enjoy the process of earning my degree

Ooh, just realised: this could well be the last weekend I spend slogging like a maniac for this degree!!

Wow… impending free time?! :)

Recently has been “Get it finished” with very little of the enjoyment. However, this weekend is the last big slog for a while – and BIG NOTE TO SELF: be sensible, and there doesn’t have to be a final big slog at the end of the whole thing! ;)

But yeah: lots to do, little time, but a lightbulb just went on about what I’m trying to accomplish right now so let’s celebrate with the reminder of this goal, too!

(picture has nothing to do with the post, but it made me smile!)

Just got a date for my _{last ever!!?} exam. Which means… within 2 months, almost everything will be done – one way or another. So, might as well put my weight behind the ‘one way’ I want, yes? ;)

Saturday: final revision begins!!

Got a random email from my degree advisor today, and was brilliant to be able to tell her I was going to work for the university! More, she instantly copied in my new boss (despite me getting his name wrong – oops!), who revealed I’ll be hotdesking from the same corridor as both of ‘em (presuming that doesn’t mean IN the corridor, but hey – I’m in total pre-job high and would be fine with that!) and working out my times for study, etc would be easy :)

I’m so very very chuffed to be joining all these lovely people :) The folk I work with now are nice, but the overarching ‘corporation-ness’ hasn’t been exactly friendly. Just the merest glimmer of enthusiasm from my will-be colleagues is leaving me slightly reeling!

And – could I be going anywhere MORE supportive of finishing off my degree? I even got tips for matching my times to the ‘real’ students! :) [ooooh – or I could actually make 2/3 lectures a week, maybe! ‘citing!! :):)]

Today I checked my log in details still work – to the course material, at least, must check the network connection.

And I have four shiny library books waiting to inspire me, too!

Slowly, slowly – I can and will finish this!!

Finally bit the bullet and got in touch with the university – and an amazingly quick response!

Excellent news: I passed my exams! The results apparently got lost in the post, but I did well :)

Relieving news: I have options for an extension, so now have to decide if I want to try sitting one of my two remaining exams in April, and get a medical extension to add another year rather than rushing the dissertation; or take a full year as suspended study, and pick up the work the following April.

So much pressure off now, phew phew phew!! :)

Got my final module material today – and I like how that sounds! Final module :) Okay, still have two exams and a dissertation to sit, but this is a moment to pause: I now have the full course, and an end in sight!

Of course, I have marvellous plans of utterly rocking the remaining work – network applications, which I started last year, and the new multimedia design – whooo!

I like music while I study – something that isn’t silence! I go with classic or film scores, so it’s not too distracting.

Yesterday, however, my motivation was mush. I was tired, had no wiggle room, and just – meh. So I shoved on a bit of really lively music and had a dance about – perfect! Felt much more energised. And discovered that instead of the more sedate classic stuff going back on what I really needed at that point was something lively – heck, I needed a little bit of distraction so I could churn out some nonsense without my brain rebelling every nanosecond!

So, point to remember: just ‘cos soundtracks usually work, doesn’t mean they always will. And just ‘cos I avoid things I could sing along to, doesn’t mean they don’t have their place even when studying needs done!

Getting pretty stressed about it all, finally, at the last gasp. About half the e-Comm coursework to go (and I’m just assuming the Db stuff is as easy as it looks!) and I’m struggling. Get home from work too tired to do much, get to weekends – ah, too tired to do much. Oops!

However, I’ll keep plugging away – for another week and a half?! I have most of that off work, thankfully! I’ll get there.

And whether I do or not, the thing to remember is this: this is an optional thing in my life. I don’t have to do it at all, and I certainly don’t have to be perfect. Passing will be nice – my life won’t change if I don’t. So chill. Learn, enjoy what I can, and thank crunchie that I’ve only got one more year of coursework/exams left!!

First Tuesday/Wednesday of the exam period. At least it gets them over with – and at least I know what I’m working towards!!