If I write about all that’s been going this week this post would be rather long winded so I’ll see if I can get off my butt and write a couple more posts over the weekend rather than expect you to read screeds tonight, it is Friday after all!

As it is I’ll just cover the BA (as in Bachelor of Arts, not Bugger All) as it seems to be the most noteworthy part of this week.

I still can’t quite believe that it’s been on the agenda, let alone that I’ve completed the paper work for it… The chain of events goes something like this…

Sunday: PIA, at lunch, suggests I should do the BA. Actually, she really hadn’t planned on bringing it up at all but went there anyway.

PIA is actually the person assigned with my pastoral care in this here faith community. This usually means we have coffee or lunch occasionally and she reads my blog. If things got out of hand in my world she’d be the first to know about it because we all know I post my whole world on this thing… Anyway, the point is when she makes a suggestion, as my pastor (type person thingy) I listen. [As an aside, this whole process induced her to delurk (on the other blog) – it must be really serious…)

Sunday Night, I go to work and download the application forms off the web and start filling them in. Am I insane???

Monday: I talk to you about it and weigh up your responses

Tuesday: I chat to Crabman and the Captain who say, respectively, “you will eat it up for breakfast”, and “you are such a valuable member of our team that we will move heaven and earth to make it work for you, so go for it”. What a flipping legend.

Wednesday: Hanging out at a staff function I get into a conversation about all this stuff and everyone goes, you should totally do it, and I find out some of the crew will be there so I’ll know people!!! Hurrah!! Next step is to call the Old Folks my best mate Piri to see what they think… They all think it totally rocks.

I also lie awake in bed at night and dream about writing assignments, about buying a desk and trying to fit it in my room and about new stationery, (possibly the best part of all)…

Thursday: I make an appointment to see the Dean of Students.

Friday: Meet with the Dean of Students, go over the timetable, opting to take the course on part time over 2 years and discuss getting Fee Help from the Australian Government.

Herein lies the spanner, I am not yet an Australian Citizen, and while I met with the Immigration chick today and can confirm that it’s all going ahead, it isn’t till I take that pledge that I’ll become an official Kozzie (Kiwi/Aussie). This could be tricky, so please pray that the confirmation letter I receive from Immi will actually be enough to convince Moneybags of my worthiness to partake of their largesse…

Basically, the whole crux of the post is, yes Blogosphere, I am going to be an ungraduate in 2006*! Hurrah!! Student rates at the movies!!!

*and 2007, which will make the Captain very happy… it means I ain’t going anywhere for another 2 years…

Thank you for all the thought provoking comments…

These are the circumstances that made me ask the question.

The college I graduated from with my Advanced Diploma of Christian Ministry (Creative Arts – Vocals) is offering a 4 year degree from this year. The degree is in conjunction with one of the local Christian Universities and as such a recent graduate of the 3 year course I can gain 65% credit for the work I’ve already done.

That 65% means that the time commitment, at least in the first term only amounts to a 2 hour lecture on a Thursday and a 1 hour tutorial, and a 2 hour lecture on a Friday.

In term 2 it means a 2 hour lecture on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

There are 2 intensives at the end of term 2. Which I think would mean 2 weeks annual leave (a potential problem).

The last 2 semesters would be a bit of a heavier work load.

I need to point out that the lectures take place on the campus I work at so there is no time issue in terms of having to get myself to and from work and uni…

Also, as its only 4-5 hours out of my work week I can credit my lunch hours (which I almost never take – I know, shocking) against the study time and not lose any wages.

Caroline [as an aside, you should check her blog out… it’s wicked – read the Kiwinese to English page for an insight into the New Zealand language!] asked is it a means to an end? Yes, I won’t be able to lecture at same institution without a degree (which I would very much like to do). It seals the Adv Dip in a way that only a degree can in terms of employment prospects and in spite of its reputation as a Bugger All type qual it definitely has a cachet that an Adv Dip doesn’t.

The other end that I see for it is a scratch for the “I’m bored” itch I’ve been feeling since the minute I walked back into the office after a month away… The job has reached the zone where it really is just a series of content updates which in no way satisfies the gnawing tech head in me which is only satiated by the intricacies of html and code… That is the itch that is best relieved by the work I do in the business… It’s project based work with end in sight and prospects of another new project that keeps me hungry…

But don’t tell The Captain I said that…

Fi asked if I’m excited by the prospet…

Yeah baby… even though it’s only been since Sunday that I’ve been thinking about it (I had discounted it initially because I thought it was a performance degree… didn’t feel the need to get back into that zone) the idea of stimulating my mind with discussions of culture and arts and creativity would be fabulous. An antidote to the technical nature of all the other stuff I’m up to…

Freddysmama thought it depended on the course I’m doing. And as she’s also done the same course as me she’ll be surprised to read of these new developments I think…

In terms of Unordered‘s thoughts on the part time/distance question, it’s in person and actually I have no idea what constitutes full time. As the timetable appears to be workable at the moment and the high level of RPL (credits) I’m getting it looks as though it’s part time.

Ian‘s suggestion of taking it a paper at a time is a great idea. I think I will have to do that at least for the 2nd semseter. It’s a busier time of year at work and so trying to juggle the lot at that time would be suicidal I think… The other thing I have to figure out was whether the amount of Credit I have is diminished the longer I take to complete… I have a meeting today which may in fact answer these questions…

So I guess I’ll know more when I’ve spoken to the Crabman (the Principal) and The Captain (my boss)…

I’ll keep you posted.

If you had the opportunity to upgrade your Advanced Diploma to a BA with a part time course would you try to juggle a full time job, a business and study as well?

Answers on the back of a postcard please.

Or just in the comments if you wish to save postage…

I’ve been rather remiss in reporting on the holiday except to allude to the wibmeet with Chops and the Lovely One…

You might think this may be because it was a bust.

It wasn’t!

It’s because I’ve been meaning to knock a little table (below) up to figure out exactly how much we managed to save given that we took every opportunity to save a buck while we were away!!

I know… a bit daft but it was good fun seeing just how much we could extract out of all the stuff we did!!

It started off with the budget airfares… Achieved by booking in September… Cha ching!!!

Moving right along we get to the car hire… I cashed in some of my Altitude points and got $100.00 off the car, couple that with the ‘life in your hands’ choice not to take out excess insurance meant the car cost us $100 bucks each for the week… bargain… and a good external discipline to drive carefully given that a $3000 excess was at stake whether we caused the accident or we didn’t… every reverse park, every choice of lane, every decision to overtake… $3000 dollars… and a promise to split it regardless of the driver… An exercise in trust and fear!!!

Dreamworld was a real bonus.. initially we had achieved a 15% discount through Flick’s medical insurance but she’d heard a rumor that car hire places give out discount voucher books with their car hire so we grabbed one from Avis in the hope of finding bigger and better bargains!!

Sure enough in it there was a Dreamworld voucher offering a ‘buy one get one free’ deal… needless to say a quick phonecall was made to the fun park and a query as to a refund due to a ‘change of circumstances’ was answered in our favour!!! So cha ching again!!! %50 off!!!

Myer was a bonus in shopping for new clothes… gotta love the summer sales!!

With the exeption of the Nut and Ginger Factories on the Sunshine Coast which were vouchers from the Avis book the others were discounts down to Flick’s bargain ingenuity and hotdockets.

You know those vouchers you get on the back of your dockets from the supermarket shopping trips? Well, she cottoned on to the website where you can download vouchers for all over Australia… Buy one get one free seems to be popular, or get one half price as in the dinner we had… Of course we could have been driving all over Brisbane to find the various outlets but when we were in the neighbourhood we made the most of it!!!

There’s a lot to be said for swallowing your pride and handing over the occasional slip of paper which’ll save you a spot of money… I guess it’s true what they say… It all adds up…