Tag Archives: college

August – watch out, you must.

Yeah, I’m not even going to give you any excuses this time. I just plain forgot to post the new chapter. It’s been scheduled to post now though, so I can now make the promise that there will be a new chapter of “Don’t Feed the Trolls” on Thursday. Well, Thursday in the states, anyway. If you’re far enough overseas, it might be Friday for you, but I don’t think I have any readers that far east. 

Pixabay @ Pexels.com

Currently, the plan is to schedule the next two completed chapters for September 30th, and then October 30th, after which, there will be a break in posting because – if all goes well – I’ll be having dental surgery (*dance break*).

Now, from here on out, there’s some good and bad news, both. The bad news is that for my next two classes, I’m going to be swamped. This next class, especially. It’s bad enough that I’m already working on assignments and I’m on my summer break. Every week, it’s basically three full papers. This is the first class I’ve had that is this intensive, so I’m trying to give myself a head start. The next class is a 400 level diversity class, and I’ve already been told that it is also an intensive class. Wish me luck, ya’ll, that’s all I’m saying.

The good news is, I only have four classes left – total. My last class ends in April 2020, and I should be allowed to walk with my graduating class that May. After that, the only thing that will get in the way of my writing should be work – and believe me, work alone is not much of a deterrent for me~ 

Before you all think that I won’t be writing between now and May, that is not at all what I mean, I promise! I have a two week holiday break this winter, and I’m going to be writing between now and then as much as I can. 

So, long story short: new chapter on Thursday, new classes are a headache, surgery (hopefully) in October, and I’m a college graduate as of April/May 2020!

For those of you wondering, by the way: the title is from an old poem I learned when I was a kid about how to remember the hurricane season start and end dates:

June, too soon.
July, stand by.
August, watch out, you must.
September, remember.
October, all over.

Unknown

[Update] Please help?

News news news!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

In March, I will be starting my senior year at Southern New Hampshire University. I will also go from being a full-time student, to a part-time student. My workload is about to drop significantly. This means, a lot more time to focus on writing and this blog. I’m looking forward to being able to spend more time writing what I want to write, instead of one paper after another. After three years of that, I am feeling more than a little burned out. (Also, I graduate next year! March 2020 should be my last class. Very excited~)

(This second bit, is what is holding back “Say ‘No!’ to Zombies” from being published, just so you know.)

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I mentioned before that there are health issues at play. Well, those health issues are my teeth. I’ll go into the long of it soon, but right now, I’ve found out that I need $11,300 $9,800 (Thank you, CareCredit) to get them fixed. I do not have that kind of money, so I’ve started up a GoFundMe. Anyone who feels up to donating, it would be appreciated. Once that is done, I’ll be able to move onto hiring the editor I want to use (I finally found one!), and getting my book out there. I’ve already decided, however much people end up donating, I will pay back into the system after I am able to get what I need done taken care of. I know there are people that need the money more than I do, and I plan on doing my best to help them, as people are helping me. If you can afford to help out, please do. If you can’t, please share the link.

Apparently the minimum amount one can donate is $5 (I didn’t know that til just now), and if that’s all you can give, that’s fine. Seriously, every penny helps, and I’m working on reducing the amount needed from donations as much as possible, too.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

When I drop down to being a part-time student, I’ll be able to pick up a few more hours until summer. during the summer, I’m a full-time nanny, which is what pays for my room and board. I will only be available to work on the weekends then. I get money back from student loans, however, and that is all going towards the money needed.

I am so ready to get this done and over with.

2018…Meh.

So. It occurs to me, that I did not do an “end of year” review type post. Honestly though, I don’t really have anything to write about for this year. It was 2017 when all the “important” crap happened. The tumor behind my eye was discovered and removed. Sis’ skin cancer was discovered and removed. The first full year without my brother-in-law. Everything and anything happened that year.

Sis ♥

This past year…the only thing of any note was that my vision has improved. Oh, and I finally received my first rejection letter (which, considering the publishing house in question, I expected). I got to visit my family in Arkansas, and introduced my sister to filters. We found a graveyard from the 1800s, and it turns out, most of the people in it are related to us. I introduced my niece to Doctor Who, and she binge-watched it within about two months? Something like that. She completely devoured the show, and is now a dedicated Whovian. I rediscovered my love for VIXX, and decided to give learning Korean a try (spoiler alert: the alphabet is like, a million times easier than Japanese, but pronouncing it is a bitch).

I found my writing tribe, participated in Twitter author events. Made it through an entire summer without a single tornado warning (!!!), and missed out on Trick or Treating with the kids because they both decided to act like first-rate jerks. Added a minor to my degree (I am now minoring in Social Sciences), and am starting my senior year of college. Had two scary instances with our doggo (see the skunk incident and the brownie thief incident), and two with two of my aunts (and they say bad things come in threes…).

Dragons, Faeries, and Time Lords, oh my!

I won the award for favorite aunt this Christmas, when I gave my niece a laptop, and my roommates got me gifts very fitting for a writer of sci-fi and fantasy.

One of my roommates is now working at the same place as me, and the other is annoyed with me for buying her stuff for Christmas and her birthday (her birthday’s the 28th).  

Funny story there, actually. Our family is a Batman family. We have Batman; his wife, Alfred; I’m Nightwing; and the kids are Batgirl and Robin. Well, everyone had to work on Alfred’s birthday. Batman was working 6am-4pm, I was working 5pm-9pm, and Alfred was working 9am-6pm. Since there wasn’t going to be a time where we would all be together (the kids go to bed before 9), we decided to give Alfred her presents the night before. I knew she was going to be mad at me for one of the presents I had for her, so I gave her the two I knew she wouldn’t mind too much, and then waited. On her birthday, I left her last present on her desk before I left for work (remember, there was an hour gap between when I went to work, and when would be getting off). I got to work…and waited for her reaction.

She did not disappoint.

So yeah, it’s been an interesting year, but not one to really look back on and go “oh yeah, that was crazy…”

I’m honestly not sure if I’m hoping for an eventful 2019 or not…

Update on…well, everything?

Okay, so if you’ve been keeping up, you know that I was scheduled for surgery on May 17th, but I was sick, so it got pushed back to June 7th. I was still sick on June 1st, so I called the doctor, and they pushed it back some more, and set me up with a doctor’s appointment to find out why I’m still sick.

I ended up going to Urgent Care instead, and hey guess what? Bronchitis. And pink eye, somehow (still trying to figure out how that happened…) So I am on a shitload of medicine to get rid of it, and hopefully, I will be fully recovered in time for surgery on June 21st.

Oh yeah, and the kids being sick? Well, it spread to the parents, so now we have a household of sick people. And it’s all bronchitis. Yay for us! Ugh.

In other news, I bought a bunch of random stuff that made me happy, and I am so far behind on homework it’s sad. June is being a royal pain in the ass, people. It needs to get its shit together, and soon.

Also, sorry about “Say ‘No’ to Zombies,” but it will be updated on Monday!

Eye see what you did there…

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. The past two days have been very busy for me.

So, went in for my appointment with the doctor on Wednesday to discuss the MRI results. That was fun. I got to harass Mr. Villian Voice, and watch a standoff between a patient and one of the nurses.

Apparently he thought he was there for surgery, but it was just a checkup. He made the mistake of getting beligerant with the head nurse. She shut him down quick. “I am the RN team leader here, and you need to speak to me with respect.”

He left in a huff, but that’s what you get for being pissy with a nurse.

Anyway, they called me in, we all looked at the MRI. I saw my brain on a screen and completely geeked out on the poor doctor. He was laughing at me, but I don’t care. I told him “it looks all wrinkly.”
him: No, it looks normal.
me: I’m pretty sure that’s the only time that word has ever been used to describe my brain.

Entertained the nurse who was trying to take a picture of my eye. The camera was on, but she wasn’t looking at me, so I started dancing around. She happened to look up at the screen, “are you playing with my camera?” Busted~ She walked by me about an hour later, just shaking her head. “Girl, you crazy.” That woman has no idea, rofl.

So, onto the tumor:

So far, everything looks somewhat good. The main doctor said that he think it’s either one certain kind of tumor, or another (there’s a bunch of different kinds).  One is really really bad, the other is somewhat okay. Because there is a distinct lack of pain, he believes the tumor to be the “okay” one.

That doesn’t mean that I am safe, but it’s still good news.

Surgery has been scheduled for Wednesday, but I won’t know what time until the day before. I’ve been told to expect the whole thing to take about 6 hours, but depending on how it goes, I might end up staying overnight. I’ve had to arrange for time off from work and school both, since I’ll be out of it on pain meds for the first couple days, and my eye will be swollen shut. It wouldn’t be so bad, but since I’m functionally blind in my right eye, and this surgery is being done on my left eye….yeah. Ugh.

I spent just about all day yesterday on the phone with school, financial aid services for the surgery (I was approved, yay!), and the hospital in general (all while doing homework assignments that were due THAT DAY. Fun times. Just….So. Much. Fun.). I had an appointment today for the pre-op anaesthetic testing. I thought there was going to be a bunch of tests, but it was just an interview.

My family should be heading out this way on Tuesday, so they’ll be here for the surgery. I guess they’re going to try and help out with the kids while I’m recovering. The manager at the gas station job told me that I am not allowed to come back to work until the doctor says it’s okay. The doctor said I’ll need about 10 days, and warned me that I’ll be bruised from forehead down to my neck/chest area, so if I didn’t want people to see me all messed up, I would need to make arrangements. I don’t care if people see. If they have a problem with the way I look, that’s their problem. The hell if I’m letting them try to make it mine.

All that being said, I will update “Say ‘No’ to Zombies” on Monday, but I’m not sure about the following week. It will depend on how the surgery goes. Some of the risks of the surgery include double vision or loss of vision for the rest of my life and/or the eye, itself. The doctor said he hasn’t had anyone lose an eye yet, and he believes that I won’t have any issues, but he had to tell me about them, for just in case.

Fingers crossed, people. If I lose the ability to read, I will lose my fucking mind.

[Pledge] Day 1

No writing on any of my works in progress, but I did end up writing well over 500 words today. I believe I finished out at 1,214 words. All of it was homework related. I have another assignment due tomorrow, which will probably get me at least halfway there.

Fingers crossed. I also work all day (pretty much) tomorrow, so we’ll have to see how that goes.

Anyone else doing a pledge/challenge this month?

[Admin] Format/Posting change.

For those of you who are following along with ‘When Love Dies‘, this mostly applies to you.

Due to school, work, new health issues, and time zone differences between my betas and I, I am going to have to move posting to every other week. Sorry, but there is just too much on my plate to do this every week.

I am also changing the formatting of the posts. I didn’t think about it when I first started posting, but with the chapters being a couple pages each, it really takes up a lot of room on the page. So now, there will be a highlight section – as it were – and then the “Read More” cut.

Hopefully these changes will work out for the better for everyone involved.

Until Saturday…take care everyone.