I Collided Oxygen. I Still Felt Empty

Nobody tells you how lonely it feels to chase the beginning of everything and end up staring at a screen full of noise. Oxygen ions, neon, lead—doesn’t matter. I keep hoping for that one clean signal, the thing that makes the late nights and the missed calls worth it. But the data is always messier than I am. The beam pollutes, the analysis drags, and the only thing that feels certain is how tired I am. They say we’re connecting the dots between cold and hot, but I’m stuck somewhere in between—waiting for a result that might never feel like enough. I watch the collisions, but I don’t know what I’m hoping to find anymore. Maybe just proof that all this cost means something. #Science #LabBurnout #ScienceFatigue