Worst. Email Exchange. Ever.

(C-Day minus committee revisions, defence) So I finally received word from Supervisor regarding my thesis draft. It took him about a week/forever (when it is your wordy child being graded). So did he lavish me with praise? Hammer me with criticism? Give any indication as to his thoughts? You tell me, here is the email:

"Hi Matt

I have read it and made marginal comments. We should meet and discuss. Cheers. Supervisor"

Are you kidding me? That was my life's work...in fact my Greatest Writing Work (GWW)! Marginal comments - good! Should meet - bad. What does this mean? So I retort:

"Dear Supervisor,

Thanks again for going through the draft so quickly [....] Can we set up a chat on the phone sometime before the weekend? Just let me know when I can call, and I will do so. Cheers. Matt"

Saying thanks for the speed is me sounding calmer than I feel. I ask for a phone call because clearly I am *dying* for feedback, having received none so far. I am trying to politely ask for feedback without sounding desperate (am I trying to date him?). He responded quickly:

"Face to face would be better, Matt. I want to go over some of the written comments I have placed in the margins [....]. Supervisor."

Cue heart sinking. Face to face? You mean you can't just say "awesome" over the phone? Uh-oh. This feels bad. This confirms the bad feelings for not having any feedback previously. My head is spinning, I am writing and rewriting responses to this in my head. I want to plead with him, "Please, I can try harder! I can do more! I'm not like this!" (are we breaking up?). My response:

"Hi Supervisor,

Sure that would be fine. [...] Thanks for being so accommodating. In the meantime, can you give me your general sense of the draft, for example, are there specific sections I should pay close attention to in preparation for our meeting?"

This is me at my best. I am trying my hardest not to grovel for feedback, which I, at this point, need in order to breathe. Also, I am trying not to just yell "GIVE ME AN ADJECTIVE!!!" Anything would have done at that point. Bad. Great! Profound! Pedantic. Long. Written in black ink. I just needed something. His response to my 'took hours to craft' plea:

"There is no particular section to look at"

KABOOM!!! I don't even know *what* to think. My mind explodes with possibilities. When your mind explodes, you can really only revert to your most base instincts. So I did what anyone would do. I called my mom. Cue peace of mind and wise motherly analogies.

I went into the meeting with Supervisor and was pleasantly surprised with mostly editorial revisions (Are you kidding me?! Adjectives go a long way for peace of mind, Supervisor) and Supervisor was super nice. We walked through the entire thing, page by page in his kitchen (how awesome is he?). Afterwards the whole thing felt within reach and I was ready to jump into it (after the Olympics of course). Meeting conclusion = feeling pretty swell. As I was beaming out of Supervisors front door, I paused at the top of his driveway to look to the sky and appreciate a cool evening and pleasant encounter, when my phone rings in my hand. Like only a mother could, it was a perfectly timed call from across the country late at night, away from her home on a cell, in hushed tones to keep from waking the grandmother. "How did it go?" How did she know?

An unforgettable Olympic weekend and a delightful email exchange with a new friend have done much to recover the damage done by my worst enemy (at times): my imagination. GWW is on the up on up.

'Could have been Supervisor's last email' song of the day: Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) - The Delfonics

p.s. Just to be clear: My supervisor is awesome, and gives me far more time than I deserve. Despite my frustration with our email exchange he is quite thoughtful and super nice. I don't want to leave you with the wrong impression, this is just one of those funny exchanges that is only really funny after the fact because my inner monologue was so ridiculous.

Me, MySpace and i(Tunes), Web 2.0 and You(Tube)

(C-Day minus 1, 4 edits, revisions and defence) Given that my thesis is on matters technological it requires that I keep up to date on the comings and goings of the web. As I say in my thesis though, the web now moves more and more quickly. Remember back in the (virtual) day when an internet meme (a unit of cultural information) would be funny and prominent for months? Star Wars Kid, Jackass antics, Chuck Norris. Now, a joke on the internet ceases to be funny 3 seconds after you read it. Lolcatz (?), dramatic chipmunk (?) and I am sure there are numerous other anthropomorphic animals with feelings/emotions/sitcoms and somebody to tape them. In fact, I think these memes passed through so quickly they ceased to be funny before they were even viewed. So what, the cats are English preteens? I don't get it.

In any event, I try to stay on top of the Social Web/social networking sites that crop up, as these at least last long enough to sign up (8 seconds). I blog (naturally. I MySpaced for a short time i.e. I listened to music on their site instead of my iTunes. Easy to see why that one didn't last. I Twittered for a short time. I'm followable, but I wouldn't recommend it (that was less than 140 characters). I even have a Del.icio.us account (to share bookmarks), but a) there was no one I knew to share with, and b) what bookmarks am I going to share? Del.icio.us? MySpace? I think people know about these sites, not exactly adding to the community there. Who bookmarks anymore anyways with predictive-text address bars? But I digress...

So my supervisor asked me to help him sketch out the options (and their respective benefits and detriments) for a Web 2.0 presence for his course program. Thankfully (because he is my supervisor and could crush me) I managed to provide a pretty solid answer to his query. While I am thrilled to be able to provide advice to my supervisor I think it was more satisfying to know that I had at last found an outlet for all of the knowledge I have accrued through this whole process that is not the thesis itself. Because, given the ego-fulfilling prophecy (see Glossary), it is unlikely that anyone will even read that. Hello practical application to GWW (see Glossary)! ...But what is 'practical' other than the antonym of 'useless', therefore...well you see where this is going. Told you I was good at rationalizing, though it is a bit of a stretch to claim usefulness for the thesis.

Re-reading this blog post, I think there will be 3 types of readers. 1. Tech savvy young people who think it is funny because they can relate. 2. Tech savvy people who don't think it is funny, because...well because they don't think it is funny. and 3. the non-tech savvy, who don't get it. "What's a Lolcat? Who's a Star Wars Kid? I remember when Chuck Norris was a movie star not an internet meme"

'Could be encouraging, could be prescriptive' song of the day: Use It - The New Pornographers

Wouldn't a Caveman's Writer's Block Be the Thing He Writes On?

(Day 119?) Wow, we are really getting up there in dates. So high in fact that I am not even sure if I did that math correctly. I have been struck with a mean case of writer's block. Having been outwitted by my own logic, this blog has not helped me write when I am stumped, as writer's block has struck me here too. For my birthday just passed, I wished for a complete, well written thesis on my topic area, delivered in a timely manner. However, most of the people I know are also working on theses, so they thought this an unreasonable request given my unwillingness to write their theses. Oh well.

This writer's block has forced me into changing up my methods. I have to force this Greatest Writing Work (GWW) through whether it likes it or not. I was fond of my previous methods (wait in the sun for inspiration) but it was not the most time-responsible method. My new method (do-it until it gets done) is starting to work I think. I have printed off all of my written pages and my themes in attempt to look at this problem (thesis writing) old-school (or Old Skool). I was prepared to be pleased with myself for writing an entire thesis on technology, technologically. People complain of their eyes hurting from staring at a screen for so long, or inability to maintain organization on their computer, issues that I have overcome, only to be struck by writer's block, the oldest, least technological writing problem since ancient man started writing on walls.

A pencil and a stack of papers in hand, I can at least do some of my work outside, although realistically, the closest it sees to outside is the bus, as that is still a favourite place of mine to do work. See here for the story. And speaking of throwbacks to past writing, I was presented with an off the cuff use of one of the words I coined in the Reed Glossary. In pining about some trouble I was having, and whether it would affect the readability (Reedability, hahah - lame joke, but to me, at this point, very funny) of my thesis. In response to this, I was asked if my plight was not frought with an 'ego-fulfilling prophecy' or the misguided thought that my thesis would actually be read. See glossary here. Hoisted by my own petard, eh. I guess that is what happens when you put this stuff publicly online.

Maybe I could submit this song instead of a thesis song of the day: You, Me & the Bourgeoise - The Submarines

Like Rai-i-ain on Your Wedding Day

(Day 33) It was pointed out to me not too long ago, (and I am ashamed that it is merely my personality and not intentional) that my blog (SGWW) in fact mirrors my thesis (GWW) a lot more closely than I originally thought. Partly as a matter of tradition, partly as a matter of entertainment, I have, as you all know, taken to appending a song to the end of each blog entry (a song of the day). Each song reflects either the mood of the day or in some way encapsulates the essence of the entry. It just so happens (ohh universe...) that the act of recommending music in the new technological era is in fact what my thesis (GWW) is about. Funny how these things work out.

However, there is a stark difference between what I am writing about, and what I am doing here. First, I am not an evil corporation...and anyone that makes a comment about lack of personality is gonna get it. Second, although my music picks are in fact the same for everyone I am not offering them as recommendations, as some of them are in fact terrible songs but do serve the purpose of expressing something beyond this blog (see song of the day today). Finally, I am not making any money off of these recommendations...although I am starting to think that maybe I should be, especially with the bad songs. They can use all the publicity that they can get. And with that, I pass you on to the song of the day, but don't worry, I won't sell out. I will try to use songs that everyone can enjoy...after today.

The 'of couuuuurrrsse' song of the day: Ironic - Alanis Morrissette

Preamble to the Second Greatest Writing Work of my life

(Day -2) Here begins the preamble to the Second Greatest Writing Work of my life. I have decided to blog my thesis...well, not the thesis itself, but the experience of writing my thesis. Assuming (hopefully and perhaps misguidedly) that my thesis will be the Greatest Writing Work (GWW) of my life (thus far...that far?) this blog will thus become the Second Greatest Writing Work (SGWW) of my life.

Although, this blog will not document the entirety of the writing process (as much work has gone into getting the project approved), it will cover the majority of the work, starting at Day 1 of actual writing. I have decided that April 1 will appropriately become Day 1 of thesis writing. It gives me a few days to come to grips with the idea of commencing this (now these) monstrous project(s).

Based on the difficulty in choosing the first word of this blog about the thesis, I can only imagine the difficulty I will be facing on Tuesday when I start writing in earnest. With all the thought that goes into it, the first word of my thesis will probably end up being 'the' or an equally boring word. Maybe I can rationalize a reason to begin my thesis with "Bang!" or "Go!" That's more my style.

and to stick with the format of my past blogs, the 'how do I start this thing' song of the day: Where to Begin - My Morning Jacket