Heaven in a cardboard box

My sister called me last week, and asked me for the postal address of the lab. She said she had some things to send me that "probably" wouldn't fit through my letterbox at home. She wasn't kidding.

It's probably worth pointing out that the local postal workers are none too bright; they delivered the rather large box to another building, hence it arrived a day or two later than expected via the internal mail. Never mind, though. Opening that box had to be the coolest start to a Monday morning ever.

Removal of the lid revealed a label, stating this was the "Why the Fuck Did I Ever Think a PhD Was a Good Idea" emergency survival kit. Anyway, I delved in, to find the following:

-One copy of MagCulture: New Magazine Design
-One copy of ELLE Decoration (both good distraction material)
-Half a bottle of vodka (always appreciated)
-One packet of Rocket Fuel coffee (looks lethal, have yet to try it)
-One packet of Pro-Plus (more caffeine!)
-Herbal anti-stress remedy (I'm guessing she couldn't get Valium...)
-Herbal sleep-helping pills (as my sister pointed out... this may be incompatible with some of the above)
-Large packet of fun-size chocolate bars (shared around the lab, although I kept most of the Rolos and the Milky Bar Buttons :-)
-Six tubes of Smarties (if we still had project students in the lab, I'd make them remove the brown ones)
-Five bars of assorted Lindt chocolate (hyperglycaemic shock, anyone?)
-Packet of highlighter pens (always useful)
-Packet of glitter gel pens (for when I'm getting way too sensible)
-Two packets of batteries (my sister says: for a girl's best friend... Fortunately not many people asked!)
-Some CDs (varying from Apocalyptica to Aqua via Irish Drinking Songs)
-A calendar (modified somewhat for my circumstances)



I quickly set about showing it to everybody I could find. This tended to generate one (or both) of two responses:
- "Has your sister done a PhD?" (The answer, unsurprisingly, is yes)
- "You have the coolest sister in the world."

I am inclined to agree.