The Doc showed me how to make a facemask out of a Buff during our telemedicine appointment the other day. Brilliant man, he is. I got two Buffs at The Base Camp today and tried it out. The last step, of course, is to put a coffee filter in there, doubled over, to breathe through and a tissue at the top of the nose to absorb the moisture so that my glasses do not fog up, but the basic setup is shown here. Works great! I chose to take a photo for this with the bright one that I bought. The other Buff that I purchased is a light green/tan camouflage, in case I need to blend into the crowd instead of standing out like a sore thumb. I have my sore thumb days and my camouflage days. Trust me. Anyway, there is that.
I would like you to notice, too, that I have my Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) cap on to hold everything together. That just arrived last night and I got a hold of it today. Yes! I love it when I can wear the appropriate college gear! I am a student again…. I am a career student, really, in the sense that I never stop learning. I am always learning something new. I am just not happy when I am not learning. I am wondering now if I should go for the M.A. in English in Creative Writing with a Concentration in Fiction, or if I should apply for the Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing. The MFA courses look like they might suit my interests better, however I do not want to jump the gun. I want to get this online learning thing down really well first, and get my foot solidly in the door (meaning off of the “provisional acceptance” list), which takes two terms of A or A- grades. By that time, I should have a better idea of what I really want to go for between the MA and the MFA. Right now, though, I am leaning seriously toward the MFA. I would be more confident of my chances of getting into the program if I had any degrees at all in English, but I do not. My degrees are in Biology and Psychology. I have demonstrated that I can write, though, due to all of the writing that I had to do in order to get my MS in Psychology. The MFA Program at SNHU requires an 8 to 12-page sample of your writing as well as a personal statement and a transfer credit evaluation. I have a short story of the perfect length to present to them as a writing sample and am wondering if I should just go for it and see what they say. Part of me is afraid of rejection, though, because my stories are personal, being my own creation, of course. If I am going to be a writer, though, I have to learn to deal with rejection. That is a reality. Writers get rejected. A lot. They have to revise and revise and revise and revise some more before anyone will even read their work. I should look at my short story, though. I think it is pretty good. The point is that I would be seeking an education in how to write publishable works, and that I do not yet know how to do that, so how bad could my short story seem? I am trying to be optimistic, here. I really want an MFA. I am just not sure when to go for it. I think I should get ahold of my advisor and see what she says. I would not consider any classes to be wasted on this endeavor, even if they did not end up applying toward an MFA in Creative Writing in the end. I want to get my feet wet and see if this is really for me. I need to get used to the way online classes work, too. I have only ever taken one, and that was long, long ago. I remember it being a good experience, though. I think running the idea past my advisor would be the best idea for right now. If she does not think that I can swing the admissions process for the MFA right now, then I will stick with the MA degree program and solidify my position in the university’s academic system before making my move. We shall see what happens with this…. Either way, I will learn how to write publishable works. The MFA just seems like it would be better suited to what I want to end up learning and doing. I may have to work my way up, here…
This pandemic is a lonely time, but also a productive time. It has been for me, at least. There are a lot of things that the world took for granted before the pandemic. I do not know if this “new normal” should be called “temporary” or not. I know that, when the Phase One reopening of our state economy began, 70-80% of the population thought it was too soon. We will find out if it was too soon in the next week or two. Hopefully we do not end up being the next hotspot. The reality of COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is very scary if you look at it from the standpoint of nobody having any immunity to it as a novel virus. Exposure is imminent, no matter how much we quarantine and shelter-in-place and stay at home, though. You have to go out sometime. Or someone will have to come in sometime. Those who are compromised are frightened, and rightfully so, but the fact of the matter is that they will be exposed at some point to some form of the virus. It will happen. The deciding factors are many, but one is the severity of the infection that they get, and the secondary infections that they may or may not contract as a result of the original exposure to the virus in question. There is hope, though. There is always hope. Hold onto that!
CLIMBING 4 THE REST OF US 