Compostable Kate

Yesterday evening I received a cruel-to-be-kind phone call from my history lecturer, the ultimate gist of which was to say I have to stop procrastinating and get this assignment done, because she doesn't want to see me fail this semester. It was nice of her take the time, although she made it clear that she was very busy. Although I have other issues going on at the moment, such as my wrist pain, other pain, and the difficulties I find in being an external student, the overarching issue I have with assignments is procrastination, a chronic avoidance of committing my ideas to paper. I do do lots of reading: books, articles, blogs, and, in this case, watch a lot of DVDs: documentary series and educational series on Ancient Rome (the topic of my imaginary History unit). Not only am I reading about historical content, but trying to get my head around historiography, and also reading about lesson planning and pedagogical theories for use in my lesson plans. I take a lot of notes, and ...

I spent all of 2011 trying to get used to the fact my Dad was no longer around, having died suddenly in November 2010. It’s taken a lot of getting used to, and although I’m not altogether resolved to it, I don’t seem to be constantly reminding myself of his absence.  It’s been a long time since I lost a family member, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for Dad to go, even though he’d been ill for a number of years. He was only 65, after all. Dad and Alex, not long before Dad died. They got on extremely well!  Although I was literally incoherent with grief – after being bizarrely calm while my poor brother Damian was breaking the news to me – my awesome friends, Karen and Steve, came and collected me and my furkids, and looked after me for several days while I processed the news. As Dad lived in the UK, and I am in Australia, I couldn’t be there for my family, and I wasn’t able to attend his funeral. However, I was in constant touch with my siblings, and my Mum (who w...

I haven't fallen literally on my arse for at least two weeks (had a bit of an incident in the shower at Hotel KaznSteve , but it didn't even leave a bruise, so it's hardly worth mentioning), but I have well and truly fallen down in a metaphorical sense. Fallen down and scraped both knees, and even though I'm 40 years old, I feel like crying to Mum about it. I came to this uni course full of confidence, straight from a job I felt I was good at, to do something that I was sure I would be great at. I felt that the stars and planets had all aligned to make my high school teaching ambitions come true, on the second time of trying. I was available, and – at QUT at least – qualified. I could get financial assistance from Centrelink (Austudy is more generous than Newstart, so it would marginally easier to survive without working). Friends and family all thought it was a great idea. Then I started. By the time I got over the physical shock of uni life I had fallen...

I still have doubts about my ability to pass this course, but at least now I am physically managing this uni lark. For the first couple of weeks, if I wasn't at class I was asleep. The physical effort of getting around campus, sitting in my wheelchair all day, and all that concentrating (and confusion) were exhausting. Because I was so tired, and so asleep, I was behind in reading and assignment preparation from the outset. I was also hampered by not having any text books until 2 weeks into the semester (I had no money until then) and my chronic inability to focus or apply myself to studying outside of classes. Now that I am in Week 5, I am much more accustomed to the physical requirements, and my fatigue levels seem to be similar to when I was working (ie tolerable). Although it's come too late to get any of my first assignments in on time (I have extensions for all three; one since submitted), I am at least in a position to try to catch up. I no longer have to sleep until F...

Yesterday was one of those days. There were good parts, but also bad - and ugly - parts. Bad : Actually getting woken up by my alarm. Perhaps I need to choose a different tone; I currently have a nasty clock radio-type beeping noise. Effective, though. Bad : Couldn't move for all the animals on top of me. But... Good : Lots of furry bodies cuddling up with me. Bad : Having to get up, showered and dressed, breakfasted, lunched and out the door in the freezing cold. Ugly : What I saw in the mirror. Bad : Leaving the house at 6.30am and nearly falling asleep on my drive to uni. Good : Getting extra money out of the vending machine when I got my diet coke. Bad : A bunch of us being told off for being late to the lecture, when we were waiting outside while the students doing a presentation set up. Bad : Having to ask the lecturer for an extension on my assignment. Good : Getting an extension on my assignment. Bad : Feeling like a failure for needing an extension on...

I've had to have a re-jig of my uni units this semester, to include a 2nd core unit that I can't do as easily next This means that I now only have one 8am start, although it's still Monday. It also means that my already Manic Monday is now a bit more so, with an extra hour's lecture in there. This gives me a 3-hour lecture, a one-hour break, then a one-hour lecture backed up immediately with three hours of tutorials (although the tutes are all in the same place). It's only one extra hour added in there, but Monday is already just about killing me. However, I then only have one other 2-hour tute on Tuesdays, and then the rest of the week is classes-free. I can still have my nap in the student bar between classes on Mondays, but it won't be as long! I may also need more boosts from the Lolly Shop....

Today was Day One proper of my Graduate Diploma in Education, which will qualify me to become a high school teacher, specialising in senior English (supposedly; more of that later). Today, was EXHAUSTING! I have a 3-hour workshop from 8am , two hours off, then another 2 hours of lecture/tutorial. From next week, one of those 2 hours off will be taken up with another lecture, and I think I may even gain another tutorial from 5 - 7pm. So, although I am totally stuffed after today's effort, I got off lightly. There was a timetabling mix-up, which meant that 2 of our tutorials (or "tutes", to use the vernacular) were scheduled at the same time. I thought I had stuffed up my enrolment, so un-enrolled from one of the modules, but then found out this afternoon that I can re-enrol, because they are rescheduling the 2nd tute (thankfully, not to Mondays). However, if that does leave me with an 11-hour day, I might have to stay un-enrolled, and hope I can catch this other modu...

Obviously, unemployment equals a lack of money, and since I stopped working/volunteering at my last job (I was only paid for 2 and a half out of the 3 years I worked there) last November, money has become increasingly scarce (while I volunteered, the organisation paid my petrol and contributed to my internet and phone costs). Being really, really skint isn't fun, but that isn't the real reason I hate being unemployed. In fact, there are several reasons why I hate being unemployed. One reason is that I'm not used to it. I have been working since my teens, and have only been unemployed three times. Once when I quit college, after having left a great job to get my university entrance qualification. It was only briefly, as I found some casual work, and returned to college the next year, doing a different course. Then I was unemployed when I returned to Australia after graduating, but that only lasted a few weeks also (and how I ended up working as a telemarketer of all thing...