Last week Joe finished school. For any parent its always evokes a strong
emotion as you reflect on how they started so small and innocent and now they
have grown into a towering lump that grunts at you when you speak to it. In addition you realize that they have reached
another stage in their evolution and in fact it dawns on you that you too have
reached another stage in your own life.
When I consider what Joe has gone through over the past 18 months he has
been absolutely incredible and his mother would have been so proud of her
little boy. Caroline and Joe were
kindred spirits. He could do no
wrong. Not sure she would have been too
proud of him dressing up as Ariel (The Little Mermaid) on his last day but
that’s another story.
So all Joe has to do now is
complete his A Levels. I say “all he has to do is…” but quite honestly I do not
have a clue how well he is doing and what he needs to do to pass. I do know that the entry level for Falmouth
University to do a degree in Film is BBC. In my day BBC stood for, and still does, the
British Broadcasting Corporation. To Joe
and his generation it stands for British Born Chinese. I guess that sums up the difference between
my generation and Joe’s generation. Its
just all seems to be different and the ‘A’ Level system is just another
example. Back in the day when I was
studying I would be frantically cramming everything I have learned into my
small and undeveloped brain. The final
pass or fail grades were based on the exams I took at the end of the course. I would revise for about two months and move
through cycles of panic, hysteria and elation – sometimes within minutes of each
other. Whereas, today the students are
continually assessed throughout the two years by the production of
coursework. There doesn’t something to
be the same panic – at all. Well that’s
what I’m led to believe. I just can’t
get my head around that lack of panic.
Joe just seems to be so laid back about it all it worries me
senseless. I find myself continually
nagging him that he should be revising and have his head in his books. What books?
Its all online now. But in truth
I just don’t know how significant these exams are to the overall mark. I don’t know if that’s because of my own
ignorance or that all parents are in the dark.
My new role now is cheerleader!
Anyway it got me thinking. I set myself some objectives for the
year. So rather than wait to the end of
the year to see if I have passed or failed I should assess my own progress half
way through the year. After all I need
to allow time to do any re-sits. If you
beat them, then join them!
Family
1
Help Joe through
his A levels
Well
time will tell. Joe has three exams on 4th
June and a final one on the 14th.
Results will be made known in the middle of August. As far as I am concerned it’s all down to Joe
and the gods. I am sure his mother will
be pulling all the strings she can. Fingers are well and truly crossed 5/10
2
Help Joe decide
what he wants to do next whether it is University or something else
Joe
has decided he wants to go to Falmouth University to do a degree in Film. This course will be a perfect for Joe. Joe loves making films and is very good at
it. Right through to devising the
concept to editing and producing it. I’m
sure he will be a huge success especially as part of the course he has to watch
three DVDs per week out of a library 22,000.
My money is on that he could watch the lot in the three years. We have
been to Greenwich University and the University of Glamorgan but Falmouth was
is chosen place. Couldn’t have done much more.
Just got to move him down there in September and ensure he settles in 7/10
3
Help Georgina
through her first year of University
This
didn’t go quite to plan. Despite
Georgina settling into University life at Cardiff way above anyone’s
expectations at Christmas Georgina decided she didn’t want to continue with
Chemistry and pulled out. With the help
of a few close friends Georgina has responded to this setback very well. Georgina will be returning to Cardiff
University in September to do a Psychology Degree. Georgina has in the meantime been working at
Primark to clear the overdraft she built up over the three months she was at
Uni! 5/10
Me
4
Watch British
Lions in Australia. Anyone else interested?
Now
I might have mentioned this once or twice that I am off to Australia to watch
the British Lions play. Its all booked
and my long time cricketing mate Tony Rice is coming with me. Cant wait.
All there is left to do is enjoy it. 8/10
5
Three bike
rides: 1) across the Outer Hebrides with my brother Andrew; 2) memorial ride
from Cardiff to Bristol; 3) one other big ride e.g. London to Paris – maybe!
Completed
the memorial bike ride from Cardiff to Bristol, which required incredible
endeavor from the 10 who completed it.
The weather was just terrible. Thanks
to the sterling efforts we managed to £600 for St Peters Hospice.
Neil
and I planned to ride from Cambridge to Bristol. However, it started to turn into a logistical
nightmare and we couldn’t fix the diaries.
So we abandoned that idea.
Instead we cycled a return trip from Bristol to Gloucester, 80
miles.
There
is just one major ride outstanding, the Outer Hebrides. I will be cycling across these Scottish Isles
with my brother Andrew ably supported by his partner Claire and my nephew
Harry. The ride is booked into the diary
for August 5th 7/10
6
Maintain my
weight at 13 stone
My
objectives now start to fall apart.
Since the start of the year my weight has risen considerably. In January my weight was 85kg with the clear aim
of reducing to 83kg. Half way through
the year I have weighed in at 88kg (13stone 12 pounds, 194 pounds). My only consolation is that Its still along
way from where I started from in January 2012 ie 98.5kg (15st 7lb). My aim now is to get back to 85kg. I will need to find some time to do more
running 3/10
7
Learn to cook
properly
I
am still at the basic stage of cooking.
Basically I can read instructions and use the oven. I would like to get to the point where I did
have some idea of why I was doing something and be able to pull together a
three-course meal from scratch. I will
be getting onto this after the summer holidays 4/10
Work
8
Work out what to
do next regarding my career
At the moment I am enjoying the freelance life especially as I have
landed a few clients. The freedom and
life balance it has given me has been very welcomed in the difficult
circumstances that we faced as a family. Whether its long term or not depends
on future success 8/10
Overall 47/80 or 59% - Could do better.
Good luck to Joe love Mum and Dad xx
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