davetheanalyzer

I went to the Albertus Magnus open house on March 1^st with my mother. Finding a parking space and where the open house was taking place was a challenge but we got there in time. The MFA person who came to meet us with nice and answered all of our questions. Though some of the staff might be unfamiliar with genre work, they were open to it and they clarified some of the admission policies rules that were important. For example, one thing to do was to write about my “Writer’s Journey.” There’s a book with that title but they actually meant what are the influences that formed my writing style. That should be easier than rushing through a long book and giving my reaction to it. My influences are mostly those from different story mediums, so that’s going to be interesting.

Judging from the meeting with the MFA director, they are okay with that kind of thing. I had a talk with her this Wednesday and she was pretty friendly, explaining the program and working toward a completed novel manuscript by the time I graduate. She indicated my genre preferences wouldn’t be that odd among those in the program. My writing’s pretty solid from her perspective even with the occasional grammar mistakes and that wouldn’t be a deal breaker when I submit my application to them (Though I’ll still have that looked over). At the beginning of April, I’ll have to cut back on some of my writing time in order to tackle the essay about my writing journey and influences. I’m aiming to submit everything by May and the word count is between 750 and 1000 words, around three to four double-spaced pages, so it wouldn’t take too long. However, I want to get started early so I wouldn’t be scrambling at the last minute. I’ll get a quick response, so one way or another I’ll know if I’m going to graduate school this fall.

Alright, I didn’t post the Babysitter For a Day fanfic like I thought I would. There were still things I wanted to fix. I hope after one last pass, I’d finally get the nerve to post it and there’ll be feedback to tell me if I got things right or not. In concurrence with that, I’m writing rewrite notes to myself in a stream of consciousness manner similar to The Writer’s Tale book I’ve started rereading a bit. I’m not sure how well it’ll help but having what needs to be changed or corrected written down might make writing and rewriting easier.

I did the same process for two Digimon one shots I’m planning after Babysitter for a Day. Maybe it’s a bit soon before I’ve even started writing the story but maybe fiddling with the plot outline will make the story stronger when I actually get to it. I’ve done it for the first chapter for We Will Hold On Forever and I’m going through it each day to input the corrections I can find. I’m back to thinking I’ll post this before completing all the chapters. It would be an interesting experiment. I’ll only wait to complete the next chapter before posting the current one. That way, if there are any immediate changes I need to make to the current chapter in the light of the next one, I can make said changes before posting the chapter. It’s an appealing system from what I can see and I might start posting the chaptered story in the next couple of months.

There was a bit of a hay on Monday after I helped my mother shop. When we got home, we found that the door was locked and we didn’t have the key to open it. We had to drive all the way to Southern CT University to get the key my brothers had. I decided to wait in the van with all the groceries while my mother retrieved the key and while I was there, I snacked on some of the items and figured out how to change the van radio clock. That had been bugging my mother ever since we jumped an hour ahead for Standard Time. I thought to check the van manual but that didn’t have the answer, so I decided to click the radio menu button, and kept clicking until I found the hour change option, and changed the time. At least that was one tiny silver lining to that whole mess.

In movie watching arenas, I’ve seen Kong Skull Island. Not perfect and it was a bit hard to keep track of some of the human characters but I enjoyed it greatly. The visuals and style were stunning and the action was quite fun. King Kong appeared frequently in the film and was a character in his own right. There was no creepy oogling of human woman from him and I think the film tried to reverse some of the colonialism and racism of the original, though I’m not exactly sure. At least it was made clear the lead characters were wrong to intrude and announce their presence by dropping in bombs. They were for science reasons but still…the word was right about the human protagonist Conrad being a bit vanilla. If he was real, you’d want him to be on your expedition team but as a fictional character, he wasn’t as interesting. Though that could have been to do with the execution. I found the likes of Packard, Brooks, and Marlow more interesting. I was glad most of the human characters I’d hope would survive did make it out alive by the end of the film. The bond Kong develops between these human characters is pretty sweet and the action involving him was also exciting. I did like the climatic fight where the humans did their best to assist him. With both Kong and Godzilla basically being protectors and chill about humans, I wonder how they’re going to fight in that Kong vs. Godzilla movie? Misunderstanding? Different priorities? Mind control? Whatever it might be, I wouldn’t be surprised if both survive the fight and even become allies during that movie.

Now at the halfway point of Digimon Universe Appli Monster, and there are some changes to the status quo. Mienumon has been defeated and maybe killed, sadly. It’s a shame, since her Warudamon form is quite delightful in manipulating people. I wanted more of that. Rei and Hackmon had attained ultimate while we learned how they grew to trust one another as Buddies. That gave me a better idea of who they were as a pair, though I’m still trying to grasp Hackmon as a person. They dealt with finally collecting all the 7-Code Appmon and summoning Dantemon, who predictably fit the show’s mood in being quite quirky. I was more unsurprised by someone so powerful being immediately taken out of the picture. He and the 7-Code Appmon don’t die though, so they might still reappear later. At least they gave the Applidrivers new toys to help them in the fight.

When Rei and Hackmon joined the Applidrivers after Warudamon was defeated, I was looking forward to the team dynamic they might develop but those two bail out at the beginning of the latest episode to find some shocking information about Hajime. With the mystery of where he is now complicated with him not being human anymore, Rei mightn’t be around for awhile, which would be sad. Oh well, hopefully there might be more interactions with the Applidriver crew in the future.

Now the last episode did some great worldbuilding, with how the Deep Web operated, the hints of motivation for the Appmon there aligned with Leviathan, and the introduction of the Worms and the first of the next set of villains. I’d have preferred if the Applidrivers stayed in the Deep Web but maybe those next set of villains might provide a unique challenge in the Real World. Whatever the case, I hope they don’t have to rego through all the hard work of doing something like gathering 7-Code Appmon to summon Dantemon in order to get back to the Deep Web. That might be a chore depending on the execution. I still like the show though and can’t wait to see what the second half brings with a new opening and ending as well as the new antagonists.

That’s all I can think of for now. In the meantime, see you!