Happy Anniversary!

Was sitting in the bath pondering - trying to de-snot as I seem to be getting an icky cold, and thought - it's April tomorrow, it'll be six months until I start at George's (barring a real screw up in the exams, and I'm not going to let that happen). Then I thought a bit more...

...and figured out that it wasa year ago today that I gave my notice in after nearly nine years at the same job - and committed to my new direction.

Good stuff eh?

:oD

Remarks on Re-Mark...

Right - got my January exam back and seen how I did. Sadly they don't show exactly what they gave marks for, but I do know what I scored for each question and what they were looking for.

Well - first of all I did do a coupl eof dumb things - wrote completely off target answers which is entirely my fault. However, there's an awful lot of marks that seem like I said something that was the equivalent of what they were looking for. To me at least, but it's hard to be subjective - would what I internded be clear to someone who didn't know what was going on in my head?

Anyway, it's with Derek, my tutor, to see what he thinks, and if he agrees with me then I can go for a re-mark.

7 extra marks out of 70 equates to 10% extra, and it maky get scaled up a bit more deue to the complex system. Getting up to 80 or 82 would help a fair bit. Probably not essential but it might tempt me not to re-sit the paper. I need to revise the stuff anyway, but it would mean I had the marks in the bank if I can get the mark up without resitting.

Update:

Just got an email from Derek and he reckons there could be 5 marks extra - no guarantees, but enough to make me think that there's a good chance of it going up at least 1, which means I get it for free. That'll scale up to at least 7 extra marks if not closer to ten :oD

More Work and Less Work!!

Sitting at work rather bored - neither of my one-to-one students has turned up! Just hope that I get paid for these sessions! If not then I'll have lost £70 because someone CBA. Seems only fair since I'm here that I do.

On a positive note, after the Easter hols we have year 10s starting, and I've picked up 4 hours work a week with them, all at times that fit in with the other work, so no extra trips in, and indeed it makes one of the trips in more worthwhile. Should be an easy ride.

The weekend was a bit of a wash-out - I twanged my back on Thursday in a mad couhging fit and that meant I was moving very uncomfortably and so couldn't do a lot until Sunday, when I just about managed to get some shopping and do a bit of study. I've knocked up a rough study plan, so all should be okay. I'm excited about the physio and enjoying the bio, although I'm keen to get stuck into the fizzio ASAP - shame I have to wait over six months still!

Knee specialist this week - hope that gets it sorted, I miss being able to train properly. Glad I'm not doing FLM in a way - the build up always pees me off at this stage - don't think I could do six day a week training and enjoy it, even if the knee wasn't playing silly buggers. Tri-training I think I could though - well I was doing that before Crimbo - can't wait to get back to it. Lots of open water swims over the summer and long bike rides hopefully.

Another Milestone Passed :o)

Tonight I handed in the write up for my second piece of coursework. Phew! Each of them is only a tiddly bit of the A level (45 out of 600) but even so, it's a lot of work and good to put them behind me so I can concentrate on studying the new material we've done this term. What with one thing and another I've rather let that slip.

Had a good sesh at the gym - pump and then spin, with Beccy (the usual Friday instructor) in the class, which was a bit weird having her cycle alongside me and moaning about how tough it was rather than up the front yelling encouragement!

Now - all that remains is to get that B grade overall - and get through the Occy Health thing that I've booked for April 3rd. I suspect it'll be a formality as it's only with the nurse, Is suspect if they had any major concerns they'd have got me to see the doctor.

Got my repeat bike CBT booked, got the new tax disc, just need to sort out the insurance.

At some point I need to get out and socialise a bit more - I've rather buroied myself in the books lately - still see friends but not done any dating type activity!

Need to Get My Head Down!

Hmmm - weight has peaked at 95kgs, so that'll be my starting point. I have been rather bad for snacking on handfuls of dry cereal - I think I must have been a guineau pig or something in a former life.

Saturday - and I have two p ieces of coursework to finish. One is pretty much done, and the other has some small (but probably critical) wording tweaks to make regarding the words "concebntration" and "strength" (and probably "quantity" as well). All rather iirtating. I've woken up with a thumping headache again, which isn't helping. I've cancelled Body Pump to enable me to concentrate on this, it really shouldn't take more than a few hours but having an appointment in an hour was hanging over me - I'm booked in fopr spin tomorrow and tbh my legs are a bit sore from yesterday anyway!

On the plus side - I've put in the request to get my marked exam script back - which costs a tenner, and I can the ask for a re-mark if there's a major league cock-up. I guess it's more likely that there's no cock-up or a small one than a large one, but at least I'll see what I did wrong which may ease my mind at least! I have seen major cock-up,s but they're unusual, and if it just bumps my mark up by a few then I'll want to re-sit anyway.

Got loads done, booked my repeat CBT test, done various admin odds and sods - everything but get my head down to study! It's only about 8 weeks of term time until the exam starts (plus two of hols) so I really need to hit the books pretty sharpish, which means finishing off the coursework. On the plus side I now have the info that I need fromthe suppliers to enable me to fill the gaps in the write up, so fingers crossed. Trouble is that lots of the admin odds and ends are getting in the way of the study stuff!

Anyway - need to get focused - this is a crucial few months for my plans for the next few years!

You Fat B*stard

Feck!

Weighed myself for the first time in ages this morning - and I've put on weight! 93.9kgs!! That's nearly 6kgs heavier than my lightest, so the best part of a stone.

Okay - I have been exercising less due to injury and being busy with work and study, and tending to pig out on dry cereal and mint choc chip ice cream, but I wasn't expecting it to have gone up to pushing 15 stone again.

Time to do something about it!

On the plus side my AS coursework is all ready to hand in (save for printing one page in colour as it has a picture of my practical).

I only need a B to get to physio school, so while I'm still slightly knocked off balance by the poor mark last week, it shouldn't be a problem. Would like it resolved just for my own satisfaction though.

Lack of Motivation

Hmmm - finsing it hard to get motivated. I think it's partly the fact that that duff exam result was after so much hard work, and I really don't understand what I have to do to do better/ Hopefully that'll settle. I don't think I want to work any harder than I did for the January exams, and am still to be honest expecting to find out that there's been a huge cock up and actually I scored 90% or something. I spoke to a classmate who I went through a lot of past papers together and she got 90%, and we were pretty much at the same level IMO, so who knows.

Anyway - on a positive note, I had to revise the bits I did in January for the synoptic paper, so this can maybe give me more motivation if I don't get the mark bumped up in some way (I'm hoping to discover they forgot to add something in or whatever!). It just means I'll have to do two 90 minute papers in one sitting, which is stressful. I'm hoping we'll get the new paper out of the way first, so I can do the one I did in January second. If I do worse I get the keep the January mark, what I don't want to do is completely stuff up the new module as well!

In some ways all of this is academic, I only need a B and I'm well on course for that, but it's preying on my mind. Also I'd love to get a stonking A - particularly since I'll be mixing with med school peeps!

Took the Occy health form in, complete with my GP's form on Thursday - all good stuff, so that's hopefully now all going to happen provided I can land that B which shouldn't be an issue - just need to do some study.

Off to the gym in a bit - I think a good workout helps motivate me. I am getting a lot of headaches on my days off - wonder if it's to do with coming off the filter coffee at work?

Another plus - got another 2.5 hours of teaching - get paid even if he doesn't turn up, whihc he might not as he's a bit wobbly emotionally at the mo. A student I used to teach who was a bit of a character but we seemed to get on so it should be quite fun. I wouldn't want to have more than a few hours more maximum - up to 9 now.

Results Day At Last!

Wow - I'd forgotten just how tense it could be - and glad that I can get into George's with a B and don't have to score an A, although I'd still like one!

So how did I do? Well - the score for each module is out of 100, which is unusual in my experience - my subjects have various combinations such as 90, 105 and 120, but no 100. Anyway - it's an adjusted score, so I actually probably scored a tad lower.

Anyway - to the point!

Module one - AS level - 100/100 :oD
Module four - A2 - 70/100 :o(

All rather odd. I thought I'd done well in both, but particularly well in module four. I really thought I'd nailed it! So to learn that I probably scored about 62% before the marks were scaled up really shakes my confidence! It's quite an adjustment from the 90% that I thought I would get. My plan at the mo is to get my marked paper back (you can do that these days) and to see where I went wrong, or hopefully where they've cocked up, in which case I ask for a re-mark. I know it's not always possible to judge how you did perfectly, but this result has really shocked me it was so far off!

Module one - obviously chuffed to bits, but I'd have been happier with 90 in both modules I think! Module one was pretty mucha s expected - I thought I'd got about 90% plus right, so scaled up it should have given close to full marks. Nice to get full marks though, but it's feeling insiginficant compared tot he disappointment of module four.

Okay - I've still averaged A (and then some) which is good, but I'd hoped to have banked a bit more as a bit of a buffer to take the pressure off a bit. In a sense the pressure is off - I only need a B and I've got shedloads in reserve as far as that goes, but I'd like an A as it looks better - I've said that A levels are easier so I'll feel a bit daft if I don't get an A, and it might be looked at when I apply for a job or something. I'd also like to feel that i could have got the grades for med school! More than anything though, I'm just really, genuinely puzzled about what happened!

I can resit it - and keep the better of the two marks, and I'd need to study it again anyway as there is a synoptic paper where they can ask anything, but it's on the same day as the module five paper so just one more bit of stress! I'm going to sleep on it and speak to the teacher on Monday I think. It's not a disaster of course but rather a shock all the same!

Odd Few Days

Spent the last few days gettign all the stuff done I meant to last week but couldn't because I was covering for a sick colleague. Got on top of a lot of stuff - got my med form for George's in to the GP, looked up dates for motorbike stuff (got a few extra weeks so no panic) and started on updates to my practicals for A level bio. Sod all to stand in my way now really - just got to get through the exam. Plus some good news on possible physio work in the southern hemisphere where they're cryign out for trained physios - got to be an option once I qualify.

Thanks to Wumbly for pointing out the eclipse last night - not sure why it was fascinating but it was. Think the solar one back in 1999 was even better, but it was fun to watch the moon go into shadow.

Other good things yesterday - the athletics - first of all a British double in the men's triple jump - fab stuff first by Philips Idowu putting in a jump that Ollson would have struggled to match even if he had been there, and then Nathan Douglas for not throwing in the towel and really fighting until the final jump. Just wish Philips would fulfil his potential - there's an eighteen metre jumper in there somewhere if he gets it all together! Got to love his style too!

Then of course there was Nicola Sanders! Dominant or what? One of the fastest women ever over the distance, and remember that several of those faster were from Russia/East Germany when there was an awful lot of potentially iffy drug stuff going on, so not really competing on a level playing field (allegedly). Knocked over half a second off Katharine Merry's time, and she was no slouch! The British outdoor 400m record will be hers before long (this season IMO), and that goes back to Cathy Cook in the 70s/80s. A fabulous prospect for the future (and not half bad now!!)