Learning to Dance in the Lab

I'm immersing myself in research for the upcoming career transition. If I had time, I'd be taking classes. As it is? I'm an autodidact. When I want to learn something, I take a running leap and deep dive into everything I can lay my hands on. Which is a surprising amount, especially when you are willing to lay out a little money on it. My wishlist for technical books that I'll hopefully use on a professional basis is growing exponentially. Muahahah... ahem. 

I've been tickled to learn that there are podcasts which dive into the topic on a deep level, not just a consumer grade overview. This means I'm not locked down to eyeballs on paper or screen time, freeing me up to consume knowledge almost non-stop. I'm thinking wistfully of the old SF tropes of putting on a headset, going to sleep, and waking up with a whole new education on some topic. That would be... nice. Although I suspect headache-inducing. About the only downside to listening to the information is that I can't just stop, look up a random term, and wander down a rabbit hole. Wait. Maybe this isn't a downcheck. 

I have twelve days before the boots hit the lab floor and I have to start putting some of this new knowledge into real action. I can do this. I'm terrified, and excited, and doing my best to soak up the specialized cosmetic chemistry to augment my practical chemistry experience. It's a fascinating field, and one with some controversy, which is amusing and amazing as I'm listening to industry talks on what the hotbutton issues are. Fortunately, I won't be dealing with all that at the marketing level. I hope. Still, knowing the regulations is a very good thing so I can steer clear of creating products that can't be sold. And knowing the on-trend stuff means that I have a better chance of designing to a story that is marketable. 

And can you see why I'm excited? Telling a story! With science! Whee! Hm. Is that interpretative dance? You can't see me, but I am laughing now. 

Also, I can't dance. I can do research. 

It's all about the story, really. As long as the product is safe, and functional, the marketing is all that can take it to the hands of the consumers. Which is the point, yes? This isn't drug development. It's much more nimble, and by nimble I also mean that it has to dance around the minefields of public perception and regulatory oversight. It's going to be interesting to learn the steps of this dance. I just need to get comfortable with the patterns, and that's what I'm working on now.