Go West (Africa)

As promised, I've reported back to you, immediately after finishing my assignment on Pugin; I just didn't intend for it to take so long. I've been having a tough time this past month, so found it hard to motivate myself to get the reading done; then once I had done the reading, the Job Centre decided to start me on a 'Mandatory Work Placement' which means I've not had time to do the writing. I eventually finished it this afternoon - it's a day late, but fortunately my tutor is on holiday.


I've decided I'm not even going to bother with the chapters about Ireland or Shostakovich. Instead, I'm moving straight on to Book 3 and the two chapters about Benin in West Africa, then TMA05.


Something I did manage to do, last weekend, was to set up my own website where I hope to make money from writing poems and short stories. Please visit my website and let me know what you think... in fact, better still - why not place an order?

Onwards and upwards

I've been a bit hit and miss with my writing over the past couple of weeks. Last weekend being Mother's Day followed by my Mum's birthday on Tuesday meant I wasn't really in the mood, although I did manage to do a few poems (link on the left).


I've also worked on an action plan for my jobseeking, however the biggest drain on my time has been my obsessive checking of the online TMA service, waiting for my assignment to be returned.


It was finally returned last night. I was very pleased with my result - a very respectable 82%. not quite a distinction but definitely good enough. I had some excellent comments from my tutor which actually made it harder to decide what to rework for my second assignment.


The doubt didn't last for too long though - I had my second assignment completed by midnight (I've always found it easier to work at night). I might leave it a week before going back to it, then if everything still looks fine I'll get it submitted.

Change of Route

Yesterday evening, I was sat watching TV with my 'Stepdad' (he isn't really my Stepdad, but there is no word for 'the fiancé my Mum never got round to marrying before she passed away even though they'd been engaged for fifteen years' so until I finish my degree and submit new words to the OED, this will have to do).


We were watching the 1999 film 'The Mummy' starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah. When the Mummy first spoke, my Stepdad said to me, "I preferred it in the old days when the Ancient Egyptian Muumies in films all spoke in English. I can't keep up with all these subtitles!"


After a brief discussion about how EVERYONE should speak English ALL the time, he asked me to find out how many people actually DO speak English, and whether more people speak Mandarin. He also wanted to know when English as WE know it now was first widely spoken. I won't spoil it for you here - if YOU are interested, you'll have to do your own research!


After about an hour of searching and reading, I was hooked. I immediately went to the OU's Qualification Planner and changed my study route.  I am still concentrating on Creative Writing, but now instead of History I will be doing English Language.


I now have my next four years of study planned out: After I finish AA100, I will start A215 Creative Writing and U214 Worlds of English in October of this year. They will both finish in June 2013, giving me the Summer off. In October 2013 I will start my level 3 studies with E301 The Art of English. I will then have an overlap when I start E303 in February 2014. Iwill then finish my degree with A363 Advanced Creative Writing starting in October 2014, hopefully finishing in June 2015.


So, now all I need to do is find a job as a writer, proof reader, editor, librarian or any other job which will complement my studies...

 

My Mum and her log term Fiancé, Kevin - This is the last photo I have of her, taken three days before she passed away

Ee bah gum - it's West Yorkshire

I'm really enjoying the discussions on the AA100 February 2012 and A215 October 2012 Facebook groups. There's always something interesting to talk about whether it is study related (Cleopatra, Faustus, assignments), computer related (open Office vs Microsoft, Evernote vs One Note) or food related (Marmite, Jaffa Cakes, Monster Munch, Coffee, Vodka, Marmite Vodka!).


Today though, one of the conversations was quite civilised and cultural, turning to artists and galleries. This of course allowed me to talk of the many wonderful artists and the fantastic FREE museums and galleries in West Yorkshire, all within about ten miles of my home, and more important to me they are easily accessible by bus.

West Yorkshire has produced some of the greatest artists, writers, actors and broadcasters the World has ever seen. I'd be shocked if you haven't heard MOST (if not all) of these names:

• Henry Moore (Sculptor), Leeds
• Barbara Hepworth (Sculptor), Wakefield
• David Hockney (Artist), Bradford
• Andy Goldsworthy (Artist), raised in Leeds
• Damien Hirst (Artist), raised in Leeds
• The Bronte Sisters (Novelists), Thornton/Haworth/Birstall/Mirfield/Dewsbury
• Barbara Taylor Bradford (Novelist), Leeds 
• Helen Fielding (Novelist), Leeds
• J B Priestley (Novelist/Playwright/Broadcaster), Bradford
• Alan Bennett (Playwright/Broadcaster), Leeds
• Ted Hughes (Novelist/Poet Laureate), Mytholmroyd
• Alan Titchmarsh (Novelist/Broadcaster), Ilkley
• Michael Parkinson (Broadcaster), Cudworth
• John Craven (Broadcaster), Leeds
• Jeremy Paxman (Broadcaster), Leeds
• Chris Moyles (Broadcaster), Leeds
• Patrick Stewart (Actor), Mirfield
• James Mason (Actor), Huddersfield
• Malcolm MacDowell (Actor), Leeds
• Leigh Francis (Actor/Broadcaster), Leeds {Avid Merrion/Bo Selecta/Keith Lemon}
• Thomas Chippendale (Furniture Maker), Otley

 I could go on with a few dozen more names (as well as sports personalities, politicians, scientists, musicians etc) but you're probably bored already, so instead let me tell you about those wonderful museums and galleries that I mentioned.

• National Media Museum, Bradford - Several galleries exploring the history and future of photography, film, television, the Internet and digital media. Two special exhibition galleries
• 1853 Gallery, Salt's Mill, Saltaire - This gallery has a large collection of works by David Hockney. The mill is at the heart of a model workers' village which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site 
•  The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds - Collection of works by Henry Moore
• The Hepworth, Wakefield - Collection of works by Barbara Hepworth
• Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield - Open air gallery of works by Hepworth, Moore and others set in  the grounds of Bretton Hall

Again I could carry on telling you details of dozens more museums (Royal Armouries, National Coal Mining Museum, Eureka Children's Museum...) and art galleries in every town but if you ARE interested then I don't mind helping you to plan a visit to GOD'S OWN COUNTY!

As a treat, and considering today's date, here's a video of former Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes reading one of his poems...

Pin in the Map

I had a day off studying yesterday, but it didn't stop my creativity. I managed to write two poems, although I needed a bit of inspiration from friends. I also plan on doing a few more over the next week using the ideas that I was given yesterday. You can view all of my poems on my Facebook Poetry Page.

 Another obsession over the past few days has been Pinterest. It gives you the opportunity to collect pictures and videos as you surf the Internet, and 'pin' them to boards. As well as boards for weird, beautiful and interesting things that I find whilst 'Stumbling' using StumbleUpon, I also have boards for films that I've watched and books that I've read (but only since 1st February), and also my favourite places that I've ever visited. What started as 'trying it out' has quickly turned into yet another addiction, adding to my procrastination.


Whilst Stumbling yesterday, I also came across a fantastic Open Source download called Storybook. It's a novel writing tool similar to the expensive Scrivener. When writing a story or novel, it lets you organise your story in scenes, rather than writing it from start to end as you would with a normal word-processor. You can also create separate profiles for every character and setting, and manage multiple plot-lines. I think I'll be playing with this quite a lot...

And we're off...

Well today is the official start of the AA100 course. So what's different? Well... not a lot really. As far as I can see, there's my electronic notebook and tutorial forums; but I'm not sure how much I'll be using them as they seem a little 'clunky' for the 21st Century. I'll probably stick to using Evernote and the Facebook group during most of my studies.


I was planning to go to the Induction Event at Leeds University Rose Bowl this morning to meet my tutors and fellow students. Unfortunately we had a power cut at quarter past nine last night. I had no TV to watch, no internet and no light for reading so had no choice but to go out for a few drinks. They were still digging at the end of the road at two o'clock this morning when I got home and went to bed. As my only alarm is an electric radio-alarm clock, I was unable to set it. I'm NOT a morning person so didn't wake naturally until about ten (the event started at half past).


Yesterday afternoon, I managed to write a first draft of my Cleopatra assignment. I really struggled at getting it down to less than 500 words. I did plan to write about three different years, but only had space to write about two. I'm going to leave it for a week or two before I go back and look at it again. Hopefully by then I may have some ideas of how to condense it further...

Far(aday) and Away

After writing last night's blog, I decided to have a go at writing some blank verse in 'Iambic Pentameter' and after a bit of trial and error, I managed to write a poem (click here). I've been a bit hit and miss with my poems since I started looking at the materials for this course, and I'm afraid it's going to stay that way.


Anyway, on to today. I've finally started on Chapter 4 - Fame and Faraday. So far so good. I'm enjoying reading about his life, and how he became a famous name through the 19th Century. However, upon scanning through the rest of the chapter, I've noticed there's quite a lot about his experiments. I realise that these contributed to his fame but I'm surprised to see them in an 'arts' course. Oh well, time to put my science head on...

Gazetteers and References

I didn't read as much as I wanted last night so I've still not moved onto Faraday (I will eventually... Honest). I was thinking about what to do on Saturday after the Induction Event at Leeds University. I've no money left (apart from the £5 I've put on one side for my bus ticket), so I won't be shopping. The event will finish around 12.15pm which leaves the rest of the day clear, and as I will have a 'Day Ticket' for the buses, I might as well get some use out of it.

I decided to start by looking at the Gazetteers on the AA100 website. They list locations around the country to see examples of works I will be studying throughout the course. After a bit of scrolling and clicking I've discovered that there is a great example of Pugin's architecture at St Anne's Catholic Church in Keighley, and examples of Benin art in the Leeds City Museum (there are others at the Leeds Discovery Centre, but this is only for pre-booked tours). I can't decide whether I should visit any of these or leave them until I'm actually studying them (possibly on the same day as a tutorial).

As I was scrolling through the coming weeks I discovered that NONE of the Ancient Sacred Sites, Roman Villa Sites or Eighteenth Century Houses listed on the website are within West Yorkshire. The nearest being in York, which although only another hour by bus would be another £6! I think a bit more research might be required to find something similar locally.


I also spent a little time today working through the online activities for using the Harvard Referencing System, and then followed this up by adding some references to my pre-prepared assignment and advising someone on the AA100 Facebook page. Now back to my reading...

Getting Ready

Well, I still haven't finished the book, so still haven't moved on to Faraday. It hasn't been a totally wasted day though. I spent an hour or so preparing my document for my assignment. I'm still trying to find my way around Open Office, as previously I've always used Microsoft Word. The free version of Word that came on my laptop though has an annoying little animated advert in the bottom corner which you can't turn off (without buying the full version), and always seems to crash my computer (obviously nothing to do with the half dozen tabs I have open on Firefox).


With a bit of playing around, customising toolbars and changing default settings, I managed to get it to do what I want, although I am disappointed that there is no option for a 'live' word-count or even just a word-count button to save me having to go to the menus. 

For my first TMA I've set up a document with a header containing my name, OU identifier and TMA number; a footer containing page number; title, question (copied and pasted from the PDF version of the Assignment Booklet) and bibliography for parts 1 and 2 (part 2 separated by a 'Page Break'); and just because the idea has been swimming around in my head for a couple of weeks - my introduction paragraph for Cleopatra. This has helped a lot because I now know that six lines of Arial 12pt, is approximately100 words.


As well as this, I've also set up a LinkedIn account to help with my job search, and following advice I received in an email, I shall be including details of LinkedIn,  my Poetry Page and my Blog on any future CVs that I send...

Beginings

Around five weeks ago now, I received an early Christmas present. A box full of books, CDs and DVDs... my study materials for the Open University. After checking the contents I placed it in a corner and immediately forgot about it. After all it was Christmas... and there was partying to be done!


Once Christmas and New Year were out of the way (and the living room back to a state of normality) it was time to get the box back out again. I set up a study area in the corner of the room. Desk, bookshelves, boxes of pens and pencils, laptop and printer, and calendar and whiteboard on the wall. All set, ready to go and only three weeks until the website opens... and a full month until the official start date!


Eager to get going, I took the Study Companion from the shelf and devoured it in a single afternoon. I spent the evening navigating the eternal sea that is the OU website, and still working under full steam I read the Assignment Booklet from cover to cover. Just the tonic I needed to slow me down a little!


I haven't studied since school, twenty years ago so seeing the questions for the assignments started me thinking whether or not I had made the right choice. Arts? Me? When I was at school I dropped History and RE before GCSE, just managed to scrape a C in English Language, D in Music but only F in Art & Design... should I have considered a BSc instead? My results were much better for Maths, Geography (Physical), Economics, Chemistry and Physics.


But no! I just HAD to go down the Arts route if I was to develop my writing skills. You see, after my Mum died last October, we found a book in the bottom of her wardrobe. It didn't look particularly important or exciting, just a dog-eared, greying school exercise book; the type we used to use as jotters (or for doodling when we couldn't be bothered working). But it was what was INSIDE the book that was important.


For about fifteen years, my Mum had been writing poems. They were never going to win any awards, and were unlikely to be published in a Faber Anthology. A lot of them though were about her seven children - Me, my two brothers and four sisters. She had been writing all this time and never shared them with anyone. It was then that I decided I would start writing every day and share MY writing with the world. I just hope she's looking down and reading this over my shoulder, because Mum - this is all for you.


Please visit my Facebook Poetry Page