How did my life ever become so exciting

While the other half is in Melbourne for his older brother's funeral to his long term partner, I have set myself an exciting task. Re-painting the kitchen; the original colour was chosen in haste, and let me tell you 'Goats Cheese' is as bad as it sounds. So last night, apart from posting my first item on a writing forum, I prepped the room for painting this morning at 4 am.

Now this task should have been completed by now, however, the underlying blue is proving to be problematic in covering. Two coats of undercoat and three coats of paint later I can still see that horrible colour; seriously, what were people thinking when they chose colours back in the seventies and eighties.
SO now here I sit, waffling away on my blog while I, quite literally, watch paint dry - but only so that I can do ONE more coat before I call it quits.

Something to make everyone Happy

Almost a new semester - AGAIN!

So this semester, starting Monday 7th March, I have three writing courses, Writing 1, Creative Non-Fiction and Journalism Intro.

Have read through the profiles and no exams for the semester, so that is a plus!

Judging by the feedback on last semesters Assignments, it appears I may have mastered the art of referencing, and also learnt that the further into the subject matter we all get, the more we are expected to include multiple references per paragraph. This is fine by me as I appear to be able to include at least a total of 20 references per essay, which equates to approximately four (4) per paragraph.

I have also realised that, although it may have been preferable to contain my notes in written form in the past, it is much easier to review, and organise the information, when it has been typed and stored on the laptop.

First few of things I need to do for next semester, within the first couple of weeks anyway, is to choose a couple of reporters to review, create two proposals for both the creative fiction and non-fiction courses, and describe my writing space. What to say - it contains a desk, printer, folders, books, laptop, lots of pens and paper. Now to make that a little more descriptive :)

I have also learnt that the struggles I have gone through in the last few months are proving to be a valuable source of information to others that are just beginning their Uni journey.

Good luck to all and happy learning!.

Exams Results are in

First exams in over 30 years and I passed them all!! Well the above pretty much sums up how I feel this morning :) Glad it's over though. Now to celebrate with a nice healthy Bacon sandwich ;)

Certification

Tomorrow is the day!!!!

First set of exams results due tomorrow (gulp)!

Note to self: REMEMBER TO CHECK COURSE PROFILE!!!! This way you may avoid three exams, and the associated freaking out, at the end of a semester. *quickly alters semester 2 courses*

I have however learnt a little more patience and come to the conclusion that "it is what it is" J.E. Lawrence (1949).

Bonus day off tomorrow due to some cancellations.

Exam Nightmares

So yesterday I had the experience of my first exam in over 30 years and it went something like this......

The day before I studied furiously, and took in as much information as I could, until I eventually felt like I had overloaded my brain and it wanted to explode.

I then made sure I got a good nights sleeps, and the next morning glanced over my notes, while anxiously awaiting the time until it was ready to leave. Having an afternoon exam was possibly more stressful as it gave me too much time to think beforehand.

As I parked the car outside the exam centre I was cool, calm and collected......but as soon as my feet hit the road the panic set in!

Wondering what on earth I was doing I walked up to the door and noticed, you guessed it, 3 young people waiting for the doors to open. Yes, I was the token old person!

As we got settled, and the invigilator went over the information and instructions, I wanted to get up and leave. WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING, when I decided to do this Dual Degree at my age.

With papers in hand, we were instructed to peruse the questions, and as I read them the first time, I had NO IDEA what any of it meant! My brain had shut down :(

With five minutes of perusal time left, I began reading the 30 questions again, and my brain decided it was going to spew out information at a rapid rate. By the time the exam was due to start I knew I knew at least 15 of the first 20 short answer questions sorted. MY BRAIN WAS BACK!!!!

After answering 29 of the 30 questions, I had one to go. Now I knew the answer was in there somewhere, but it refused to form into logic for me to transfer it to paper. I wrote part of it down (it was an abbreviation) but for the life of me, I could not remember what the last two letters stood for. I wrote what I thought, handed in the paperwork, and left.

And you guessed it, as I arrived back at the car, I remembered. So after a few interestingly chosen phrases to myself about my memory, I went back home.

Now I have to face it all over again today and Thursday.

Good luck to everyone else on their exams.

Zeroing in on crazy

OK so it is now semester two and to date it is not going so well.

Had another impromptu trip to New Zealand due to the passing of my grandmother. She did not quite make 94, but from her one son (my father who died last semester), she has left behind 6 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren (now 6 of them). So the end of 2015 was really horrible.

However, 2016 seemed to be going really well with the early arrival of my second grandson (12 days early). Did not end up with the 'pink' one I wanted :( but am looking forward to seeing him in a week and a half after spending 2 days on the road to Katherine, NT.

Now the reason for bordering on crazy is this - I have been checking all week for the results of one of my assessments. This morning it was showing no result, and then after seeing emails in relation to assessment feedback I decided to log on and check my results - only to find that the assessment is now showing as 20 DAYS OVERDUE!

OMG seriously hyperventilating is occurring right now. How can this happen. Have emailed the lecturer to find out what is going on. Not exactly something you need when you are in the middle of trying to complete 3 more assessments that are 1200, 1500 and 3500 words respectively, as well as staring down the barrel of a 2 week trip and 3 exams when I get back.

Now I think I need to go and find some chill pills.