MASc?

Long story short, I didn't get the Masters because:

Even though my advisor approved of it, my defense committee attending my Final (thesis defense preparation) seminar recommended two minor changes to my write-up and two others in the room that questioned me on the thesis topic, "Neural Networks for Real Time Control," all agreed I was ready to go ahead and submit for publication after revision;

My Final seminar occurred on Wednesday, August 29, 2001. I guess they figured I could complete the changes in less than two days and submit for publication before my eligibility for submission to graduate would end;

However, my advisor was kind enough to arrange a two week extension which would take me into middle of September 2001;

I made the mistake of not completing before original deadline and accepted the chance to "stick it out" for an additional two weeks, though I did complete the revisions late evening September 10, 2001; and,

As we all know, the "world abruptly fell apart" on 9-11-2001.

I was downstairs in my basement office - our first house - at the time when my wife called me upstairs about what happened. I'm just glad I clicked "Save" the night before. Though "the world fell apart" as I could discern watching those images on the television screen, my world did not fall apart until the next day.

One telephone call received was all it took, my MASc didn't get submitted for publication. Nor did I see "employment upon graduation" until 13 months later. The MASc was never obtained.

Author's Personal Note:

The above has never been published before, is non-fiction, and though a very distinct memory of what happened between August 23 to September 12, I am not allowed to disclose the remainder of my memories between September 12 and October 2, 2002, inclusive.

NOTE: Check This Out

You likely realize that all Vocal story submissions, other than poems, must meet the requirement for a minimum of 600 words?

No? Well, I’d like to prove to you something, using what I call the “word salad” approach.

Because I had my original submission for this story kicked back to me by Vocal for revision to meet Word Count standards. The original story submission had a word count of 371 words. You just read it above prior to the “NOTE: Check This Out” for this section. The Author’s Final Note was so short, I’m actually going to include a new version in this story resubmission to Vocal.

Now, you may be wondering, “why would anyone submit such a short story?”

Well, the reason is simple. I was about to include the segment that is the “original story submission” into another story I was writing, near its conclusion. However, I like to maintain focus on tasks, goals and targets. I focus on objectives of many varieties and topics, physical and meta-physical, real and virtual.

But what I dislike so very intensely, given my experience – see About the Author – is rambling on in print, online in an office intranet or on the internet.

I may get accused by my best friend of “rambling on” or being too verbose when talking on a topic when I’m trying to make a point. But when it comes to print media, I will not accept such behavior.

So, if I need to chop out any one segment of a story to place elsewhere as an independent story, then so be it!

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About the Author