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The past few days have been pretty hellish even by my standards (I can put up with nearly anything, but sickness and migraines is just horrible). I gorged out on a big jacket potatoe and a whole tub of cottege cheese (I new I wasn’t feeling so great after dairy, but didn’t think it would do me much harm..) and ended up with my head over a bucket and a nasty migraine all day Wednesday. I really was sick. In the end we called NHS direct (the Uks out of hour doctors services), and got some amazing advice from the nurses.

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I’ve officially been studying with the Open University for two weeks now, and the time has flown by! I’ve been to my first tutorial, and started work on the first assignment, and I think things are progressing nicely!

I struggled slightly when I reached the beginning of the second unit, (the Representations unit). I worked through the harder parts of that unit though and started to enjoy the work towards the end. I’m now working on the 3rd unit (Crossing the boundary: Analogue universe, digital world). I’ve definitely enjoyed it much much more than the previous two units. (The first was just an introduction and was slightly boring, the 2nd a little harder to get my head around as it didn’t appear at first to have much relation to computers, and the 3rd unit I’ve enjoyed much more, especially the binary section).

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What is your biggest fear? Have you tried to overcome it?

This was a really difficult question to answer actually. I have many smaller fears, things that scare me on a smaller scale, but not a ‘big’ fear of anything in particular. In writing this actually, It made me question what ‘fear’ actually is, and whether the things I’d say I fear, are things I actually just worry about.
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I’ve always written in journals both online and offline, and it has to be said, I’ve never done it conventionally. I’m told I should keep my entries to a maximum of 250 words, stick on topic, and make my entries as readable as possible, and I just don’t agree! I’m writing my blog for me, because it helps me digest my thoughts and feelings, not because I’m looking for popularity (although that would be a little bit nice..).

The two posts I’d uploaded to the start my blog, I’d written for my personal space on the Open Universities website. I’d not decided whether I wanted to make the entires public, or private, and to start with they were private, but I finally decided I was ready to fully publish my previous entries (and any in the future) to a public blog.

I have used LiveJournal in the past, and several other public online blogging services, but none of them ever gave me the flexibility I really needed/wanted. With web designing by trade, I new I could build one, so decided to work with the WordPress platform, and build my own blog. The themes that are available with WordPress are in a whole different league from the ones you can use with the free blogging services that are around at the moment, and there are no adverts. (Plus it’s using my hosting service which I pay for every month, so puts that to good use).

Anyway, I digress.

I started my course (with the open university, as mentioned in previous posts) on the 3rd of October (it’s now the 7th), and honestly, I think finding the courage to register for the course is one of the best things I could ever have done. I think it’s only just dawned on me that I’m actually studying at the University level. I didn’t think I’d ever do anything other than ‘be’ ill.

It definitely was a daunting prospect. After I got home and saw the box from the Open University, and after I discovered how much course material there actually was, I definitely panicked!

It’s hard work. What more can I say than that? It really is hard work. At the start of the week, the first day I sat down with my books in front of me, I spent a full 6 hours studying, which was probably too much looking back on it. Since then, I’ve studied roughly 2 hours a day (which doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’ve managed to get a lot of work done. I’m already a unit ahead, which means I can relax a little, for the time being anyway!

I’m heading off to Richards house tonight (picking him up from work at 10pm, and an early night probably, we’re both shattered!). He starts work tomorrow at 2pm, so will spend the morning with him, then study after he’s gone. (I missed him terribly whilst at home).

I’m hoping I’m actually going to be able to get more work done at his house, it’s been mental here, what with my dad having the TV blaring, and the dog, and my sister, it’s been quite crazy.

So I think for now, I will just have too keep plodding through the course materials, and look forward to the first tutorial on the 14th!