Government plan Grant cuts for students taking a second Degree course.

I signed a petition today, and it's not something that I do lightly, if at all, but I felt that this one needs all the support it can get, as the government are cutting back on helping with financing where a second degree is being retrained for, so it is something that can affect anybody who needs to retrain for a different job.
The details are as below, and I've included the link to get to the government petition site, so you can sign it if you feel that you can.
The petition runs until 10th November, 07.

We, the undersigned, petition the Prime Minister to reinstate support funding given to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
More Details From Petition Ceator:
for universities offering courses to students taking equal or lower qualifications than they currently hold. We believe to remove all such funding will remove a vital source of retraining where the skills base has changed over the years and mean only the personally better funded students will have a chance to retrain. We also believe that this sudden funding change will be harmful to universities which are based around the ethos of retraining or continuing skill updates and should be reviewed under the premise of Life Long Learning.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/HE-GRANT-CUTS/

Thanks to anyone who signs this, and supports the Life Long Learning of anyone who desires it - not just those who can afford it.

Last one gone - now on with revision!

Well, I sent off my TMA 07 on the 13th, and got my result back less than 24 hours later!
Not only was my tutor super-speedy, but she also awarded me with the second-highest score of my OU life - a lovely 72%!
It surprised me to get this result, as I've been feeling quite poorly but - and this proves a point - I wasn't in as much pain since my left wrist has been operated on, so haven't had to take so many pain-killers, which meant my mind wasn't as foggy - and so my results improved :~))
I've just been spending the last couple of days sorting through all my course books, and all the notes and essays I've done - I'm trying to get everything I need together for my revision for the E**m, and my printer has been getting an overload of work while I print out all the various notes, summaries, and copies of poems I'm going to need for it all. I'm not quite sure whether I'm looking forward to going over details again, or not, but I'm determined to do the best that I can now it's almost crunch-time.
I've probably mentioned before about my drop in marks when I do exams, but I'm going to do the best that I can. I've worked it out that, with my continuous assessment marks, I've got a decent average for that half of the marking, but I'm going to need a 70% pass mark for the exam to get a Grade 2 pass. I find it all a bit unfair that half of the marks are reliant on the one exam, when I've been working so hard throughout the course to get the marks I have done. So it's all reliant on the exam as to the Grade I'll get - even though I've done the equivalent of a Grade 2 pass with the continuous assessment. If I get below 70% on the exam, I still only get a Grade 3 (don't get me wrong, I'll be happy with that, but I find it a bit unfair that so much rests on a three-hour exam, despite the work that's gone into the rest of it!).
I'm going to have a day dedicated to my Bible study tommorrow - I've been a bit neglectfull this last few days, what with the TMA and all, so it'll be nice to catch up with my Bible reading. I'm looking forward to the short break between my exam, and the start of the new course in Feb., as it'll give me lots of time to do some more in-depth Bible study and, hopefully, with the pain lessened from my wrists, I'll be able to do it some justice! :~))
Well, once again I'm sitting sleepless (which is why I'm catching up here), so I guess I could treat myself, and read a totally non-OU-related work of fiction - now, what shall I treat myslf to . . . ? lol

And I Still Have A Way To Go . . .

'The best laid plans of Mice and Men.'
A phrase borrowed as a title for his book published in 1936, by the great John Steinbeck, which tells the tragic tale of two Anglo Migrant ranch workers in California, during the Great Depression,
but which comes originally from the poem:
'To a Mouse' by Robert Burns in 1786:
'But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.'

I couldn't resist starting my blog off this way as, all too often, my plans are 'aft a-gley', and it will be no surprise to anyone following my blog that my much-in-evidence-friend, illness, has been at work again.
I've got a week to complete my final TMA and, although I've cracked one half of it, the second is proving elusive, as usual! lol
I know - I should be hard at it over the keyboards (or voice-recognition softwear at the moment), getting it all done so I can get on with my revision for the October exam - but if the truth be known, I think I'm running out of steam :~/
My problem is that I had an op on my left hand on the 3rd, and I've been trying to do everything either one-handed, or through the sofware that I'm still not comfortable with, and which I know I'm not using properly, but I guess that's just down to my stubborness in not asking for help!
We're a strange lot, us humans, always trying to stay independent, and never asking for the help we know we need, but are either too embarrassed, or too stubborn to ask for - I know which one Bob would say I fall under!
Anyhoo, I'm roughly half-way through my TMA, and I guess it'll end up being my usual mad rush a day or so before cut-off before I get down to seriously writing the rest of it. The funny thing, is that I've thoroughly enjoyed both plays, especially waching the DVD's of them, and I've a ton of ideas as to what I want to say but, as usual, I've only got 1,500 words to say it all in and, as you may have noticed, I'm nothing,if not gabby! lol
Ah well, I'd better try and get some rest, then start tommorrow anew - you never know, al that inspiration that Terry Pratchett insists is sleeting through the universe, just might hit me in the night! lol