So I have travelled round the world alone. Hitch-hiked through Southern Africa. Jumped out of a plane strapped to a guy dressed as Spiderman (seriously! My friend was OK because she got Superman – he can fly!). I have been shot at. I have scuba-dived in shark-infested waters (Nicky’s top tip on that one – make sure your dive-buddy is a plumper and tastier-looking morsel than you are). I have even given birth 3 times without so much as an aspirin (we’ll overlook the teeny tiny fact that I had the doctor against the wall by the throat threatening to sit on him if he didn’t give me drugs, shall we?!).

So it is something of a revelation to me after all this to discover that the one thing that has finally floored me, finally brought me to my knees after all these years, is both my sons’ recent bouts of chicken pox!

We left off at the end of last month with the princess nursing a hole in her stomach lining following slight hysteria at nearly missing the exam deadline.

Well, just for added fun, because life just seemed so boring after all the drama, we decided for May to add a house move and 40% of the family coming down with a contagious virus. The older son who is now 4 recovered reasonably quickly and after being caged up at home with me for a week (he literally started pacing up and down the lounge growling and baring his teeth at one point!) he is now back at school. Of course, the varicella virus is not known for its cooperative nature, and true to form, the day one son recovered, the second son came down with it! So I am now stuck home for another week! This one can’t yet pace up and down the lounge, being only 6 months old, but he’s still having a good go at growling, and I think he might bite if he actually had any teeth!

Thankfully this has all occurred outside of an assessment period, otherwise I really would have been in trouble!

The final module!

I have spent most of May studying the project management module. When I first starting looking at it, I recognized a lot of what I used to do many aeons ago in my former life as a systems analyst, which was a very project-based role. However, I also had a slight uneasiness….which got stronger as I looked at the assessment paper for this module for April….when I realized that the assessment for this module is likely to be something along the lines of “Discuss a project you have worked on and…..etc etc”. The problem is, I can’t even remember the name of the software I spent so much blood, sweat and tears implementing all those years ago (although interestingly I CAN still remember the name of the pub we use to meet in for project reviews….hmmm!). So I am a little concerned right now that I am going to have a bit of a problem with this assessment, given that I have killed off way too many brain cells over the years and have very little memory of any projects I worked on, no contacts still in the industry, no documentation and no-one I can go to for any help except a very ex-boyfriend in the field who I believe after 8 years is still not speaking to me because I had the temerity to split up with him and marry someone else 2 years later. Damn!

Well, you know, I will just cross that bridge when I come to it (the assessment, not the ex!) Meanwhile, I am continuing to study and it is going kind of well, all things considered. It certainly helps not trying to cram two subjects into one assessment period. I was popping antacids like candy in March and April this year! At the moment I am on schedule, and all things going well, should be able to submit an assessment for July for the final project management module, and maybe even submit my module 1 assignment, which will mean…..dare I say it out loud…..I am finished!

Hurtling into June

However….we are moving house on June 16th! This is still a week or so before the assignment is due to be released but…..well, I’ve never done a house move before with 3 kids in tow, in a foreign country and with no help whatsoever now that Mum has basically been airlifted out of here back to the relative sanity of her place in the UK. Now THIS is where the project management techniques I am studying are gonna be useful!

The other minor issue is whether I am actually going to be able to live in the new place! You see, we currently live on the 3rd floor. The new place is on the 17th floor. There are two things in this world that scare me more than anything (excluding the chicken pox virus!) – snakes, and heights. Thankfully there are not too many snakes in Tokyo, except in the reptile house at Ueno zoo and certain bars and clubs in the downtown area. Heights however are another matter. Seriously – if you want to get information out of me there is no point using torture and pain – I’ve had 3 kids! Just stick me in a glass elevator full of snakes and send me up. By the 5th floor I’ll be singing like a canary!

So – next month I will probably be shaking like a leaf and hyperventilating whilst reporting live from my walk-in-cupboard-without-a-view! Just a few more months left to go!

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