What's next?

To answer that - I don't have an answer for anyone yet.  That question is still remaining mysterious to me too.

From a work point of view, I have a job I love even though changes are making it a bit of a roller coaster ride again.  Still no further forward getting the grade side of things permanently though.

From an OU point of view - only one more VERY IMPORTANT step to go - my graduation ceremony on 16th November.  Do I want more study?  I'll admit, there's a very small part of me that hankers after a Masters, just to say that I did it.  But I think it's unlikely to happen, the day job is requiring constant learning, which probably gives me (at times) more than I can take in at one go.  So for at least this year, I can give a definitive answer that no, I am not planning to add to my degree with more formal qualifications.

(Eeek - I have a DEGREE!!  Sorry, every now and then the 'bigness' of that hits me..mostly when I am blogging, bizarrely..)

From a home point of view, we have a family wedding in mid-October when my baby brother gets married (hen do sensibly arranged for this weekend so lots of time in between..).  After that start planning properly for the graduation ceremony and the 'C' word, cos apparently there aren't enough shopping days left to go before it... or so Facebook would tell me if I liked to listen...

From a 'mojo' point of view - hmm, I have a couple of cross stitch projects to finish, a graduation quilt to make (which did get started eventually but is currently on hold due to time-bound stitching), a 'bitsa' quilt to finish, oh and I might fit in some knitting.  I also have a software development project to play with when I feel like I can face a computer outside of the office again.

Trying to learn to be OK without an answer to 'what next?' is difficult for me, I think - this journey has been full of plans for that answer all the way along.  But I shall try and look forward to the unknown 'next', and to make my couch-potato moments productive at least with my craft projects.

From a blog point of view - I will figure it out as I go along, maybe a change of strap-line but I will need to find my own focus before I can share much of it with the world.


Whew - 3 posts in one day.... I had a lot to make up for, what can I say?  Thanks for reading.... :)

That Back To School Feeling

The schools went back this week, and my 'baby' started the comprehensive school!  So smart in his new uniform, and so far seems to be armed with a new positive attitude towards all the changes too.  I'm very proud of the way he's embraced it all.

September normally brings that back to school feeling for me too, the eagerly anticipated course materials dropping through the door just as I drop the child off at school.

So this September start is just WEIRD.  I can't think how else to phrase it.  I've felt such a slump since finishing the last module, like the normal summer slump but much longer lasting.  Without the discipline of the new module to begin, I have to admit to an awful lot of couch-potato moments lately.  I've been working on a cross stitch project with a deadline, which is slowly forcing me back into action, but I have to admit I am still finding it difficult to motivate myself.

I've changed teams at work too, which I have to admit is not helping the confidence levels either.  Might get round to updates on the 'other page' later, but as I am off on leave this week, I am leaving the office at the office and enjoying some time off.

Hopefully I can take some inspiration from Phillip's enthusiasm for the new school life, and kick start my own brain cells again with a bit of PMA.

An apology and an update!

Wow - I knew I had been off my game recently - but I have just realised that I have not posted here since mid - July!!  So my readers are left hanging as to my results... sorry about that folks!

Module results came out and I did much better than I had expected on the 'examinable component' - making the final result a Grade 2 Pass.  For a module that I had no real love for from the early stages, I'm impressed with that.

That also meant that my predictions were true for the overall result of the degree, I'm therefore the proud owner of a Bachelor of Science Honours degree, Upper second class (a 2.1 in real money...).  When I stop and take into account that I did this in my own time, mostly at my own expense, and whilst working and bringing up a family, it occasionally hits me just how big an achievement that actually is.

More in my next post about life after graduating... and the plans for what is next.