The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

Izzie has been slinking about and sniffing in the Garden of MOOC temptations. Once again there are so many tasty tempting fruits hanging from the assorted Trees of Knowledge.

Things have come a long way since the serpent's first visit to the Garden back in September 2012 (Courtesy of the Cat)
In those days Izzie was a serious serpent who did all her homework and assignments and participated in discussion forums and had lots of fun. That's not quite correct. Toadish dramas meant a couple of courses got ditched due to a complete inability to concentrate. But soon it was back to feasting and pigging out on all the online freebies.

Got to thinking that years ago I made do with Open University lectures on television Sunday mornings while living in Dublin. I was not actually doing any courses at the time but just had an insatiable curiosity about all sorts of obscure things. It was like going from plain cabbage soup to caviar. So many delightful delicacies to taste and to try.

It was necessary to learn restraint and careful selections of morsels from this buffet for eternal students. Also there's no need to fill one's plate to overflowing as repeat refills are not just allowed but actually encouraged. While the golden age of free access could not possibly last forever, more and more educational institutions would be jumping on the bandwagon and the trick would be to concentrate on the courses that are not offered on a regular basis.



The unexpected overseas adventures in December nuked a few of the courses I had planned to do or already started including Coursera's Terrorism and Counterterrorism
This course like many others is now available on a self study basis but I have found that without the commitment and regular deadlines of a class schedule, the chances of actually getting stuff done at one's own pace are remarkably low.

So then I vowed to stay away from online courses, concentrate on squiggling for Camp Nanowrimo in April as well as sorting out the clutter in the Lair. Was doing very well for a while but had neglected to get the serpent email taken off the assorted MOOC mailing lists with their tantalizing subject line "We have new courses for you".

So when tasty morsels with titles like "Propaganda and Ideology in Everyday Life" arrived in the inbox, they just proved too irresistible. Then another turned up designed specifically to push all my favorite buttons.
A Paradoxical Python

In the meantime, had long ago signed up to retake a programming course that I did not pass last time. More Python Puzzles I got 62% and needed 70% to pass. It has just started and for the last few weeks I have been wondering if it is best to just jump ship or to have a second attempt especially as it has been chopped up into two more manageable bite sized morsels. Now there are no more Statements of Accomplishment but only Verified Certificates (they've got to earn their money somehow) but that's not an issue for a dabbler and dilettante such as Izzie.

The course will be over in time for July's visit to Camp Nanoland.

It's taken just over a month to get cleaning and maintenance of the Lair on autopilot. Except for Monday evening which was spent over at the Dursleys, I've now got a 5 week unbroken run of cleaning and sorting rituals for 3 different days of the week. Such habits are not only brainless but the lack of thinking means that I can get more done in less time and feel a sense of achievement for finally escaping the years of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)
Now I guess it's time to adopt a similar strategy for dealing with all the assorted online temptations and online courses.

The other big adventure was today's visit to a gorgeous historical graveyard. Just the perfect place for reading monster stories and dreaming of dark grimoires. Like gazing at the stars in the night sky, wandering amongst head stones and noticing that more than 80% of them are dedicated to folks who departed this mortal coil much younger than you is a very good way to get your life in perspective.
But that is a tale for another day.

The Izzie is a most masochistic creature indeed. What was supposed to be an interesting adventure in a free online mind gym has turned into a vampire like time sucking monster turning the serpent’s green cells into zombie mush.

The idea is excellent. Teaching the programming language of Python with the goal of creating games rather than just making silly little boring programs with no practical value. Practising scales is so much easier when there’s a useful goal to aim for. It’s also no course for sparkly special snowflakes who think that mastering the “Hello World” spell should give them a shower of gold stars, a certificate of achievement with distinction and a day job at Hogwarts.
Figured that the logical way of thinking required to do such a course would be a good skill to learn and could come in useful for a whole bunch of other courses and stuff. It would also be a more productive use of time than playing Sudoku puzzles.
But a big motivation is to peek into the mindset of geeks to see what makes them tick. What is this creativity and magic that so many of them whisper about in such reverent tones? So far the conclusion is that most of them have Spock like super powers that mere muggles cannot aspire to. Of course it just seems that way. There are a lot of so called natural talents out there that are due far more to the mastery that comes from constant practice rather than winning the jackpot in the genetic lottery.
Being a totally alien environment, had expected a certain amount of disorientation and confusion. But figured that things would improve after four weeks or so finding my bearings and getting a feel for the strange landscape.

It’s the latest project which involves creating a version of the Memory card game that is the trigger for this serpent’s senior moments. There’s only 8 pairs to find, not 26 like in a proper deck of cards and they are nicely arranged in rows or grids rather than mixed up at all angles over some table but still it is proving to be an insurmountable obstacle. It’s a bit like knowing what you want to say but being totally unable to find the right words to express the ideas. And the words are the least of it. Every single bracket, colon or comma has to be perfectly placed or the python will have horrid hissy fits and whip that long red forked tongue all over one’s crappy code.

The feeling of frustration is so very like the very first time attempting to write a Nanowrimo novel back in November 2009. Like this time, had also jumped in the deep end with little planning or preparation. After the initial enthusiasm had worn off and there were a couple of characters doing nothing and going nowhere and the dreaded blank page turned the old brain to mush, I began to wonder what moment of madness ever made me sign up for such craziness. The Inner Umbridge had such fun unleashing her hordes of dementors on this crazy creature. I managed to negotiate a stay of execution. They could have as many pity parties and kisses as they like but only after the daily 1,666 word quota and certainly not before the 15th of the month. That beastly week took a strange turn on the first Friday and after that the main problem was keeping up with the multitudes of muses who then came knocking. Getting to the finish line was made all the more special since there had been so many obstacles to overcome at the very beginning. The feeling of achievement was so addictive that I have been doing it ever since.


So it’s like that first week all over again. All plodding along slowly in a dark tunnel and not a glimmer of light to be seen. Things seemed to be looking good a few days ago. But the last two nights have been up to the eyeballs in quagmire and quicksand. The more I struggle to get out, the deeper down I get.

After tomorrow’s deadline there will be 3 weekly projects left and two of those will be due in November. If the inner Spock is going to make an appearance, he’s got till Halloween to do it. Once the witching hour arrives on 31st October and everything gets turned back into a pumpkin, then the poor old pythons will just get put back in their box and there they will have to wait until the magic 2,000 words of the day are safely stored in Scrivener.

So for the second week in a row, the serpent is turning in some half baked half finished effort in the belief that it is better to try and fail miserably than not to bother at all and that the simple act of plodding on in the dark sends the message to the muses that it’s time to send some inspiration as a reward for such stubborn determination.

Just a quick squiggle. Izzie is such a masochistic serpent. Camp Nanowrimo was not even over when Izzie went and signed up for a bunch of courses at a certain Magical Academy
The first of these started in the last week of August. It's turned out to be 'insanely challenging' (to quote a certain Cat) not helped by having a seriously snailish ISP.
So the time that is usually devoted to squiggling and surfing about aimlessly in Cyberia is now spent watching video lectures, trying to decipher seemingly incomprehensible course materials and similar sorts of stuff
Now another course has started. Decided that it might be a good idea to not over indulge in too many tasty fruits from the tree of knowledge.
Just as well there does not seem to be too much maths yet in Introduction to Mathematical Thinking as the Crypto course is simply dripping in the stuff. With 20/20 hindsight it would have made more sense to do that one later. Did not know at first that the courses would be offered more than once. Still trying to work out how this business model actually makes money. Maybe it is just free in the beta testing stage



Got the weekend off for the annual street fiesta in South Fremantle. It will be a feast of weird greenies and other eccentric creatures with lots of open gardens, street stalls and demonstrations about how to make all sorts of stuff. Ginger beer will probably feature on the list of attractions yet again.
Already been planting lots of heirloom tomato seeds. Here's hoping they don't drown or die of thirst. Such sensitive little things they are at the start of their lives

Been so much gossip at Toad Hall but so little time to catch up on squiggling. No Howlers for four weeks is a bit of record for the toxic toad. Maybe she is writing one right now and sending her minions down to the post office with it
Or maybe she's been having so much fun as a guest at "Let them eat caviar" Mitt Romney's little dinner parties that she hasn't had time to be hassling her house elves

Hard to believe that it is just over four years since the goblin House of Cards came tumbling down with Lehman brothers and the rest of them.

It's going to be a fun few months seeing who else remembers and seeing the revenge of the 47%
Will be fun snooping for the feast of cartoons.