The Life and Times of Michael Mandanas


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Captain Michael Mandanas stranded at sea, circa 2020, Recolorized.

Captain's Log
03 April 2020
Day 14 of Quarantine

It's been a fortnight since I last laid eyes upon my dearest friends. Adapting to the struggles of living without my roommates has been more difficult than expected. I haven't left my quarters since I returned here, and even within my own vessel, my parents and I are trying to keep ourselves isolated from each other. It is indeed a strange world we live in today.

Luckily, though I am isolated, I have been far from lonely. My crew and I have found a way to communicate in real time, using newfangled technologies like "Discord" and "Zoom." I have kept my mind alert and active by attending several lectures and seminars through this so-called "Zoom," and my body in peak physical shape by walking to the galley every so often to get m'self a snack, and dancing a little jig every so often when no one's lookin'.

One of the classes I've been attending is called 20.109, Laboratory Fundamentals of Biological Engineering (though the "laboratory" part has not been quite as emphasized as of late). An assignment we were recently given was to write a data summary on what we had accomplished before this terrifying plague beset upon us. My partner and I were able to complete the assignment quickly and efficiently through division of labor. I mostly worked on the Results/Interpretation and Discussion sections, he spent most of his time on the Abstract, Backgrounds, and References. Working in this way felt natural to the both of us, as we had a fairly clear understanding of what we wanted to say before we started writing.

Deciding what to include in the captions of figures versus in the results and interpretation sections of each slide was the most difficult part for me. I had a hard time distinguishing between what was simply a description of what the figure was and what was an interpretation of the figure's contents. After getting back some comments through a message in a bottle, I was glad that I had generally come across the correct distinctions, but it still took me quite a long while to find my way there. As I've been reviewing and editing the original writing, I feel like I may have been going at it from the wrong angle at first. Next time, I'll try writing the interpretation alone first, then writing everything that's missing in the caption. If that doesn't work, I'll simply try something else until it does.

In the end, that's all we poor stranded souls can do.

I don't know where this message will end up. I don't know who may read it out there in the world. I don't know how long it will be till I run out of sweet, sweet citrus.

What I do know is this:

We will make our way through this, one way or another, together in our isolation.

Signed,
Michael Mandanas
Captain of the Red Glass



P.S. this one's better if you read it with a pirate accent.



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