Musings of Professor Fox

I really never know what to write until something hits my brain in a way that says, "you need to talk about this, if only to work through it for yourself." On occasion, I actually listen to myself, and if someone else can relate (just one someone is all it takes) then I feel the effort was valuable. My two worlds often collide: my scientific/researcher persona and my creative/writing persona. I would explain it in terms of the Marvel and DC universes, but if you know me in real life, you know I really despise all movies DC. So, I would hate to attribute any part of myself to a metaphor that I do not like. World 1. My brain loves to digest and process all things math and science. From a very young age, I got along with it all with the exception of biology (and really only when we had to start dissecting stuff *shudder). Chemistry, Physics, all Mathematics. Love, love, love. Nailed A's in every class I took. Even back in the day when we did "times tables", you kno...

I had to take a test. Writing this memory in the middle of a pandemic makes me remember fondly how easy "hard" things were to get accomplished not that long ago. As part of the application materials to get accepted into Graduate School, I was required to take the Graduate Record Examination or GRE. I mentioned in my last post that it had been decades since my last standardized test, and I was quite nervous about it. Nonetheless, online I went to select a testing center and an available date. The closest available option was about 120 miles away and three weeks or so away. I put in my information, entered my credit card number, and my adventure was set. Now, how to prepare?? A quick Google search revealed any number of study guides and aids, but I opted for the free download from the GRE site itself and worked carefully through the examples. Very quickly, I proved to myself that I had forgotten quite a bit of information from my last academic adventure. Forge ahead I did thoug...

  The temperatures are fluctuating, and the skies are dark in the morning which signals the start of another January semester. I will admit to feeling the same feelings as a professor that I once felt as a student: excitement, apprehension, nervousness, fear of the unknown. Added to the normal issues faced in the academic environment, we are in, what, month 22 of the COVID-19 pandemic? Since I just turned 50, I have set myself some goals for the next decades, or at least as many as I'm given. One of these goals is to "justttttttttttt do something". In light of that, welcome to my space of exploring my inner mental monologue. -Professor Fox