Landmark Moments Part 1

I did it!! Finally the elusive Distinction is mine. Results of TM129 came out today.  So I was happily celebrating this piece of news with myself when I realised something else...cue Landmark Moment Part 2!!

Welcome old friends

Well once again I am back to the need for a new "new normal". Somehow this time round not as chaotic as the last.  There are less after-work requirements for parental duties, and yes, being Outside the Washing Basket does help a lot.

That being said, I'm still welcoming back 2 old friends.... Can you guess who? 

Yes my dear friends the Study Bath and the Study Commute.

It's nice to have a textbook that is portable enough to bathe with this time round. And once you get past the screaming kids and screaming parents, those 3 hours on a bus or train are valuable time that can be filled with necessary reading and free up time at home for practical work.

I'm expecting the result from TM129 any time this week, so I will keep you posted!!

The Sweet Spot

Well, the EMA is in, the new course materials haven't arrived yet, and I have a week off work.  I have downtime stretching ahead of me to fill with anything I want, and no guilty feelings about what I should have been doing instead.

It's also the time where I can say that I have finished sufficient points for the degree!!  I'll be more excited when I have that official confirmation though.  Even though I have no intention of walking away at this stage, it's kind of nice to know that what I have achieved means something, officially.

(Not allowing myself the option of what happens if I didn't pass.  Not allowed to happen)

Now I've just got to confirm in my head ideas for a graduation quilt. Talked it up and down many times but just not sure still about a particular idea.  Might think about starting something soon in the hopes I can finish by graduating time.

Decisions decisions....AKA What do you want to be when you grow up? IT Ninja Monkey please...

I believe that the all-important 'Final Decision' has been made.

(Yeah, somewhat prematurely, given that I haven't actually started TM354 yet - I know - but it's SO nice having a plan that I just wanted a plan..for at least something somewhere..)

So the final OU course in my journey after TM354 Software Engineering will be TM351 - Data Management and Analysis.

In a few of my recent forays into job hunting in the IT-world, it is becoming evident that the particular gap in my knowledge is that regarding databases.  I've got bits and pieces from working with Access in old jobs, and from some of the OU Visual Basic course, but that's it.  And it does seem to be a skill in demand by employers.

So there you have it - the final decision in the long series of decisions.  And a clear path to the end of the convoluted OU journey.

Just a matter of passing my current module and the next one first of course....

It's been a roller-coaster, emotionally, physically, 'workly' (dunno the real word for the impact my studies have had on my career path).  It's helping to cement finally in my head the real answer to the question posed when I was 10 or 12 -- what do you want to be when you grow up?  Back then there were many answers to that question:

• Married to David Soul (Hutch from Starsky & Hutch)
  
• A teacher (till I discovered I had no patience)
  
• A policewoman (till I stopped growing and remained an inch and a half below the height restrictions as they were then)
  
• An accountant - till I discovered that the only universities offering the kind of courses I wanted were what felt like a billion miles away from home and I couldn't live with that idea at the time.

Now, and for a few years solid, there has only been one answer - "IT Ninja Monkey please".  I want to program for a living - and if I ever get the chance of a real foot in the door, I may figure out in what capacity I want to do that.  But I know that when I do 'grow up', it will be with the help of this mad journey that has been my OU studies.

Wow - that was a long post!!  I'd better shut up and give you time to read it then....

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Second to None

Eeek - I just signed up for the penultimate module in my degree!!  TM354 is officially registered now, and I will have only one more sign-up to complete!

Can't quite believe it somehow, but there it is in black and white (well blue and white anyway):

So many courses under the bridge.  Need to start making decisions on the 'what next' that don't just include 'sit on the couch and moan softly'.  How to take this love of programming and step it up a notch into a career, in the words of one of our IT bods at work 'wanna be an IT Ninja Monkey?' - Yes please - where do I sign up for the banana?

The Middle of the Beginning of the End

Had one of those realisation moments tonight as I got out of yet another 'study bath' and wrote in my real life journal.

In a mere 4 or 5 months time, I will get one of those letters...that says you have earned enough points to qualify for the basic Bsc Open Degree. Wow, even typing that is kind of surreal!

Imagining the blog post as we speak!

I'm at mid course point, getting ready to submit the 2nd of 3 assignments, so this really is halfway through the last course to get me there. I know, not quite the end yet as the 'honours bit' is still to come. But even thinking about that part...it's almost time for the paperwork to go in for the first Level 3 course - TM354 Software Engineering.  Once that sign up is complete I will have only one more course to sign up for!

It's all kind of real all of a sudden... And yet not quite real until I see it in writing.  Me...with a degree...

Comes in handy sometimes!

What does?  My OU learning!

I'm currently learning some stuff about networking and IP addresses (not going to go into horrid levels of detail here cos there's a danger that I put my readership to sleep!!), anyway while having some IT issues of our own yesterday, a question came up that would normally have sent me running for the hills (or at the very least phoning for help from my 'baby' brother to explain it to me).  Anyway, I was able to establish that what appeared to be an issue wasn't one, and understood the information I was being presented with.

It's those (albeit rare) moments when my learning is relevant to daily home or work life that I celebrate as a proof of how far I have come in this convoluted OU journey of mine.

Just thought I'd share that, it's good to procrastinate on a positive note!