Midterms Can Duck a Sick

Well, it's the first major obstacle of the semester over here at the University at Buffalo. I have one more week before my midterms week, which is every bit exciting as it sounds. My professors are now taking the opportunity to push us just to prove how little we know before giving us an exam to confirm how little we have retained.

I am currently in the library studying for my forecasts and fluctuations mid-term, which is sort of like a surprise party no one wants to go to. The professor spends most of the class talking to himself and typing code on his computer, then assigns us coding HW.

Here's the catch: The exam isn't on coding or MATLAB. It's pen and paper. So far all our lecture notes have been on how to use this new software and all of our HW has been on practicing this software, only to find out our exam is just on the same econometric formulas we learned the previous two semesters.

Am I missing something? Are we not supposed to be tested on the things we learn in class? You can imagine what this uncertainty is doing for my writing. Thankfully I have a moment at least once a day where I go "fuck screw it, I'm just gonna write, because at least that makes sense to me."

Something About Maude has still sadly taken a back seat. I know I keep bringing it up, and I really do want to edit it, but it's just such a time commitment during a month I feel like I have none. I know that's just a terrible excuse and there is always time for those who look for it, but truth be told, writing the first draft is just so much more fun than editing and re-writing. It's why these short stories have been so much fun (but the issue with those being my fingers typing don't seem to want them to be short).

The Goblin, which was supposed to maybe be a couple pages at most, is looking more like a 10k story now, which still isn't bad, but shoot I remember when I was younger and writing stories was the most fun and easy thing I could do. It just made sense ya know? I would go home to my grandma's house after school and use her desktop to write stories because it was more fun than tv or video games; I could create the whole world and make the characters do whatever I want.

Now I'm in full novel mode, where every time I open a new document and a character introduces themselves, it's time to make it a whole book.

I am excited to finish the Goblin though. It's me getting back to those magical realism roots I like so much. I remember the first magical realism story I read. I know this is a basic answer but it was Gabriel Garcia Marquez man with enormous wings. I read it in it's original Spanish and a translation of it (I had moments of being an overachiever lol).

That kinda story always stood out to me. It was always more like what would people do if supernatural phenomena actually happened. In fantasy and urban fantasy stories, some paranormal event could occur and characters won't even bat an eye. But we all know humans are irrational and when something new enters their plane of existence they want to snuff it out like the body chasing a virus.

Since I am working at a slower pace I'm hoping to finish at least the rough draft of the Goblin by the end of October, and maybe find time in November to get back on track with editing Something About Maude.

But for now, it's time to get back to studying.