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Friday 27 April 2012

Really bad hair day

Used a new product - Tresemme plumping powder, after which I could not even get a comb through my hair. Even after a second wash with deep clean shampoo, it still feels bad and looks bad. How can they take Funky Chunky off the market and put this on? (Yes, I know, they're different manufacturers but it looks like a trend.)

Still haven't finished the essay on grammar books but its getting there.

I am not giving up the MA course, but at least one person has because of the way the course is (not) being run. She got a full refund, as well, so they are certainly feeling guilty!!

Sunday 22 April 2012

Next module

Went to University for the start of the new module. Wore my striped asymmetric jacket and felt good. This one was on corpus linguistics - studying large bodies of text using computers - so I was OK with it. They used as an example looking for how people greet each other - 'hi', 'hello' or 'good morning'. The results showed that people over 60 rarely use 'hi' and everyone agreed that 'old people' were more formal. I kept my mouth shut (for once!) but wanted to explain that 60 is not old, that many of my friends are over 60 and that most of us say 'hi'. It turned out that the data was 30 years old, so they were talking about a previous generation of 'over 60s'. Whereas we are all children of the flower-power 60s, man. It makes you wonder whether a lot of age-related research is out-of date.

Sunday 15 April 2012

I've got to get down to it

I am trying to write a 5,000 word essay which compares and contrasts two grammar books. I have put in many hours and have produced about 4,700 words and a few colour graphs but am still some way from something intelligent enough to hand in. Its such a massive topic that I keep getting side-tracked onto issues I did not intend to include. I need to steer a course between being too superficial and including so much detail that there is no clear argument. I really need to focus!!

Another problem is that last time they told me I could not cite lecture notes and had to find a reference from an academic source such as a text book. I have on-line access to the library catalogue but not to the books themselves. And I can't very well order a book every time I think a couple of lines might be useful. They have not thought this through for distance learners.

Next week is the face-to-face day for the next module. Another outfit to plan. I've already had my hair done - Old Faithful did really well with it last time, so I hope this one looks as good by next weekend.

This course is so much harder than I dreamed possible. And I've understood and enjoyed all the material in the grammar module!!

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Got it!!

I bought the dress for TSH's daughter's wedding. Deep blue long dress and matching jacket. Do I accessorise with black, as advised? Or do I go for purple - so much more dramatic, and my favourite colour?

Cooking for Easter weekend all went well  in the end and most things have been eaten. But I forgot one of the simnel cakes and left it in the oven for hours - it was a bit dry round the edges but the bulk of it was fine. The other one should have been made a bit earlier - it was too crumbly. And one day, I actually burnt the carrots!! Am I losing the plot?  But the quiche was the best ever!!

I have used up a lot of nervous energy this weekend and I'm very stressed. And I haven't written ANY of the essay.