By Friday this should all be a distant dream…. Hopefully! May 22, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in A330, BtVS, Diablo 3, ECA, End of A330, I am a new kind of crazy!, My poor brain, Mythology, OU.5 comments
I’m so close. Like <-> this close. But now the writing of every word is as painful and frustrating as getting Princi to throw her smoothie cartons in the bin. Nigh on impossible!
Yes, I’m talking about the mythology EMA. In the words – or abbreviations – of today’s youth: Oh. Em. Gee! This essay is a headwreck! And 3,000 words for a final essay? That’s just a joke! The should have been more. At least a thousand more! I feel like I’m picking a gnat’s teeth trying to weave my way through the sparseness of this word desert. Holy heck, I tell you. Holy heck! But at least I get to watch Buffy as study. So it’s not all bad.
And soon the studying shall be over! Woohoo!
Who am I kidding? It’s all bad. But as long as I get 70%. I could make do with a pass 2. I won’t say happy, as happiness comes in distinctions, but I doubt I’ll get that with my rubbish. I’m not even sure if I’ve answered the ‘question’/statement. Oh well. Only time will tell.
My lonely and forlorn copy of Diablo 3, slowly being consumed by a small pile of clean clothes.
So, three more days and I should be done. Freedom, here I come! And freedom consists of reading something I am really looking forward to reading, buying a new laptop, and playing Diablo 3. Oh, I’m so excited! Both have been sitting there patiently – the story and the game, that is – quitely calling for me to pay them attention. But Pandora has nearly arrived, and I shall… Oh, best rethink that sentence! That was bordering on uinintended innuendo! Yep. This essay has officially driven me crazy.
So on that note… *disappears in a puff of pinky/purpley shimmery smoke*
And then there was one. April 13, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in A330, ECA, My poor brain, Mythology, Oh £$%* I've fallen again, OU, TMA05.add a comment
Well. The final TMA for the mythology course Tronned its way through the matrix this morning. So glad! It was an evil bugger, and the guidance notes that accompanied the question related to the question for last year’s intake. That was a stumbling block, I can tell you. But I’ve managed to scribble some rubbish, and as long as I get 55% on it I should still be hitting in the distinction range for the OCAS (overall course assessment score, or something like that!), so I can’t complain there . 
That just leaves the 3,000 words owing for the end of module assignment: ‘Analyse the different representations of death or love in classical mythology.’
I have chosen love. Death is too easy. There is a shed-load of primary and secondary sources in the course materials for death. What challenge is there in that? No, I must make it difficult, I must find my own secondary sources, I must have the opportunity to let my brain focus on something that it enjoys. Yes, I am my brain’s bitch! So, with that in mind, and with deciding that I would push it into the boundaries of reception studies, I have decided upon a long-winded title – that will hopefully get the go ahead from my tutor:
Pandora, Pygmalion, Echo and Narcissus: Filial Pietas and Self-love in Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse.
Now, don’t ask me to explain what I’m going to do. I have some ideas – obviously, or I wouldn’t have the title – but there will be some representations of family love and sacrifice alongside representations of selfish love, based on the reception of the mythological characters mentioned. But that is for next week, as I am planning to use the weekend to recover from the mental abuse of the last TMA and the painful bruises on my noggin and bottom, the results from my hips choosing to wimbaway without permission and therefore causing a nasty fall on Wednesday.
Although… Maybe now is a good time to start deconstructing the mythology to keep my mind off the pain…
***EDIT*** (14/05/12)
The title and idea was somewhat given the go-ahead by my tutor, with the compromise of cutting it down a bit. So I ditched Dollhouse and Echo. So now I have about a week and a bit to get the essay finished. It currently stands at 1,500 words down, 1,500 words to go. So I best get back to Narcissus and homosexuality in Ancient Rome, before tackling the Buffy section and conclusion. Wahey!
Oh, and TMA05 came back with a cracking mark, leaving me cacking my pants with expectation and stress at getting the 85% and up result for the EMA (end of module assessment. Why they had to change it from end of course assessment – ECA – I have no idea. All a bit Constantinople to me!). Please let me do a good job of it!
Lurgified! March 28, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in A330, Art, OU, Sick again, The Principessa Files, TMA04, TMA05.add a comment
Ugh. Struck down by illness again. I hate being sick.
Over the last week I’ve been feeling so eugh. Sore throat, stuffed up nose, hackity-mcyackity cough, and just generally washed out. Which means I haven’t been able to properly celebrate another fab result for the mythology course or get down to writing the next essay. OK, the next essay – “Does classical mythology reflect a disposition to explore the realities of the world or a desire to escape from them?” - isn’t due in until April 20-something or other, but I wanted it done by Friday as that is when Princi breaks for Easter. I have got to hope I can tease 1,600 words into a stylish ‘do in two days whilst my sinuses feel like a full nappy! *Sob* But try I will.
Talking of Easter, today was Princi’s Easter Bonnet parade, so we have spent the last two afternoons constructing a monster bonnet:
The crazy, monster Easter bonnet.
Princi did a lot of the work on this herself – all I really did was build the skullcap base (made from half an old football and a piece of card) and attach the basket. Princi made the flowers, sewed the bunny, spelled out and threaded the ‘Happy Easter’ bead banners, and stuck the eggs and chicks on. Nanny kindly made the pompom chick for her. And to top it all off, she won ‘Best Bonnet’ in her class too! Rock on, Principessa!
Anyway, I poured my creative brain into helping Princi with her bonnet, so I apologise for the rather dull post. Hopefully, next time I’m here, it’ll be a bit more exciting.
Wreck this Journal ‘quickie’: Non-stop line. March 17, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in Art, WTJ.Tags: Wreck This Journal
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Well, I’ve ummed and ahhed about whether or not to put today’s page up, as it didn’t quite work out how I wanted; I got seriously confused, as I’m sure you’ll see. But as it’s St. Paddy’s day, and as it’s a Celtic design, here’s my awful attempt at the ‘non-stop line’ Wreck This Journal page.
Confusion abounds!
*scribble* ‘Nother Wreck This Journal ‘quickie’. March 12, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in Art, WTJ.Tags: Wreck This Journal
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I really didn’t know what to do for this page, then tonight this silly idea popped into my head. So here is a silly, and really rubbishy, pencil-drawn cartoon strip.
Document time passing.
Wreck This Journal ‘quickie’. March 11, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in Art, Pirate Penguin, WTJ.Tags: Wreck This Journal
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Write one word over and over.
A page dedicated to my penguin-loving Princi.
And breathe…. March 10, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in A330, Art, iPhone, OU, Principessa art, Proud Mummy, reading, The Principessa Files, TMA04, TMA05.2 comments
Well. After the rigmarole of last week, this week has been a steady, squeaky parp of air from a slowly let down balloon. The essay finally ripped its way from my brain and was submitted to the cyber-sewage works on Monday. It also saw Princi and I reunited with our favourite technologies – DVD and computer for Princi, iPhone for me. Yay! And there endeth the good times.
Wednesday brought the news that the NSPCC had decided they didn’t want to use Princi in their advert. And there is where the deflation of said balloon increased as it screamed around the room and flopped to the floor in a mass of flaccid finality. (Yeah, I used a few f words…) How would I tell Princi? She was so excited about it. I even thought about not telling her and hoping that she’d just forget about it. But that would be wrong, so when she got in from school I called her for a hug and told her the bad news. I needn’t have been worried. She gave me a wide-O shocked face, then shrugged, jumped out of the hug, and went to do some drawing and watch Dexter’s Laboratory. Whereas my disappointment for Princi sent me moping, it didn’t phase her at all. That is one quality that I really hope she keeps.
The Garden of Dexter.
On an up point, I’ve only two more essays to complete and that’s another course towards the degree finished. I can’t believe that this time next year I’ll be nearly done with the last course and the degree. I’m almost excited about it! Though what I’ll do afterwards is still a burning question. I’m still thinking about the MA in children’s literature, but I’m worried about making a fool of myself. At the same time, I’m hankering for the addiction that was sparked during the kidlit course. Sometimes, I hate being indecisive.
Anyways, time to bog off and read some more on muthos and logos, and the beginnings of Ancient Greek cosmology. Oh, to be a foetus living inside a fish-like creature, living on an earth made up of moisture surrounded by thorny bark…
But here is evolution of a different kind:
Evolution of a Cybergirl.
What a week! March 4, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in A330, OU, The Principessa Files, TMA04.2 comments
This last week has been a tough’un. No, the last two weeks have been tough…
It started off with me panicking about my latest essay. The wealth of information I had to cram into my walnut completely overwhelmed me and I couldn’t see the wood for the trees. Or, as the case was, the thread for the wool. The essay this time was about how Ovid created a unified narrative in Book VI of Metamorphoses. My first problem came with reading too much about syntagmatic and paradigmatic structure and totally confusing myself. That’s pretty easy to do, believe me! So, I spent last week crying and flustering in a daze of ‘It’s not possible, I can’t do this,’ to this week typing any old rubbish just to clear the cobwebs. But I’ve a draft done now, bibliography and all, and tomorrow I shall read through it one last time before submitting it to the cyber-gods for divine judgement.
Then, a completely new proposition popped up to bite me – well, Princi – on the bum. She was called in for her first audition for an advert for the NSPCC. This came totally out of the blue. We had to quickly arrange a couple of hours off with her school (the call came through on the Tuesday lunchtime (21st Feb) for her to audition on the Wednesday afternoon), work out where we were going, and arrange train travel. She got there and dazzled them with her knowledge of Samuel Pepys and her ability to look sad. Then, on the Friday, we got the text telling us she had a recall. Wow, wow, wow! Again, didn’t expect that! So, back to Manchester on the Sunday, where she dazzled with her knowledge about Edward Jenner and her ability to look sad. And again we waited…
Well, the text came through on Wednesday evening (29th Feb), Princi has been pencilled in to do the advert pending being granted her performance licence. That in itself was a cause for stress as a form needed filling out, a letter from the headmistress was needed, as was a doctor’s note, a photocopy of her birth certificate and two passport photos. All of this had to be arranged right when I was finally in the flow of writing the essay, and photographing Princi is a pain in the bottom at the moment. While this news was a welcome yay, the jab in the finger from the shard of glass from the iPhone screen certainly wasn’t a yay. Princi had accidently dropped it on the Tuesday night during one of her difficult moments – I’d asked her to give the phone to me, and she decided she didn’t want to so she pulled the phone away from my hand and it slipped out of hers – and the screen had cracked. Argh! Not only was she counting on that phone for news about the audition, but it’s my emergency button for when I need help. A huge hoo-haa followed, with Princi first threatening to kill herself (that freaked me out somewhat!) and then saying that instead of that she was going to leave by running away after school the next day (that freaked me out just as much!). After all was sorted out (a punishment of no computer and DVD player until Monday), and a cuddle and long talk, Princi went off to bed still a little tearful.
Wednesday also bore the information that Princi needed a costume for school on Friday for their belated World Book Day dress-up. Crap. We went through the gamut of her favourite characters and finally settled on Edgar the Raven from Marcus Sedgwick’s The Raven Mysteries. Princi ended up wearing one of my tops because it had wing-like sleeves, black trousers and boots, and we found her old witch’s nose and painted that black.
Princi as Edgar the Raven.
So Friday came, as did costume day, the completion of licencing forms, and the completion of the first draft of my essay! Yay! And tomorrow I get my phone back and Princi’s punishment is completed. Woohoo! So no more Princi whining that she has nothing to watch. No more whining about how much she hates punishments and consequences. And no more whining that I am missing my phone!
Wreck This Journal part 4. February 17, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in Art, WTJ.Tags: Wreck This Journal
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I decided that I needed to do some wrecking after the post last night, so I spent yesterday evening and cutouts of today indulging in creative sweetness.
Rip it up and staple together.
This is a combination of two consecutive pages: tear strips, rip it up and staple, glue or tape these pages together. I’d had a plan for this page for a while, and it was the reason I’d bought the kimono pattern origami paper. I wanted some volume on the page, so I took three sheets of origami paper and tore the pages roughly to size. I patterned the original page before stapling the origami paper and the two pages together. Then I tore strips (obviously!). I wanted the strips to look like a pair of opened curtains, so the instructions on the page below could be partially seen. The picture of Cthulhu was something that I found in a magazine and couldn’t resist adding it to the finished page.
Trace things from your bag. Another Ronseal moment...
Front cover.
I wanted the front cover to be somewhat representative of what could be found inside the journal, but I wanted to keep some of the things already on the front, like the Hello Kitty sticker and the Moshi Monster sticker that Princi had embellished it with. So, after some glitter glue, torn origami paper, planet stickers, post-it notes, circly plastic stuff, fridge magnets, selotape, and a pressed flower, this is the result. And yes, I know that Ally is spelled wrong, but lack of space and a second ‘l’ fridge magnet meant that Aly it had to be. Still, I’m actually quite happy with it.
And on that happy note, *poof*, I’m off for tea!
Quick post with added Wreck This Journal. February 16, 2012
Posted by phoenixaeon in A330, Art, Mythology, OU, TMA03, TMA04, WTJ.Tags: Wreck This Journal
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Argh! It feels like ages since I’ve popped my head around the blogging door, well, I suppose it has been really, so thought I best binary scrawl a post quick sharp.
First things first. I would like the thank the lovely xlalalalisax (plooberific award) and kofegeek (liebster blog award) for fabulous blog awards. Thank you both!
The mark for the last essay (TMA03) came back about a week and a half ago. Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have been so worried about it. Needless to say, I was distinctly happy with it. And quite shocked, because I really didn’t feel that I had taken in much of what I’d read. So, yay me! Two more essays and the big examinable essay left to go, then I’ll be onto the last course of the degree. Can’t believe I’ve been so stubborn to have stuck it out! OK, I know I’ve still got a ways to go, but still. Don’t know what I’m going to do to fill my time when it’s all over.
Well. Wreck This Journal time. I’ve not done much, so most of these pages are ones I’d completed a while ago and not posted yet. And one is a half-arsed attempt. But I’ll let you decide which one that might have been.
The frontis page. Liked getting the Mars and Venus stickers in here, considering the Greek and Roman mythology course I'm doing right now.
The copyright and dedication page. Penguins for Princi, and the 'Warning' now reads: During this book you will find yourself in the solar system. You will do things. Grieve for the book. Begin to see creative ideas everywhere. Begin to live more recklessly.
Rubbings with a pencil. A bit of a Ronseal moment...
Make a paper plane. Plane made with kimono-patterened origami paper. I was going to put a decoupage Snoopy on his Sopwith Camel kennel on the painted part, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Titian, 'Venus and Adonis' (1554) From http://www.terminartors.com/artworkprofile/Titian-Venus_and_Adonis
And that’s that. Now to get back to Mr Ovid and his Metamorphoses and the evilness that is the two-part essay. Part 1: comparing the Venus and Adonis story to Titian’s ‘Poesie’ painting. Part 2: It’s spiders and frogs and birds, oh my. And spinning a yarn about transitions between stories and how Book 6 is constructed into a unified narrative. So it’s off to the loom to spin the critical fleece and weave my own fictional tapestry of an essay.
