Blink Blink

I’ve been unemployed since January 19th when the lab I worked at closed due to the principal investigator taking a job at a university elsewhere. I don’t mind being unemployed. I loved my job, but unemployment is a nice change of pace, at least for a little while. Since I didn’t quit or get fired, I collect unemployment insurance. It’s not living high off the hog, but it pays my rent. For those finer things in life (like pizza and beer) I’ve had to find a supplemental cash flow. I’ve thrown my hat in the ring as a guinea pig for medical research. I’ve got standards as to just how much poking and prodding I’ll subject myself to, but some studies out there just seem like fun. I remember when I was a student at the University of Utah that I knew someone who got paid $300 to get drunk off cheap vodka and sit in a driving simulator all day. A researcher actually paid him to get drunk and play video games. I figure that’s what the majority of unemployed, mid-twenties males do all day anyway. He was just smart enough to get paid for it.


The only study I’ve done so far is an eye blink study. Researchers were looking at how conditions affecting different areas of the brain affect people’s blink reflex when subjected to loud, unexpected noises. Anyways, they hooked me up to all these electrodes around my eyes, made me listen to weird noises in a pair of headphones, and oh yes, play video games. They weren’t good video games. And there were no cocktails. But they did give me lunch, breakfast, and $270. Not bad for just blinking my baby blues.