Saturday - 4 hour flight, watched Jack Reacher, chatted to the person next to me, got extra leg room, was lovely.
Taxi to Sydney hostel was fine with Little Tom and Sarah, having met them at the airport. Hostel room was really nice - roomy, 6 bed dorm with just 2 other randoms when we arrived who were leaving the next day (when Rebecca and Chris arrived).
We went for an explore to find some food and get our bearings, with Little Tom as our 'expert' guide, having been here before. Anyone who knows Tom will know that this was an error, but we thought he could do an ok job of it. Besides, we had a guidebook and a map, so it was all ok in the end, despite us going in circles for a good hour and a bit. Ate at a cheap thai place, as it turned out our hostel is in the centre of Sydney, but that is also right next to Chinatown.
We wandered up to the harbour/quay, which took a lot of effort to find due to Tom's certainty in directions and a stubborn refusal to return to the well-populated high streets. It was actually just a straight road north of our hostel, but we ended up meandering off to the north west, completely missing the actual harbour at first. An hour later, we found the right roads again and were able to grab a drink at a lovely bar opposite the opera house.
Headed back the easy way, unpacked and slept.
Sunday - Powerhouse museum till 2 pm, much like the science museum in London, but had a Wallace and Gromit exhibition on the day, and lots of stuff on space and physics. Was cool and I enjoyed it lots.
We grabbed some lunch, and met Chris and Rebecca at Sydney central train station, opposite our hostel.
Photo slideshows of electives from the others. Some great photos and stories. Turns out I was indoors and actually working the most, but as the others said, "Tans fade, publications don't"
Chris, Rebecca, Sarah went to a church that provides the music and is essentially the HQ for their Nottingham one - kind of a big deal apparently. Tom and I, naturally, went to the bar and had some (finally!) cheap pints.
The others got back, we went exploring for dinner, found an italian at 9.30 pm, was nice, excellent meal
FroYo with Sarah to round off the evening. This place was fun - pick a frozen yoghurt flavour (or many) and choose from a ridiculous range of sweet toppings, weigh it at the end and pay by weight. Lots of sugary goodness. Like pick n mix, but with ice cream flavours as well. Need to find one of these in the UK...
Tuesday 9 April 2013
Week 6
Tuesday - Clinic in the morning, saw some interesting cases - a lid laceration, cataract, CMV retinitis, corneal ulcer from bacterial contact lens damage.
King's Park in the afternoon for a very hot day of sunbathing. Lovely. Could get used to this...
Wednesday - Woke up at 12pm, oops. I have no idea how or why. I went to bed at normal time and wasn't overly tired. Normally I'm up at 9ish, which was the plan. 12 was a bit of a shock!
So much for the revision I'd planned for the morning. Sent them an email explaining the situation - they were fine with it and gave advice by email instead, because they are amazingly friendly.
Determined to make something productive of the day remaining, I did laundry and other jobs, went to the wifi park for some sun, and had dinner at Cafe Italia. Best carbonara since... a long time. I have a lot to learn. Ridiculously friendly family-run Italian café, the main manager (Dad?) was the kind of stocky Italian chap who was genuinely friendly with all his customers, and liked shaking your hand and patting you on the back as you said hi. Immediately made you feel welcome. Excellent service and incredibly busy, definitely worth me getting there early. The frosted glass of Peroni was much enjoyed. Reasonable value too - $20 for the pasta. Amazing.
Thursday - Theatre in the morning as per usual, blepharoplasty and a basal cell carcinoma removal from the lower right lid. Excellent to watch. Lunch with the consultant and reg, said goodbye and thanks.
Went home, did some packing and revision with an aim to go over some things on Friday.
Friday - Revision didn't happen due to the staff not being around - all had other jobs to do that cropped up at the time which was a shame, as it meant I didn't get to see them before leaving. Prof came up and said goodbye though, which was very nice, and said to send more UK students his way if any were interested.
Home, more packing and sorting the room out for my early morning departure. Emptied the fridge, donated leftovers to mates, re-checked all my flight details and route planning etc. I'm obsessive about that kind of stuff. To the extent that I actually listed the bus journey steps vs. the taxi journey steps and compared the pros and cons of each, changing my mind twice.
Said my last goodbyes after watching Shawshank Redemption (amazing as always). Sorted my taxi for the morning.
King's Park in the afternoon for a very hot day of sunbathing. Lovely. Could get used to this...
Wednesday - Woke up at 12pm, oops. I have no idea how or why. I went to bed at normal time and wasn't overly tired. Normally I'm up at 9ish, which was the plan. 12 was a bit of a shock!
So much for the revision I'd planned for the morning. Sent them an email explaining the situation - they were fine with it and gave advice by email instead, because they are amazingly friendly.
Determined to make something productive of the day remaining, I did laundry and other jobs, went to the wifi park for some sun, and had dinner at Cafe Italia. Best carbonara since... a long time. I have a lot to learn. Ridiculously friendly family-run Italian café, the main manager (Dad?) was the kind of stocky Italian chap who was genuinely friendly with all his customers, and liked shaking your hand and patting you on the back as you said hi. Immediately made you feel welcome. Excellent service and incredibly busy, definitely worth me getting there early. The frosted glass of Peroni was much enjoyed. Reasonable value too - $20 for the pasta. Amazing.
Thursday - Theatre in the morning as per usual, blepharoplasty and a basal cell carcinoma removal from the lower right lid. Excellent to watch. Lunch with the consultant and reg, said goodbye and thanks.
Went home, did some packing and revision with an aim to go over some things on Friday.
Friday - Revision didn't happen due to the staff not being around - all had other jobs to do that cropped up at the time which was a shame, as it meant I didn't get to see them before leaving. Prof came up and said goodbye though, which was very nice, and said to send more UK students his way if any were interested.
Home, more packing and sorting the room out for my early morning departure. Emptied the fridge, donated leftovers to mates, re-checked all my flight details and route planning etc. I'm obsessive about that kind of stuff. To the extent that I actually listed the bus journey steps vs. the taxi journey steps and compared the pros and cons of each, changing my mind twice.
Said my last goodbyes after watching Shawshank Redemption (amazing as always). Sorted my taxi for the morning.
Tuesday 2 April 2013
Easter Weekend (Fri - Mon)
Friday: Went to the shops with the intention of getting Tor something and getting me some food, but everywhere was shut, so bummed around in the sunshine and in my room all day. Was nice to not do anything as a one-off.
Saturday: Went to King's Park for the first time - it's a half hour walk away up an impressive roadside hill, but that makes my sandwich at the top all the more deserved. I wandered around and took photos - it's absolutely huge, with massive trees only 50 years old and memorials to fallen soldiers and regiments liberally strewn about the park's vast expanses. Thing is, it doesn't look that big as you walk around it (the bit I was in anyway) as it's kind of split into sections by clumps of trees and has lots of pathways to follow for walks. And it's busy on nice days. I passed at least 3 weddings at various stages of completion!
Having gotten knackered from wandering about so much, I sat down for a bit, had a drink, enjoyed the weather and came back. I looked for a present for Tor on the way back, but it's so hard to find something *right*!
This evening, the group fancied an outing to the casino. This turned out to be a 40 min walk away (my legs ached after today), but it was good fun, and I came out with a win ($5 up, woo! Yeah! Screw the system, man!). It was nice as we all came out either even or in the plus. One of the girls won $66. My winnings were second best. A lad won a dollar. The other girl won $0.60, and the last chap broke even. Not bad!
Finished the night by writing some character bits for the book. Lovely.
Sunday: Having enjoyed the ambiance of King's Park so much yesterday, I decided that I wanted to go back, but this time armed with a towel and sun lotion.
As you can imagine, not much more to report from the day. I figured out what to get Tor though, among other musings, which was nice.
In the evening, I finished Monkey Island! Huzzah! Only taken me...years. Literally years. Good lord.
More writing ensued before bed.
Monday: Went shopping for food and Tor's present in the morning, had lunch, watched Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 1. Happy days. They changed a few minor bits from the book, and I'm not sure how they'll play out over the rest of the series, but it won't have too big an impact as all the key events still happened. And I'm further convinced of my theories from reading the books about the "The Dragon has three heads". There's a reason certain speeches are kept word-for-word from the books!
Got to speak to parents and family on Skype for mum's birthday and Easter (yay, the bunny didn't forget me!), but I have no chocolate with me. Will rectify this tomorrow.
I played a bit of Mark of the Ninja to round off the night (awesome game!)
NB: I have been doing some OSCE 2 revision across all these days intermittently, but not huge amounts. Just acting through examinations by myself with notes on the laptop, and pointers to myself about what I can do for similar retake stations based on what I know I'm rubbish at and what mistakes I may have made. Naturally, it's a bit tricky for the stations where I don't know what went wrong until I get feedback (comms skills and ethics!) Also MDD is tricky as I don't have any notes for it out here. Will have to rely on friends in Sydney and revision back home. Should be fine though - stations have to stay roughly the same.
Saturday: Went to King's Park for the first time - it's a half hour walk away up an impressive roadside hill, but that makes my sandwich at the top all the more deserved. I wandered around and took photos - it's absolutely huge, with massive trees only 50 years old and memorials to fallen soldiers and regiments liberally strewn about the park's vast expanses. Thing is, it doesn't look that big as you walk around it (the bit I was in anyway) as it's kind of split into sections by clumps of trees and has lots of pathways to follow for walks. And it's busy on nice days. I passed at least 3 weddings at various stages of completion!
 |
| Wedding 1 preparations |
 |
| The bride of Wedding 2, celebrating in style. Classy bird. |
 |
| This tree is huge. Like, massive huge. |
 |
| Pretty pathway |
 |
| Pretty view from one balcony of the park |
 |
| Queen Vic! Woo. |
 |
| Big memorial |
 |
| Zen man is Zen |
 |
| Eternal flame memorial - very nice. The other side reads "A moment of silent contemplation is all that is asked" |
 |
| Ha. |
 |
| See how big this tree is? I mean, really, it's just silly. |
 |
| The road into the park |
 |
| Another memorial |
Having gotten knackered from wandering about so much, I sat down for a bit, had a drink, enjoyed the weather and came back. I looked for a present for Tor on the way back, but it's so hard to find something *right*!
This evening, the group fancied an outing to the casino. This turned out to be a 40 min walk away (my legs ached after today), but it was good fun, and I came out with a win ($5 up, woo! Yeah! Screw the system, man!). It was nice as we all came out either even or in the plus. One of the girls won $66. My winnings were second best. A lad won a dollar. The other girl won $0.60, and the last chap broke even. Not bad!
Finished the night by writing some character bits for the book. Lovely.
Sunday: Having enjoyed the ambiance of King's Park so much yesterday, I decided that I wanted to go back, but this time armed with a towel and sun lotion.
As you can imagine, not much more to report from the day. I figured out what to get Tor though, among other musings, which was nice.
In the evening, I finished Monkey Island! Huzzah! Only taken me...years. Literally years. Good lord.
More writing ensued before bed.
Monday: Went shopping for food and Tor's present in the morning, had lunch, watched Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 1. Happy days. They changed a few minor bits from the book, and I'm not sure how they'll play out over the rest of the series, but it won't have too big an impact as all the key events still happened. And I'm further convinced of my theories from reading the books about the "The Dragon has three heads". There's a reason certain speeches are kept word-for-word from the books!
Got to speak to parents and family on Skype for mum's birthday and Easter (yay, the bunny didn't forget me!), but I have no chocolate with me. Will rectify this tomorrow.
I played a bit of Mark of the Ninja to round off the night (awesome game!)
NB: I have been doing some OSCE 2 revision across all these days intermittently, but not huge amounts. Just acting through examinations by myself with notes on the laptop, and pointers to myself about what I can do for similar retake stations based on what I know I'm rubbish at and what mistakes I may have made. Naturally, it's a bit tricky for the stations where I don't know what went wrong until I get feedback (comms skills and ethics!) Also MDD is tricky as I don't have any notes for it out here. Will have to rely on friends in Sydney and revision back home. Should be fine though - stations have to stay roughly the same.
Thursday 28 March 2013
Week 5 (Tue/Wed/Thur)
Tuesday:
Clinic in the morning - it's chilly when it's early! Had to wear my hoodie to work. It's the clear skies, apparently, which means it also warms up quickly in the sun. Not that there was much of that today. Rain and wind a plenty though!
Clinic was excellent, as always, and I got to teach a doctor how to use a lit lamp, because I'm apparently "very good" with them. Ha! He was probably just being nice, but teaching it makes you quickly realise your own limitations, so I ended up learning more stuff about them.
Cases seen: a chemical burn to the eye (and teaching on how to manage chemical burns should I ever see one), a 1 day post-op corneal graft, post-trabeculectomy scleral thinning, blocked meibomian ducts, an entropion and the unexpected highlight of a referral to RPH of "viral keratoconjunctivitis".
Normally, when you hear that as a case description you sort of switch off, because it's, well, just viral conjunctivits with some corneal involvement. It's not a big deal. I learnt a few things then:
1) Royal Perth Hospital is a specialist ("tertiary") ophthal centre that takes cases from all over Western Australia. People fly to get to hospital appointments there, routinely.
2) Cases sent to RPH are therefore normally like Ron Burgundy, "kind of a big deal"
3) Severe keratoconjunctivits is icky.
It was bacterial, not viral, so it hadn't spread to this guy's family/kids, which was good. However, severe keratoconjunctivits has a nasty 'special ability' if you will - it forms a membrane over the conjunctiva on the inside of one's lids. This can lead to bands of goop sticking the two conjunctival surfaces together (eyeball and inside of the lid stick together). This chap didn't have any bands, thankfully.
That didn't make his "membrane" better though. Under normal light, it just looks like a pale layer on the inner lid surface. With fluorescent staining and blue light, it glows like one of those stars you used to stick onto your bedroom ceiling. The problem with a membrane is that they are what's known as a reservoir for the invading organism. So they need removing, to try and prevent ongoing infection. With forceps. It peels off like a layer of dead skin, but bleeds profusely because it attaches itself if left for too long. Ouch. They can regenerate in days, at which point they need peeling off again. Ouch. Messy.
Afternoon was spent back in my room, wrapped up in layers of clothing and writing more of my project.
Wednesday
Research all day - it's almost done. I was told that the 1st draft I'd emailed originally was enough to grant me authorship of the paper, so was to finish off the bits I wanted to do today and tomorrow, but email it on Thursday and leave it. The team will sort the rest out, and will organise a mock OSCE 2 exam for me next week if I bring them the info on the stations after the Easter weekend. Awesome.
Thursday
Theatre in the morning - orbitotomy and orbital tumour biopsy (this thing was deep in the infero-nasal orbit and very difficult to tell apart from surrounding fat). Was cool to watch though - I now have a better idea as to how they access the orbit and get around the eyeball in the way - they push it. With a metal paddle/spoon. Saw another blepharoplasty - this one was for an anatomical defect on a young chap, basically meaning he didn't have an upper lid crease on the right side, so looking up caused his eyelid (and lashes) to fold inwards, which as you can imagine, would be pretty annoying.
Japanese lunch with the consultant and reg again - chicken katsu with a rice box and veg. Pretty good - especially when bought for you.
Afternoon research - finished the last bits I wanted to do, and emailed it off. Done. Huzzah!
Easter weekend plans: Beach, King's Park, OSCE 2 revision and collecting information bits for the team (to use against me), shopping, my brother's best man speech, and planning how I'm going to get to the airport in time for my Sydney flight the next Saturday. So it's not like I'm busy or anything...
No time for Rottnest Island the whole time I've been here. A little disappointing, but I'm not too worried - definitely coming back to Oz at some point for a (English) Winter holiday!
Clinic in the morning - it's chilly when it's early! Had to wear my hoodie to work. It's the clear skies, apparently, which means it also warms up quickly in the sun. Not that there was much of that today. Rain and wind a plenty though!
Clinic was excellent, as always, and I got to teach a doctor how to use a lit lamp, because I'm apparently "very good" with them. Ha! He was probably just being nice, but teaching it makes you quickly realise your own limitations, so I ended up learning more stuff about them.
Cases seen: a chemical burn to the eye (and teaching on how to manage chemical burns should I ever see one), a 1 day post-op corneal graft, post-trabeculectomy scleral thinning, blocked meibomian ducts, an entropion and the unexpected highlight of a referral to RPH of "viral keratoconjunctivitis".
Normally, when you hear that as a case description you sort of switch off, because it's, well, just viral conjunctivits with some corneal involvement. It's not a big deal. I learnt a few things then:
1) Royal Perth Hospital is a specialist ("tertiary") ophthal centre that takes cases from all over Western Australia. People fly to get to hospital appointments there, routinely.
2) Cases sent to RPH are therefore normally like Ron Burgundy, "kind of a big deal"
3) Severe keratoconjunctivits is icky.
It was bacterial, not viral, so it hadn't spread to this guy's family/kids, which was good. However, severe keratoconjunctivits has a nasty 'special ability' if you will - it forms a membrane over the conjunctiva on the inside of one's lids. This can lead to bands of goop sticking the two conjunctival surfaces together (eyeball and inside of the lid stick together). This chap didn't have any bands, thankfully.
That didn't make his "membrane" better though. Under normal light, it just looks like a pale layer on the inner lid surface. With fluorescent staining and blue light, it glows like one of those stars you used to stick onto your bedroom ceiling. The problem with a membrane is that they are what's known as a reservoir for the invading organism. So they need removing, to try and prevent ongoing infection. With forceps. It peels off like a layer of dead skin, but bleeds profusely because it attaches itself if left for too long. Ouch. They can regenerate in days, at which point they need peeling off again. Ouch. Messy.
Afternoon was spent back in my room, wrapped up in layers of clothing and writing more of my project.
Wednesday
Research all day - it's almost done. I was told that the 1st draft I'd emailed originally was enough to grant me authorship of the paper, so was to finish off the bits I wanted to do today and tomorrow, but email it on Thursday and leave it. The team will sort the rest out, and will organise a mock OSCE 2 exam for me next week if I bring them the info on the stations after the Easter weekend. Awesome.
Thursday
Theatre in the morning - orbitotomy and orbital tumour biopsy (this thing was deep in the infero-nasal orbit and very difficult to tell apart from surrounding fat). Was cool to watch though - I now have a better idea as to how they access the orbit and get around the eyeball in the way - they push it. With a metal paddle/spoon. Saw another blepharoplasty - this one was for an anatomical defect on a young chap, basically meaning he didn't have an upper lid crease on the right side, so looking up caused his eyelid (and lashes) to fold inwards, which as you can imagine, would be pretty annoying.
Japanese lunch with the consultant and reg again - chicken katsu with a rice box and veg. Pretty good - especially when bought for you.
Afternoon research - finished the last bits I wanted to do, and emailed it off. Done. Huzzah!
Easter weekend plans: Beach, King's Park, OSCE 2 revision and collecting information bits for the team (to use against me), shopping, my brother's best man speech, and planning how I'm going to get to the airport in time for my Sydney flight the next Saturday. So it's not like I'm busy or anything...
No time for Rottnest Island the whole time I've been here. A little disappointing, but I'm not too worried - definitely coming back to Oz at some point for a (English) Winter holiday!
Monday 25 March 2013
Week 5
Sunday:
Hot! Better than Saturday, unfortunately, as I wasn't at the beach today. Stuff to do.
Lots of errand jobs - bought a souvenir, more postcards, food, etc.
Sat in the park writing this - they have free wifi here. Awesome. Going to move indoors again now so I don't get burnt.
I have to try and finish my project 1st draft. Can't stay outside and play. Sad times.
Did some OSCE 2 revision by going through appropriate history points for acute care and surgery. I'm optimistic about the retake - this stuff isn't difficult to revise since I did most of it right the first time around and knew most of it already. Just hoping they don't bell curve the retakes quite so much!
Monday:
Crap weather - it's grey, muggy, aaaaand just started raining. Still warm though, so I guess it's still beating the UK's never-ending Game of Thrones-style Winter that may last for years. Winter Is Coming, and all that.
Got some good work done, thumbs up from supervisor to keep going as I am. Also can hand it over to him again "when I've had enough" and would like him to take over. That kind of spurred me to to work harder, if anything. I'm not bloody giving up on it! Had enough? I don't know what that means.
Maybe next week. We'll see. There's lots I want to do with it still.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday Week 4
Thursday
Morning theatre - saw a bilateral blepharoplasty, and an ectropion repair with a lateral tarsal strip. In other words, eyelid surgery. The first one is for too much eyelid skin starting roll over the lid margins and impede vision, so we cut it away.
An ectropion means your lid is folding outwards, usually due to age and fat pad shifting. Basically, a slack lower lid at one attachment, and too tight on the outer surface. To correct it, you use physics. You cut the outer skin, slackening off tightness that was pulling the lid outwards. A skin graft covers the wound to remove further tension and prevent recurrence. Then you tighten the lower lid back up against the eyeball (where it should be) with a lateral tarsal strip - essentially attaching the lower lid to the bony orbital rim you can feel on yourself right next to the outermost part of your eye. Sorted.
Had lunch with the Consultant and Reg, which they bought for me. We ate at this Japanese place - I had teriyaki chicken and rice and japanese veg, was all very nice. Extra nice on account of it being free.
Afternoon research.
Friday
Research all day.
Watched Django Unchained in the evening. It's still good. I still like it a lot. It is still pretty long.
Saturday
Job rankings finished finished finished. Submitted! Exciting. Hoping I pass the Finals retake so it means something.
Cottesloe beach for most of the day - windy! Made it a bit chilly towards 4 pm. Had to put a t-shirt on. Terrible form.
Deep fried mars bar and chips for lunch. Amazing. I could actually feel my arteries clogging, and it felt good.
Morning theatre - saw a bilateral blepharoplasty, and an ectropion repair with a lateral tarsal strip. In other words, eyelid surgery. The first one is for too much eyelid skin starting roll over the lid margins and impede vision, so we cut it away.
An ectropion means your lid is folding outwards, usually due to age and fat pad shifting. Basically, a slack lower lid at one attachment, and too tight on the outer surface. To correct it, you use physics. You cut the outer skin, slackening off tightness that was pulling the lid outwards. A skin graft covers the wound to remove further tension and prevent recurrence. Then you tighten the lower lid back up against the eyeball (where it should be) with a lateral tarsal strip - essentially attaching the lower lid to the bony orbital rim you can feel on yourself right next to the outermost part of your eye. Sorted.
Had lunch with the Consultant and Reg, which they bought for me. We ate at this Japanese place - I had teriyaki chicken and rice and japanese veg, was all very nice. Extra nice on account of it being free.
Afternoon research.
Friday
Research all day.
Watched Django Unchained in the evening. It's still good. I still like it a lot. It is still pretty long.
Saturday
Job rankings finished finished finished. Submitted! Exciting. Hoping I pass the Finals retake so it means something.
Cottesloe beach for most of the day - windy! Made it a bit chilly towards 4 pm. Had to put a t-shirt on. Terrible form.
Deep fried mars bar and chips for lunch. Amazing. I could actually feel my arteries clogging, and it felt good.
Wednesday 20 March 2013
Wednesday: 1st table tennis win!
21-15
Boom. My returns got better, I was more relaxed, and I was away. Also did a lot more controlling of the play - getting the ball off to one side or another to get the opponent running around a bit. Next things to work on: spinning and distance control. Would love to drop a nasty short backspin *just* into the opponent's half.
Research continues as normal. Waiting for them to approve giving me microsoft office so I can sort out references with endnote web that much easier, so just focusing on writing the main text at the mo, and putting in references manually with a view to updating them once this is sorted.
It does start to drag a bit, which is why the clinical days are nice. Reading, re-reading and slightly tweaking the same page over and over before the 1st draft is done is frustrating, but that's how I do it. That's how bad it gets - I frustrate myself that I'm such a perfectionist about these things. The problem is partly in the name. 1st draft implies a rough selection of ideas splurged onto paper. Researchers don't see it that way though - a 1st draft to them is a fully completed and written paper that just hasn't been submitted to a supervisor for 'professional' reading and input yet. To me, this is currently more like a third draft, as I've shaped it from being a selection of titles across several pages into a justified aligned introduction and methods with yellow highlighted sentences that may belong elsewhere in the document or may need re-wording. But the fact that I'm still working on the 1st draft sounds like a lot less of an accomplishment than what I've actually done. The results are essentially just a table, which is easy enough, and the analysis points are fairly self-explanatory/obvious. As usual, it's the introduction and discussion that take most of the work, as they're the bits that need thinking about, careful wording, and lots of references.
Oh, and there's a 2000 word limit. Great.
At some point, probably this weekend, I'm hoping to be able to say "1st draft done". That gives me 2 weeks to edit it. Do-able.
Boom. My returns got better, I was more relaxed, and I was away. Also did a lot more controlling of the play - getting the ball off to one side or another to get the opponent running around a bit. Next things to work on: spinning and distance control. Would love to drop a nasty short backspin *just* into the opponent's half.
Research continues as normal. Waiting for them to approve giving me microsoft office so I can sort out references with endnote web that much easier, so just focusing on writing the main text at the mo, and putting in references manually with a view to updating them once this is sorted.
It does start to drag a bit, which is why the clinical days are nice. Reading, re-reading and slightly tweaking the same page over and over before the 1st draft is done is frustrating, but that's how I do it. That's how bad it gets - I frustrate myself that I'm such a perfectionist about these things. The problem is partly in the name. 1st draft implies a rough selection of ideas splurged onto paper. Researchers don't see it that way though - a 1st draft to them is a fully completed and written paper that just hasn't been submitted to a supervisor for 'professional' reading and input yet. To me, this is currently more like a third draft, as I've shaped it from being a selection of titles across several pages into a justified aligned introduction and methods with yellow highlighted sentences that may belong elsewhere in the document or may need re-wording. But the fact that I'm still working on the 1st draft sounds like a lot less of an accomplishment than what I've actually done. The results are essentially just a table, which is easy enough, and the analysis points are fairly self-explanatory/obvious. As usual, it's the introduction and discussion that take most of the work, as they're the bits that need thinking about, careful wording, and lots of references.
Oh, and there's a 2000 word limit. Great.
At some point, probably this weekend, I'm hoping to be able to say "1st draft done". That gives me 2 weeks to edit it. Do-able.
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