Sept 07-A General Summary
OU Essay
For about ten days I was getting ‘brain strain’ working on the last Open University essay for the media and culture module I’ve been working through since Feb 07. I had to complete the reading before I could start writing the essay itself. My diary notes and anemail I sent to a friend on the 9th Sept might show my view on the situation at the time:-
DIARY:-
So as another Open University essay deadline gets closer, today I’ve started considering content ideas for the essay or ‘Tutor Marked Assignment’ (in OU speak). With the other TMA's I've usually received an email from my tutor (Dr F--) containing typed notes on what could be included in the essay or possible approaches to take to the question. I've checked my inbox today and there’s nothing new in it. I'll be able to put something together for TMA06 regardless, but cannot promise it'll be very good ;)
I am far behind with the reading so have worked out what might be most essential. I don't recommend such short cuts, but if all else fails....This is the last TMA for this course. I am not going to lose my sanity over one essay that may get a lower mark than the others. I'll keep telling myself that, but post OU mind rehab is an option right? :)
That ^^^ being flippantly said, I should keep in mind the comment I made in a msg to other people on the OU online forum: “You are so close to finishing the course, don't give up now”.
EMAIL:-
”Today I'm trying to plan an OU essay I've only dome approx half the reading for (I did lots of cramming yesterday). The question is quite chapter specific which makes it more bearable but there are sections of reading that I really still need to do but don't have time for. I'll do my best anyway. Deadline is tomorrow so I'll take it to G-- as usual. So my OU course is going well ;). Exam next, I need to make lots of notes to then revise from. Its sometime in October (in a shed, in a field somewhere in A-- I believe, as we previously discussed). So, hope your OU course is going more steadily than mine.
I may have to break off later to buy chocolate. If I'm really desperate for something else to do, there’s a huge pile of washing up that needs to be done before Peter and Dad get back. The joys of domesticity eh?!
Right, I best get back to it. Any positive mental vibes appreciated :)”
10th Sept
This afternoon in my OU mailbox there was an email from another student doing the same course as me. She said she had received essay notes for the final TMA from our tutor last week, so mine must “have gone missing in cyber-space”. Very helpfully she had attached a copy of the tutor’s notes for students to her email. Of course I replied with a friendly “Thank you” email straight away. As I remarked (in response to her email) the notes have not arrived "too late" and will definitely help me focus my essay content more precisely.
A blog entry I wrote on later in the day on ‘Myspace’ showed that while I was trying to work, I took a few unnecessary breaks and browsed online in short time slots:-
“I have an essay to write, what a surprise since I'm back blogging on 'Myspace' without a survey in sight.
Its the last essay of my current Open University course. 1800 words on the effect of governmental regulation on cultural diversity, to be completed for submission tomorrow afternoon. It will be done .The relevant sentences will be typed and slowly but surely accumulate to form the complete essay. I'm just not enjoying getting to that point very much.
So "Myspace' seems to have become rather quite of late in terms of my friends on here. Two of them have deleted their profiles for personal reasons, while the others have bug*ered off to ‘Facebook’. In fairness to them, that's where I'd spend more time if my computer could load the site without freezing up. On ‘Facebook’ I could post this blog as a 'Note' and at least one of 12 people could tell me a) "You should have started the essay earlier", b) "Good luck" c) "Get offline and do some work" or all three comments.
I'm thinking to myself option 'C', so see ya later!”
The essay was eventually finished on the day of the deadline (10th Sept) and I made the train journey to deliver it to my OU tutor’s house in G--.
Sept-D318 Revision Strategies
I'm starting my revision today. My first step will be to refresh my memory on the Sony Walkman book (book 1) making notes on key areas as I go through it.I'll definitely be doing Production and Consumption and not doing the Identity book (although I will re-read the Introduction to it).Both Representation and Regulation seem important. The Representation book is huge. Joining in the revision strategies debate on the OU’s course forum, I questioned “How is it possible to do enough revision for a reasonable grade two pass?” A grade two pass is equivalent to a 2.1 but their grade parameters seem higher than those of normal universities where achieving 60% or above would usually result in a 2.1 classification.
Car Trouble
A problem with my family’s car cropped up in September. My brother had the car so he could drive to and from work. The car actually broke down near where he works in O--, which is a commuter length train journey’s distance away from where my family lives. There was lots of traveling to and from O-- for my Dad who was adamant he would fix it, rather than letting a local garage do (in his professionally valid opinion) a half-ar**d job. Where the car was parked did not leave Dad with easy access to the parts of the car he needed to reach, and frankly at 72 years old with noticeable Emphysema (employment related-he has NEVER smoked), he is too old and unwell to be doing that sort of job.
It took a while to determine the cause of the initial trouble, then other, related problems occurred. To add to the sense of pressure, the car was due for its M.O.T. a few weeks after the trouble started. My Dad and Brother were out of the house for more hours during this period, but even on the days when he was at home, there was lots of tension in the house as my Dad was tired, pissed off, feeling unwell and perhaps understandably short tempered. There were certainly some days in September where I felt like I couldn’t say or do a thing right, even when I was trying to be helpful!
Job Seeking
My job seeking continued on in its normal fashion. I attended a couple of interviews for admin and Receptionist jobs, including one I really wanted once I’d been up to London for the interview, but I was not offered either job :-(.
For about ten days I was getting ‘brain strain’ working on the last Open University essay for the media and culture module I’ve been working through since Feb 07. I had to complete the reading before I could start writing the essay itself. My diary notes and anemail I sent to a friend on the 9th Sept might show my view on the situation at the time:-
DIARY:-
So as another Open University essay deadline gets closer, today I’ve started considering content ideas for the essay or ‘Tutor Marked Assignment’ (in OU speak). With the other TMA's I've usually received an email from my tutor (Dr F--) containing typed notes on what could be included in the essay or possible approaches to take to the question. I've checked my inbox today and there’s nothing new in it. I'll be able to put something together for TMA06 regardless, but cannot promise it'll be very good ;)
I am far behind with the reading so have worked out what might be most essential. I don't recommend such short cuts, but if all else fails....This is the last TMA for this course. I am not going to lose my sanity over one essay that may get a lower mark than the others. I'll keep telling myself that, but post OU mind rehab is an option right? :)
That ^^^ being flippantly said, I should keep in mind the comment I made in a msg to other people on the OU online forum: “You are so close to finishing the course, don't give up now”.
EMAIL:-
”Today I'm trying to plan an OU essay I've only dome approx half the reading for (I did lots of cramming yesterday). The question is quite chapter specific which makes it more bearable but there are sections of reading that I really still need to do but don't have time for. I'll do my best anyway. Deadline is tomorrow so I'll take it to G-- as usual. So my OU course is going well ;). Exam next, I need to make lots of notes to then revise from. Its sometime in October (in a shed, in a field somewhere in A-- I believe, as we previously discussed). So, hope your OU course is going more steadily than mine.
I may have to break off later to buy chocolate. If I'm really desperate for something else to do, there’s a huge pile of washing up that needs to be done before Peter and Dad get back. The joys of domesticity eh?!
Right, I best get back to it. Any positive mental vibes appreciated :)”
10th Sept
This afternoon in my OU mailbox there was an email from another student doing the same course as me. She said she had received essay notes for the final TMA from our tutor last week, so mine must “have gone missing in cyber-space”. Very helpfully she had attached a copy of the tutor’s notes for students to her email. Of course I replied with a friendly “Thank you” email straight away. As I remarked (in response to her email) the notes have not arrived "too late" and will definitely help me focus my essay content more precisely.
A blog entry I wrote on later in the day on ‘Myspace’ showed that while I was trying to work, I took a few unnecessary breaks and browsed online in short time slots:-
“I have an essay to write, what a surprise since I'm back blogging on 'Myspace' without a survey in sight.
Its the last essay of my current Open University course. 1800 words on the effect of governmental regulation on cultural diversity, to be completed for submission tomorrow afternoon. It will be done .The relevant sentences will be typed and slowly but surely accumulate to form the complete essay. I'm just not enjoying getting to that point very much.
So "Myspace' seems to have become rather quite of late in terms of my friends on here. Two of them have deleted their profiles for personal reasons, while the others have bug*ered off to ‘Facebook’. In fairness to them, that's where I'd spend more time if my computer could load the site without freezing up. On ‘Facebook’ I could post this blog as a 'Note' and at least one of 12 people could tell me a) "You should have started the essay earlier", b) "Good luck" c) "Get offline and do some work" or all three comments.
I'm thinking to myself option 'C', so see ya later!”
The essay was eventually finished on the day of the deadline (10th Sept) and I made the train journey to deliver it to my OU tutor’s house in G--.
Sept-D318 Revision Strategies
I'm starting my revision today. My first step will be to refresh my memory on the Sony Walkman book (book 1) making notes on key areas as I go through it.I'll definitely be doing Production and Consumption and not doing the Identity book (although I will re-read the Introduction to it).Both Representation and Regulation seem important. The Representation book is huge. Joining in the revision strategies debate on the OU’s course forum, I questioned “How is it possible to do enough revision for a reasonable grade two pass?” A grade two pass is equivalent to a 2.1 but their grade parameters seem higher than those of normal universities where achieving 60% or above would usually result in a 2.1 classification.
Car Trouble
A problem with my family’s car cropped up in September. My brother had the car so he could drive to and from work. The car actually broke down near where he works in O--, which is a commuter length train journey’s distance away from where my family lives. There was lots of traveling to and from O-- for my Dad who was adamant he would fix it, rather than letting a local garage do (in his professionally valid opinion) a half-ar**d job. Where the car was parked did not leave Dad with easy access to the parts of the car he needed to reach, and frankly at 72 years old with noticeable Emphysema (employment related-he has NEVER smoked), he is too old and unwell to be doing that sort of job.
It took a while to determine the cause of the initial trouble, then other, related problems occurred. To add to the sense of pressure, the car was due for its M.O.T. a few weeks after the trouble started. My Dad and Brother were out of the house for more hours during this period, but even on the days when he was at home, there was lots of tension in the house as my Dad was tired, pissed off, feeling unwell and perhaps understandably short tempered. There were certainly some days in September where I felt like I couldn’t say or do a thing right, even when I was trying to be helpful!
Job Seeking
My job seeking continued on in its normal fashion. I attended a couple of interviews for admin and Receptionist jobs, including one I really wanted once I’d been up to London for the interview, but I was not offered either job :-(.