some extent, it is a professional work by qualified individuals, who have proven their competency for completing the job. To some extent, science is an art form. You need to do the work in a specific manner defined by the art, and generate useful information and other tangibles. Also, being a scientist is somewhat like being a professional athlete. You better know current boundary of the research field. To do that, you need to keep up with recent advancement at least in your research field.
In a sense, science is a never ending process and working in the system is a rat race. No wonder some want to retire, or choose a different life style and work.
Anyways, however you define science, you need money to get it going. It's the bottom line. To "rent" a lab and office space in the university or in a company, to buy materials, reagents and equipment, to hire yourself and associates, to publish the results, etc.etc.
And one of a few ways to raise the money for your science is grant writing. Therefore, it's a very important thing to do as an independent scientist. It's a major part of my plan A as an research scientist in academia.
In these years, budget situation has gotten tight and funding rate keeps dropping. Some scientists are pessimistic, others somehow maintain optimism. I am neither. What I do is plan on my plan A and plan B, and activate one when needed.
I can imagine it would be tougher for someone more emotional. I acknowledge that many scientists share some particular personality traits. Maybe it is a selection process that enriches a certain type of people?
This work is not for everybody. I still love it, though.
PS
I've been busy. Yet, I was not entirely tied up. On weekends we did a couple of Tango performances in public. It's good to free my mind and move my body sometimes.
