Sushi For Breakfast

I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually ever complete this degree.

Maybe it's a doubt thing because the current coursework isn't well organised (it's a group work thing you post to the forum, I finished mine at the weekend but I can't do anything until everyone else has done their bit) and because the latest part of the assignment is a pain (600 words on the structure and function of DNA). But I'm starting to wonder why I'm doing this. I mean, the work is mostly interesting, and I like that I've never been a science person up to now but now I'm studing science at university and that's so cool, but it takes up so much time - two hours after work every night, plus a load at weekends. I've put on loads of weight that I can't exercise off because I'm too busy studying to go to the gym, or once I've finished studying, it's time for food and then I can't go the gym cos I don't get to finish my food until 9.30pm. The only career plan I have for doing this course is Astronaut, and if I'm not physically fit, that's not going to happen (imagine being so lardy you get stuck in the hatches in the ISS, like Winnie-the-Pooh - not pleasant, but that's where I'm heading at the moment), and even if I am, and even if I'm of a relevant nationality (which I'm not at the moment), the chances are remote.

I'm going to finish this course, which will get me a Certificate in Natural Sciences, then it's summer, so I can get back to the gym or walking. Then in the autumn I could do two more short courses (Maths for Science, and the one about weather & climates) to get my Certificate in Comtemporary Sciences. But I need to think about why I want to carry on, and what I want to do the rest of my life, if I don't plunge headfirst into completing a science degree.

I hate chemistry. I can't really do the simple equations (I get them wrong, or when I get them right it's by luck than design) and they're getting more complicated. I just read a chapter on energy transference, which is a bit more like the physics I was doing last month, except I don't get most of the equations and I've had a sneak peek of the next assignment question, which takes in this chapter and the next chapter, and is about big equations that I don't understand.

I'm very pessimistic now about this course. I know I only need 40% to pass, but I don't know if I can manage that with chemistry. And we don't get the next lot of course books until after Christmas, so I've no idea if it's going to get worse or better. A couple of the book titles look like they may be more my thing, but I think they should send us everything together.

I've also decided that if this is the way things will be, I'm not going to carry on with stuff I know I'll find difficult. No more chemistry, and I'm not going to do that maths short course either. I'd like to do the one on weather & climate, then probably the one on volcanoes & earthquakes. That will be enough to get my Contemporary Science Certificate.

I might be able to cope with the chemistry if it wasn't so much new stuff at once. It feels like it would be doable if I'd done it at school, for instance, where you get a chance to practice stuff. There's no chance with this because you're immediately on to learning something new, and there's no opportunity to think about it in your spare time, because your spare time is what you use to do the course in. There's no such thing as spare spare time.

All this means I'll never be an astronaut, not unless NASA or ESA (or any other space agency) decide they need a writer-in-residence on the ISS or wherever. Which I can't see happening.

I spent practically all day today on one chapter of my coursebook. I have totally lost the dynamic nature of my brain that allowed me to do that calculation last week about the golf ball, now it can't even do simple stuff, which isn't what's needed when things are getting more complicated. The worst of it is that the beauty of all the early stuff is that it's simple (ie uncomplicated) - rearranging equations isn't difficult, it just calls for clarity. But now my brain is full of fog which refuses to shift. And I broke one of my favourite gel pens :(

So, some stupid quizzes to match my brain.

( Here )

LOLZ at the last one, I don't think. There weren't any questions about physics which obviously skewed the answer. Speaking of physics, there was an awesome TV film on TV last night, Einstein and Eddington, starring David Tennant as Arthur Eddington, about their work. Fabulous, catch it if you can cos it was brilliantly done. And the physics was cool and didn't involve lots of calculations on my part.

One-and-a-bit orbits left before the deorbit burn, and "perfect" weather at KSC according to NASA. After the plodding of yesterday once the live video stopped, it's getting exciting again.

The end of the mission means I'll have no excuse for not doing my Uni work. I made a start earlier today, I watched some more of the course DVD that I should've watched last week, but NASA TV won out there. It's odd that whatever short course I'm doing, I get interested in some other area of science rather than the one I'm studying. When I was doing my Astronomy and Planetary Science courses, I was getting really interested in human biology. Now I'm studying Genetics, and my mind is full of physics. Yesterday I received my welcome pack from the Institute of Physics, so I need to go through that properly as well as catching up on my Genetics course. But it's all super fun.

The Big iPod Backup Project is moving fast, I've now got a copy of all the files together in one place. OK, not quite all, but much less than I'd feared seems to be missing (less than 10 tracks out of 2200+) and I'm sure I've got backups somewhere. I've deleted lots of duplicate files, so I must remember not to empty my Recycle Bin until the project is completed. Now I just need to go through all my iTunes library and make sure the right file is attached to the right entry. Then I'm free to get one of those cassette-to-MP3 things and add on all the comedy stuff that I haven't listened to since I got my iPod back in May 2005.

And when I've finished with my current iTunes library sorting, maybe I should get started on my OU work? I've just discovered the workbook is available to download from the course website as a PDF so maybe I can catch up on a bit of studying over lunch at work :)