Saturday, March 17, 2012

Awake at Stupid O'Clock . . . .



I'm awake at stupid O'clock again, and am too fibro-fogged to be able to study, but I thought I'd look in on the various forums for my course, just to see if anything's new.


What I did come across is the following, and it tickled me so much, I thought I'd share it:

A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. 

"In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. 

However," he pointed out, "there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative." 

A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah. Right." 



I know, I know - but it's funny, you've got to admit that? {grin}

Saturday, March 10, 2012

I guess I will try, try, try again!



It's been a bad few days for me since I got my results, I have to admit. 


I haven't felt this down about my health, and how my ailments affect me, for quite some time, so this depression hit me hard.


But I am so very fortunate in having a loving spouse and daughter, and also a huge adopted family of brothers and sisters in faith, who have helped me to adjust a little to this latest set-back :)


There is also the fact that, after 6 years with the OU, I learned yesterday that there is a Learner Support number I could call, to talk over my problems - and, boy! was I glad I phoned them :)


When I explained my situation to them, they couldn't have been more helpful. I'd originally phoned them to give up the course but, after listening to my various options, and the help I can get to keep carrying on, I decided that I would keep on going, and at least submit something for the next 2 tutor-marked-assignments! 


With extra help agreed to by my tutor, I'll be doing what I can to prepare for the end-of-module-assessment too, so that, after days of having no hope, I feel there is at last a glimmer there in front of me once more :)


I know that, in the great order of things, not getting the honours part of my degree isn't the most world-shaking of events, but I have to admit that, with all the effort I've put in to it already, it does make sense to at least submit something, to have a chance of a pass, than just abandoning the whole thing half-way through.


So, once again, and like the famed tortoise in the race with the hare, I'm going to be plodding my way along the rest of this course, until I reach the finish line :)



Monday, March 05, 2012

And the results are in . . .



For the first time in my 6 year history with the Open University, I've got a mark below the 60% level :(


I went onto the OU Studenthome, and saw that my tutor had posted my mark this morning and, although I hadn't expected a great mark, to get the one I had was a real shock - I got 58%!


I sat and read the summary my tutor wrote, and then all the comments on my TMA itself, and then I have to admit that I sat there and just cried.


It wasn't so much the mark itself, but the fact that the comments made me see just how badly my health has deteriorated. Even a year ago, I wouldn't have had the type of comments my tutor made about my work. I've forgotten so much of what I've learned, and I have made mistakes in my formatting, sentence structure, and various other things that make up the basic knowledge of how to write the English language. I had missed out too many criteria, hadn't explained what I had mentioned in enough detail, and had generally made a complete hash of my work!


It has made me think seriously about giving up the course, as the next TMA is a double one, with 3,500 words to find, and then there's another TMA, and the dreaded End-of-Course-Assessment, with each one getting progressively harder :(


As I haven't been able to rely on my tutor for any help, as she's having to cope with a family bereavement, I can't think of any other recourse than to give up the module, and just accept my BA, without the Honours I was hoping to achieve.


If I had been able to continue on with another module later on this year to get my Honours, I would have done but, as I'm in my last year of financial help towards my learning, there's no help to be had!


It's definitely not the way I foresaw the ending of my Uni life. 


I didn't expect to go out with a bang, but I certainly didn't expect it to end on a whimper, either :(