Well, after all the drama and rush rush rush of the past 8 months or so (or maybe 37 years??!) things have…..well…..really……slowed……...down! Now actually, thinking about it, this pace is probably a “normal” pace for any reasonable person to live at, but I have been speeding around like the proverbial blue-bottle for so long now that pulling back into the slow lane feels like a snails pace to me!

However, this means I have been able to complete my project management assessment, and get it sent off on time, without any of the usual panic and stress – I know! Weird, huh??! I just don't know what to do with myself with all this sudden free time on my hands! If this keeps up, I'm going to find myself taking up a hobby, or actually reading a whole book, or something!

Project Assessment

The project assessment was an interesting one – I wrote all about a project I worked on that failed dismally! Happy stuff! But I thought it would be the best way to contrast theory (whatcha should do) with reality (whatcha always end up doing) and score points on what we should have done differently (pretty much all of it!) It was a little difficult given that I hadn't actually worked on a project in a business-based environment for the best part of 8 years, and I didn't really think my ongoing project of 2 years now to find strappy black sandals that don't destroy my feet would really, albeit a deadly serious one, in all honesty be an entirely appropriate topic for the assessment.

So now, after a short break in the beautiful mountains west of Tokyo, camping in the shadow of the breathtaking Mt Fuji (really, everyone should come see it, it is a truly stunning sight) I am back and starting to think about the final leg of this course – the module 1 “Managing Myself and Others” assessment.

This has pretty much been written, having been initially drafted at the beginning of the course, and then updated throughout. But it needs tidying up and finishing off, and that will be my task for August through to October when I will finally finish everything!

Next up

BUT – the majority of the work is over now, I have passed every module so far (although lets not speak too soon, I haven't had the project management results back yet. Maybe I should have done the black strappy sandals project….?) and I am on course to be done by October, just in time for my next trip back to the UK, determined to instill something of my country, culture and maybe even language (if I am lucky) into my children. They already seem to have the phrase “I want” down to perfection!

Next month I won't have much to write about study-wise, so I am thinking about a piece on how to survive the summer holidays in 38 degree heat in a foreign country with 3 fractious children. Would anyone like some Xanax with their Pimms???!

Have a good summer everyone and to any students with children studying through the summer holidays – you have my admiration, my sympathy and my best advice – get a paddling pool!