Last time I dealt with getting my body up to scratch so now it’s time to look at my mind –oh yes and hand-eye co ordination (otherwise Try Drawing) and I did try it for three weeks but my bottle never looked like it would the liquid nor would the orange ever be eatable and charcoal is not a good medium to use when wearing white! So rapidly moving on….what do I know about? Well I have worked for thirty years in adult education and I do hanker after an academic life… what about a PhD my partner asks… what indeed … an article in a journal really set me thinking about the unease I had felt when working on estates encouraging people into learning and I might just explore that in a context outside of my professional role. More forms then but this time at least the bureaucrats do speak the same language…just in time for induction week and I’m not even the oldest student there (by about two years). The students however do not speak the same language and the range of interests which they have and the way they plan to investigate them leaves me feeling rather pedestrian with my proposal which is rooted in my experience and understanding. Themes we have discussed range from “international communities collecting vinyl” to “representations of Afghanistan in British travel books” and “computer narrative in art”; my mind will be exercised in even attempting to say something sensible on these topics!Back at the gym I’m managing three times a week and “feeling the burn” or my trousers feel looser and I feel fitter so it’s not all bad then. The afternoon session is more cerebral (marginally) with game shows asking contestants to rearrange letters into words or numbers into sums so I can think with them whilst running, pedalling or whatever. It is increasing my word power and also my eyesight as I struggle to read the subtitles. This is not good news as we’ve been told we will read more for our PhDs than we have ever done or will do again so we need to get eye tests! But next year I’m sixty so it will be free.. hope it’s not too late then. Bookshops are full of encouragement to go back and I join a scheme promising discounts on books, and a free session with a personal trainer – really am combining my new life then – but when I stagger home with £100 of interesting/relevant books my back really doesn’t like it… I need that personal trainer.. do they know something I don’t?On with the reading with my new system as recommended by the Dean; I have the appropriate hardback notebook and the referencing sorted so just do it and I finally embark on what is going to be allegedly a long and apparently painful process leading to the wearing of a silly hat and international recognition.
Tags: notetaking, Phd, reading, return to learning
