From: schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder)
Subject: National Lab Syndrome 
Keywords: fat fat fat smelly smelly (perhaps grotesquely rotund, spheroid)
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 18:31:52 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.185247.22624@utkux1.utk.edu> kovarik@utkux1.utk.edu (SaintMeechTheChaste) writes:
>In article <1992Aug13.161152.17612@bnlux1.bnl.gov> schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug12.173356.24284@utkux1.utk.edu> kovarik@utkux1.utk.edu (SaintMeechTheChaste) writes:

>>>This is something I don't understand.  It happens, and it's totally weird.
>>>I have this female friend who is very intelligent, who just got a Master's
>>>degree in an engineering field.  She's physically attractive, and not just
>>>bright, but when she tries to meet men, they seem to go out of their way 
>>>to ignore her.  

>>Gee, how can I meet this friend of yours?

>Come to Oak Ridge, TN.

Say, you wouldn't happen to be talking about ORNL, now would you?  This
sounds way too much like being at Brookhaven.


>>Oh, so she's actually interested in flirting with guys who have the
>>genes of Denny Tario, then.  No wonder that experience has been
>>unfulfilling.  Has she thought about raising her sights a little higher
>>than the "meat market"?  What kind of social barometer is that?  The
>>"market" has very little to do with reality, and a whole hell of a lot
>>to do with alcohol.

>It is impossible to raise one's sights very high in Oak Ridge, TN, or
>the surrounding environs.  Life here is just one giant compromise.  Give
>up everything to do physics, or get out.

Ah, now I _know_ it must be ORNL.

What the hell is it about the National Lab system that causes this
phenomenon?  I completely understand the compromise bit, and so far,
I've been unwilling to accept it.  I suppose it's just a matter of time.
If I get stuck here long enough it's bound to break me sooner or later
and I'll just have to go for the lowest common denominator.  I just keep
telling myself: you will get out, you will get out.  There are other
jobs in the country at locations that are amenable to intelligent life.



>>It almost sounds as though this person would like to
>>have the opportunity to be mis-identified as Ms. Bimbette.  That would
>>certainly get her foot in the door, but then what?  Talk about the
>>latest performance statistics of the Philadelphia Eagles?  

>Sure.  Why not?  If your only opportunities for dates are Barbies and Kens,
>you have to adapt.  Possibly, if you spend your whole life living in place
>where that is the norm, you may not believe that there may be alternatives.


PrEEEcisely.  Folks on Lon 'Gisland think that they're living in a
well-adjusted society.  Meanwhile, having grown up here, they can't
possibly fathom how warped their version of society is.  And just don't
bother trying to explain when someone asks you "well, what is it about
LI that's different?" because you might as well try and tell a
Flatlander about the third dimension.
 


>I think the most shocking thing I have noticed in TN is how out of touch
>with reality people here are. They actually believe it's the Garden of 
>Eden.  But to everyone I know from out of state, it is a Hellhole. 

Ha. See above.

> Some
>are more discreet about complaining that I am, so that the locals don't
>suspect.  But almost everyone I know from out of state has as his or
>her primary goal, getting out. 

It's been my primary goal since day one.  And every day that you're here
makes it just that much harder to accept.



> And also, not so surprizingly, people from
>out of state have only minimal interactions with the natives, and those
>out of staters who remain, wind up wind with all the best jobs. Natives
>have the lowest, most menial jobs usually, and the lowest incomes.
>Of course, they are happy in their sheep-like complacency.

Again, a startling similarity to my locale.

>So if you want to go out on a date, what do you do?

I don't know.


>>I can understand this if you're very intelligent, but physically
>>repulsive.  However, in most cases it seems to be true.  I think I've
>>been unsuccessful recently due to my lack of a Gold's Gym membership
>>card and obligatory ear ring.

>Or if you have the wrong accent. I have had people speak to me in bars,
>only to move away as soon as they hear my accent which is not from TN.

Same deal.  The southern drawl must make them sound as stupid as L
Islander's do with their butchered dialect of English.




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