Uni is back! Semester two started recently and after a blissful four weeks of being blissfully unmolested by looming assignment deadlines I was back to feeling very happy about my decision to return to study. How things change! At the end of semester one I was considering stopping study after a struggle balancing study under COVID-19 isolation with my job.
Semester one began with three weeks of being a 100% carer to Bitti, so I lost my normal Saturdays off to catch up on reading and the painful business of getting an assignment straight in my mind. I can do this after work, but Saturday is a better day for it because I can use the morning, my best brain time, and am not already fatigued by work and sitting at the computer for 9 hours. Undeniably, even just having one night off a week and the daylight hours on Saturday makes a big difference to my energy levels as a I tackle the remainder of the week with Bitti. Add to that the stress of dealing with the reason why Bitti was with me fulltime and COVID-19 coming to a head and I really wasn’t focusing on uni study as much as I needed to early on. That left me playing catch up later in the semester, and spending less time refining assignments than was wise. Nevertheless, I stumbled through and manged to stick the landing with strong exam results. I need to get better at not expecting too much from myself anyway…
I have this propensity for piling goals on my plate, then figuring out how to manage it all later. So while COVID-19 was brewing, while I was setting up to work from home, and while facing a new semester of uni that was proving more difficult than expected, I decided it would be a great time to get started on my kitchen update. Because of course. It definitely was a good time in one sense, because I could get tradies around to provide quotes easily, I was home all the week days and they were all desperate for work. There was some sense in it, but it was also a sneaky procrastination move because I was spending the time I should have been studying researching benchtop materials and stalking appliances online to compare prices. Naughty. But look, the kitchen is now almost complete and I LOVE it. The dishwasher is saving me so much time cleaning up so definitely worth the investment.
OK, getting off track. Maybe a reno update another post? So, after four weeks off and having time to just chill, paint the house, clean up Bitti’s feral bedroom finally, and actually on the last Saturday sit on the couch and think, ‘I have nothing I need to do’, I am feeling VERY refreshed. It helps that COVID-19 isolation has been lifted for my state, so life is feeling back to normal. I have had coffee with friends I didn’t see for a while and the pressure of not knowing when things will get better is lifted. Although of course still not entirely abated, Victoria is under full lockdown again right now and who knows when I’ll be able to get on a plane again?
So, with this fresh vigour I am facing Semester 2 and the two final subjects that will close out my second undergraduate degree: Doing Research in Psychology: Advanced and Health and Lifespan Development. The cool thing about these two being undertaken together is that they both are focused on critical analysis of research findings and writing in the academic style. DRIP last year was all about learning how to run statistical analyses, choosing which one is appropriate and interpreting and reporting the results. Hands on, using R Studio and working with sample datasets. This year DRIP veers into more application territory, looking at others’ results and figuring out if they are to be trusted or not. Week 1 the lecturer has proven herself to be very passionate and excited about this subject, touching on the reporting errors and biases that researchers demonstrate (mostly unconsciously) and how to pick that up when looking at reported results in an article.
So what am I going ot do differently this semester? First, I am actually watching the lectures as they come out, one each night, and do the weekly exercises well before they are due. I have written out a schedule and will stick to it! I have popped in some socialising days on the weekends after assignments are due so I don’t feel I am on this 4-month stretch of hermit-like sacrifice. Christmas hits really soon after Semester 2 exams so I am starting to stock up on presents now, rather than having to do that in a rush after I’m done with testing. Bitti’s present is already up in the high cupboard. Shhhhh. I am NOT doing any more renos (except maybe the garden because if I miss spring I can’t plant until autumn next year, and I might have accidentally told Bitti that I would put a monkey bar set in for her … ). I have cancelled all the streaming service subscriptions so I cannot be tempted to binge anything. I can’t do much about iView and SBS on Demand, but but deleting them from my phone is a good start. Also, I am aiming to complete the assignments early so I can move to the next assignment.
Let’s see how all that goes, aye! Feeling very smug about my plans now. The review of what actually happens will prove amusing.
Two Little Travellers 