En Francais, sil vous plait??

The strange machinations of the mind immediately upon submission of the TMA.  What do other students do on that particular night, I wonder?

I would hazard a guess that some people read, re-read and read over again their submission, till they are in a blind panic state!

For me, however, finishing a TMA almost always triggers the 'what next' vibe.  So I find myself perusing the course descriptions for whatever I am fancying next.  Well, as you know, I had decided that 'next' is likely to be the mandatory Level 1 from the prescribed list.  So off I go down the list to see what the options are.  There appear to be an abundance of Business Studies courses (yawn), a couple of maths ones (nope - been there with S151, learned my lesson and won't repeat the experience).  Unfortunately the only IT one is a 60-pointer which, as well as giving me 30 more points than I would need, would also be out of my budget, there's a hefty financial jump between the world of 30 and the world of 60-pointers.

But languages...hmm ..there are lots of language courses.  So my current front-runner is 'L192 - Bon Depart - Beginners' French'.  I did a GCSE at night school about 16 years ago and loved it and came out with decent results, so I think it might be just the course for me.  And as a foreign language, I think it might not let my mind slip entirely back into Level 1 thinking, so that after Graduation Phase 1, I can still think hard enough to get back to those final two Level 3 courses aka The Honours Part (courses yet to be decided as the syllabus is changing so I'm hoping there may be new things out there that take my eye by the time I need to make that decision).

Au revoir mon cheries!!  

Welcome To The New Normal

..or the first attempts at 'New Normal' at least.

The life/work/study week used to work something like this:

• Mon - cram an hour of study in after work and before heading to folk club.
• Tue - cram an hour of study in after Weight Watchers meeting which was after work.
• Wed - night off from study, off to share crafts and lots of nattering with my best friend
• Thur - a decent 2-3 of hours study on the night time after catching up on lost housework in the day
• Fri - a bit like Thursday but maybe not so intense
• Sat - alternating between resisting study and having a day/night off, and mad panic where half the day gets spent at the books
• Sun - a bit like Saturday but only on a night time.

In between this of course there is the cramming in of extras in the bath, and, prior to my last job where I was getting a lift to work, cramming in extras on the bus journey.

The 'New Normal' seems to look a bit like this:

• Mon - read for 2-3 hours on the commute to and from work, collapse on the sofa till folk club time
• Tue - read 2-3 hours on the commute, collapse on the sofa till about bedtime
• Wed - read 2-3 hours on the commute, collapse on the sofa till craft time 
• Thur - a couple of hours during the day, then a mad panic to catch up on lost housework from all the sofa-collapsing earlier in the week
• Fri - just like Thursday but, having caught up a bit, an hour or two in daytime and 2 or 3 on the night
• Sat - much like the 'old' Saturday but with more tiredness
• Sun - same as the old Sunday I guess

(I'm only guessing, of course, that this is the New Normal.  In Reality nothing is ever Normal for long enough to become officially Normality - we only need one missing link in the chain and chaos ensues)

There may actually be more physical time spent studying in the New Normal. I certainly seem to have to pay more attention to structuring the time.  But doing less on an evening just feels wrong so far - It just doesn't feel Normal yet!

Life, the Universe and Everything

If only I knew the answer.

42.

No, not quite!!  Currently wishing that I could reverse the order of the numbers of the hours in the day though and make it 42 instead of 24!!.  (did I tell you about the new job?).

The job comes with a hefty extra commute, and with it a new puzzle.  How to fit in life?

The first couple of weeks of the job have been manic, and we haven't quite found 'the new normal' as I have dubbed it.  I've tried to attempt normality today by doing some study on the bus and train.  The reading part has gone OK, but obviously evaluating websites etc is something I am going to need to do at home, when it's quieter.  So a bit of jiggery-pokery required to Thursdays,Fridays and Saturdays, methinks so that I can get that kind of study in.

Hoping I can assimilate all of this before the TMA is due on the 18th though!

But if you ever find an app that makes for more hours in the day, please let me know!!

Where did all the hats come from?

2014: M364 - Fundamentals of Interaction Design

And so, it hath begun! There are now words cluttering up the pages of my delightful new notebook, and the studies are underway at last.

(Screeching of brakes)

However, I picked just the wrong time to start what feels like 'the right job'.  It's potentially only a temporary post for 6 weeks, so my brain seems naturally inclined to give it perhaps more time and attention than would be ideal at the start of a new course.  In addition there is a much longer commute involved, meaning I am coming home more tired, so when I do switch off the day-hat then I just want to play games and hit the couch.

Welcome back, procrastination fairy!!

I think it will settle down after a couple of weeks, but as you may have noticed, I am prone to severe over thinking and over planning.

Part of me longs for a 'normal' balance but then I think that I would be bored if I ever were to achieve such a thing.

I'm glad that I only do part time work, I think my brain would explode if not!!

Washing basket is chaotic too, might have to wrest back some control at the weekend! 

Welcome to another year and another course!

Well, it's been over a month since my last post, so I thought I'd better get started again even though the course hasn't quite started yet.

I've made the most of the 'time off' with lots of quilting, even bought a new sewing machine which is proving to be great fun.

Have to admit, I'm ready to be back at the studies, albeit with the usual 'how am I going to fit it all in?' panic which seems to hit at t-minus-a week or so.

I attended my 'baby' brother's PHD graduation ceremony a couple of weeks ago, which of course has me thinking and planning and hoping for 2015.  (I get the feeling I might have to wait till 2016 for a ceremony though as there seem to be limited ceremonies up here in the North East).  I can really start to taste the results now, which is an incredibly exciting feeling!

Next posting will get an official 'course title' kind of title like the historical stuff.  But for now I just wanted to say hello again after my long rest!

Merry Christmas blogpeeps!!

Lock up the chocolate and prepare for Doctor Who, it's Christmas!!!

I got some lovely notebooks for Christmas, one of which I intend to use for the next course, as it's too nice not to start using in a hurry!

I can see me starting on the new course materials very shortly after the holidays, if only for the sake of using the book!!

Have a great time, see you on the other side!!!!

A sneaky peak...

Despite the fact that the course materials are never due for despatch till January, they invariably land just prior to Christmas, a little mini-present of sorts.

Which brings the same dilemma as the early present, do I open and start looking now or do I wait until the course is due to begin.

Me, I'm a peeker!  Loving the looks of the new course, will now have to try and prevent the rare scenario of using course materials for procrastinating when it comes to pre-Christmas chores.  I so want to dive in but I know that if I do, all the things that I promised myself I would tackle or achieve in 'downtime' will not happen.

The washing basket does actually need to be tackled, I like to hit the bottom before Christmas Day so that I can have a work free, guilt free Xmas and Boxing day.