Tag Archives: study

Words words words……….

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I have done my work.    No more stress and no more late nights.

To show my joy, I shall write this post with words of just one syllable (well, if you do not count that one, there is no word like that to use!).

I have used lots of big words in the last few days and I am sick of them.

It is hard just to talk in small words!  But I just do not think my brain has more big words in it. They are all used up.

I still do not see why big words must be used to say things when a small word would do just as well.

But that is what you have to do when you write words for a course. 

And I think I have used all the big words there are in the WORLD this week.

So, none in this post, as you can see.

And that is that. I have no more small words to say……

(Normal service will be resumed later – oops!!!!!)

Paper vs Screen

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Call me old-fashioned but I can’t sit and read stuff on my screen.  Well, not academic stuff anyway.  I like to have that article in my hand, in paper form, to flick through and scribble on.  I am sitting here surrounded by paper at the moment, my phone is somewhere under it all and possibly the dog as well, it’s that much of a muddle, but it suits me.  I can sit here with my lap top in front of me, rummage around and read a paper, type something relevant and not have to keep switching screens or anything.

It costs a fortune in printer ink and paper and, yes, I know it isn’t environmentally friendly but I promise to take it all to the recycling place when I’ve finished.  It is just so much nicer.

I’m not a technophobe, far from it.  I certainly wouldn’t want to go back to the old days of having to HAND WRITE a dissertation!  Shudder!!!  It’s so simple now, a quick type, a spell check, a cut and paste and the track changes option (although I have to admit I find that a bit untidy).  And you can’t beat having the whole world at your finger tips to do your research.

So, the pros of modern technology are how fast it is to write up something HUGE and how easy it is to do research.

The cons are that my new router seems to be having an off day so I cannot connect to the internet for much of the time at the moment.

The pros of the old-fashioned paper method are you don’t have to rely on your router working and it’s nice to have lots of lovely paper all round you (or is that just me with the paper fetish?)

The cons of the old-fashioned method are that you have to tidy it all away when it’s dinner time

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Lists

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I’m a great one for lists

I find that writing a list helps me focus, especially when I have loads of different things to do

Writing a list sets out the tasks in hand and makes them more manageable I find

I don’t actually DO everything on the lists

But I feel as if I’ve achieved SOMETHING because I’ve written the list

Tomorrow’s list is as follows:

1. Wake up (I don’t have a lot of control over this one but I’m glad to say it tends to happen every day)

2. Have wee (see no.1)

3. Switch computer on, check Facebook while kettle boils (multi-tasking)

4. Have cup of tea

5. Take online Scrabble goes (VERY important)

6. More tea

7. Shower and brekkies and dress (probably)

8. Arrange lap top and papers all ready for studying (and feel all virtuous and organised)

9. Check Scrabble goes and post up something irrelevant on Facebook wall (in case my friends think I’m dead)

10. More tea

11. Glance over at lap top and think about starting studying (I’m excellent at planning)

12. Water Fairyland garden on Facebook (well, everything was wilting!)

13. Lunch (prepared by my resident chef)

14. Study (yes, really!)

15. Cup of tea break

16. More tea

17. Check on Scrabble situation and post something else up on Facebook about how hard I am studying (people need to feel my pain)

18. Since it’s Saturday, have afternoon glass of wine and tidy up papers on table ready for dinner (job well done, I’d say)

19. Dinner (prepared by the chef again)

20. Relax after hard day studying with a nice glass of wine and a film (phew, I deserve it after all that)

Yes, lists are ESSENTIAL to make sure things get done……..

Mastering the Art

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I am just in the final throes of a Masters course.  It’s been tough.  That’s why I have mentioned it several times already in my short blogging life on this site! It isn’t the intellectual challenge.  Oh no, that is the easy part – it’s the LIFE challenge that is causing the problems

Yesterday, I was on the phone to a colleague who, it turns out, is also in the final stages of a Master’s degree.  We exchanged stories……

I realised how MAD we must be.  I mean, come on, I’m almost FIFTY TWO….what on earth am I DOING? I’m working full-time in a pretty demanding job (public sector, I’ll say no more), trying to fit in a social life and STUDYING?????  I’ve studied pretty much all of my adult life.  I am a serial studier.  But NOW?  When I should be thinking about my pension plan?  And how best to cope with the menopause????

My friend and I compared tales of how we are just not able to do ‘all-nighters’ anymore, of how we cannot understand why academics have to use such BIG words and incredibly complicated sentences to say something quite simple, of how wine is so much more appealing than reading and, simply, we questioned what on EARTH possessed us to embark on these ventures when there is absolutely NO reward at the end of it.  Unless you count the graduation ceremony where you get to wear a silly hat.

Yes, this is most definitely my final academic commitment. 

Seriously

It is

Although…….

Having joined this site and realising how little I understand about computers and how to make my blog look pretty, the thought of doing a computer-related course has crossed my mind.

Somebody please stop me?

p.s. Did I mention my course is a Masters in Addictions? (insert whistley type emoticon here)