I am now a full-time student, studying for a Bachelor of
Arts (internet communications) through Open Universities Australia. Most of my
course is conducted online through Curtin University in WA. I only found out
last week that my Austudy had been approved – eight weeks after I applied.
Surprised the hell out of me. I had had conflicting reports from Centrelink
about whether I would be approved. One document said yes, another no, and one
call centre person said yes, and another no. One Centrelink CSO at the local
office said yes. One Centrelink manager on Facebook said yes. It was just as
well I persisted with my application. I can only afford to study
full-time if I receive Austudy.
The course so far—six weeks in, and two assignments done,
one for each subject—has been a real challenge, especially the second-year
subject Intro to Website Design. I knew nothing about Photoshop, so I had to
quickly learn how to make mock-ups of the website I have to build for the
subject. The huge first assignment for it was a blueprint of the website.
What made the challenge greater was I have been sick. First,
my ulcerative colitis became active, and the drugs I take for it make me very
tired. And then I had a kidney stone that hospitalised me for three days. It is
still in there. My kidney was infected, so they could not reach the stone and
zap it with a laser. So they put a stent in it to force the tube open. I need
to go back on the 19th on this month so the doctor can go back in and have
another go.
So, with all the studying and messing around with Centrelink
and illness, I have done very little writing in the past two months, just a bit
of editing/redrafting nearly every day. I have almost caught up with my course
– hopefully by Monday. But assignment two is due for web design in just over
two weeks. All I have to learn to complete the assignment’s draft of my website
is HTML. And then I have to write an essay for the other subject in the two
weeks after that. Last week, I spent around 52 hours on the course. I think
this week will be about the same. So, I don’t think I will be doing much
writing for a few weeks. I have also stopped critiquing on Critters. But maybe
in a month or so, I will get into some routine that allows me to write for an
hour or two a day.
