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Learning Japanese
I’ve picked up quite a bit of Japanese just by watching so much anime but also from reading manga and from some Japanese tv programs. I have started learning the hiragana characters and have mostly mastered about fifteen of them out of 46, I think. There’s also katakana which are characters used for foreign words which I plan to learn once I have finished the hiragana.
I found many apps for my phone that are really useful. Many of them teach how to draw the character properly and also serve as flashcards of sorts. But the most interesting thing to me now is learning the kanji characters. I downloaded a free dictionary and found it has a study mode with lists of kanji characters for each grade at school up to high school. There are also lists for the various levels of Japanese learning, related to assessments available. I’ve been working on the grade one level for a week or two now and I have impressed myself a bit by recognising characters I see on the anime. Even more exciting was dropping into a Japanese goods shop (they seem to be popular here now) and recognising the kanji character for water….the Scientist wanted to know how to say the word but I am ashamed to say I couldn’t remember it. :) Not that I am working on that part quite as much just yet.
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Crowned
Last week I had my permanent crown installed. It turns out the tooth I thought was getting a crown only had a filling replaced and the crown was the same side but upper jaw instead. At first I thought the lower tooth was better with regard to the food getting stuck. Today I think it’s as bad as ever and I don’t know why this is such a problem area if it wasn’t the tooth that was broken. There’s a part of me worried that it was supposed to be the lower tooth that was crowned and a mistake has been made. I would like to think that surely wouldn’t have happened and he’d have noticed the problem. The crown itself is fine. It feels rather odd at the moment but I guess I will get used it.
Last week I was also plagued with issues related to menopause. There were about 2.5 months between one period and the next so it was another of those ones that seemed to make up for the missed one and then some. Fortunately this one didn’t go on so long as the bad one last year. Still I should be taking those iron tablets and I have been slack since things settled down. This was the direct follow on from the sore throat/cold/cough that had hit the family the week before. I still have a bit of the cough but it’s not a constant thing.
I became a great-aunt last week when my nephew and his wife had a baby boy. He’s a cute little fellow and seems to be getting heaps of attention. It was an interesting case of lots of us keeping up with the progress of things via Facebook because the wife had been updating until she was induced and then my nephew kept a log during the labor. Now it seems to be back to the wife to keep track of everything.
After a bit of a break or a lapse in commitment, I have been working on a few MOOCs again. This time all three are on edX and all three are sort of biology/human body related. The one that got me going again is one about the anatomy of the upper limb. I did this course on Coursera a couple years ago and liked it. They have moved to the different platform for some reason and I have started it again. I’m enjoying it just as much as I did last time. I am pleased to remember quite a few bits but then there is plenty I have forgotten. Most of my time is spent watching videos on this one so that’s okay. There are two others that are self-paced, which works a bit better for me. One is an into biology course which I started once before but didn’t continue due to other factors at the time. It’s a fairly long course but the instructor is quite enjoyable and I think I will learn more this time around. The other is a human cell biology unit fhat’s done at an Australian university. This covers some of the stuff not included in the biology unit. My goal is to understand enough to try out the immunology courses there, which are also enjoyable. I just need to understand some of the basic processed better. It’s all quite a fascinating study for me, which wouldn’t have been the case back when I really was a student.
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Online study
I’d guess it’s almost certain that Greek mythology gets some attention at least a couple of times during our school years and I was no exception. I don’t really recall at what stages we covered it but it was visited on several occasions while growing up. I remember in college we read  the Odyssey during our Western Civ class, although I’m not certain if it was the full thing or just a part of it. I do remember it was hard to read and I didn’t get a lot out of it. The prose stories seemed okay to me but reading the verse was a different story.
I’m currently doing a course on Greek and Roman mythology on Coursera and reading the Odyssey again, in verse. It’s a far different experience to come to it out of my own choice. The translation by Fagles is the one used in the class so I am using that too. It seems to work for me as I’ve been able to read it quite well so far. I still haven’t go into the major part of the story but I am remembering more of what I read this time around. There are some other texts being used that I probably haven’t read before from the source, like Metamorphosis by Ovid. That’s still a few weeks away but I hope I can be as comfortable with the translation there as I am with this one.
Lego Lover is also doing the course with me, although he is more auditing it than anything and mostly watching the videos and doing some of the readings. The pace is a bit fast for him so we may have to do it outside the time frame of the online class. I think the class archive stays up for quite some time so that should be quite doable for him.
I’m now mostly limiting myself to just one online course at a time as it gets a bit too difficult to do more than one and get much out of it. Earlier this year I was signed up for several and only completed one of them so fewer commitments is obviously better.
Later this year I’m doing a philosophy of science course through the University of Edinburgh. I did the beginning philosophy course last year and enjoyed it and hope this delves further into the topics of a couple of the presenters for that class.
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Online learning
I started a few new online courses on Coursera last week. The first one was the Ancient Greece class and it’s been rather slow-going. I signed up for this mostly for the benefit of Lego Lover but I rather doubt we’ll be there for the long-haul. The lecture videos aren’t particularly engaging and it feels like forever to finish just one. I also think some of the reading is going to be a bit much for Lego Lover so it might be an early casualty. The second course is History of Rock and Roll Part 1. I enrolled in this a while ago, then unenrolled and decided to try again after all since the Scientist is doing this course this time. That one is quite engaging and relatively light work so far. I’ll know a bit more once the quiz is released. There’s also Dino 101, which is completely for the sake of Lego Lover. So far, this has been the best course suited to Lego Lover. It’s not particularly complex, easy enough to be handled even by upper primary students. It’s quite engaging so Lego Lover and I are both enjoying it considerably. He really loves the subject matter too, which is funny because he didn’t when he was much younger like many of his same-aged peers.
The big challenge right now is the class on Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. I have never gotten into poetry in any way but I’ve always felt that I must be missing something since so many people love poetry. I don’t know that this particular set of poetry is the best starting point but I thought it would be good to challenge my notions of poetry and see if I can gather up some better appreciation and perhaps enjoyment of it. This first week has been about Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. I am familiar with both but doubt I’ve read either of these poets in the past so knew nothing about either. I’ve only watched the videos about Dickinson so far but it’s been interesting how they can spend half an hour discussing such a short poem. I won’t say this is without merit but I guess that blows me away to some extent. One thing I did after watching the discussions of her poems was to go and read about her, which might be been more practical beforehand as it puts her work in better perspective.
I ended up dropping out of the Modern and Postmodern class that was so philosophy-based as I got behind on the reading and then the video lectures so there didn’t seem much point carrying on. Perhaps I will make attempts at reading on my own and try the class on its next offering. Assuming something else doesn’t catch my attention. At the very least it go my mind working in ways it hasn’t for years. Not even when I was back in school to do my masters in library and information science….
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MOOC obsessed
A local homeschooling connection posted a link to Coursera, which hosts a number of massive open online  courses, on Facebook a while back. I had a look at it at the time and forgot about it for a long while. A few days ago she posted again about how she and her daughter were doing this course on the science of gastronomy and describing what it was like so far. I went back to look and was so hooked that I signed up for the course right away even though it was hours until the first assignments were due to be finished. Even the Scientist got hooked and joined me watching the video lectures and doing the assignments that night. There are four more weeks worth of classes ahead and I look forward to doing those weeks.
I perused over course offerings there and discovered a class called Maps and the Geospatial Revolution. I thought perhaps this would be of interest to Lego Lover and he did find the concept of interest. I signed up for that one and I am doing the course myself but will use the course materials to work with Lego Lover. This is the kind of ideal stuff to use with him for our homeschooling program. If I am taking the course, I can use the information and adapt to his needs without any requirement that he be directly involved. So far Lego Lover hasn’t been involved in any way but I must admit the course is turning out to be quite interesting to me by itself. I’m looking forward to his involvement with what I am doing and if he opts out at any point, I can carry on without him.
There are a bunch of other courses that I found interesting, many which I could use with Lego Lover, and many for my own enjoyment. Further research shows a number of these MOOCs are out there with varying levels of involvement required. It makes me want to lots of courses so it’s a matter of restraint on overdoing things. I’ve added a course on modern and contemporary American poetry for later this year. I’ve not been that interested in poetry but though this might be a gateway if it works out well. If not, at least I tried it out.
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Complete
Last Friday I submitted my final university assignment. I have completed my course, after only six years for what amounts to three semesters of full time study! I must admit I was feeling pretty unsure as to whether I would finish, having taken a leave of absence on two separate occasions. This round of studying was a lot different than my undergraduate experience when I was still young.
I think the obvious difference is that most of us really don’t have nearly as many distractions and commitments when we are younger. And I don’t think we appreciate the freedom that we have for study either. I have discovered that I am or have become far more easily distracted as I’ve grown older too.
Which leads me to the second difference. I know for a fact my brain is functioning at far lower levels than when I was a young adult. Sometimes I find it difficult to form a coherent sentence. So it’s a wonder that I can form a collection of coherent sentences to write an assignment. The second assignment this semester was a really difficult one. I suffered panic and found it hard to write anything at all. When I finally did, I wrote something up as quickly as possible. I realised towards the end that I had overlooked a crucial part of the assignment where I needed to narrow my topic to a particular area. I survived that assignment but tried very hard to plan ahead for the last one.
Which leads me to the third problem. I must have a procrastination gene. I think this because my mother confessed to me earlier this year that she has a hard time completing anything. I have always put off getting started on my assignments from as far back as I can remember. This never caused me particular problems when I was young. I remember actually completing a writing assignment early as an undergraduate and feeling really pleased with that accomplishment. Unfortunately, that assignment ended up with a poorer grade than any of the others and I think that has stuck in my brain because I’ve never finished any assignment early from that time. It doesn’t work so efficiently, though, when you go back to that first difference. Too many distractions make it a lot more difficult to whip up an assignment because you just never know how everyday life is going to take your attention to something else. Then it’s a matter of getting back on track. To get back to the topic at hand, I did start work on my last assignment much earlier. But the writing of it still came down to the last couple of days.
A very significant change in my study this time around is that it’s been done completely by distance eduation. While it’s very practical and very flexible, it has some pitfalls. Some of the units I’ve studied have been very involving throughout, encouraging interaction online. But others, like the one I’ve just finished, have only a few students and the tutor/lecturer only pops in occasionally and makes a few comments then leaves. There is little to no motivation to interact or take part because there simply is no discussion. Then there was the internet studies unit I did last year where the online students were fairly interactive but the lecturer seemed to drop out after the first few weeks and take almost no part in the online discussions. Those students attending classes and tutorials had the benefit of his presence and involvement every week. But those of us online hardly heard from him at all.Â
But now my official studies are completed and it’s just a matter of waiting for my diploma to be processed and sent to me. I completed and posted the intention to graduate form this afternoon and everything should be official by the middle of next month although I’m not too sure when I will receive my diploma.
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Lost
I went to the state library in Perth this afternoon to do a site visit to the archives area with a group of students from information studies area at our university. It just happened that train drivers were all calling in sick today so public transportation was a bit of a nightmare. I opted to drive in and park in the underground parking facility near the library. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and we did our tour/visit. I found the visit incredibly informative and enjoyable. It fit in very nicely with the conservation and preservation class I am currently taking to complete my degree. I particularly enjoyed seeing how they do the conservation work and I saw some pretty amazing results. That area was far more technical than I’d ever want to be but it was pretty exciting stuff. I came away thinking I might be interested in working at the state library in the archives area so will keep that in mind for future reference.
I spent a few minutes talking to another student as I was leaving before going off into the parking facility. I couldn’t find my car when I got there. The place where I thought I’d parked appeared to be a handicapped space…I was quite sure I didn’t park in a handicapped space but it looked very much like the place I had parked…except it was a lot brighter here and I didn’t see a sign on the door that I thought I remembered when I had parked…I went walking around in circles and was sure I had done something really stupid and parked where I shouldn’t and the car had been towed. Eventually I ran into the student I’d been talking to earlier and in a roundabout way she helped me find that I had parked a level down from where I thought. My car was absolutely fine and I hadn’t missed seeing all the signs of a handicapped space…I’d just gone a bit bonkers, temporarily, while trying to find the car. I must admit I was kind of wishing I’d braved the overly crowded bus when I thought I’d really goofed…
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Bits and pieces
As is obvious from my last post, I’ve finally made some progress on writing about our holiday. I wrote most of that a few weeks ago but it was only tonight that I finally edited it in preparation for posting. I fear I will forget much of what I wanted to write as time goes on but there is nothing to be done about it.Â
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I’ve been in a much better state of both physical and mental health over the past couple of weeks. While I don’t exactly feel energetic, I don’t feel like I need to sleep all the time. It seems the thyroxine must have been doing something after all. My tonsillitis episode did mostly resolve after about a week and a half.
This week I had my annual appointment at the immunology clinic in our local teaching hospital. Last year I had a disastrously incompetent doctor, and despite the other doctors being good to great, I was worried about a repeat. Fortunately, it was all fine, although it took longer than I expected. She was rather abrupt and gruff when we first got started but improved as we talked further. She later mentioned that she’d only been in immunology for a week so I assume she’s still settling in and that might have been the reason for the less than friendly start to our discussion. We covered my low thyroid issues caused by being off my medication and also discussed some abdominal pain episodes which had occurred while I was away and for a while after I returned. She examined my hands and found them quite cold, then asked if my feet were the same (which they were). Later she checked my blood pressure and found it was quite low (95/55) and was worried that I might be light-headed (which I wasn’t). She checked my abdomen thoroughly for anything unusual and presumably found nothing amiss. She asked about a couple of spots/rashes on my stomach but I wasn’t able to provide any useful information except that one has been there for a couple of years and the second, smaller one appeared recently. I’ve presumed they were due to some sort of skin condition but the only notable thing about them is the larger one sometimes seems to change color slightly. She had a thorough look at my mouth and throat and noted my tonsils are swollen.  After we covered pretty much everything, she went off in search of the consultant (head doctor) for the department to confer before we finished.
 The doctor was on a phone call for quite some time before she was able to reach him. Eventually he came to the consulting room and they discussed my case right there, which was kind of unusual. I’d seen this doctor at two previous appointments and he’d concluded that my autoimmune condition is Sjögren’s syndrome based on my symptoms and my ANA. I have antinuclear antibodies of at least two types. One type is called anti-coilin and seems to be fairly unusual but mostly is seen in people with primary biliary cirrhosis and Sjögren’s syndrome. The other type is common and also non-specific but also seen in Sjögren’s. This doctor had previously given me lectures on careful attention to dental care and keeping extremities warm (as I have early symptoms of Raynaud’s syndrome). He repeated the dental lecture again even though I’d confirmed I’d had it before. It may have been as much for the registrar’s benefit as mine. Discussion was had over which blood tests I needed to have done and it was decided I’d be reviewed again in a year. Appointment concluded.
In addition to the usual auto antibody tests, I also had tests specific for autoimmune liver disorders along with immunoglobins added in. I found the pathology department at the hosptital was too busy for me to wait so had them done today at a local pathology center. I think I’ve reached a record with seven tubes of blood this time. Apparently I will be contacted by the clinic if any results need any follow up.
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The semester started last week at my university so I’ve started my last class for my degree. It’s an external unit and it seems to be a small class as there has been almost no discussion online so far. Also, the unit outline hasn’t been updated for this semester. I pointed this out to the teacher but have had no response after several days. It would be good to have some interaction with others in this class. It’s already isolating to study by distance education but it’s worse when you feel like you’re the only one out there.
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My favorite band, Crowded House, are coming to Perth in Novemeber and I have purchased tickets for the event. We are fortunate to have them playing at a nearby winery so it will just be a fifteen minute drive instead of 30-60 minutes to reach Perth or Fremantle. The Scientist and I will, however, be trekking down to Freo for a concert with Megan Washington and support act Dan Kelly at the end of the month. Tickets were quite inexpensive as these are up and coming artists…so it should be good value for money. We’ve seen both as support acts for other performers and both were excellent.
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One more semester
Today I had a meeting with the local homeschool moderator to discuss the progress of each of the boys. This was my third meeting with this moderator and I really like her.  She seems to understand some of the issues we face for our boys and never passes judgement on lack of tangible progress. It still causes me anxiety to go through these meetings even though we have a good relationship. I seems to always go in with a churning stomach. This year was no different but I didn’t have the panic attack I had last year. It went well and it quite possibly will be the last meeting I have for Game Fanatic as he heads into year 11 next year. The whole school structure apparently changes the last two years and he will have various options to pursue, not all academic. I have contact information for someone in the education department who can assist us in finding an appropriate program for him. I won’t be too worried about Lego Lover because he is absolutely thriving right now and his progress has been tremendous and hopefully will continue in that direction.
Anyway, I have that stress off my shoulders now but this week my last semester of study begins. I’m taking a class on Local History in the Heritage Studies department at Curtin University.  This subject falls outside my department but is an optional unit for my degree. I’m hoping it will improve my chances of finding a position in a local history section of one of the public libraries near us once I’ve graduated at the end of the year. I’ve already had a look at the upcoming semester and it looks to be a pretty busy one. I will have my first assignment due at the end of week three so I must choose my subject matter soon. The main assignment is a a major project on local history of a place, a group of people or some other aspect of history that is mainly important to the local community. Because the Scientist and his family are originally from Sri Lanka, I’m hoping I can work on a project about the Sri Lankans that arrived in Perth in the early 1970s (after the white Australia immigration policy came to an end). I will have to do an interview as part of the project and have a good candidate. My main issue will be making sure I am able to collect enough information to carry out this project. If all goes well, I think it will be an interesting journey.
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Continuing education
I took a leave of absence from study last year, mostly because I was burned out. I had been finding it more difficult with each semester to keep to a decent standard of work. I’ll be back to study again this semester, which starts late next month. I have two units of study to complete my course but neither is in my department of information studies which encompasses records management and library studies.
This semester I’m taking a unit called Virtual Communities inthe Internet Studies department. I’m really looking forward to this unit although I have to admit I am a bit nervous about venturing outside my department. From what I’ve been able to learn so far, it’s a mostly interactive unit and includes considerable online discussion.
Second semester I will be taking a Heritage Studies unit called Local Studies which covers local history study. This is an area of public librarianship that interests me greatly and I’m hoping to get a lot out of this class. When I did my library prac two and a half years ago I spent some time with the local history librarian and really liked it.
I’m feeling so much more motivated now that I’ve taken a break. Studying at this point in my life seems far more taxing than it did when I was an undergraduate over twenty years ago so it has taken more time but I am determined to finally complete my course of study and hopefully seek some part-time employment next year.