Blog NW #10 Assignment 2a delivered

The current situation

So here's the thing: Our next assessment period is looming (roughly 5 weeks to end of January 2010). I am planning to submit an assignment for module 3 Emerging Business Themes. And yet right now as I type I am barely capable of switching on the washing machine. Hmmm – not quite sure how I am going to do this yet!

Baby Jay

The reason for all this is the newest arrival to the Washida clan, on November 25th after an extremely long and complicated labour and delivery, a whopping 8lb 5oz baby boy with a set of lungs to match. Having a newborn baby leaves you slightly gibberish for a few weeks at the best of times, but after 36 hours of labour followed by, shall we say, “significant medical intervention without the benefit of narcotic assistance”? (because firstly things weren't going well, and secondly Japanese obstetricians don't believe in pain medication no matter how much you cry, beg, threaten, cajole, plead with, bribe or blackmail them) I have been left on the very low end of the compos mentis scale.

This means I could quite easily rob a bank and get away with it right now due to mental incapacity. The problem is, I just can't be bothered! I can barely get dressed, and no-one wants to appear on a wanted poster still in their pyjamas with unwashed hair, I mean really, one has to maintain a modicum of self-respect. In any case, how am I supposed to hold a gun steady in one hand, along with a baby, nappy bag, wipes, a towel, spare bottles and formula milk in the other? I don't even have a spare hand to carry the loot!

Nope – it looks like I am going to have to continue my old-fashioned approach to fame and fortune and get my degree after all!

To be fair, we have only been home a couple of weeks, and yet I am already hopefully scanning the horizon looking for signs that we may be falling into that magical “routine” that all the books so wisely advocate (books by the way mostly written by male paediatricians whose wives I strongly suspect are the ones getting up at all hours of the night to attend to the little ones!).

Luckily RDI offers a “get out of jail free card” in that I can apply for the module assessment, and then bow out reasonably gracefully if it all becomes too much before the deadline. Hoping I won't have to cash that chip in but it's nice to know it is there.

I ambitiously took my textbook on Emerging Business Themes into hospital with me (we get to stay in for 5 days here – a small but significant mercy). I even glanced at the cover a few times! But I was the last one expecting this to be a tough delivery (completely deluded was probably the best way to describe my state of mind this time around!) and so the book I am ashamed to say was largely unopened during my stay. Looked great on the coffee table in my room though! Everyone was so impressed that it looked like I was studying in hospital!!! Image is everything, they say!

Future study plans

So – yet again, a change of plan. No-one can say I am not adaptable to changing circumstances! I am the world's champion planner! Really! I am so going to ace the module on Project Planning! Assuming that is, that we aren't actually assessed on the results of those plans, because this is where things start to go wrong with me. Deliverables. Always been a sticking point of mine! (including babies!)

I am going to spend the next two to three weeks doing what I should have done in hospital and research the Emerging Business Themes topic more thoroughly. This should help with the background work for the assessment. I am going to forget I ever made a plan to study for module 4, and not think about it again until February, AFTER the assignment is due, and when surely, surely, after 2 months I will be starting to sleep more than 2 hours at a time???! Please, somebody tell me I will be sleeping??!

February through to the end of March I will be studying both modules 4 and 5 (oh yes! I will! Ha! Can't wait to eat my words in the February blog) and IF I manage to do that (notice how subtly I slipped the caveat in there) I will do the 24 hour module 4 assignment and possibly the module 5 assignment in April. This could work out well with my “wheel in the grannies” strategy because at least one granny will be around during that month. Unfortunately, one granny is only here with me until January 9th, and then the other granny will be coming (but between you and me and the blogosphere that other one drives me crazy!) so this plus the fact that the first week or so of January in Japan is a major national holiday I think is going to make things challenging. But I will have a go. “Challenging” is my middle name. Well, one of them anyway...

If I find I am not progressing with module 3 in January, I will have to quit and push back my course completion date from July to October. This is pretty much as flexible as I can be right now, depending on how circumstances go. Newborns are so completely unpredictable, and had I been typing this yesterday I would have said he was a great baby. But after last night I am somewhat inclined to change my mind....! I have been teaching my daughter to play “Silent Night” on the piano all this week but so far he is not taking the hint!

One of the best things about this course – and in fact a major reason I chose it – is because of the flexibility. Even if you aren't daft enough to wind up pregnant 2 weeks after applying for the course, life seems to have a habit of throwing things at you that force you to re-think re-plan, renege, and otherwise twist, turn and wriggle to get things done. Not having to worry about being kicked out of university for missing deadlines means one less thing to worry about!

Here's to 2010

In my January blog I will be able to tell you how things are going, and whether I have actually managed to produce an assignment, or had to bail and make plans to try again in April.....watch this space!

Merry Christmas RDI staff and students! Have a mince pie for me (because I have already eaten my supply-God bless Walkers biscuits and their Heathrow Airport departure lounge stock of Christmas goodies! Excellent example of good merchandising strategy I must say!) See you next year!

Nicky x

PS – I would just like to extend a big THANK YOU to all the people around the world who are emailing me to say how much they are enjoying reading these blogs. From North Africa to the Middle East to the Far East, it is really wonderful to know that this is helping so many people and is more than just an opportunity for me to vent! Best wishes to all of you in your chosen courses!

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