I sigh. Big sigh. It’s time. I have done everything possible for as long as it’s possible to procrastinate – and even procaffeinate, as in use my fifth cup of coffee to stall the inevitable.

Which leaves me over stimulated, behind the proverbial eight ball, growing desperate, fighting my fingers, begging them to connect with the hyper-energized thoughts carried on pinging neurons zipping through my brain.

And this, this my friends, is what you might call, a bad plan.

“A bad plan?” you echo, disbelievingly.

And I do thank you for that slight, but not overdone, aghast in your voice.

But yes, I must acknowledge, this is a truly bad plan.

Over-indulging while writing my college entrance essays. A task put off from yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, and the week before that, and so on and so forth, until now. Saturday morning. And the deadline is Monday.

Hey, it’s only the Massachusetts Institute of Technology application. No pressure there. I mean I’ve only wanted to go to MIT since I was, I don’t know, maybe five or six. And I know you’d suspect this is because of my coding skills and such, but no. I totally blame my need for MIT on Jane Yolen and her Ballad of the Pirate Queens. Harriet the Spy didn’t show up on my radar for another year or two.

I remember Mom reading the book to me, over and over, my chiming in with bits and pieces of rhyme. It was sometime during this being-read-to-phase when Dad told me if a person studied hard, they could grow up, go to MIT and earn an honest-to-gosh pirates license.

And you can laugh, but thus was born my, to use the French, amour fou, my crazy love, my obsessive passion, with all things MIT.

And it doesn’t matter that one has to take pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing to earn this license. Details shall not derail my dream.

Unless the details include not filling out the applications. Then they just might. Derail my dream.

Essay Question #3: At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (Response required in 200-250 words)

Big sigh. Contributed to my community? I know, you’re probably thinking this is an easy-peasy one for me. After all, how many people have rushed into the middle of a live action role playing game to stop a killer?

But you know, maybe that’s too dramatic. Too super-heroine gloaty. Maybe I’d be better off talking about hunting for Vik’s gaming trophies when they were stolen from his account. More personal. Goes to directly helping a friend.

Or maybe Sherlocking isn’t even the way to go. Maybe it should be about the robotics team, or working to get out the vote, or always teching on the school musical because it’s important to my best friend Imani. Or, maybe about how scared I am to go to college and leave my other bestie, my wingman, Jimmy Flynn, and how it’s this dream of MIT that keeps me from panicking when I imagine starting this chapter without him to protect me.

Okay. Deep breath. Right now I wish I could just be a Whovian and travel on. Or, more on point, find a way to run off to sea and set sail with Captain Raven and the All-Girl Pirate Crew.

I suppose I could skip this question and come back to it.

I take a thirty second time out for blowing a big raspberry, as I eyeball down and realize I don’t think the time-out is going to be much help. Unless…

#5: Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? (Response required in 200-250 words).

. . . I combine 3 and 5. If I tell how I helped identify and track a killer in 3, I could share how it didn’t go exactly to plan once I actually caught up to the killer.

And you know what? Wait. Wait. I got it! Once I get it down on paper, I’m going to change it all to numeric code. Everything at MIT is numbered and/or abbreviated. It’s all code.

So plan, Stan! I will write my two-parter, change it to code, include a key for the code, and submit. I will title my application The Mystery of the Essays from applicant Sidonie “Sid” Rubin.

Think about this. If the point is for me to stand out from the crowd and for them to get to know me better, I’m thinking this could be kind of genius. Oozing a little 8.02 -Electricity and Magnetism (aka MIT speak for Physics II).

Pretty brilliant.
Très genius.
I hope.

You can read more about Sid in Zero Sum Game, the second book in the “Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventure” series, coming December 11, 2018.

Zero Sum Game finds our high-flying lesbionic brainiac Sid Rubin and her unlikely posse of friends grounded, with wings clipped from their live-action-role playing misadventures in On a Larp.

To break out of parental jail, Sid, Jimmy, Imani, Ari and Vikram enter a school robotics competition. But just as things get interesting, Vik learns that his super-star status and hard-won trophies from the frantic online game Contagion have been stolen.

“Faut pas toucher mes amis—you do not mess with my friends.”

Watching Vik fall apart, Sid is determined to track down the trophy thief, no matter how much late-night gaming and sleuthing it takes. Sid and the gang join newcomer Ze to chase ghosts and trawl dungeons in a frenzied race against time not just to rescue Vik’s bevy of stolen gaming goods, but also to save the life of a teenage gamer being held hostage.

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About the author
Stefani Deoul has written for numerous publications, including, Curve magazine, Outdoor Delaware and Letters from CAMP Rehoboth, penned both short stories and film and television treatments. As a television producer her resume includes TV series such as Haven for the SyFy Network, The Dead Zone and Brave New Girl, Dresden Files and Missing.

Along with producing five seasons of Haven, based on the Stephen King story The Colorado Kid, Stefani finally succumbed to the allure of acting, “starring” as the off camera, and uncredited, radio dispatcher, Laverne. Visit Stefani at stefanideoul.com.

All comments are welcomed.