Was just thinking about you the other day, bro.
Hoping you were doing well, sucks not hearing from you and whatnot BUT, I'm glad you were doing your own thing and getting along well with it.
Thanks man, it was good to take a break and all. I really did become more social and more comfortable with my IRL friends. I hang out with them a lot more now and I'm back in the group full time so to say.
I haven't been completely drug abstinent but I've quit all the hard things and the mind benders. Psychedelics are good and bad and for me for the last while it was mostly bad. I'm seeing things so much more clearly and the obsessive thoughts are to a minimum. It really was psychedelics that were filling my head with stuff and tying me in knots.
Without them for the last while I find my anxiety is at a low point and my mind is now free to get involved in productive pursuits.
Going for your doctorate is really the way to go, because when you have "Doctor" in front of your name, something magical happens where people all of a sudden have to listen to you and can't just dismiss your opinion off the bat as nonsense. :D
Haha, it's so true. When I read that the perfect example I thought of is Shulgin. If he only had a bachelor's or master's he wouldn't have gotten the run he had. Having the doctorate really does give you the ability to have people listen to you and gives you a real opportunity to get people to reevaluate the current state of things to get things changed.
Going all the way and getting your doctorate is much better than the alternatives nowadays, it seems -- if you have the intellectual capacity to do it (which, believe me Psox, you do), you might as well, because it seems like a bachelors degree is a dime a dozen nowadays and you really need further qualification to have any significant degree of job security.
Thanks again man, I've always known it but only recently have I had the drive and mental freedom to actually go for it.
As to the rest of the quote; that seems to be the way the world is anymore. A bachelor's used to give you way more than it does now. With an evolving world so many people have a bachelor's degree that in order to give yourself an advantage you have to go higher.
When I was working in that lab I was surrounded by Ph.D's and Ph.D candidates, all the other people were the "lackies". That also really made me realize how snobby the high academic world is and I don't want a career surrounded by people like that.
One exception to that though is professional bachelors degrees. A B.Pharm guarantees you a good job no matter what. They only let so many people into pharmacy school so graduates are guaranteed a position, especially with the aging population and pharmacies springing up everywhere.
Also an engineering degree is similar; if you're a P.eng with that iron ring you're more or less guaranteed a good job.
One thing I learned while working as a lackie in that lab and all the other jobs before it was that I can do better and I hate having a boss. I want to be doing what I want to do and not have to answer to anyone (or at least very few people every once in a while). I've always had a major disdain for my bosses and my last boss was as good as bosses get. I guess I just hate authority, being controlled and being at someone's becking call.
I've been considering going the M.D. route myself, but I think I rather go for my Ph.D. in organic chemistry, even though it will most likely pay much less. The luxury of being able to specialize to such a high degree is worth it to me, I don't know if I could deal with patients everyday honestly.
A Ph.D in your specific field of interest is great because it's basically you playing with the stuff you're really interested in; that's your career. I think Shulgin enjoyed his.
For me the M.D. fits because I like to feel like I'm making an immediate difference in people's lives. I'd also be able to interact with the general population and actually implement medical advancements by recommending things to people or simply get people thinking about non-conventional approaches. It's one thing for medical science to discover things but unless doctors pass it on to their patients it goes nowhere. Also; M.D.'s are often actively involved in collaborative research with Ph.D's. My old boss's collaborator had an M.D. and no Ph.D. I think as long as it's a doctorate you're able to perform research, but a Ph.D can't actually practice medicine, although they are more specialized.
My boss in that lab (Ph.D in Pharmacology) had a ball making discoveries, but to me they seemed so minute and far away from any practical worldly application that it all seemed so pointless. Also most Ph.D's have to keep positions in large cities whereas every small community has medical doctors in it and that's where I fit. However, lets face it; getting into med school is no guarantee; they let very few people in per year and if I don't get in, the Ph.D route would be the way I would go.
When it comes to money though; up here medical doctors get paid well but I think Ph.D's in a good position get paid much more. The money seems to be an insignificant point though; as long as I have a comfortable lifestyle, say 70k (and docs get well over 100k), I'm good with that, anything more is just bonus that can be passed around to those with less.
Well that turned into a bit of a ramble, tomorrow is my first and only day off from number crunching this week and I've dipped into some kava. I have a bbq with the family tomorrow and a fish fry with my friends in the evening, good times.
