Yipee! I got a good pass!

I could barely believe it when I collected my TMA 05 results - 70%!
So, you may say, isn't that just about average for you? Well, yes, it is, but if you had been here with me suffering the utter disaster of losing all your work, and having to start from scratch the day before the TMA was due in, you'd know how I feel!
I confess I was just about ready to give up on it, but my fellow students were so encouraging, I decided to give it another go. After 7 drafts, I'd just about had enough, and sent it in, expecting either a total disaster, or a bare pass, so you can imagine how I felt to get the mark I did!
On the health front, I've discovered that the blood problem I've got is something genetic, which means that my daughter will now have to be tested for it, and also my many sisters! I still can't make head or tails of it really - my blood is thinner than it should be, but it also has the propensity to clot, which can cause a thrombosis!
I spoke to my mum on the phone this last weekend, and it turns out her father died of thrombosis (something none of us were told about) when my mum was 12 - I really hate it when this sort of thing is kept from us!
So far, I've got three problems, healthwise, that seem to be hereditary - so it looks like I'm the gene-magnet for them all! Grrrr
On a different note, I've started looking at the blocks that lead to TMA 06, and have to confess I haven't got much work done this week. I've got three weeks left to my next TMA, and nothing to show for it as yet (although I've got my TMA sheet ready with the question, and some notes - and the start of my bibblybubbly!)
I guess it's a case of doing what I can, when I can - with the various problems I've got, healthwise, I guess that taking each day as it comes is going to have to be the norm - and it's getting so I seem to work better under last-minute pressure, anyway!

Frustration City!

Do you ever get the feeling that, if you start to scream, then you'd probably never stop? I must confess to getting close - this continuous illness is driving me mad, as it's interfering with every aspect of my life!
I've started on my next Block with A210 - Literature and Gender - and will have to buckle down soon to seriously start on work for TMA 05. With this one, I have to study The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, and then choose another piece of prose fiction - I'm choosing 'Girl' by Jamaica Kincaid - then I have to discuss the relationship between rebellion and conformity, and how it affect the two texts - all in 1500 words!
I had seen the film of TCP before, and had loved it. Whoopi Goldberg impressed me no end with her role as Celie, but to read the book for the first time was a joy! It utterly took my attention by storm, and I couldn't put it down until it ended (I'm now on my second read of it, and starting the proper study process).
Alice Walker's story of Celie, Nettie and Shug Avery, and all they had to bear with the men in their lives, put my problems in their proper perspective - it's quite humbling when you read of the things that people have to bear in their lives, and how they either overcome them, or get swamped by them.
Now, I know this is a work of fiction, but I guess the things that were suffered were, and probably still are, being endured all over the world right at this moment, and it makes me feel grateful, and humble, for all the privileges I've had in my life, despite the ill-health!
The second piece of prose fiction, 'Girl', is a short piece - a stream-of-consciousness passage, that I loved as soon as I read it. It has very similar themes to TCP, although in a severely reduced format, and I'm hoping I'll be able to synchronise the two into a legible and, hopefully, interesting essay - the one problem I'll have - as usual - will be the 1500 word limit! lol
Well, I guess I'd better stop procrastinating, and get back to the coursework I'm supposed to complete before I do the TMA - it's amazing what we students will think of to do, rather than get down to the sometimes boring, sometimes frustrating, but always necessary study!
By the way - I'm on day 9 of the Emu Oil Capsules - no change yet, but the girl who recommended them said it'd take at least 10 days to show any effects - so I'll keep you posted as to any change.

Another one in the bag!

Well, that's another TMA out of the way - I'm at the half-way mark in the course already! lol
Considering the state of me when taking it, I'm fairly pleased with my 68% score - I know I could have done a lot better - if I didn't have this constant pain - but just getting through each TMA is becoming an achievement in itself!
I don't know whether I'm mad - or a glutton for punishment - but I've booked up next February's course now - U211: Exploring the English Language. I'm sort-of looking forward to it, and will probably greet its start with glee, as I've not booked a winter course this time - I'm determined to take some time out, and try to get a bit better health-wise!
Talking of which, I've just started taking a course of Emu Oil Capsules, which are supposed to be a miracle-cure for what ails me - now, me being a cynic, I don't quite believe the 'miracle' claims, but if it improves my health in any way, I'll be over the moon! lol
I'll let you know how I get on with them, once I've used them for a week or two. :~))

TMA Avoidance - again!

I know - I should be studying, not coming on here! lol
I'm having a real problem with my O.U. studying at the moment - my ill-health, and the medication I'm on are conspiring to leave me very little energy to concentrate on it all -when I can get my brain to concentrate!
Then, what little energy I have, I prefer to use for my bible study which, after all, is much more important to me!
I 'phoned my rheumatology consultant on tuesday, to find out what date has been booked for my Carpal Tunnel operation. He told me when I saw him a fortnight ago, that I was on the urgent list, and so I expected to be going in within a week or two - much to my surprise, and disgust, I've been informed that it will possibly be August, but probably September before it's done - and this with being on the 'urgent' list! Grrrrrrr
I have skim-read through the various chapters needed for this poetry block - and it has really disappointed me in the way it's been set out. I have always loved poetry, and have tended to use it in a cathartic way when under stress, or when feeling emotional, but I haven't been able to make much sense out of the writing on this one!
Don't get me wrong - I'm enjoying the poetry (although I've discovered that Wordsworth is a bit of a windbag), but the actual coursework itself makes no sense to me at all. If it wasn't for the fact that so many on my course have the same complaint, I would have taken it as my own lack of understanding, but too many fellow students have made the same complaint for me to think it's just me!
I really hope the course will be re-organised for future students - at least it will bring a little more pleasure to their studies - something that's in short supply for me, I'm afraid!
But, whether I like the course-work or not, I have another TMA due on the 7th June, so I guess I'd better take a deep breath, and try to plunge myself into the morass that's in front of me - wish me well, won't you? lol