Distressed, Distracted and Desperately Hopeful.

Another month, another disaster was the other title I was thinking of for this post but, to be honest, I couldn't find a way to work any more alliteration into that so off to the scrap heap of deserted blog titles it goes (it's a bigger pile than anyone should have to be honest) and back to the point of the post I go.
To put the last few weeks down as a disaster would be quite possibly the understatement of my life. In between crashing the car I bought two months ago, having to take nearly two days off work, trying to catch up on my much neglected reading for the W100 EMA I've got due in 4 days time and trying to make the Mr's delayed birthday the best it could be under the circumstances I've essentially been a nervous wreck since I last posted here. And then the email came through.
Seen as I've got a module ending this week and a collaborative forum starting for my other module I've been getting a fair few OU related emails this week so when yet another one popped up on the list I rolled my eyes, prayed it wasn't from my W100 tutor and opened it while still playing Candy Crush in the background until I seen the words I dread reading about every year "Student Finance". Not only was it not another email reminding me to apply for next terms Tuition Fee Loan (already applied for and approved) it was an email from OU to 'remind' me that I'd told SFE I wanted a Tuition Fee Loan for one module and would be paying the other £2500 in full to the OU myself. The panic of seeing that big a number and 'payment' in the same paragraph is a feeling of dread pretty much all under 30's will relate to. That just isn't a payable amount, it's not even a receivable amount, it's just an abstract number relative to the sort of people who collect interest on their current accounts and have to worry about which ISA gives them the best rate. Not the type of person (i.e. myself) who checks their bank with crossed fingers at the end of the month and keeps a running count down to payday.
Having said that I realise I'm not the most organised person in the world and any other time I would have put this down to me filling in a form wrong or not understanding a question but as my many previous posts will attest last years Student Finance application dragged on for weeks and involved a ridiculously long (and expensive) phone call to their call centre and much clarification of exactly how much I was entitled to and what that would cover. So for the first time ever I am 100% sure this isn't my cock up. I applied for the full amount I was entitled to and clarified this would cover two OU modules in an academic year so getting an email almost a year later saying something completely different was a bit of a kick in the metaphorical balls.
As if to add insult to injury the email came through on a Friday afternoon before a bank holiday meaning I cant actually hyperventilate down the phone to anyone relevant until Tuesday by which time I'll be at work.

All in all I've had better months, more sleep and generally a high percentage of time where I didn't feel like my head was about to burst with the internal pressure but as my thigh tattoo says:

"Smooth Seas make for Poor Sailors"

and holy fucking shit if this doesn't turn me into Ellen MacArthur then there really is no hope for me.