The Grand Plan

Goal#1 Find a job. Any job! Although preferably not in a shop. Being 25 years old and unemployed doesn't have such a great ring to it. I dread that question at parties and family gatherings: "So what do you do?". Answer: not very much at the moment.

Goal#2 Stay in said job long enough to use it as useful experience and a Ladder To Success! I've seen a couple of jobs I would've liked to apply for (charities administrator, events fundraiser, admin support for NHS Direct or Hampshire Police) but I don't have enough experience yet. Ultimately I want to do a job that is useful to and helping the public, rather than just helping some money grabbing multinational company to make an even bigger profit.

Goal#3 Finish my degree. I'm 1/3 of the way there now and I haven't lost my mind so it looks like distance learning is the way to go for me. I've just completed my first course with the Open University, AZX103 An Introduction to the Humanities, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As with any course work I was at times pulling my hair out and thinking "why oh why did I choose to give myself this much work?!" but looking back now I can honestly say I loved the course. As it was my first with the OU I decided to go for one of their online courses, and all but our first tutorials were conducted via a message board. Our tutor Trish was great, very understanding when we had any extra-curricular problems (I had a nasty virus in February which effectively had me laid up in bed for 2 weeks unable to do ANYTHING), super quick at marking and returning our assignments, and a veritable fountain of knowledge about seemingly everything! She fell ill towards the end of the course and we had to have a new tutor for our last assignments. Pam was very helpful in the last few weeks of the course. So what now? Well, I now have to do 2 'level 2' and 2 'level 3' courses to complete a BA (hons) Humanities. I'm going to be so happy when I finally have that degree certificate in my hand! It's been a long hard road......and I'm only half way there so far! Here's the plan for my other OU courses:

• Feb 2008 A210 Approaching Literature (already registered and halfway through the reading list - go me!)


• Oct 2008 or Feb 2009 DA204 Understanding Media


• Oct 2009 or Feb 2010 AA316 The Nineteenth Century Novel (can't wait to do this, the reading list includes some of my very favourite books and I managed to find one of the course textbooks in Oxfam for £1.99)


• Oct 2010 or Feb 2011 AA310 Film and Television History OR


• AA300 Europe: Culture and Identities in a Contested Environment

I had originally planned to study towards BA (hons) Humanities with English Literature and Media Studies, meaning I would have to do 2 media and 2 literature courses. Having since discovered AA300 I really want to do that one now! I couldn't possible give up on AA316 so it looks like AA310 will be the casualty. This is the great thing about studying with the OU, you can pick and choose your courses as you go along. The problem I'd had with 'conventional' degree courses was only being interested in maybe half the units on a set syllabus.

Goal#4 Learn shorthand. This will prove very useful in goal #2 and having only started learning it from a book on Friday I think I'm doing quite well already. Useful to have an ex-journalism student for a fiance, he can help me out when I get stuck, and is even talking of taking the exams when I do (he never entered for them when he was at uni).

Goal#5 Do some kind of word processing course and get a certificate to prove it. Having used computers on an almost daily basis for goodness knows how long I'm pretty confident, and halfway to learning to touch type. Just saying this isn't good enough for some employers, though. I'm looking at doing either the RSA Intermediate or the CLAIT course. Just got to figure out where/when I can do it now!

So there you have it, my Grand Plan to Sorting Out My Life. Not too much to ask is it?!