Almost there....

Finished the first draft. Which now means I just have to edit, amend the main body and and write the appendices.

I've also decided that as I only get 3 tickets for my graduation, and more than 3 people want to go that to allocate the tickets there will be a test. Each potential guest will be given a copy of my dissertation to read and will be required to answer 10 questions on it. The three highest scorers will get the tickets. A fair way to allocate them, no?










Just kidding.


xx

Brain ache.

4 hours of my life have been wasted spent editing and formatting two chapters of the dissertation.

Yes being able to critically appraise literature will be of much use in determining whether my practice should change based on the current and most up to date evidence... yes having good literature (database) searching skills will help me to stay up to date with evidence...yes the practice of writing 9000 words will put me in good stead for report writing...utilising the research methods I learnt about last year has helped understand the methods, which may be of use if conducting research in practice....
BUT...
Why is so much weight placed on academic writing and not practical skills in terms of marking, because I could be great at writing essays or exams, but be an awful therapist, yet I will (apparently) have achieved the correct proficiency levels for me to graduate and register for my ability to practice autonomously.

#brainache.

xx

A whole month in the Bungalow tomorrow.

It really doesn't feel like we've been living here for a month!! Or that we have been back at uni for 4 weeks! We've really settled into life in the cotswolds, it's my favourite place I've lived so far in these past 3 years.

Uni has become a lot of work, a lot more than before. Although we are only in 3 days a week,  we have hours of pre and post seminar reading and tasks to complete. As well as the dreaded dissertation.

Ben came up this weekend, which was lovely. He arrived quite late on Friday evening, so we had fish and chips and he got to know Katie a little bit. We were going to Cheltenham on Saturday until I had a reaction whilst driving and had to turn round and drive back as I felt too unwell, which ruined the day a bit. We met Suzanne & her husband and friends in the pub for a couple and went to see their cats, which was an unexpected event. Sunday was spent in bourton-on-the-water which is really beautiful.

I feel so naughty taking time off from doing uni work, the guilt is enough to spur me on to finish the next chapter of my dissertation!!!

xx

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I have taken a week off disseration writing, due to waiting for feedback from my supervisor. I got very helpful feedback from K + M too! I was told that my supervisor needed a week...I gave it a week, sent a polite question as to when to expect me feedback and was told that it was my job to remind her... Not too sure about that one?! And that I would get the feedback later that day (yesterday). Well I didn't, and spent the entire evening stressing! Lunch time today, she got back to me. Better late than never!

The feedback was mainly positive. With advice on my writing style and where I could could add weight to my points, there was nothing majorly wrong with the content- thankfully!!!! So today I will spend synthesising all the feedback I have received, before continuing on with my methodology (which I managed to write 200 words in 2 hours, *cries* ).

Spending an entire Saturday getting to grips with this beast. Fun, fun, fun... My normal motivator of buying something nice has faltered due to lack of disposable income... so I will just have to remind myself of how hard I have worked for nearly 5 years since deciding I wanted to become an OT, and how I cannot let myself down at such a late stage within the course.

4 assessments to go. D-Day (dissertation hand in day) is 22nd March. I hope to have mine in a good few days before this. Then I get a 2 week break for Easter during which I will complete my Partnerships work - which I have made a start on due to the fact I have already filled out an application and to do so had to decontruct the job spec, which is part of the assignment! Then I have a presentation to give in a 'conference style' two days, following specialist workshops, and FINALLY my exam. My LAST exam. Which sounds horrific I must admit.

But I will pass, I will graduate and I will, eventually be a fully qualified, hcpc registered Occupational Therapist. Wow!

xx

I love Sunday mornings

I get to have a lay in, I get up, have breakfast and coffee with Katie, casually do zumba for 30 minutes in our lounge... It's pretty awesome.

I submitted the first 3 chapters of my dissertation for feedback on Friday, so until I receive the feedback I am taking a break from it for a few days. I am trying to get all my post and prep  work done over the weekend for the week ahead, leaving me time in the evenings for dissertation and post work. Or going swimming.

I'm trying to ensure that I get occupational balance in these last few months because it has already become stressful with us all feeling that there aren't enough hours in the day. So for me that means ensuring I get time to vent and reflect with the girls (usually on the drive home everyday), spending time catching up with people (by phone or skype), going for a swim, doing an exercise video, going jogging or cooking. I don't want OT and the dissertation to take over my life.

We've been told we need to start applying for jobs soon... Which is a scary thought!! I've joined NHS jobs, and have been looking at local government jobs too. It feels weird as for 3 years all I've wanted to do was just hurry up and be an OT and now I'm soon to no longer be a baby OT it scares me.

On a completely different subject, I made parsnip soup yesterday with the vegetables Suzanne grew in her allotment. It's yummy!!!!

xx

Dissertation - eughhhhhhhhhhhhh

I am getting there. Sloooowwlyyy!!!! I said to Katie earlier that my email signature should now read : Lucie - Expert in pain. She told me that sounds like a wrestlers tagline.

I saw this picture and it felt kinda apt.

xx

Dissertation

I am writing about the conscious decisions made by people when experiencing pain in regards to continuing participation. A particular theme became apparent in that for people to continue whilst under pain, the concept of 'activity pacing' occurred naturally. However, for this to work, people had to be ready to accept changes to their life and their routine, e.g. slowing down, accepting help or adopting new values.  This can be explained by Prochaska and DiClemente's 1983  Transtheoretical model of health behaviour change, which I wrote a post about as a revision exercise for myself, (coincidently, I am currently getting lots of hits on it, which I assume is from second year OT students - which is why during my thought process I connected the two!!)

#OTGEEK.

xx

Dissertation is taking over my life.

I wake up, I go downstairs, I get breakfast and a drink. I sit down, at my laptop, read the news, have breakfast. I check my uni emails. I open up my dissertation documents and I start working. I have a note pad in my handbag in case I think of anything whilst not at the computer. My only distraction is going swimming... twice this week, and I'm really enjoying it. I'm not fast, or even that coordinated but I've done 2km this week.

The conversation I have with my friends is about the dissertation, my excuse for not doing things socially, is the dissertation and my reason for being so scatter-brained at the moment is... yep, the dissertation. 22nd of March will come around far too quickly for my liking.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

xx

Today was unusual

Today I 'modelled' vintage clothing for the wonderful Lovely's vintage emporium. If you can call an awkward and slightly too big, 5' 3'' person trying to stand up straight and not to look to gormless 'modelling'.

It was fun! Getting to wear fur coats made me feel either very glamorous, or like a pimp. Although squeezing my feet into a pair of size 4 shoes for 2 hours wasn't the most comfortable. And it was a tad on the chilly side to wear just a cotton dress with no tights! Lynette seemed happy with the results, even if the location was slightly odd and we got a few strange looks. It was a fun experience I must admit. Although I don't know how models do it - I would get fair too bored!!!

I had a lovely dinner with Liv and Becky tonight, with a 50% off voucher, £20 for all 3 of us - main dessert and drink, and it was tasty, not bad at all!!!

Really must crack on with the dissertation now though, scary!!!

xx

Dissertation 0-1 Lucie

It has taken over my life. Every spare minute is spent on it. I'm declining offers of lunch or window shopping to crack on with this bad boy - what on earth has come over me?! 

I am nearly finished with critiquing the articles and have started theme'ing. My introduction has at least one decent paragraph, I'm 1/5 of the way through it. The lit. review is taking shape, I've made a start!!

Gooooooooooodbyeeeeeeee social life! I will miss you. A lot. Bring on 17th May. 

xx