uni

ICAs – One Down

Posted on by JC

I’ve had an ICA (In Course Assessment) due in this week (Thursday) and it was an essay based question of 1500 words. I’ve had the assignment for a while and I have had loads of notes but to convert into an essay with discussion about the topic, that is something I’ve had real difficulty with. Piles of notes, references, and the question itself in front of me – I could answer it if in my normal circumstances in less than 200 words including references for why but to fill 1500, thats a new challenge.

My home is now a lot tidier than it has been, all washing is done and I’ve written so many ideas down that it will keep me busy for years. Why ideas comes to you about things totally different to what you want when you don’t want them is an annoyance but I needed to write them down as otherwise I tend to forget or keep remembering and can not get back to what I need to do.

Came to the end, I had 1464 words – so glad thats done, next one due in January (or December if you want a draft handed in first) and glad to leave it for a while. I’m going to continue with the reading though, I’ve discovered how to read a lot more and write notes as I go along that have been helpful. I’m faster at reading already – good job really, 10 pages here and there really doesn’t cut it on a Law degree – you need to read faster, there is so much of it.

Good idea: Get presentation folders. I’ve not needed them in years so when I went to get some to hand in assignment, I found I didn’t have any – off to Tesco, glad they are 24 hour stores round here, it ensured I had them quickly and on time.

Time management in past is something I’ve been quite useless at. I can provide a great projection and design plan of how to move forward, planning times and dates for everything to be done but to put it in action – that doesn’t usually go quite to plan. I’m glad I made one for the assignment – I thought I had loads of time to do it but as I worked through the plan, I realised I had not. I now have references, and notes that I should write up somewhere for future projects but not done yet.

I think my time plans are starting to make sense now, I’m starting to realise how long it takes to do things and I am meeting deadlines instead of an ideal plan deadline.

On my Bike..

Posted on by JC

A friend gave me a spare bike he had. He offered me it sometime last year and I got around to collecting it last week. I got a hand pump and blew up the tyres and checked the breaks. I dont have, lights, a lock or a helmet but last time I rode was before helmets.

I went out for a short time this saturday afternoon. It was a suprise I couldn’t do it right away – my balance and co-ordination was all over the place – after a few minutes it came back to me how to do it so I guess its true you always can ride once learnt.

It was harder work than I expected and there were lots of gears, last time I had a bike was the early 90’s and I had 5 to 7 gears max – I kept clicking through them on this bike by accident and realised why people dont wear jeans much on bikes (it gets caught)

Its another fitness thing I should do, I am so unfit now to how I used to be. I remember when young and little being able to ride for miles just for fun not for the exercise but actual fun.

Now I lack in energy to do it – think my diet has a lot to do with it and were not so active anymore – even at uni – drove to uni but it was walking all over campus and taking the stairs (I hated the lift) and it didn’t matter if I was on 2nd floor or 10th I still took the stairs.