Life can go on now!

Heard back from the BMJ, they are sending the article out for external review. Phew! Now I really can't do anything about it for the next couple of months so there is absolutely no point worrying about it.

Now, its either going to be rejected outright or be accepted with changes. Fingers crossed.

the day begins and writing starts.

Bad Day in the office

The day so far has been completely unproductive. Only thing I have done is finish homework for two of my courses. Tried taking a nap but landed up watching Kitchen Confidential which is a TV series, presumably based on chef Anthony Bourdain's book. The first season is over so am still catching up with the story.

I really seem unable to stop myself from watching any cooking related entertainment. I have even watched the terribly mushy romcom "No Reservations" with Catherine Zeta-Jones, which was such a let down after the delightful "Ratatouille".

Anyway, no thesis writing today. Its my study protocol for today. First draft today, final tomorrow, presentation day after, send to MGIMS on Thursday.
Damn,Damn.. Damn, Damn! (as 'enry 'iggins might curse)

The Scriver is back

Hello Thesis well-wishers,
I am back! Just finished writing 2000 words today. Most of it was gibberish that needs to be edited but at least I can edit from a base. I know, the most difficult part has been the first draft. I have found that I am a better editor than a writer. Seems that being a critic is easy, even if its my own stuff.

Anyway, half way through Chapter 5. tomorrow, will finish it although it might take longer than I think because I need to analyse my data a little.
So far so good. Decided to take a break and stop for today.Am now off to do two pieces of overdue homework, make a poster and edit someone else's paper! hah..that's never going to take as long as my 2000 words!

Keep those encouragements and dire warnings coming and read the blog to keep abreast of my progress!

Till tomorrow..

Westerns

I have always blamed my uncle and his stash of Louis L'amour books for my love of westerns and the west. I just assumed that everyone had heard about Louis L'amour and he was the best and only writer of the West. Seems very much like I thought he was God! Only, now that I am in California, which is as west as you can get, I have come to the realisation that there are other out there who also write westerns and about the wild west.

I have scoured the Berkeley public library for a few and got my hands on two writers this week.
One was Zane Grey who claims to have lived the lives of the people he writes about. I tried reading a paperback with his legendary short stories. It was about romance, relationships and stuff in the West. Terrible. I don't read westerns to learn about love, angst and relationships. I read westerns to read about MEN! of course, where there are men, there must be women, lust, love, feelings and all that mush. But, the plots of all good westerns are simple.

Man against the elements, or his enemies saving himself, or his family, friends or chance acquaintances along the way. Nothing else. Most importantly, he must remember that he is always going to die in the harsh country and his every move must be to prevent it.

Anyway, Zane Grey is going to be given one more shot and then its over.

The second author I read was Ed Gorman. He was far better. He does write about the modern west and his language is unable to disguise that he wrote the book about twenty years ago. He uses "F&*&" which I doubt was used at that time in the west. There were better ways to curse someone. Also, he often falters into language and makes historical mistakes in both his language and often the setting. I believe he writes his book with a modern plot set in the West, which is probably not the best way to write.

He at least gets a pleasurable second chance. The book was decent even if it was like a detective novel.

LL is still the best and now back to optimisation of dose of vaccination regimes.

My thoughts on writing

Am off to Au Coquelet, the cafe 20 metres down the road from my place to spend some isolated time writing. I have soooo much writing to do, that I don't even know where to start.

I realise my problem with writing. It usually has to do with not having something fixed in my head. I realise that I can write a lot quickly when I know exactly what it is that I want to write about or my ultimate message and the writing style required of me.

Take for example, this post. There is no particular writing style I need to adhere to except my own. I know exactly what I am writing about which allows me to write these rants in double quick time.

My research proposal on the other hand is taking hours. I know what I want to do roughly. I don't know the exact details and I have no clue about the writing style.
My thesis is a different matter altogether. I don't know what to write about or the manner in which to write it, which basically leaves me thoroughly bored!

Anyway, there are many who read this blog who wish me well by often trying to kick my butt..and I shall repay their well measured shots by finishing this damn writing by the end of May.

Off..now..for coffee, tea and my computer.

The Little One and I continue to have a raging debate about "Truth". I argue that social scientists don't understand truth, because they refuse to believe it exists. Scientists on the other hand understand truth, simply because there is only one truth. If a particular experiment (properly undertaken without any bias) is conducted, repeated and then repeated again,then if the result be the truth - should the same result irrespective of the number of times it is conducted and thereby the same conclusion irrespective of the person evaluating the result. In essence,truth cannot be subjective.

Anyway, thats the short story. We once spent over an hour and a half on an international call conducting a thought experiment which was a combination of Armageddon, War of the Worlds and I am Legend. Fortunately, it was cut short by a family member who was thoroughly perplexed by our version of a romantic conversation.

Anyway, today I came across a paragraph from a New Yorker article which probably encapsulates what I want to do and what the Little One can't. It is from a review of a book on World War II by Nicholson Baker (who I don't know). The book attempts to answer a rather simple question: Was WWII good? and answers it by providing us with documentary evidence of that period. Notes, letters, newspaper clippings etc. with no view of the author expressed at any point except the afterword.

The reviewer writes
"It’s an interesting experiment: Baker is trying to eliminate the historian’s interpretive gloss in the interests of respecting the rawness of the primary experience. He seems to think that the facts speak for themselves. But facts never speak for themselves. We speak for them. The historian’s gloss matters (not to mention all the facts that are left out): it provides the reader with intellectual traction, an ability to weigh the claims being put forward to justify the selection of facts. Baker’s presentation may seem empirical—these things happened, you can look them up, no varnish has been applied—but the effect is entirely emotional, because there is no nesting argument, no narrative, to give events a context. It’s a tabloid technique: a six-word quotation or a single image is all you need to understand any issue. The pretense of no manipulation is completely manipulative."

I think where the Little One and I differ is purely on the idea of "selection of facts". Surely, any selection undermines the fundamental principle of any experiment: that the initial conditions are unequal, controlled or removed of any systematic bias. Its like conducting an experiment of the efficacy of oral contraceptive pills on post-menopausal women and saying the drug doesn't work. That's not the truth - it cannot be. The result of that experiment is correct but needs to be justified in terms of its context - but it is not the truth!


Let me just make one last statement. I agree that the truth sometimes is impossible to achieve, but it doesn't mean it does not exist or that it is open to anybody's interpretation!

Paralysed

I can't work at all. I just submitted an article to the BMJ and am waiting to see whether they send it for external review. Then the reviewers need to accept it. I thought this whole process would take 3 weeks. However, its more like 3 months!

So, now I can't do anything until I hear from BMJ about their decision to send it to external reviewers. I ridiculously nervous. I can't be like this about every single paper I write. I hope it changes!

I keep checking email, the BMJ website every two or three hours. Yesterday was great. To avoid this, I tried watching End of Days (Arnie..yes, my governor). Its a horrific movie...went to sleep with it running in the background before we crossed the 30 minute movie barrier.

As you might have guessed, the reason for this post is...yes the BMJ. Hate them!