Today I picked up my final assignment with my final grade. To my ABSOLUTE joy, I recieved 26/30, which equals to 86%... which is a HD.
Considering that I got a HD for every assessment task for this unit, making my dream of getting a final HD basically in the bag.
However I’m not going to mark this as finished till I actually recieve the mark, which will be on Saturday. Awesome.
I live in a shop front next door to a laundromat. While doing my washing today a little girl said to her mother “I have to pee!” which obviously was a problem for them because there is no toilet there.
Instead of turning around and ignoring the situation I offered to let the little girls come in and use my toilet. It doesn’t seem like much, but I could’ve easily have just ignored the comment and not have made the connections.
I hope that little girl grows up knowing the kindness of strangers.
Since selecting it I have often wondered how I would go about achieving this goal. I am a renter in a shitty, messy house and while the backyard is quite large, I have no intention of staying here long making the labour involved in creating a large backyard garden would be wasted.
So instead I have bought one long pot and one hanging pot to make two small “gardens” that will be transportable when I do move. In the hanging pot I plan on growing 3 types of herbs to make my own hanging herb garden, and in the long pot I plan on growing a strawberry garden.
I am really, really excited to get this project started, however I have to wait a couple of weeks until spring starts or the seeds will never grow. :)
I went and bought myself a rather simple, yet beautiful journal to carry around with me at all times. While I wrote in it straight away, I have not written in it since. I am quite intimidated by the thought of having a record of my innermost thoughts… but I am determined to do this for the sake of my writing skills, so I will continue to write!
I wont mark this as done until I have a clear and distinct journal keeping pattern.
While I was not published in a magazine as was the plan, I was published in the university paper in an article I am quite proud of.
I also have a lot of ideas to submit into Frankie magazine and plan on emailing them this week with the submission ideas – this is exciting times kids!!
Yesterday I handed in my final assessment piece for the Cultural Study Tour I took part in this winter term.
I had already recieved a HD for the reflexive journal we had to maintain during our time abroad and full marks on a hurdle communications requirment meaning I would need a low HD to achieve this goal.
Personally I believe my essay to be at the C-D range, but that is also what I thought of my journal, so that is yet to be seen.
If I don’t get a HD for this subject, that is ok. I would be quite happy with a distinction, though it would be nice to be able to mark this goal as achieved. If not, I will power on – after all I still do have 8 more classes to complete before finishing my course!
When I was younger I often wrote in a journal to organise my thoughts. However, the death of my journal writing came when I read an article that said that people who keep journals are often less mentally stable because they have a tendancy to dwell on things. I have not kept a journal since.
Recently I participated in a Cultural Study Tour, where a major assessment was the upkeep of a daily reflective journal. While sometimes it was hard to be so switched on, so reflective at all times, I did find the process of writing daily quote theraputic. Not only that, I found my writing skills improving because of the process of daily writing. This is especially important for myself as I wish to succeed as a writer.
Since then I have done some research for my final report and I have come to the conclusion that I believe journal keeping to be not detrimental to my health, but quite the opposite. Even if it sends me insane, I am ok with that as long as it improves my writing skills everyday.
At university I average on the cusp of a distinction for my overall marks, however I have improved this semester and only look to get better, with two HD’s for assessments already. Now I just have to crack the HD mark as a final result for a class.
The most annoying thing about this is that I have gotten HD level marks before, with two of my final marks being 82 this semester. However, because my universities marking system works a standard 5 marks above the standard in Melbourne, it is only seen to be a D.
Frustrating as it is, it’s something I have to deal with and I am absolutely determined to kick its ass and get myself that HD I deserve!
At the time I wrote this there was a person in my life who I felt was better at me at all the things I loved. I felt that she was prettier, smarter, more stylish and basically the reason the song “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better!” was made for.
In the end we had a major falling out and she is no longer a part of my life. I could not tell you who was the bad guy – I think we both were in a way. I have tried to mend our relationship to no avail, but in a way I prefer it like this. I have finally come back to a spot where I feel good about myself. Well, mostly… as much as I was before.
So while I feel like I should click this goal as done, I can’t bring myself to do it. Although I don’t feel as consumed with jealousy as I once did, it came from the destruction of the relationship that was causing it. Is that healthy? Is this right?
I guess its all part of the path that makes me who I am and that is something I’m just going to have to settle with.
The hot bread out of the oven is absolutely amazing… butter and jam will make it even better!
Be careful and don’t eat the whole thing before you get a chance to share it!
...I feel sad for leaving behind so much, but thankful to be home. I never knew I could feel so many conflicting feelings all at once!
To anyone about to embark on this journy I would like to tell you that it is one of the most amazing, rewarding and out-of-this-world experiences you’ll ever have. However don’t be fooled into thinking it is going to be easy, cause its not but I guess that just makes it all the sweeter once you return.
Goodluck on your future abroad studying endevours!
A week and a half into a cultural study tour in Kuching.
I must say it really is Cat City – there are stray cats everywhere! I love this concept though it freaks some of the other students out.
I have found a fantastic little cafe named Bing that seems to be the hub for youth culture though I haven’t brought myself to actually talk to the locals yet cause I’ve been too tentative. That is my next goal – talk more to the locals!
I must warn anyone studying abroad to be careful of being homesick – being in a new country is extreme and studying can be intense because of that. I was really, really homesick the past few days but I have refocused my energy and I am just happy to be here now!
Time to get back to my reflective journal!
Jumpa lagi!
11. The diversity of food available to Australians – we really are lucky!
12. Getting a good grades.
13. The freedom to be who I am, dress how I wish and love how I wish to love.
14. The progressive nature of the internet.
15. Friends who understand my odd nature.
As I come up to the 90 cheers mark I begin to wonder if this is actually a goal worth setting.
I have been logging on every day to use up my daily allocated cheers, even when I do not feel like doing so. For example, I am currently studying overseas and I don’t want to log on every day to cheer, but I do because I have a goal to reach. This has made the process feel like a chore, and I have begun to wonder whether it is actually honest or not to cheer for merely an end goal rather than to really wish to encourage someone.
I should probably hit 100 in a couple of days and that will be it!
No cheers for goals and no goal for cheers. Rather, join in the cheers for cheers initiative and mean it when you click!
Good afternoon from Kuching, Sarawak! I am currently 3 days into a cultural study tour I am taking apart of with university and I am absolutely LOVING it!
It has already felt like a week, which is a good thing! The people here are so nice and extremely funny and I feel completely comfortable here, just like I have returned home. I wish I was staying longer than a few weeks.
Classes are annoyingly early, especially since a lot of the shops don’t open until ten in the morning! But it is so satisfying being so sleepy at the end of the day.
Selamat jalan for now!
6. Making myself a healthy and delicious dinner.
7. Buying my friends unexpected gifts when opshopping.
8. Taking time off work.
9. Appreciating my ability not to become obsessed with money.
10. Pining delightful things to my walls.
Borrowed from http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/writingexercises.html :
Take this extremely short and dull bit of dialogue. Rewrite it, adding more. First, write it as a conversation between a teenage boy and an elderly woman. What you add may include longer speeches, more speeches, a setting, descriptions of the people, how they say things, their gestures, and anything else you want to add. Now write it again, as if spoken by two people in love, of any age. Then try it again as… ???
Here is the bare-bones dialogue:
Hi.
Hi.
Where were you?
Nowhere.
1. Playing poker with friends till odd hours in the morning.
2. Wandering the net while laying in bed.
3. Eating vegimite on toast – the greatest breakfast ever!
4. Being proud of Australian history, especially when those around you are not.
5. Cleaning my room.
I have started taking small jogs on my days off, which usually is the weekend. I plan on starting small, aiming high.
My friend and I also have an agreement where once we set an activity and time, we both have to do it. If one person decides they don’t want to exercise, then they have to pay the other person $5 as long as they continue to do the activity. Works pretty well!
I found an interesting technique called ‘Writers Tennis’ in which two people write a story together, like so:
One of you writes a few paragraphs of a story. It can be about anything. You then pass it on to your writing partner who then writes the next paragraph and so on and so on. If you both try to keep the two parts of the story consistent you can achieve interesting results.
This sounds interesting enough, however I do not have a lot of friends who would take this as seriously as I would, so I am putting the call forward: I would like to try this technique over email with a stranger. If you’re an aspiring writer who would be interested in participating, leave me a comment! Perhaps this will be the begining of a long and fufilling email friendship.
http://www.oneofus.co.uk/index.php/writing_tips/writing_exercises
