I booked for an X-Ray a few days ago for a regular health check and this morning my husband dropped me off at the street near the building where I had the X--ray done.

The radiographer's a lovely lady and we had a peasant talk. She's probably at her late 40s and she told me that she had got a pathology degree from a 4 years study many years ago and right now she's doing her second degree in ultrasound as a part-time student. I wonder how many years it will be for her to complete the part-time course. It might take her 6 or 7 years or so. I reckon study has become her way of life which I found it very inspirational.  

We're actually in the same boat. I don't know how she goes through but I surely know how I cope with it; that is to fight against my laziness at every moment of the journey.

On my way back home, I held 3 pages of the printed map in hands while taking some photos along the streets, and walked 7 kilometers in total, arrived home in 80 minutes after. The walking exercise is a good start - a war on one's own. 

-- 6 Minute English 06 (2 rounds)

Speaking about further developing my English language skills, I know exactly how to achieve it. The most effective way for me personally is to keep learning English on a daily basis. However, the reality is I couldn't keep it up. Now it's time for self-reflection on where I've gone wrong.

When it comes to goal setting, I do think of SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable and timely. I can also follow the scheduled plan for 20, or 30 days even more. My big problem with it is that after a period of the intensive study, I would definitely have a break unwillingly or unexpectedly due to fatigue and quite often the break would become a long one. This has certainly had a negative impact on my learning progress.

Now the questions is,  how can I keep up with my plan regularly with no unexpected long breaks? As I reflect on SMART, I think 'reasonable' or 'realistic' is the key to my achievement. In fact, what I've done wrong is I often try to do too much; I'm too ambitious; my intensive study is just too overwhelming. So, in order to have a long term run and to maximise my learning effectiveness, reducing the amount of study for each day is what I'm going to bear in mind. 

Today's to-do list and see how I go: 

• 50 new words 
• Science in news passage 6 & 7
• 6 Minute English passage 6 & 7

Framing nail gun/ Framing gun / Framing nailer

Multifunction saw

A leveler

A New Journey Begins

I sit down at the desk, looking out of the window - it's a beautiful sunny Saturday morning. Saying good bye to 'yesterday',  I need to adjust the sails towards tomorrow and keep sailing. 

I won't forget what happened yesterday morning: I woke up earlier than usual and took a bus to the city. I hadn't taken a bus for so long that the bus journey became my exciting sightseeing tour. Anyway, the application papers were finally hand delivered to where they were required to be. The rest of the day I was so excited and anxious that I couldn't do anything else. Now all I can do is wait for the offer to come. 

A new journey begins ...