I like it because.

"So why do you like research??" I know it was comming but all that came to me was "Because.... (leave me alone!)." So as a comeback, I asked my boss the same question. (ha! how do you like that?) Even he had a hard time answering. I said I liked it because I enjoyed it. Why do I enjoy it? Because I like science. Why do I like science? And so on..

It's because "like" falls under the feelings realm where rationalizations aren't miscible. Exactly like Bush with his gut feelings. Doing experiments gives me butterflies in the stomach. It's not the same when one asks why one likes a certain food, for example, chocolate, because there wouldn't be a question about its deliciousness (palatability?). How does one go about articulating the deliciousness of food? Why is the tongue pleased?

Well I guess it is the same because there wouldn't be a right or wrong answer. People give preferences for different reasons. But then there's the "do you like potatoes?" (or whatever) kind of do-you-like questions which I consider an american discourse phenomenon. See I think what is meant when that question is asked is really " do you mind or care for potatoes." Because when I think of "like" I think "fond" as in I think potatoes when I think of food. It's just weird to me when people ask me that. I usually say "no, but I don't mind eating them" when I mean sure but they're not my favorites.

Going back to the oringinal question though, I think what truly made it difficult to answer was because I wanted to give a profound answer to my boss (I mean, it would be different if it was Ches asking). I could easily have said that I like it because the money is good or that I get to play God and my inquisitor woulda been content/enlightened with that answer. That would have surely put an abrupt period to the discussion (or exclamations) as opposed to a series of question marks... Anyways, I realized I was good at writing lab reports and analyzing data and for me, to be able to do that for a living sounds like fun. Being a researcher in the life sciences allows me to continously learn, discover and be creative. Surely that may sound idealistic and realistically, doing the same protocol every single day as a research assistant doesn't sound very exciting but it's a step towards being able to one day design my own experiments and run my own lab. Why choose the life sciences? Well I guess instead of exhausting all other possibilities, all other what-about-this'es, I rather answer the "why not the life sciences?" There's just no way I can look into each possible professions out there. I found what I'm good at and I'm gonna pursue it.