Archive for the 'Postgrad Study' Category
One of the things which contributed to my Very Bad Day yesterday, was a trip into uni to pick up some student submissions for marking. Ten minutes after picking them up, Finn spilled water all over the back seat of the car, and the papers. Aaargh. They weren’t harmed much, so unfortunately I still have to mark them. Damn 
This whole thing, this marking, has been an experience I’d rather not repeat. We refer to it here as ‘my volunteer work’, due to the pittance which I am paid (the hourly rate is actually perfectly satisfactory. The problem stems from the unreasonable and unattainable time limit which is imposed on us to mark each assignment – regardless of how long it actually takes, we are paid only for the given amount of time). But, you know, volunteer work is supposed to be enriching and valuable in other ways, right? Ha.
Anyway, I decided early on that to make myself feel better, I would spend what I earned on stash. Technically this order came from some of my earnings. So now… the question is. What do I go and blow the rest on? A Silkweaver’s Trick or Treat bag? 25% off ‘almost everything’ at the SB&B Ooky Spooky sale? Any other sales on I should know about?
In other uni news, I decided officially today that paying through the teeth to wear a mortarboard and gown and sit through the endless hours of boring drivel that comprise Graduation, is not for me (again). I’m having my degree conferred in absentia. It should arrive sometime next month 
October 25 2006 | Counted Stitchwork and General Ramblings and Postgrad Study | 2 Comments »
Ok, now as a (former) scientist, I know that n=1 is a totally unreliable sample size, but I am here to declare that “Preggo Brain” officially does not exist! My reckoning is this: Of the twelve units I completed for my Masters degree, I sat exams for 5 of them while pregnant. Not all just recently – this is over two different pregnancies – I was pregnant with Finn when I began, and I sat two exams at 33 and 34 weeks gestation respectively. More recently, with Small, I’ve sat exams at 6 weeks, 7 weeks and 22 weeks. The respective grades for those 5 units are as follows: 94, 99, 91, 85, 90. (That 90 was the final unit, I just got my grade on Friday )
So there, you see! Obviously it is possible for one’s brain to continue functioning while pregnant. Of course… ask me to remember what I’m supposed to be buying for dinner, and then it all just falls apart completely!
That 85 up there is the thorn in my side, lemme tell you. It’s the only sub-90 mark I have on my record. There was a thread recently on the Wagon BB discussing group projects. That 85 is the result of my only group project in the whole degree. It was a nasty experience that I have no intention of ever repeating, and the source of all my stress over the second half of last year. By some miracle, we managed to pull it together enough in the final couple of days to score 75 on the project. For some weeks, I feared that we’d fail it completely :sad:
Anyway, that’s enough blowing of my trumpet. The point I was getting at is that… I passed the last unit! It’s definitely all over now. And my stitching thanks me for it
February 28 2006 | Postgrad Study | 4 Comments »
I didn’t get around to this yesterday, because I was so full of ‘I’ve finished’, and also so very, very tired (I did stitch for a couple of hours before bed though, which was nice). But I needed to say a big, big thankyou to everyone who’s been around for me lately. Whether you left one of the many lovely comments on my blog, or whether you ezInbox’ed me, or emailed me, or whether you were my Mum or FIL or OtherHalf, who have looked after Finn while I gallivanted off to school, I appreciate every single good word and good thought and good deed that has come my way.
I’ve done so much thinking, thinking, thinking over the last week, and not just about secure servers and firewall architecture, either. I need to switch my brain off for a little while, I think! I’m looking forward to stitching a square for Laura’s quilt when my charts get here. I’m looking forward to spoiling my Secret Stitcher ‘victim’, and taking part in a few stitching exchanges. I’m looking forward to reading a book or three. But beyond that, my brain will be asleep… so don’t ask me any tricky questions for awhile, OK?
February 14 2006 | General Ramblings and Postgrad Study | 2 Comments »
There is a seriously anticlimactic feel to this day. Partly because I finished on an easy unit and not a difficult one (brought about because I had Finn and took a leave of absence, and then did things a bit out of order). Partly because the exam was a bit… odd, in parts. Not that it was particularly difficult – I only needed about 90 minutes for the 3 hour exam. But there were obscure questions worth more marks than they should have been, and poorly worded questions where I felt it necessary to state my assumptions just in order to answer. And the lecturer came and read over my shoulder for a good five minutes, which I found terribly distracting, until I actually had to ask her to leave!
Anyway, it’s done and gone. I felt quite overwhelmed as I left. Relieved, yes, definitely, for the shedding of all the stress. A little bit sad, for the leaving behind of a big part of my life these last three years. Proud of myself, for having set my mind to do this, and having done it well. And just a pinch of “Well, what next…?” As I said to a friend a short time after the exam – this is officially the first time since starting primary school that I have been neither employed nor studying! Not sure how I’ll adjust to that, but I’m sure it will be nice for a while.
So… in case you’re wondering… although it isn’t official until about April when I get the bit of paper (and technically, it’s not even slightly official until next week when the results are out)… I have just completed one of these:
Master of Technology (Internet and Web Computing)
(or, for less of a mouthful, an MTech(IWEB))
Whoohoo!
February 13 2006 | Postgrad Study | 7 Comments »
Well… um…
No comments on the last post! At all. That kind of reminds me why I don’t lay my heart out very often. I’ll just pick it back up off the blog floor now and go back to ‘safe’ posts. Or maybe I’ll just pretend you all forgot the way here and no-one read it. Yeah. That’s it.
OK, no more feeling sorry for myself, I promise. After I finished writing that post and went back to bed (yes, it was really that time here… not sleeping well of late), one Small person decided to have a party in my belly and remind me in her infinite wisdom that in the eternal cycle, life follows death just as certainly as death follows life.
Her! Yes, I said her 
! See, you knew I wasn’t going to keep that secret for long, didn’t you? Yes, Small is a she-Small. She in fact has a name now, but in the interest of keeping something for later, I’ll keep that to myself.
(Also in the interest of just-in-case-the-sonographer-is-wrong… in which case we will of course name him ‘Sue’!)
Check out the mugshot… check out that huge head! Yes, just like both of her parents, she needs a giant head to keep her giant brain in Anyway, as the measurements came through (at 20 weeks, measuring about 21), my hopes of having a ‘normal’ birth began to fade. Either way, I will of course be happy, as long as she’s OK, but I really was hoping to avoid a second caesarian.
In other brief news, the three 2½ day cram is about to begin. I haven’t been able to focus on studying effectively for Monday’s exam, so tomorrow I’m running away to Mum’s place, sans family, to stick my head down and get it under control. You won’t notice I’m gone, of course… not because no-one visits my blog anymore (sob!), but because I have a fascinating post lined up to auto-post itself while I’m gone. Apart from that, I shall report back on Monday night.
PS. Ahh, now, you see, I look silly. I just get through posting this, then Annette left me the most lovely comment on the last entry. Thankyou Annette, I am humbled by your appreciation.
February 10 2006 | Family and Postgrad Study and Pregnancy | 7 Comments »
It’s officially Official. The summer exam timetable is out, and I will be finishing my Masters degree at 5.30pm on the 13th of February Whoohoo! Wish me luck…
February 03 2006 | Postgrad Study | 2 Comments »
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