Hey! It must be the mon-nay!

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Sometime last week on the Yahoo! front page an article appeared with pictures of a younger Amy Poehler dressed as a candy stripper. She went on "Jimmy Kimmel Live! and explained that when she was in her 20s she would do things like give blood or pose for picture frame photo-inserts to earn some extra money. This got me thinking of my own experiences of things I've done to earn money. Mostly I've participated in lots of research studies. I started the summer after my first year in college and just got back from one this morning (not the same study). A sampling of my experiences:

• once I wore an EEG net (see below) to monitor my brain activity and also had to spit into pipettes at various intervals while I sat in front of a computer and played stressful games. It lasted 3 hours.

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• I participated in a hearing study and came in twice a week for six weeks to wear headphones listen to various beeps and levels of white noise to compare my results to those of individuals with severe hearing loss
• I had six electrodes taped and glued to my face, scalp and heart to monitor my brain waves, muscle movement and heart rate for a sleep study. After taking a memory test on the computer I took a nap for 2 hours, watched a movie, then re-took the test. The whole thing took about 6 hours.
• I gave blood (about 1/3 the amount drawn for blood drives) and filled out questionnares on medical history and diet.
• I wore a heart-rate monitoring vest while I watched the pilot for the NBC drama "Journeyman" before it aired, had my eye movements tracked, and filled out surveys about my reactions and general TV habits. (I mildly enjoyed the pilot but was jealous when I found out that the other study group got to see the pilot for "Chuck".)

My favorite experience would either be that last one or the sleep study. I've participated in sleep studies a few times, none of which required me to sleep in the facility overnight. I like the fact that I've gotten paid to nap and watch movies or TV shows-- that was how I got to see "Say Anything" and a good chunk of the fourth season of "Seinfeld". It stinks, though, having to wash the electrode-paste out of my hair, but the pros outweigh the cons. Generally I'm able to look past those nuisances and keep in mind the bottom line: I'm getting paid.