Ring in the New Year with the PROCRASTINATORS...January thread

[wildstrawberryplace]

Happy New Year folks!

Hope everyone had a good break. Now get those noses to the grindstone!

2 TMAs due in the next 7 days. What, worry -me?

Aaargh! Had a midnight deadline today for big essay worth 60% of module! Bottled it this afternoon and begged lecturer for extension (have been poorly since Xmas and undergoing tests ATM). Feel really guilty. Please may I request some arse-kicking over the next few days? It's all there in draft form - work is there - just need to spend a few hours knocking the 3,000 words into shape and doing the references.

Sorry to vent, but have had so so many distractions. Been unwell, and my oldest friend is terminally ill in hospital. She is only 54 . Her useless husband has just been admitted to hospital with liver failure - he is an alcoholic who was warned last year he would die if he started to drink again and he hit the bottle last week after his wife went into hospital. Us friends are trying to pick up the pieces with her very elderly parents, looking after the house and pets, distraught adult kids etc etc. As well as trying to provide emotional support.

Without boasting TOO much though, I have always been given Firsts for my work by this guy, so my lecturer is willing to cut me some slack. Even so, feel I have let myself down big-time. I also have a presentation due next week and another essay the week after before this semester finishes.

Help!

.

Oh God, it sounds dreadful Please, don't feel guilty. You haven't been well and have a lot on your mind at the moment. Asking for extension in these circumstances is ok. Just try spreading the work over next few days, an hour or two every evening, it will seem more manageable.

So sorry about your friend.

Thanks Winnybella. Am a dreadful chronic procrastinator. Am stupidly worried that I can't seem to focus ATM and get the 80%+ standard I'm used to achieving.

Tis v. hard as a v. v. Mature Student to keep things in perspective. You get used to performing at a certain cool and hyper-efficient level when things are good, just because we know lots of Things about Stuff, which school-leavers don't know.

But real life (50-something Sandwich Generation, teen DS with SN, Really Ancient Mama with SN, PA to dyslexic self-employed DH ditto ditto etc. etc.) gets in the way sometimes.

Sounds Riddikulus, but going to Uni at my age means a lot of well, justification, to myself and my family, which I've been able to do for the last 2 years beause I get really good results. I feel that I'm letting down everyone who is supporting me (DH, Aged Mama) if I don't perform at the top of my game all the time .

Look, if you're averaging at distinction level, then even if you got one or two thirds it would not mean that you were letting anyone down (not that you would if you were a straight pass 3 student but ykwim). At all. You're doing amazingly by the sounds of it And it's hard enough and then when life gets tough it's even harder to focus and do well in your studies. Perfectly normal. But you're still doing very well.

I, otoh, have no excuse at all

Gah, it's going to be a long night. And I bet wsp is smugly brushing her teeth now, having submitted her story one minute before deadline

Thanks WB! A well needed dose of perspective!

Have just read back through some recent posts and am feeling v. chastened.

We are all in this together are we not? Good luck, keep calm and carry on!

BTW, 2 of my lecturers teach for the OU (I study at a former poly/old tech college type institution). They both are v v hard markers but THE BEST teachers. OU is a really hard option IMHO.

Respect!!

Yes, I find it very hard to motivate myself when I know I won't have to face the tutors in person.

Right, I might have gotten an idea. Hmm. I wonder...Grrr, why is DD coughing? And crying now Not now, arrrgh.

Ha!

I still haven't started.

I've had a few ideas, but as soon as I try to start fleshing it out I discard the idea as crap.

Meh.

Waiting for reply from tutor to see if it will be accepted past the extension deadline

LP Sorry you've got so much going on right now. You're not letting anyone down at all.

Am getting utterly fed up of current course. It's been full of errata, questions on assignments not properly checked before they go live, wrong files being put on for TMAs (twice!). Two of my tutorials are showing as cancelled and saying I'll be emailed about Elluminate sessions to replace them but have had no email (couple of weeks later). My latest assignment hasn't been marked (today is 2 weeks after the cut off date) . I feel like I'm drowning in their nit-picking over details yet they have no ability to explain anything clearly.

wsp- I just got another couple days extension, my tutor is lovely. I'm sure you'll get an extension as well. OTOH I am a bit pissed off with the email I got from the OU, the situation is not great, but not completely hopeless and I have a record of getting good and v.good marks (heavily peppered with mediocre ones ) so suggesting I withdraw from the course makes me Doesn't seem very supportive which is what OU like to say about themselves.

Hope the writing will go well for you. I had an idea last night that I thought was good but now I'm not so sure

crafty- that sounds ridiculous. I would be complaining. What course are you doing?

winny - It's M257 Putting Java to Work. I think the fact it's a computing course makes it all the more annoying when the course team upload the wrong files . I'm just a bit gutted cos I really enjoyed M255 (Object Oriented Programming with Java). I also don't actually need the credits from this module either (have credit transfer) and am only doing it cos it's a recommended pre-requisite for a level 3 module.

I'm putting Java to work right now but this kind of java

Evening folks.
So did all the extension requests get accepted?

I've just had a rather miserable tutorial. One of last nights lectures was on statistical analysis, and there was a paper to read, and questions to answer. I couldn't understand most of the paper: it was a really dificult read and as for the questions he wanted answered..... No clue. The tables he wanted us to pick out the pertinent info from looked like hieroglyphics to me.
I got the general gist of the paper from the abstract, but the questions on statistics went over my head completely. He seemed to start from a position of assuming we all knew how to analyse research data. (To be fair, hes a psychometrician -which I've never heard of before today- but I think it's something he finds extremely interesting) I think I did a term on Maths with statistics about 20 yrs ago. I think I might have missed out the statistics bit.
I dont think I am stupid, but I certainly feel thick after that.

Can anyone recommend an idiots guide to statistical analysis?

Sorry, can't be of any help with the statistical analysis, I'm actually breaking out in cold sweat at the thought of studying a subject like that Maybe just ask on Chat?

Right, I better get started.

Melty, it all depends what level you've been thrown into...

For a look at the absolute basics and as a refresher you could have a glance over

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/maths/data/

And then google for specific terms, functions etc

If I had a choice , I suspect I might not study it either. This module is Research in Clinical Education. Its compulsory. And and its a bit like learning a new language.
Yeah. Actually, I think I will copy it over to Chat.
Good Luck!

Have you heard about the statistician who drown in a river with a mean depth of 15cm? :o

Thanks Joan. I dont think I ever covered probability.
In my life.
I do remember vaguely : mean, mode and median.

blimey, are you lot still here???

(it's madwomanintheattic from about a hundred years ago . in a fit of pique over bloody fb buttons again i namechanged to see if i could and now it won't let me change back... hence username)

i thought i would crawl back to see how it was all going and celebrate that i have yet another chance to submit my msc this year (have been in discussions with college as to whether i have overstayed my welcome and run out of withdrawal/ extension time... apparently not, though i am sceptical...)

so, here i go again. i can't promise to be anything other than a bad influence, i'm afraid...

v interested in the add/ procrastination idea. ds1 has been dx since i last fell by the wayside and i've been wondering if there may be a few, er, family resemblances...

there are loads of stats books which might be helpful, but i can't really picture what you're trying to do, melty... what's the table?

lol at the computer course uploading the wrong files, too. typical.

Thanks Out of Body!
I stuck a thread in Chat, Here with a bit more info, and have a few tips and sugestions, so I will see how I get on.

Heyyyy, madwoman. How are you? Did you come back to take away my The Biggest Procrastinator title? So you didn't submit your Msc? Naughty. But good to hear you have another chance. Yep, the ADD thing might be it for a lot of procrastinators, I reckon. DP and DF tell me I'm just lazy and to get my shit together, though

Melty-good that you got some advice. I admire you immensely for being able to comprehend any of it.

Riiiight. I should get started.

oh, i am the queen, you know it. but we can share the title if you like...
noooooooo, i didn't submit. but i will. honest feckity feck, how many times have you heard that?!
there will be one big party come september if when i get this thing done.

just found out today though, so now i need to get myself organised. we moved house (again? can't remember when i fell off the wagon) and everything is in boxes, so my job for this weekend is to unpack. i am mortified, really. wtf is wrong with me?! at least i feel reasonably normal around here... even if some of you have developed some unsavoury habits like handing stuff in. tsk hope it's catching.

actually, i'm quite thrilled you are all still here. i was really worried you'd all have graduated and been accepted for 1+3s and be frequenting the phd threads! mn needs procrastinators.

Right I got a couple of days grace, this is it. Today's the day. Yes siree. Go go go!