On Wednesday November 21, 2007
It rained and rained and rained
Dropping the Ball November 19, 2007
For some reason my second Psych assignment was killing me. I was running late - with an extension - and the more I tried to work on it, the more impenetrable it became. As time went on I was becoming anxious about the exams, which are on Monday and Tuesday next week and for which I’ve done no study. This afternoon I reached the point of almost tears and snapping at Finn over it and decided it was enough.
I went to the convenient online form, filled in my details and clicked ‘Submit’ to withdraw from the subject. It’s way too late to do this, so I will still record a fail for it, but there’s no more banging my head against this particular brick wall for now. I can concentrate on studying for the Management exam and give Psych another crack next year.
I would like to feel as though a weight has lifted from my shoulders, but at the moment I really just feel let down. Maybe getting through the Management exam without adding too many more grey hairs will make me feel better about dropping Psych.
Sleepy Tuesday November 13, 2007
Fiona’s happiness project (too lazy to link to anything at present) struck a chord with me because I’ve been trying to do something similar in my own fashion. I had realised that I’m am happier when certain conditions are present and (duh!) it would be a good idea to create those conditions whenever possible. As with anything I attempt, it’s all a bit hit and miss (with emphasis on the miss), but here’s what I’m trying to do:
Now that Leila’s not having her late feed, go to bed early. I think 9.30 is ideal, even if it does make me feel like a bit of a granny.
If I’m woken after 5am, stay up. Don’t go back to bed. If I’ve been to bed early enough, this is plenty of sleep, if not, I can usually grab a rest of some sort later in the day. When I do go back to bed - like this morning - I end up sleeping through things I should be awake for and start the day feeling groggy and like I’m constantly one step behind where I should be.
Exercise. I should be walking a dog right now. See above.
Spend less time in front of the computer. When I sit here for too long I end up with tired eyes, a sore neck and a soured attitude.
Persevere with studying. That one hit me the other week when I was running late with an assignment and sorely tempted to throw the towel in because it was all just too hard. Even when it’s difficult I do enjoy this stuff and get immense satisfaction from handing a completed assignment in, so it’s worth sticking with.
There are other things too like eating better, getting more done around the house and so on, but the ones above are my main focus. So now it’s time to catch up on the day.
Like Sands Through the Hourglass… November 7, 2007
The saga of my assignment feels very much like a bad soapy where it takes a week of hour-long episodes to move the story forward by 10 minutes. You can miss it for a month and tune in to find only an hour of their time has passed. Then a long-running storyline is wrapped up in the space of one episode, leaving the viewer’s head spinning. That’s exactly what’s happening here.
After weeks of phaffing around, reams of paper wasted printing articles that I haven’t used and an awful lot of online Scrabble I finally have about the assignment about two thirds done. The other third will be written and submitted online by 5pm Friday. So it’s going to race to its conclusion after an over-lengthy start.
The assignment for my other subject - a 2000 word essay that I have done nothing toward - is due next Wednesday and has to be posted. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making another phone call to get an extension on that one.
The only problem with extending the time to do the assignments is that they then cut into my cramming time for the exams at the end of this month. One of them is multiple choice so, thanks to the fact that I have pretty good recall for things I’ve read or seen, I should be able to get through that one OK. The other, though, is short answers which means I need to be able to actually write stuff down and sound like I know what I’m talking about. That’s been my major stumbling block with this assignment.
And, bizarrely, I’m enjoying it.
Buddhist Thought for the Day November 5, 2007
A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden. - Buddha.
Assignment Update November 3, 2007
I have 1000 words of utter tripe. Another 1000-1500 and I’m done.
For now, though, the baby is hungry and, come to think of it, so am I. The spewing of nonsense will have to pause for a while.
Phew! November 1, 2007
I tried to pretend it wasn’t true, but eventually I had to face reality.
I didn’t have a snow flake’s hope in hell of getting my assignment in tomorrow.
The combined effects of my innate slackness and looking after kids, one of them sick, had put me so far behind that there was no way I was going to make it.
So I bit the bullet and rang Student Support to beg for an extension. I had a litany of excuses prepared. I even thought I might be able to squeeze out some tears, if it came to it. But it was all superfluous.
I said I needed an extension. I told the woman which subject it was, my name and my student id. She gave me an extra week and an extension number to put on my submission sheet. All done.
Of course, I still have to do the assignment…
