Monday, July 5, 2010

Facing down the test anxiety demon

A couple of months ago I began training for A+ certification to be a computer tech, I have two months to go so here I am with a head full of stuff and trouble getting it on paper to prove it, because my old demon "test anxiety" has come to roost for a bit.
So to coin a phrase "I'm not as young as I once was", that being said, I am not ready for the scrap heap, and to quote again, "If you don't use it you loose it." 
Life is about learning and growing from the day we are born until the day we die, and this is inevitable as taxes and relatives. If we reflect on life, we live it well; when we are true in our commitment to our brain, we continue to quench our thirst for knowledge and by doing so exercise and work our brain.
I have regrouped the tools and started the music therapy, self hypnosis and found an awesome study buddy on one of my friends who is committed to getting me through this. A doctor suggested a medication, but it is also a heart med I would rather not take if I can avoid it. So to summarize, I have picked up the boot straps on the study skills, I am making sure I get the needed proteins and brain foods, have begun music therapy and self hypnosis and just found and started to study with my newly found tutor. Luck has nothing to do with, I will be victorious in the end, or know the reason why.
It has been cool to go into places and know about the things I am looking at and being able to talk the talk of a tech. Yeah me! I can talk about it, my instructor knows I know it but we have to make sure I can get the proof on paper, there are thing we are trying on the test end as well.

My new online friend for information to pass this course is Professor Messer, in his A+ videos, great for helping to permeate the information I have and to review it whenever I want.

My knitting is suffering, but, it was a planned victim of collateral damage that I will get back into a little more after I pass the class. My little fur people; Sadie and Abella, are part of the collateral damage, it appears they are getting ready for couch sessions and doggy Prozac because I am gone so much, Sadie about glued herself to me literally this morning, DH had to hold on to her so I could get out the door, I felt so bad for her,
 I was meeting a class mate to study.

Poor DH is handling being a knitting and A+ widow well, he is such a great guy. His mom did well raising him.

I bought myself a net-book for my birthday back in September, and had a lot of freeze up troubles with it. I was able to find and resolve the issues on my own and it is working quite well and comes in handy for class. I am just loving fixing my own stuff. disassembling things to see how they work in class, replacing parts, networking computers, partitioning drives, and killing viruses. Life is good!

I completed the pair of socks for my Niece Tia in the Tonks colorway as well as a pink lace shrug, she loved both. I did not have time to get pictures of her in them so I am going to ask her to take some and email or send to my phone.

I now have a droid phone that I am having so much fun with and upgraded my Sprint wireless card to a hub so we can be on the net book and the computer at the same time.

I am totally loving my Addie click set, I have sweaters on needles like crazy that I do not have time for and I am not only a yarn geek/snob, I am becoming a computer geek as well. Life is good!

Ok, now for a commentary. Mylee Cyrus  is not my cup of tea, I am not going to speak to her talent or lack there of, but I will say this: She is not the only one who does this and she is a product of the industry in it's true form, as she struts half naked on stage, playing to a crowd of children and adults, gesturing and gyrating her body inappropriately for the young audience. Why are parents NOT taking action and speaking when their children are being sexualized in this manner?, why are they taking their children to these concerts?. It's not ok, and because its the trend or fad, it does NOT make it ok! Mylee turns 17 in November, I have to say her parents are not concerned with the image she displays, and I shake my head in wonderment at how people can be amazed that we have so many sexual predators going after children. I am not by any means blaming victims, I am saying that our society needs to take a harder look at its self and realize there is culpability on both sides of the fence and get on the ball so innocent children are better protected. AT some point there will be another law suit and it will go after a part of the industry that churns out this soft core pornography for children.
I recently had the pleasure of being in a conversation with a very astute and intelligent 9 year old girl. The topic was music and she stated she did not like pop, or mainstream, that it was disgusting and quite frankly said, and I quote "Grandma, there are pockets of resistance". KUDOS to her parents!