Grinding my face off with a belt-sander.

Okay, okay, maybe not that bloody, but reading grant applications ranks right up there on my list of "decidedly unenjoyable past-times", just above "grinding body parts with belt-sanders" (but probably right below "depilating my head with a strigil").

But, when it's your lab's own grant application, and this charming grad-student truly loves his stipend, there is a certain heft added to the importance of actually slogging through the beast. No, no mid-read snoozes for me, I had to stay awake, and somehow, I pulled it off. My job was to find the typos and logical errors, and I did locate a few questionable statements, to boot.

However, there is a certain good feeling engendered by your boss looking up from your red-inked copy of the manuscript to say "I missed what? I can't believe that..." and she gives a hearty thanks at the end.

Y'see, reading the dern things is almost as painful as writing the blasted documents. That one's way up there on that list.