Trawling through the internet

Since joining up for AA100, I have spent quite an unhealthy amount of time online. My first stop, with regards this course was to look at the OU Forums. What a nightmare! Remember back in the 1990s when your browser of choice was 'Netscape' and to search you HAD to use 'AltaVista' or navigate your way through 'Yahoo'? Well it was just like that.. clunky and dated.


Thank goodness we are in the 21st Century though. A quick search on 'Google' brought up a 'Facebook' page specifically for those starting the course at the same time as me. Being an avid user of Facebook anyway (I always have it open when my laptop is switched on) it was the natural choice.


I've already met some interesting people, some local but mostly distant. However, the one thing we all have in common is this shared journey. A few of them have even friended me on Facebook, making it much easier to seek advice or just to have a quick chat to take our minds off studying.


One of the main discussion topics last night (when we weren't discussing Marmite, wine, fanciable celebrities etc...) was the forthcoming AA100 website. What would it look like? What would be on it? Would it answer all our questions? Would we all be so scared that we pack in the course, never to study again for the rest of our lives?


I decided I just HAD to stay up until it went online. I settled myself in front of the laptop, opened Facebook and my Student Homepage and waited. Midnight came around (just in the middle of American Dad on BBC3) and I got all excited... a red circle with a number one suddenly appeared next to 'Messages'. Could this be it? Sadly no, it was just a message telling me about the website.


Upon closer inspection, I discovered the website would go live just after 1am. As American Dad had now finished and I could find nothing else on TV worth watching, I decided to watch the live stream of some American bloke babbling on about American stuff. I think the gist of it was 'blah, blah, blah!'... ten minutes applause and whooping from all the other Americans... 'Bring me a Bill and I'll sign it'... further applause and whooping... etc. He managed to pad out a twenty minute speech into a couple of hours.


Anyway, by half past two, there was still no sign of the website and the American bloke was boring me to tears, so I decided to call it a night and went to bed. The website would just have to wait until later...