OU blog

Personal Blogs

Richard Tod

Another year another Blog

Visible to anyone in the world

All change,  I now am a grandparent, more of which later.  For now it is the studies.  Onward and upward.  Finished A222 Philosophy and now starting A333 Philosophy.  When I finished my exam in June I looked forward to no studying for a while.  Two weeks later I was picking up my A222 books and revising ready for A333.  The thing is that I am very interested in politics and have been for as many years as I can remember.  This whole BREXIT fiasco has been driving me nuts and some of the stuff we talked about during A222 seemed to resonate with me and helps explain (For me at least) the state of chaos the country is in at the moment. 

I find the discipline of study very difficult.  I have always been self-taught (Kicked out of school at 15 with no qualifications.) and could work at my own pace and whichever direction I fancied.  I also find the on-line forums frustrating as people go off subject and I have to scroll through loads of stuff before I get to the stuff that is important to me.  I suppose that is just unsociable but hey, I am 70 next birthday so I can have my own little foibles.  I have been asked so many times why I study at all. Plato had the answer:  'The unexamined life is not worth living.'  Well, I am examining life.  Philosophy does not supply answers but makes far more intelligent questions. 

I keep getting stuff from the OU on careers.  This has made me think a great deal about what I want to do with my degree if I ever get it.  Go on to a Masters?  Write the books that are spinning around in my head? or just relax and enjoy doing nothing? .........How can anyone enjoy doing nothing?  Well, I mean for a long period of time?  So it might be both of the first two I suppose.  Then again I might use my new knowledge of the universe and be more active on the political scene.  I could hardly do any worse than our Leadership at the moment.  

I have a Grandson.  An adopted boy at 3 1/2 years now 5,  who has experienced more hardship in his young life than most of us experience in a lifetime.  He is strong, funny, very loving and full of energy.  I love him so much.  He has done more for me than I have for him.  We are the best of friends and often go on 'ventures' together.  We both have the same caps which we have to wear when going on a 'venture.' I have swung, slid, crawled, climbed, ran and fallen, got muddy, soaked and tested to the point of exhaustion and loved every minute on our 'ventures.'  His experiences have given him a few problems we are working on, but it has also given him very heightened senses.  He has a level of awareness years ahead of his age and, like all kids, questions everything.  'Why Grampa?' We encourage him to use his senses to their maximum and never stop asking why.  It wears me down some times but I am never too embarrassed to say 'I don't know.'  (Which is more often than I like to admit.)  I would just love it if he could see me collect my degree.  That would be the proudest moment of my life. 


Permalink
Share post
Richard Tod

Preparations to study with the OU

Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Richard Tod, Monday, 10 Oct 2016, 08:51

I am now ready to start my 'Open University' studies.

My Study, come bedroom, come gym is set up.  On one end of the room is a large leather sofa bed.  I use the sofa when reading and the bed for guests. 

I have sciatica and I have lost the feeling to parts of my foot recently so am keen to make sure I do as much as possible to stop it getting worse.  I also have high cholesterol so lots of sweaty heart pumping exercise is, I am reliably informed, the best defence against stroke or heart attack.  The gym is therefore a major part of the study layout.

The gym consists of an exercise bike on which I sit and peddle nowhere whilst watching programmes on the computer or listening to podcasts.  I have one of those large rubber balls for back and stomach exercise which normally lives under the desk and doubles as a foot rest.   In the corner of the room I have some barbells for upper body workouts.  My 'Ikea' desk is small and really a table but big enough to hold my laptop, keyboard and a linked large screen.  I use both screens.  One to read the other to take notes.  Beside the sofa there is an 'Ikea' bookcase overflowing with a large selection of books and more piled against the wall to the side of it.

There are two windows in my study and I look out over my street which is a main walking route from my estate to the town centre.  Even so, it is normally quiet and empty.  The study is south facing and when the sun shines I have to close the curtain on the window by the desk.  This does not happen too often in the UK.

My planned routine is to rise about 07:00 make a light breakfast and have an hour exercise.  Then shower and dress.  Afterwards it is time to check emails and any updates on the OU Forums, responding where necessary.  The next two hours or so I devote to study.

All this seems ideal, but I do have to find a part time job to enhance my pension so my routine will probably change if I find one.


Permalink Add your comment
Share post

This blog might contain posts that are only visible to logged-in users, or where only logged-in users can comment. If you have an account on the system, please log in for full access.

Total visits to this blog: 10933