Tag: Update

Just a friendly update passing by…

Hi everyone, just a friendly update. Over the last few months, I have been doing my best to routinely post articles on The Procrastinating Scientist alongside my continuing efforts to build a portfolio for science writing.

Whatever new post I made there, I would also share it here at The Pensive Reverie. Thanks to finding freelance stints with WatchMojo and PBS, my output of science articles has gradually begun to increase and the lineup of posts I have planned continues to grow.

As such, I felt that it would be best that I now begin to solely present these science posts on The Procrastinating Scientist alone, so that I may also maintain the theme of The Pensive Reverie where I wish to discuss my daily adventures as opposed to frequently reposting posts from the former.

I will keep up a link to The Procrastinating Scientist for any of my readers who enjoyed keeping up with the science posts. In the meantime, I will be back this weekend with my next on,

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See you all on Sunday!

A New Adventure…

I was hoping to have this post up last weekend but unfortunately, I couldn’t get down to it. As a good friend of mine would often say,

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On the heels of a cumulative three-year journey of writing and publishing my second book A Little Bit Of Everything, as well as the completion of my Masters degree and transition to my doctoral studies, it was inevitable that at some point I was going to burn out. That is indeed what happened over the last two weeks where I got lost on the path of life, all the while feeling apathetic on just about everything.

Thankfully enough, a refreshing long-weekend trip to the nearby dino-town of Drumheller followed by a boat load of procrastination mixed in with a vicious cycle of apartment shopping, movies, anime, and Age of Empires have got me back on track. All of which leads me back to where I’m right now.

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I’m up for a long haul of work over the next four to five years comprising my doctoral studies. Being one to never look too far ahead into the future, for now, I intend to begin my grand plans on expanding this blog. While I’m still juggling various ideas on how to organize the content that I post on this blog (for example, I intend to scrape the idea of  “Read Along With Me” exclusively in favor of book reviews), as well as setting up an author page, I will begin with going back to my regular routines of posts as usual.

For this week, I would like to lay down the hatchet by completing what has been a long overdue review of Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden. This will be followed by a discussion of my experiences with Amazon Kindle, and self-publishing. For those among my readers who aspire to become independent writers in their own stead, I’m hoping to share the resources I have used to find a measure of success in independent publishing.

The posts will be out by this weekend. Meanwhile, I will be continuing to run promotions on A Little Bit Of Everything, while setting the stage for the next triad of writing projects I have planned to develop over the course of my PhD studies. For all my readers who have had a chance to read my book, I really hope you enjoyed it.

I will see you all very soon with my next post!

Transitions

Life is all about transitions. One moment, we find ourselves latched on to something, and the next instant there is something new around the corner that catches our attention. I have had to deal with my fair share of minute, but influential transitions owing to my absence over the last few weeks; ranging from decisions I have had to make on my academic career in pursuit of a PhD (which has incidentally become a wild-goose chase for funding opportunities), to my exodus in obtaining a driver’s license, and all the way to alighting upon the final stages of content editing my second book (Agent X)!

All of which brings me here today, back to my pensive reverie, during a stormy overcast in Edmonton that beckons me to take up the “keyboard” again, and get back to the blog posts I have been planning for a while. So without further ado, this is what we have to look forward to in the coming days!

Beginning with another recap of my “Adventures in Drawing” I will come full-circle as I complete my Drawing 101 course, and present a few more tricks I have learned over the past month.

Following this, we will shift gears, and in lieu with the current political “climate” (particularly with reference to the recent proceedings at the Paris Accords), I will provide a report on climate change, approaching the topic from a scientific, political, and socio-economic perspective.

I will also add another chapter to my review of Carl Sagan’s “Dragons of Eden,” as we explore the mechanisms of the human brain including the R-complex, the Limbic System, and the Neocortex.

Lastly, following up on a request from a reader, I will provide a learner’s review of Bitcoins, a crypto-currency, and modern digital payment system!

So, all in all, look forward to a good number of updates on the blog, and some healthy reading over the coming days everyone!

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Let’s get the ball rolling!

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to provide a general update, before putting up my review on Chapter 1 of Carl Sagan’s The Dragons of Eden.

I know it has been a long wait, and I apologize for the delay, but I’ve experienced quite a productive, and intense week. I was finally able to complete the content editing required on Agent X, and now have a first draft of the book. I hope to pursue further editing in the future before proceeding towards any plans to publication.

I had hoped for a wonderful beginning to 2017, and on the heels of this personal achievement, I can say my confidence is at an all-time high. Having just also traveled back to visit my family in India, I’m currently recovering from jet lag. Nevertheless, the wait is now over, and it is now time for me to get the ball rolling on my plans for the blog, but before that, I’d like to thank you all for your patience!!

Now, let’s do this!

Falling sick was no fun!

Hi everyone,

I apologize for my brief absence. I fell sick with a severe cold coming into the first week of December, which pretty much brought my progress on a bunch of things to a stand-still. I’ve just made my recovery, and am now back on track to get the ball moving.

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Being sick is not fun!

I will begin by writing the next post on my read along of The Dragons of Eden, which will be up by the end of this week. I will also provide a comical summary of what I had been up to while I was sick. Though I was physically out of it, I was mentally surging with ideas, and with the approach of 2017 around the corner, there is a lot I have planned for, and which I will provide a brief summary of as well!

So, until the next post, toodles!

 

What’s new for the coming month?

Hi everyone,

This update comes a little later than I had originally planned. I’ve been quite productive over the last two weeks. Having recently completed my second book, I have been content editing the story, while organizing my agenda for the upcoming year, involving everything from independent course studies in Robotics, setting up my next three writing projects, traveling back home to visit my family in India, and a lot more. Just like I had mentioned in my previous post, I’ve also followed up on the changes I proposed for the blog. You should now be able to see a menu at the top of the blog’s main page, where I’ve categorized the blog’s contents accordingly as follows:

(1) About – A short introduction to the author of the blog, me, as well as a description of the blog’s purpose.

(2) Contact – Here is where you, my readers, can contact me, by filling in the contact form.

(3) General – Blog updates, and promotions.

(4) A Slice of Life – Here is where my posts concerning my daily adventures will be archived.

(5) Book Reviews – Here is where I will post reviews of the books I have read. So far, I have done two including The Silmarillion, and Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan.

(6) Read Along – Apart from book reviews, I will provide for summaries, and analyses on the contents of selective books I read.

(7) Let’s Get Thinking – Critical discussions with relevance to literature, science, philosophy, politics, and just about anything that can wrack my brain.

(8) Learner Space – I’m still yet to decide on how to go about this, but as of now, I feel the Learner Space will be an archive for posts where I intend to provide for detailed tutorials on various subjects. Unlike the prior category, these discussions will be a lot more involved, and will closely resemble one of my earlier posts on Electricity: Principles, and Applications!

All the blog posts will appear as usual, on the main page, but will automatically be archived among the above categories. This will provide a structure to the blog, as well as allow for easy access to specific posts you wish to read. Further changes I wish to implement in the coming days include:

-A link to my Goodreads account, which will keep you all well-informed on my current reading list.

-I’m trying to set up an autograph widget on WordPress for Our Last Summer: A Personal Memoir. I’m hoping e-book autograph sites like Authorgraph will help set this up, so that I can provide free autographs for anyone who has purchased  my e-books!

-Commentary spaces on my posts which will help you all to personally interact with the blog, and its content. A comment policy will be announced in the near future.

Altogether, I hope that by 2017 the blog will be a busy haven for discussion, learning, and fun! I will keep you all posted on everything! On the other hand, I will upload a new post this week, analyzing the introductory chapters of Carl Sagan’s The Dragons of Eden (the first of the many books that will be a read along with you, my audience).

It is done!

Great news everyone! As of yesterday, I have successfully completed the first draft of my second book (Agent X, as we decided to call it on my last post).

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It took a few hours…Well, actually, an entire day of exhaustive writing, and by around 10 p.m., I was typing the last words of the epilogue. The rush of emotions that accompanied the completion of my second work was exhilarating, and in a way, bittersweet. I spent the rest of the night reminiscing about the two year journey over the course of which I had written the book.

Of course, there is still much that remains to be done. I will now proceed with the most arduous task of content editing my work. On the other hand, the end of this project brings up the excitement of various future prospects. Apart from the accompanying art work I intend to do for Agent X, I will now slowly make my transition into Manga school, while brainstorming my next three writing projects.

I will also be making a few changes to the content presentation on this blog. The purpose of this blog is to provide a free space where I can express my thoughts, as well as share my knowledge with all of you. To further help facilitate these discussions in an interesting manner, I intend to go about categorizing my daily posts. I’m hoping that a few months from now, I will have set up several categories of posts in subjects ranging from:

(1) Critical thinking

This will primarily involve weekly discussions on an interesting article of my choice in science, politics, philosophy, and just about anything that can wrack my brain.

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(2) Teaching & Problem-solving

This will be a two-fold approach that would help complement my current duties as a student tutor at the university, where I typically face the following scenarios:

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 and which I try to resolve in due fashion, with ample flair,

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Let’s get this over with.

 I have yet to decide on how to organize this part of the blog, but it may predominantly involve discussions or solutions to the most interesting questions I encounter with my students on a weekly basis, or any other cool puzzles that catch my eye!

(3) Book reviews/Read-along

This is something I have always wanted to do. So far, I have done one book review (Star Wars, The Old Republic: Revan), but I would also like to try something new where I would provide a summarized read-along discussion of sorts of the books I read. An immediate choice that I will provide posts about in the near future is Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden, which I’m currently parsing through.

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(4) My daily adventures & lots of writing!

This is fairly simple. It is what I’ve been doing so far, and will be the primary form of my communication with everyone. There is a lot to life, and everyday proves to be a grand adventure!

And that’s basically it for my update. The purpose of this post was to keep you all informed. The changes will be gradual, but I hope that you will all come to enjoy the myriad selection of posts this blog will host in the coming days!

I’m back!

Hi everyone!

I apologize for the brief absence. The last two weeks have been a hectic affair. It mostly involved me sitting in front of my computer, editing, and re-editing my thesis in what seemed then to be an endless cycle.

All of this contributed to a lack of sleep,

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mixed with a great sense of pride, and achievement, as I submitted the final copy of my thesis to the committee today.

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Of course, there is still the possibility of future revisions, but the major chunk of editing has been done, and as such it should hopefully be a cake walk from here on. I will be defending my thesis in four weeks, and will be busy with preparations for that particular occasion.

I’ve also begun making my plans for the next phase of my life after the completion of my Masters, which will involve a one-year transition period before I begin my PhD studies in Robotics. It’s an exciting prospect, and I can’t wait to get started.

I now have more time in my hands to play with, and provide for frequent updates on the blog. In my previous post, I’d mentioned that my next critical review would involve the subject of Electricity: Principles, and Applications. I’ve decided instead to tweak the subject matter, and will use my Masters thesis research on a device called the Single Dielectric Barrier Discharge (SDBD) Plasma Actuator (I admit, it’s a mouthful)  as a platform to discuss the topic. The review should be up on the blog by the end of this week!

Coming soon!

Hi everyone,

I apologize for the brief absence. I’ve had a difficult, but ultimately, successful week, as I completed the first draft of my Masters thesis.

It began with the usual fanfare,

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though eventually, I ended up secluding myself in a fort of notes, research papers, and a bright computer screen to keep me company as I grilled my way through the challenge.

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Having completed the first draft, I can now look forward to the next stage of my thesis which would focus on editing my work, a task that is slightly less painful!

I’m also right on schedule to complete my second book by the end of summer, and am intent to set aside more time for writing on a daily basis.

I will be posting my book review/discussion on Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, and the topic of peace as a euphemism for power tomorrow evening.

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“Who I am is not important, my message is.” ―Revan

I intend to spend my entire day writing at the library, with the occasional swing of reading from Carl Sagan’s The Dragons of Eden, seeking inspiration in the beautiful summer weather, attending a robotics seminar in between, followed by even more writing!

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So look forward to a new post very soon! I hope you all find it engaging!