Funny thing happened the other day, you'd never believe it...

I was going to write about this after I finish my John Flynn Rural scholarship application, but I realised that, at the rate I'm going, I may never complete those selection questions. So I'm going to blog now, and do the "more important" things later.

So anyway, I refer to the entry I wrote about 2 weeks ago, on Professor Barry Marshall and peptic ulcer. http://supersida.blogspot.com/2007/03/if-i-ever-meet-dr-barry-marshall.html Basically in this entry I called Professor Marshall, the famous Nobel Prize laureate, insane. I never actually think that anyone ever reads my blog... I see the counter go up but it rises very slowly and I'd always thought that it was due to people coming across it by accident.

So imagine my surprse when I recieved a comment to that blog entry, which arrived to me via email. "Interesting article!" it said, "Please email M at xxx@helicobacter.com for more information."

I broke into a cold sweat on the spot. You can imagine my shock, horror, and fear. This woman obviously knew a lot about this subject. She was probably from information group, or research group, or support group, or something. I'd stirred up a bee's nest... Craaapp, I've put my real name on that thing. Crraapp, it's even got my photo on it. Sida, you stupid stupid girl. But it's ok! I'll just delete the whole blog! They'll never find me!

So anyway, I sent a short, tentative email back: "I can delete, or alter the post if you deem it inappropriate..." I was just short of saying: please don't sue me.

So anyway, M replied with (take a big breath...) "I am Assistant Manager of the Office of the Nobel Laureates – Professor Barry Marshall and Dr Robin Warren. Barry was pleased to read your blog and has asked me to contact you to get a mailing address as he would like me to send you a signed gift from him."

My first reaction was purely relief. I am not going to get sued. My parents can keep the family house. I do not have a black mark against my name. Then... "ARRRGHH! Barry Marshall read my blog! ARRGGHH! ARRGGHH! How embarrassing!!!"

So anyway, that pretty much concludes my tale. As suggested by a friend, I checked out www.helicobacter.com just to make sure the domain name exists, then replied with my address, with quivering fingers. M replied to thank me for supplying my address (thank ME?)... and to hope that I am going well with my studies, and hope that I enjoyed my H. pylori subject. I'd like to reply, but I'm not sure about the etiquette regarding these things. Does she expect a reply? Is it polite to flood the Assistant Manager of a nobel prize laureate with grateful emails? I decided not to. (But, if in case you are reading this, M... It's certainly more interesting than skin, immunology, or anorexia nervosa. I have already ruled out dermatology, immunology, and psychiatry...)

I told my friends, and the general consensus is that this is a great thing. I'm not so sure, though. Do I really want Barry Marshall reading about my strange misadventures? There is a lot of speculation about what the gift might be, too. Some (non-medicine) friend even joked that I should be careful when opening it, as it may contain a culture of bacteria. I jokingly suggested to a friend studying law that she should do the same about Justice Kirby... but she said that it had already been done.

If you're looking for the comment posted by M, you won't find it. At her request, I removed it to hide her email address. But this really did happen! I didn't make it up, nor did I dream it...

Ok, I'm going to get back to my John Flynn application form now. I would like to post an entry about what I think of selection questions posed mainly by large organisations, but since my blog is actually being read, I will simply say that I find them rather tedious. On that note, I am a hardworking, flexible, adaptable, proactive person, who would strive to be a significant contribution to rural communities...

(Sida's note: for the final chapter of this exciting trilogy, click here)