Uni, Steve Davies, Aspergers, and St. Paul

So it's Friday, and I have finished my first week back at uni. I'm already exhausted. I don't know why I went back. Who needs an education? George Bush obviously didn't have one, and he was the President of the United States! I'm so tired, both mentally and physically. I've started one of my assignments, although I am still unsure of what it's actually about. The topic is 'If you are proactive about strategic choice, you are much more likely to get what you want than if you want for the other to initiate action' (Lewicki, Hiam and Olander 2007:28). Discuss this view. Do you agree/disagree? Why/not? Support your answer with reference to the relevant negotiation literature and the negotiation exercises you have experiences.'......what the hell? On one hand I've kind of grasped the concept of what it means, but on the other I feel like jumping into a fire pit full of burning embers. It is such a full on question for the first day! I've never studied this before - how am I supposed to know what the hell it means? (Ok, so, I understand what it means, but still!!...) And don't even get me started on my human rights assignment. I seriously have no clue there. A girl I befriended has already gathered notes and research and I'm still scratching my head in confusion. I don't know why I enroll in such academic subjects. It's not like I can just whip something up the night before - I've actually got to research. Why I didn't study childcare is beyond me. I have never wanted to do it, but think about how easy it would be!! Instead I study business, employment relations, and international relations, and have to watch videos of people dying in third world countries. I don't know what is wrong with me sometimes!


The one thing I am excited (albeit scared of) is my news and politics subject. I have to write a university news story! I've decided to write about disabled university students, and I have already set up a meeting with a local MP Steve Davies for an interview in three days, but I have no idea what I am going to talk about, and I am scared of approaching disabled uni students! What if they are offended by my story? I have only done this sort of thing once before, but never on a university level. I am seriously shitting myself. Quite literally. I can't eat because I'm so nervous, and I'm getting tingly feelings in my legs. Maybe I'm having a stroke. That would be better that interviewing the MP!! I don't know how I got the courage to call his secretary. I must be sick. It's gotta be the onset of my stroke, I just know it! I got the idea for writing about disabled uni students after watching Q and A and learning that some politicians have Aspergers Syndrome. I think it shows that anyone can be a politician. I have Epilepsy, but it's not like it's a major hindrance. I just have the worst memory of all time. I can remember long passages of text, and books, and movies, but not what I had for breakfast, or appointment times. I am seriously the most forgetful person of all time. Anyway, I hope my interview goes well. I am terrified about meeting Steve Davies, but I guess I've gotta suck it up!

Today in my Human Rights class we were learning about genealogy, and how accidents and contingency creates your family tree. I learned that we are all born from random events and accidents, and that we assume history is on track, we think human rights are timeless, enduring, and stable. But genealogy disrupts this, as people are made from accidents, not fate, nor destiny. We learned about the Stoics, and how they were the first people to talk about Cosmopolitanism - not the magazine - but the idea of people who dream about a world without borders, a global world. We also learned about St Paul, or just 'Paul', as my lecturer likes to refer to him as. Paul says that we are all one, regardless of our dividing factors. He was that first person to talk about equality, and to regard women and slaves the same as free men. I thought that was interesting to learn, but it was odd that my tutor didn't think of him as a saint. It was just strange.

Anyway, I think my mind is just full of academic mumbo jumbo at the moment. I am so tired, but I made the decision to return full time, so I have to live with the consequences! Even if I feel like napping in the Goanna Lounge. I wonder why they call it the Goanna Lounge. I haven't seen any Goanna's there. I've seen wild bush turkeys and ibis's, but no goanna's. Maybe I should get a goanna and put it in the lounge. Hehe.

The photo of the week is.....






      
Craig Nicholls. Awesome singer from The Vines. Has Aspergers! Yet so cool ^.^