The final stretch

It's November 28 today. I can't believe the term has flown so quickly by. I have one major paper left, 2 presentations with the 2 group papers we've submitted so it certainly isn't over yet.

I miss a few spare hours to do nothing (although there is a nice collection of back shows to watch collecting on the PVR). I'd like to pull out the Advent stuff (seeing as tomorrow starts Advent). But if I go into the under-eave storage, I'll be tempted to start cleaning. Okay, I'll get distracted. I have started to seriously wonder if I'm ADHD!

Back to the paper.

My own soundtrack

I remember walking for hours as a teenager (we lived in Whitehorse; not only was it a stunningly beautiful place to live, there was no internet, 2 radio stations - CBC and CKRW - and 3 TV stations as we didn't have cable).

It was always a source of wonderment to me how people in the movies would have a soundtrack signaling the protagonists' mood and heralding future events, I wished that I could have my own soundtrack.

Fast forward 30 years. I wander to class with earplugs safely lodged in my ears, and realized that most of us ARE wandering around these days with our own soundtracks! I have a couple favourite lists that I listen to but branch out occasionally. I like this technology!

The WORST is over?

I think I may have hit apogee!

For the last three weeks I've been moving every moment from one project/paper to the next. (Or in Vancouver last weekend for a fall institute where interestingly I presented a poster on health care workers and influenza vaccinations!)

I tear myself away from writing a paper to run to a meeting for a group project. Today I ran back for 2 minutes to slap a few more words into a poorly designed paragraph so I wouldn't lose the thought (community based research and policy). Then I hopped into the car to the U of A for the group meeting (collaborative agreement assignment). When I came home I looked at another group project (community gardens) and then back to the paper... In between I try to look engaged when people talk to me, and when they call I have to determinedly look AWAY from the computer or my attention is divided and then gets suuucked into the computer. The human voice is no challenge when I'm in the middle of this stuff!

But, now the paper is 95% done. I have <4 hours of work to do this weekend, the glory of it is that I can't do more - I'm waiting for others to do their part or to get a draft back :)

Happy happy. Oh, I know that it will speed up again, but it shouldn't be that frantic. Ahhhh. Ahhh. Mmmm.

Repetitive Injury

I gave in last week and purchased a wrist protector. It keeps my right wrist from twisting or rolling (as opposed to pitch and yaw). Thanks to an inept database interface, I spend my research assistant time inputting information into a poorly constructed excel form which requires 35 stupid movements per survey (out of about 50). So in nursing terms I have repetitive strain injury.

In student terms, I think I have repetitive brain injury! This is the craziest week of them all for what has to be handed in and what's quickly coming "down the pipe". So I'm spending hours on the computer putting things together and thinking great thoughts I'm sure (if only I could recall them with coherence). Happily, one is handed in only a day late (with permission) and I'm struggling to get tomorrow's together (no hope till this weekend, also with permission).

As for influenza, Alex probably had H1N1 last week (Jocelyn's nursing class calls it the hinny flu). I have a tickly throat and a dry cough. And fatigue. No fever. Could be worse!

Egad it is Oct 26!

I knew it would be busy - just didn't think it would be THIS busy! Not to whine.

We've moved Mom W over to assisted living. She found the day of the move very difficult of course, but with the short term memory loss, she has adjusted much more quickly than we expected. That's a great thing. However, the condo is still not sorted, let alone painted or ready to sell, and that hangs over our heads. Well, more over Brian's head, since I have the excuse of homework.

Fortunately 12 hours a week is "graduate research assistant" time. That means I am the second person for double entry data for a whack of information collected for a research project called "Healthy Alberta Communities", or "HAC" for short. I'm a happy HAC-er. I go, input data for hours and while I am giving half a mind to staying accurate, redesign the interface each time (curses to poor designers!). But it is 12 hours of relative peace. Nice people there too.

The courses I'm taking. Well I'll try to be better at writing, but today we were talking about the Columbia shuttle disaster and the evils of powerpoint as a communication mechanism. Jim, our instructor was trying to get us to say PPT is evil. I'm sticking with it's terribly misused (read "Presentation Zen". As another student, John, says: guns don't kill people, people kill people...

In short, it's such great fun to play with interesting ideas. Now back to the grindstone!

Into the grind

Three courses are different from one. Yes, that's obvious, but I always worked full time and took a course simultaneously. The trick is keeping them separate. Work and a course were completely different. Right now I have two courses that the readings for each can apply to the other, and this theoretically can be a good thing. Until, of course, everyone is discussing the week's readings and I am unable to recall which readings I am SUPPOSED to be talking about. I do seem to have breadth though, if not depth!

Grad student woes

I realized in the first week that my progressive lenses are not fully sufficient for the fine print. I read about 100 pages a week, and I was getting headaches. Capitulating to the inevitable, I have purchased reading only glasses.

Wow.

I think I've been missing a lot. I think I will be able to read faster. I think the headaches will go away and I think I will be able to think!

Memory

I just found out last week that a good friend from Bethany college died in August. Rick was 50 and we were good friends 30 years ago. He was such an amazing guy - full of curiosity and possessing a crisp intelligence that often left me feeling behind the eight-ball although he never used his sharpness to lift himself higher than others.

Rick was a photographer and one day we went to the Saskatoon conservatory and he took photos of me - and one remains my favourite to this day. I always felt that Rick the friend reached through his camera, and I've been in favour of a friendly photographer ever since. While photos are technically all about physics and chemistry (light/film), I sometimes can see that the photo captured a more ephemeral essence of truth.

Even though Rick and Barb were more "annual letter" friends, there has always been a comfort in knowing that they were there. I miss his presence very much.

Panic

So soon! My printing is lost - I sent it to the basement laser printer. Alex says he didn't take it. Maybe Jocelyn? I have to go to my research assistant work, there's a meeting for the studentship group (they are paying me to study - I gotta go!), I need to start getting Brian's mom organized to move, I haven't done enough reading for my courses and aaack. There's more, but I'm not sure I can even say what it is. 2.5 weeks into school and my brain is turning into mushhhf jeksnfkk ld...

Procrastination - the curse of the student

So, I thought, it would be good to track what happens this year. "I should create a blog so I don't forget."

That was what I thought in August. Today is September 16 and I was going to sleep in a bit because of a miserable night, but I had to wake up to call for a physio appointment (nothing till next week - sob) and by then I was mostly awake, although still decaffeinated.

The gift of a year in school is such a surprise. While every September I would indulge in a wee fantasy of being a full time student with the opportunity to learn great new things and engage in interesting conversations (I was never foolish enough to yearn after the assignments and deadlines!), it was a pipe dream at best.

But as most of the interesting opportunities arise, this one came to me in a rush. June 10: no job past September 30 this year. Recover balance, June 15 check to see if the wee studentship I was going to use to cover those odds and ends (to be fair, I've been working full time and taking one course a semester for years) could convert into a full time studentship. Early July, yes, indeed it is possible. But can I indeed get the courses I need to complete my MSc in Health Promotion Studies by April 2010? Substitute courses became available in both semesters. Whoa.

July 22 - I'm going to school kids! I left town for work July 26 straight out to vacation July 31 returning home August 16. Last 2 weeks of work and then: "I should create a blog so I don't forget."