I know I say this every time
but really, what posessed me to do an OU degree?
Sigh, you will bear with me on this won’t you?
I’ve just not got going with this one, I do usually go all gun ho at the beginning but this one has had me wobbling from day one. I’ve not got the set texts on tapes, just the course books so the utterly huge volume of reading (full novel every 1-2 weeks plus the course text to go with it, and you are supposed to read each text more than once, first time to get familiar with it, second time to really study it) expected in the first half of the course (the second half is much lighter on teh reading) is down to me, well, okay, you know I’m just not going to do that don’t you? But all that hunting on LibraVox has taken time and it’s not the exact versions and doesn’t have the right page numbers obviously. Niggly but being of wobbly nature it creates a sort of inertia, I know that I’m a slow reader so I wait for the tapes only to find I don’t get the stuff I need and rather than just getting on with it I wibble. tut.
So, now TMA 1 is due on 5th March and I reach for the books to find what format they want this year (every course seems to like stuff presented differently, drives me nuts but at least if they are nicely prescriptive you know what to send) and find…. nothing. A bit of vague wooly stuff about waht they don’t want but you have to plow through the "sample TMA" to see what it is they are after. Hmph. Nother minor niggle I know but just more to make me bothered about the whole thing because I like a bit of clear guidance.
And of couse I’m paranoid about getting delayed with the TMAs because this year I don’t have the facility to send TMAs via the web which gives you right down to the last seconds before the deadline to get it to the tutor, I have to post it, meaning I need to post it at least 1 day before the deadline. Now, most normal people would therefore just get on with it and be sure to be done in time. Me? Time pressure makes my brain freeze.
REally, what on earth posessed me to want to do a degree 
Oh yeh, to show people I can and to show Aprilia that if I can she bloody well can too. Better get on with it then… off to curl up with the MP3 player of Pride and Prejudice then…Normal service will resume soon 
Hoping you’ve got further than I’ve got so far, I’ve managed to instal and open mathcad, and do the two parts of the question that needed it, no idea how I’m going to get it to print out on one sheet though.
Comment by Jax — February 22, 2009 @ 10:38 pm
you can do it t-bird. you have been fab so far. and i really admire you for choosing such a literature rich course. hugs, and every confidence in you. you did survive the history of medicine one!
Comment by HelenHaricot — February 22, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
What MP3 player do you have. We have some in m4b (one currently playing through Quicktime on the PC) and I can play m4b on my phone, but I think we are going to need to invest in a player some time and I am a bit lost as to what is best.
Comment by Tim — February 23, 2009 @ 11:55 am
Currently I play MP3s through my Daisy Player which isn’t terribly compact but does mean that MP3 CDs from Calibre don’t need any converting, they just go straight into the machine. My niece has an “iPod Nano-ish” off ebay which she says works perfectly (and costs under £20) so I’m considering getting one each for me and Aprilia at some point, you can get sort of shuffles for under £10 but I fear they would just be too small and be prone to dissapearing down the sofa too often! You can also get an “iPod Touch-ish” for under £40 which plays anything (so would be okay for your MP4s,) has a bigger screen than the Nano alike and appeals to the technogeeky person I married so I guess taht’s his birthday pressie sorted out then!
Comment by tbirdanni — February 23, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
I’m sure it will all be fine, I know OU can get overwhelming sometimes but you will cope. Lots of effective-studying vibes heading your way anyway.
Comment by Deb — February 23, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
Ta. Now I’m more confused than before.
Comment by Tim — February 23, 2009 @ 8:55 pm