Life speeds on...

 No promises this time but I’m hoping to be more disciplined in my blog posts. The last few years have really been chaotic. 

Forging Ahead: Stressing over an academic course

Last post I mentioned I was taking an online course for the first time in a while. Since it is an undergrad course which I decided not to enroll in for credit, I thought I wouldn't be stressed. Guess what? I am. Maybe it's graduate school flashbacks or just being my own worst critic. The course I'm taking is an undergraduate Junior level English class and you'd think it would be relatively easy. However, this is not the type of course I'd taken in the past. I have taken courses online but even newer technology is currently my nemesis.  There's a "joke" between my professor and me (at least that's what I think it is) that I'm stressing over nothing, as I'm not seeking a grade or credit for this class. Still, I'm attempting to master things like transforming a typed paper into a pdf file and submit it to the professor miles away. I knew this was going to be a challenge

I just finished my first written assignment which is similar to the research papers I'd done in many classes in the past. The biggest difference being that I had to take the written document, change it into a pdf file and submit it. I had to smile when I saw a posted note by the professor about not slipping a paper under his door on campus to meet a deadline (which is tomorrow.) I thought I'd done the submission part correctly, because I did get my document transformed into a pdf file, but when it arrived to the professor's computer, he sent me a message that it was in the wrong format. Yikes. So I've resubmitted it. I hope this time it is successful.. I've had to resubmit my paper/pdf file and I'm still not sure as I write this that I got it to him in the correct format. I was told he received it, but it did end up in the wrong format and I was asked to resubmit it. So, I await feedback from him. The deadline for submitting the file is tomorrow at around midnight. 

I'm adjusting to a lot of technology that I haven't encountered before but determined to master it. This is  taking a  toll on me despite two things: 1) I'm not taking the course for credit 2) therefore, I'm not getting a grade. I'm happy about that on both counts because while I have taken online courses before, and at least one was graded, this one is stressing me! I joked (or I think I was joking!) with the professor that I feel like I'm back in graduate school. He's been helpful, but it is hard to not put stress on myself due to my past academic experiences.

Meanwhile, I'm on to the next assignment: reading a text of Christopher Marlowe's play, Edward II. Then it's to be followed by viewing a specific version of that play. I'd really forgotten how demanding some academic coursework can be, or maybe it's just, as I said, flashbacks.

Back to School at My Age? Why Not?

This isn't my first "older student" experience, but it's definitely been the most confusing and frustrating.
I'm currently enrolled in an English class taken entirely online. It's not the first online class I've taken, but I didn't expect it to be as confusing or as challenging as it is. I thought I had experience from taking several courses in various subjects like Theology online. That was pretty daunting in itself. When I came across a quote by  C.S.Lewis, (see inset) I was thinking, "Let's do this!" and forged ahead.
But technology just keeps changing, or I just keep aging or both and I've been battling to conquer this challenge to my brain cells. I'm determined to get through this!
The upside is that as a qualifying "Senior Citizen" taking the class through the English department of one of my alma maters, I get a tuition reduction. A three credit hour course (or non-credit as I am taking it with that added status) is over a thousand dollars! That discount as a Senior Citizen helped, but it's still pricey (around $225.) That's just the tuition. I'm old enough to remember when full-time students taking twelve credit hours paid about $165 in tuition costs (It was the early 1970s and I was attending the same university where I'm taking a course now.)
Then there are the book costs!
Again, while it's another cost, I learned years ago as a grad student in English in the early 1990s there are ways around the cost university bookstores make the students pay. English related books can be obtained from various sources, discounted bookstores, for example, or even your local library. I wasn't as lucky in obtaining my second grad degree in another field. Those texts weren't available at your area bookstore. It was before textbooks and certain big bookstores made a pact to sell the texts. Additionally, the new option is renting your text from the university's bookstore.
While I'm taking the course entirely online from a university about thirty miles away, I don't have to worry about parking as I did in the past. Another two points for "online learning." Changes have occurred to the physical layout of the campus I last hiked across for classes in the 1990s as an older student (though not the Senior Citizen status.) and I had more energy then. So I'm glad I don't have to compete with students parking and trudge across campus. At least not yet.
Reading posted comments made by my younger classmates about their readings of class material is interesting in the perspectives they share, as well as seeing their skills in navigating what sometimes seems a labyrinth of technology I have yet to conquer completely.
Now, pardon me while I go back to reading and research for the class.

Here I go again...

 I've returned again after noticing my last entry (not counting my two posts in August.) I think I discovered I'd abandoned my blog sometime in 2011. But actually found another I had started in 2009. I've been unable to transfer it to attach to the blog name I've kept since I started this time. Confused yet? Well, welcome to my world.
Besides my attempts at resurrecting my blog, I've also been encountering technical issues. Additionally, checking blogs I had followed only to discover that like mine, they appear to have been abandoned. So at least I'm not alone in my "life getting in the way" words.
One blog I do follow with regular interest is "A Word's Worth" written by Diane Moore (http://revmoore.blogspot.com) a gifted writer. I recommend her writings and observations if you haven't seen her blog. She's far more "disciplined" as a blogger than I've been. I'm hoping that this new attempt on my part will be more successful.
I'm attempting to figure out how often I will put an entry online. That's one of the discipline factors I've admired of Diane's blog posts. Hoping I can get a similar routine established.
I've just begun participating in an online course taught by a professor at my alma mater. More on that later. I'll only say that returning to school this time, at least I get a tuition discount for being a student of a "certain age" and not taking the course for credit.

Trying again....Still fighting "technical difficulties". HELP!

I started blogging around 2009 and due to format changes as well as everyday life issues getting in the way, I have had lapses in maintaining my blog. I've been able to keep the same name for it, (which now seems more appropriate as a title than it did back in 2009.) However, it still applies to my life AND a sign of the current state of the world which seems more chaotic than it did back in 2009.

As I start out on this writing journey again, I'm having difficulties getting my earlier posts to merge with my current ones. I've tried following various online suggestions but have been unsuccessful. I'm thinking perhaps the time gaps between my blog posts have caused retrieval to not work. I'd like to get these sorted out. If anyone wants to offer advice, I'd welcome it.

Returning

Hoping to be back soon...Adjusting to link and format changes.

What a difference a year makes! My life ran on without me realizing how swiftly the days were passing. In looking back at my neglected blog, I noticed that it has been nearly a year since my previous post, despite my intention to return to writing on a regular basis. It took a book I read in recent weeks to kick start my thoughts again and the desire to share it, even though I doubt many will view this posting.

While time passed, so did my initial enthusiasm about electronic books. Not that the format cannot be convenient and enjoyable, but I've learned if I have the choice, I prefer the traditional method. Someone I read a quote from recently said that one of the advantages of printed books is that you can "smell" the books that are published on paper. Obviously you can't do that with an electronic reader--yet. But that's not the appeal of the printed page to me versus an e-reader. I haven't quite come up with the reason I prefer one over the other. Perhaps it is because as a member of the "Baby Boomer" generation (those born between 1946-64) I was familiar with the printed page, but just "young" enough to be fascinated by technological advances to be curious.

The book to which I'm referring is shown at left, The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. I posted some comments about my feeling regarding this book on my Facebook page, which is closed to many viewers because I limit my access there on such a far-reaching social media. Hopefully, this blog post will be linked to it so those who view my Facebook page can read this.

Schwalbe starts a two person book club with his mother, who in her seventies is given the grim diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Hence, the title of this book comes in. But in case you think that this book is a real "downer", it's not. It's a celebration of the bond between two bibliophiles who share books and discuss them while Schwalbe's mother is going through cancer treatments. The books are diverse an if interested, you can find at least most of the books read by this duo of book lovers listed in the back of the book.

I highly recommend this book. The only flaw I found, if indeed it is a flaw, is that Schwalbe and his mother have certain economic advantages to which not all readers of this book will be able to relate. That doesn't stop the ability to enjoy books, and good ones, like this one.