The incedibly mundane and rare ramblings of Benji

Alrighty. Starting the last assignment of the 3 week intensive preparation course I am doing before starting university properly. It has been quite a full on 3 weeks. In the 3 weeks there are 4 compulsory assessments and one highly recommended one, as well as a bunch of other activities. If this level of workload is intended as part of the preparation I am a tiny bit terrified. Having said that, I should probably get back to the last assignment. I guess I just wanted to suggest, that if you are considering studying again after a gap of 10 years, it is probably a good idea to do something like this. It helped get my brain used to working again. I got to work on skills like referencing and paragraph composition. I got to iron out any lingering faults in my laptop and make sure it was going to at least be passable for the actual study I am embarking on. So, onwards to the first unit of my B.A. that starts on the 27th of this month. Until then I will lay off on the posts about study.

Hello people, As regular readers would know, I am embarking on a new path of study. I am currently 2 weeks into a three intensive study skills course. Full on. I don't know if regular university will be more or less full on. We shall see. Having not studied for a long time, this was probably a good idea. I guess I just wanted to throw something on here, so you know why I may not be for a while. Not certain how much time I'll have for writing random nonsense, let alone the occasional serious blog that is put up here. We shall have to wait and see. That is all I really had. Not overly exciting really. Luckily my preamble profile deal states the likely inanity of my writing. Sleepy now. Goodnight all, Ben

So, it seems I am a uni student again. Today I received a letter from Macquarie university with information about the unit I am enrolled in via correspondence in the coming study period. If anyone is aware of my history with university, it has not usually ended well. I had a lot of HECS/HELP debts with very little to show for it. Two science degrees, an education degree and a business degree were all started, and none were completed. Just to shake things up I have embarked on an arts degree. I am aiming to major in history, and with that hopefully complete whatever post graduate program is in place in the future to do secondary teaching.  The conclusion that this was the path took an awful lot of consideration, just ask my wife who had to listen to it all. In essence, it came down to interest and what I've enjoyed in the past. I enjoyed doing the education degree, but I felt I was far too young at the time. Add in a bunch of personal stuff, and it was never going to happen b...

I've always held strong views. Some of them extreme, some not so much. However for about 10 years I didn't vote in the lower house of parliament in any of the jurisdictions in which I lived. I generally took the ballot paper, wrote something hilarious like grand moff tarkin on it, and put it in the box. I didn't do this from feelings of apathy, but because of feelings of futility. I didn't feel represented by either of the major parties and felt that their main priority was getting elected, and representing the best interests of the people was secondary. You may think that representing the majority of peoples interest is what gets one elected. This is incorrect, appearing to represent the majority of the electorate gets one elected. Now, I do vote. Even though for all intents and purposes none of those issues have changed for the better. Why? I think for perspective it is important to look at the first election I remember voting in. It was federal, and included the re...

So, in our society, one is expected to work, to contribute, to produce. Should someone expect any kind of fulfillment from this? Or should getting paid be enough? How do we determine who gets paid how much for what job? Does it reflect difficulty, community values, media reach of different professions? And what about volunteers, surely they are seeking a kind of fulfilment that cannot be provided by paid work. 'What is my point?', you may be asking. I'm sick of this. I need to do something challenging or fulfilling, preferably both. But its hard when you're over thirty with a family to feed. I need to do a big amount of self examining, and figure out what I'm doing with my life, professionally speaking, soon. I say by the end of next weekend. If I publicly set a deadline, it is real and I have to do it. But I am sure I've said before, I don't want to be driving forklifts when I'm 40. If only because I'm not very good at it.

So, it is now public knowledge that my wife is pregnant, so I feel free to blog about the first 12 weeks of the process. Firstly, inconclusive pregnancy tests are a pain. The faintest of lines appearing at the end of the recommended wait time do nothing good for your anxiety over whether you've been successful or not. Doctors being jerks about it does not help either. It is also less than helpful when they test for everything on earth, except pregnancy hormone. What the hell are you keeping all that urine for creep? Anyway, that was the start of the journey for our future baby who I am going to name pancake, as that is the nicest name we've called it. The next step was an ultrasound. If I can impart only one thing I've learnt so far, let it be this. If you can at all avoid it, don't go for this ultrasound too early. Nothing in this world can make you feel as awful as the words blighted ovum, and that the pregnancy may not be viable. I don't know what the standard ...