Comedy Show

11th, Dec, 14

Today for three of our classes we went to see a comedy show, by Ger Carey (Yay, I remembered some ones name) in the Ashtown Park Hotel, in Gorey. I was really looking forward to it. We were supposed to have it last week, but the teachers went on strike against the new junior cert scheme that day. But it worked out better this way because we got to miss double maths.
When we got there we had to sit and wait for a while for them to start. But once he started, the wait was worth it. He was hilarious. He told us jokes about school and teenagers in general. It was quite funny because a lot of it was true. Everybody was laughing and having a good time. My stomach hurt at times from laughing so hard. It was a bit childish at times but I didn't mind, the rest made up for it. When it ended we were talking about it for the rest of the day. He is very good at what he does and i'm glad we got to see him.

The stage.

Zooniverse

10th, Dec, 14

Today two woman (sorry, I never remember anybody's names, as you can see) came in to tell us about sun spotters. They showed us powerpoint about the sun and about their spots, and how they formed and act. They showed us the zooniverse website where we got to classify different sunspots based on how complex they are, it was quite interesting because I am very interested in space and cosmology. I think I will have a look at the website again soon. You can do lots of other things for science on it, like classifying meteorites, galaxies, animals and bats sounds and much more.

Home Economics

9th, Dec, 14

Today in h.ec everybody made different chicken dishes. I chose to make tandoori chicken because it looked like it would have the most flavour in it from all the spices. My cooking partner was out, but this wasn't such a bad thing because there was more for me to eat then. It was quite easy to cook. I just had to chuck all the ingredients, chicken,onions and lots of spices, into a pan and cook them all off. I put in a little to much butter and oil, and thats why it doesn't look that appetising, but It was the nicest chicken dish I had ever had. It was full of spices, and had a kick, but it wasn't too hot. It was full of flavour and the chicken was very juicy. I am going to be making a lot more of this in the future.

Mmm.. looks appetising.

Pottery

8th, Dec, 14

Today in pottery I finished my pinch pot, I designed it with koi fish and seaweed on it. I also stated my coil pot, which are quite difficult to make because it is had to roll out the coils evenly. But practice makes perfect,  so I will aim to make a perfect one by the end of the module. I like pottery a lot, the feel of the clay in your hands is nice. I still have to make a slab pot, slip one pot and glaze another. Glazing looks the best in my opinion.

Project Trust

8th, Dec, 14

Today a woman came in to the school to tell us about project trust. She was a past pupil at the school who had gone on to help project trust for a year. Project trust is on organisation who sends teenager volunteers from some European countries to poorer countires to help out. You can choose to teach English, or other subjects, medicine or be a tour guide and many other things. There are also lots of countries you can go to like Ghana, Peru, Japan and many more. She told us about her experience and how she met lots of new people, learnt lots about other counties, got to travel and also helped others. It sounds like an amazing opportunity that I am considering for my gap year. Many people apply for this experience so the chances of getting it are slim. It is also quite expensive but you are helped to fundraise for it. It's somewhere around €6000 for a year, they also have 8 month periods too. Everything else is provided for you from that money and you are well looked after and trained for the trip.
It sounds like a once in a lifetime experience so I will definatly be looking into it more and weighing up my options for after my leaving certificate.

Film Making Day 2

5th, Dec, 14

Today was our last day of workshops. It was also our second day of our film making workshop, we had the week to prepare for making our movie. When we got into school we got into our costumes and started doing our make up while others in our group learned how to use the microphones and ipads for filming. I had to wear a dress in tights and I could tell i was going to freeze to death. For my make-up I had to be dead, so I was smothered in white foundation and bruises using eye shadow, and was then smeared with lots of fake blood. I looked quite dead which was good, but it took a while to do. Once we were all ready and everyone knew their lines we went to the set (outside) to film it.
We had to do three scenes overall for the movie and I was going to be in the fist one. I had to  lie on the ground (I hate the dirt, so this was a real task) and after having to get up and down in different places till we found the right one, I was half frozen to death. I couldn't stop shivering and I had to be dead while they filmed, so I shivered all the way up till they said 'action' and I just stopped dead then. It was quite difficult trying not to blink, breathe or laugh while they filmed. But we managed to get most of it in one or two takes, which was good for me. By the time we finished the first scene my fingers were frozen, and also my hands were a little scratched because the ground isn't a very comfortable place to lie. I had to stand around warming up with my make-up still on in case they wanted to do the scene again. But eventualy I was allowed to wash it off, this was a big task. My skin was stained red in most places, all I managed to get off was the eye shadow.
It was funny watching them film the rest of the scenes from the side lines. After all the filming we had to edit them all together and do voice overs and add music and backround noises. It was quite challenging and a lot of work, but it was worth it. Our movie turned out quite well in the end considering we weren't even amateurs. We got to see all the other groups movies too, which was fun, they were quite good too.
I would love to make more movies, but I don't think I would ever have the time. But the money actors get paid these days, it might be worth considering. I had lots of fun in this workshop, and I got to know the rest of my team better. I think in years to come we will just laugh at ourselves in the movie.


Me getting my make-up done by Bronwyn.

Me trying to act dead in the freezing cold, with Bronwyn dressed as a forensics person. It was extremely difficult trying not to move by shivering.

 

Trying to direct all of the scenes of our movie.

Matrix

4th, 12, '14

Today we had a Matrix smarter thinking workshop. I arrived a bit late because I had a piano exam before hand. But when I went in they were just about to start a meditation thing. He told us to close our eyes and to imagine a beach and a few more things, i wasn't quite sure what was going on because I missed the first few classes, but it seemed a bit strange. After that we had to come up with words and put them together into weird sentences, it seemed a bit pointless, and silly. Then we were put into groups and given two sheets with riddles on them, we had to answer all of them. I love solving riddles so this suited me well, I had done half of them before so it was quite easy. The aim was group work and thinking out things.
Then we all had to write down one thing we would like to talk to the class about, we could do it anonymously. There were some really strange things that people put down. But he pulled stuff out of a hat and we discussed them. The whole day seemed a bit mystical like everybody had their heads in the clouds. I didn't really like it because I am quite down to earth and grounded, all the 'mind is powerful' and 'you can think yourself positive' stuff wasn't for me. I prefer science to meditation. The funnest part was the riddles, the rest of it was a bit childish to me. I wouldn't like to learn any more than what I learnt in that workshop.

                                          Solving riddles

Harmony Drug Awareness

3rd, 12, '14


Our workshop today was harmony drug awareness. I expected it to be about how music influenced our emotions and that drugs can affect us in bad ways and music can be a pick you up. I was wrong.
After we first sat down, a man showed us some slides on how drugs can affect you mentally, and how it affects your family. He also showed us some clips of anti drug and smokings adverts. He told us about his story of drug and alcohol addiction, which was very sad, and how he got through it with help. He explained how you see the world when you have and addiction.
We got to look at Amy Whinehouses story, and Eminem, who have written songs about drugs. Other than that there wasn't much of a connection between when he talked about drugs, and talked about music. I did learn however how drugs mentally affect you and how to get help. But I didn't learn much about how music affects you and why the workshop was about music and drugs.
Towards the end of the day we had to write a rap song about drugs. I'm not much of a rapper and founds it difficult, but we did have a bit of a laugh trying to come up with lyrics. Also rap isn't my style of music. Then each of the groups sang their rap, which was quite funny.
At the very end of the day my legs were a bit stiff because all the workshop was just sitting down watching a slideshow from a projector. I didn't come out knowing much more than when I went in. He showed us lots of statistics but they all went straight through my head. I think a but more involvement with music and a but more interaction would have made this workshop more appealing. I hadn't planned on doing drugs in my lifetime anyway and I don't think having lots of knowledge on drugs will help me. But I do respect the man who did the workshop with us, he was very motivated and had shown us that if you do get into difficulty you can come out ok on the other side.

Film Making

1st, Dec, '14

Today we started our week of workshops, some other people are doing community service or work experience. Today we had film making. It sounded very interesting and we have to do it over two days. Today when we went in it took ages for them to get started because they had to organise the spanish students into their groups. Then the co-ordinators, peter and some other guy (i'm very bad at remembering names) asked us about our favourite movies and what goes into making one. They were the same people who organised the song school workshop from earlier on in the year, that workshop was great so I was looking forward to this one.
After a while we split up into three groups with about 10-12 people in each group, each group had to come up with an idea, title and storyline for a movie of our own and cast different people for the parts, even the camera and sound parts. This was fun. Our movie was going to be a murder mystery with a bit of comedy in it. We wrote out the script (well, i didn't, one of my friends on my team kindly did) and pitched our idea to the other groups. They had some interesting ideas for movies too. One of them was about a persons mother dying, it was a sad drama, and the other movie was about a group of kids being abandoned and found by a murderer.
This is pretty much what we did for the whole day. There were times when I didn't get to do much, but it was fun coming up with a story based on everybody's ideas. I got to play the part of one of the dead people, so the next day we have to bring in costumes and make-up and actually film the movie. I can't wait.
I never realised that this much work went into a movie. It is quite fun but I don't think I would go into the film buisness when I leave school, its very long work. But the acting but is fun.

First Film Studies Module

25th, Nov, ;14

Today I had my first film studies module. For the first while we write out our favourite movies, and also about what makes up a movie, like all the work that goes into one and also what makes a movie good. We then watched a short movie called 'The white dress' and had to write out notes and comments about it. It was only 3 minutes long and it was quite sad. It was an Irish made movie. We then all had to write out what would have happened before and after the film based on the story line. We also had to come up with idea for our own film based on our school life. I found my first module quite relaxing and fun and I learnt about different aspects of films I had never thought of before. I think I will enjoy this module.

Millionaires Shortbread

25th, Nov, '14

Today in h.ec we made millionaires shortbread, one of my most favourite treats. We made the biscuit base first and we all thought the dough looked odd because it was still powdery when it went into then oven, I always thought it was supposed to be like a dough. We also made the caramel which looked so tasty and once that was ready we had to assemble it all. We poured the caramel onto the biscuit and then poured the melted chocolate ontop. I was suprised there was any left to put ontop because we kept eating it. We had to leave them set in the fridge for the rest of the day then. When I tasted it though, it was the nicest millionaires shortbread I had ever had, I will definalty be making it again.

First Creative Writing Module

25th, Nov, '14

Today I had my first creative writing module. Our teacher is really funny and I can tell he will make this class fun. Although he did go on about how our minds creativity is restricted and we need to loosen up and we had writing exerscises which I found a bit silly and pointless. I like to write stories but it is hard to find an idea to write about. I don't know yet if i'll like writing stories the way he wants us to, he is a bit wacky in his writing ideas and style. I like to keep mine grounded and realistic. But We'll see how it goes next week.

First Pottery Module

24th, Nov, '14

Today we switched over our modules. I had pottery today. I absolutely love pottery, I have made some pots even on a wheel before. For our first class we learnt a bit about the different style of pots we would be making and drew up a design for our first pot which would be a pinch pot. I drew a fish bowl shaped pot with fish designs on it. Then we got making our designs. I love the feel of clay, but it is quite difficult to mould into the shape you want without putting dents and finger marks all over it, but I managed to get a pretty good bowl shape (But not perfect). I then made the shape of the fish on it as attachments and scraped in seaweed designs with the pottery tools. I didn' get my pot finished in the first class so we packed them away in plastic to keep them wet and put them in a storage shelf. I can't wait to keep working on it. I can just tell that this will be one of my favourite modules. I like the design of my pot so far.

Pieta House, Bag Packing

22nd, Nov, '14

Today some of my year went to Tescos to do some fundraising for Pieta House. They are an amazing charity who help prevent suicide and self-harm. It is becoming more common nowadays so the work they do is becoming even more important to everybody, so I was glad to help out in anyway I could. We were to do 2 hour shifts each throughout the day. My shift was from 2pm-4pm, but I arrived at 1 anyway because I had the time to spare, and I wouldn't have been doing anything better. I was kind of shy packing peoples bags at first but once I got into the swing of it  I really enjoyed it. I had to run into the shop to get things for customers once or twice because things were damaged, but I didn't mind. I met really nice people. People nowadays are still very generous and we raised a good bit of money. I would love to bag pack again during the year because it is a good way to raise money. I can feel my social skills improving with everything I do this year.

The Vatican Museum

20st, Nov, '14

Today for three classes we went to the cinema to see 'The Vatican Museum'. From the adds for it, I thought it wouldn't be good, it would just be looking at some paintings and thats it. But I was pleasantly suprised. We were shown high definition views of some of the most beautiful paintings and sculptures in the vatican. We also saw it in 3D which was even more amazing. You could see very fine detail in all the artwork. I'm so glad I went to see it. I say you'd get a better view of the art from the cinema than you would in the real place. In the real place there would be big crowds and you would be looking at the art from a distance, this movie was up real close and also described some of the things about the artwork that I wouldn't have known before. I would love to visit the vatican museum, but I think this is as close as i'll get to it for a while.

Paired Reading Interview

20th, Nov, '14

Today for the first ten minutes of my first class I had to do an interview to do paired reading. I wasn't really nervous because I knew the teacher doing it and she is very nice. When I went in she asked very simple questions and it all went well. I think I will be let do it and I enjoy reading. I think it will be good for me to help someone out and help myself be more confident and sociable. The interview flew by and I was back in class within minutes.

Last Print Making

18th, Nov, '14

We had our last print making class today, I was sad because this was my favourite module. A lot of people were really behind and didn't get to finish their linos by the end, but I was finished, all I had to do was sew upmy bags. I am quite rpoud of my bags and I can't wait to use them. I think I have improved my lino cutting skills a lot and learned how to do finer detail, I also hadn't done a two colour before and I think it looked really good. I would love to do lino again, and art is my favourite subject. I also had a very kind teacher who gave me extra time to make my bags so they would be finished on time.I don't think I could have imprived them much. I wish I could do the module again.

Home Economics

18th, Nov, '14

Today in h.ec class we made chicken fajtias. I had to cut the slimy chicken, which I hate, but it was worth it. It was quite a simple dish to make so I think it would be handy for parties and things like that. They were very tasty, especially with sour cream. I couldn't finish it all though.

Last Mask Making

18th, Nov, '14

Today we had our last mask making module. Most of us had finished our masks so we got to make chirstmas decorations instead. We cut out circles in cardboard and then cut snoflake designs into them, we then painted them white and once they were dry, covered them in glue and dipped them in a mixture of sugar and glitter to give them a sparkly effect. They were really pretty and easy to make. They were also kind of messy to make too. Most people finnished their masks by the end of class. We then took a group photo of everyone with their masks. We weren't allowed to take them home because the teacher wanted them for our end of year exhibition.
Overall I loved making my mask and am very proud of it. I think I could have painted the music notes better but I still like it. I think I did well sticking to the venetian theme. I would love to make more masks but I don't have any of the materials. My mask doesn't properly fit my face either but I don't really plan on wearing it much anyway.

Last Chinese

17th, Nov, '14

Today we had our last Chinese class (sob). We all got to try some Chinese food from yung fo in Gorey. We had noodles, fried rice, and dumplings. It was very tasty with sweet chilli sauce. We had to try eat them with our chopsticks which was quite difficult, but I got the hang of it. We also got to try some chinese crackers, nuts and teas. The teas were very mild and perfumey, I didn't really like the teas. But overall we had fun. We also learnt some more about different styles of chinese food and got to listen to some Chinese music.
Overall i'm glad I did Chinese. It is a very interesting country with a very different culture and cousine to us. I would love to travel there someday. The language was quite difficult to learn but I think its a fun thing to know if you need a conversation starter, and if I ever go to China I have a few words I can say (If I don't forget them by then) I think I could have studied a bit more, but I still have all of the sheets so I can always looks back over it if I need to. I didn't really enjoy watching the movies too much because they didn't reflect China very well, and I could have watched them any other time in my spare time, I would rather of used the class time to learn things I never would have taught of learning. But I think I might look into China a bit more in the future.

Dumplings and sweet chilli sauce

Tea

Nuts

Science Quiz

14th, Nov, '14

Today, as a part of science class, we got to go do a quiz with the first year science classes. We had prepared the quiz ourselves and had to go to the classes in groups of three for the fourth period. Myself, Eimer and Colin were in a group, but Colin didn't show up. But we were fine without him. I was glad to be missing class for it. I was quite worried though, to be reading our questions to a whole class. But when we went in it was quite laid back and they listened to us well. It was really fun. I wouldn't normally be the one to read out things or take control of a class but I was quite confident and I surprised myself. They answered all of the questions and we had a laugh aswell. Afterwards I had to correct all of the quizes. I was surprised with some of their answers, some of the questions were quite easy but they caught them out. The best team got 53 out of 62, which was the best score in the whole year. They even got the tricky ones right which I was surprised with. Most of the other groups only got as high as the low fourties or thirties, so this team did pretty well. They got their prizes of sweets. I would love to do another quiz with the first years again.

Joe Prop

13th, Nov, '14

Today for our middle three classes we saw a one man play in the oratory. It was played by a man whose name I will find out, but he acted in Fair City before. It was about a young boy with brain tumors who's dream was to be a rugby coach. It was quite embarrassing to watch a grown man act like a little child but at times it was quite funny. He ran around yelling and talking to a teddy bear and going into daydreams. It also had quite a good story line but everybody has mixed ideas about how it ended, some think he died and some think he lived to do his dreams. I think he died. At the end he took pictures with us all and he was very friendly. The writer of the play was very nice also. I don't know if I would be able to watch it all again but fair play to the actor and writer who put effort into it, it was well executed for the small space and resources they had.

The Stage.

My View

Talking to everyone at the end.

Indie Music

13th, Nov, '14

Today in music class myself and my project partner Séamus had to present our project to our class. Everybody was in groups of two and were given a genre of music to study and work on. We got indie music. I had no idea what type of music this was until now and I also learnt some more about other genres of music. It was quite nerve wrecking to talk in front of the whole class but I'm beginning to feel more comfortable doing it. I also learnt a song, 'Summertime Sadness' by Lana Del Ret for the project because she is an indie artist. We put together a powerpoint aswel with all of the information about the music. I was quite proud of our project and think we did pretty well, but I wouldn't like doing another stressful project anytime soon. We're going to be starting Christmas carols for our carol service soon.

Art

12th Nov, '14

This is my second finished painting. It was quite difficult to do the trees and I thihnk there was room for improvement. But practice does make perfect.

Aib Build a Bank

12th, Nov, '14

Today for our first two classes we had a meeting in the senior canteen about the Build a Bank project. We were told about the different possible jobs you could have if you signed up and what you would be doing for the school. It seemed pretty difficult. There were prizes forthe best banks in Ireland. I'm not very good at finance or handling money so it really wasn't for me so I didn't sign up. It akes a lot of dedication, work and time to do it and I would much rather do something i'd like and be good at.

Science Trip

11th, Nov, '14


Today after our first three classes we went on our science trip to the zoo and to Dunsink observatory. We left at 11am to the zoo. Once we arrived it had started raining. We were given question sheet and sent on paths to go around to the animals and answer them. Then whoever got all the questions right went into a raffle for ten euro. Me and Bronwyn were eager to win. We saw lots of beautiful animals and actually learnt some new things about them that I didn't know before.  The flamingo's and seal's habitats were being renovated so we didn't get to see them I love the seals and was disappointed that I didn't get to see them, but at least now I have another excuse to go and see them again once their pen is finished being built. The baby elephant was so adorable. We also got to see the meerkats in the restaurant there and Bronwyn got a brownie, which was delicious. At 2 o'clock we went into the educational centre and had a sort of quiz where we learnt about the food chain and how some of the animals are endangered and could collapse the food chain. It was very interesting. Then when this talk was over a small group of us went to see the giraffes and zebras at the other end of the zoo. It was absolutely lashing rain and we got soaked. We had to go back to the bus early because nobody wanted to go around in the rain and there were massive puddles in the way also. Everybody else was on the bus when we got to it. I really enjoyed the zoo apart from all the rain, it meant that it wasn't busy and we actually got to see the animals.
After the zoo we went to Blanchertstown shopping centre for some dinner. They had a build a bear there which I had to look at and they had all of their Christmas stuff in which was so cute. Then me and Bronwyn went to McDonald's for something to eat. It is a very big shopping centre and they had really cool Christmas displays (even though its only November) We were glad for a rest in a dry warm place.
Then at 6p.m we left for the observatory.
When we arrived the bus had a hard time trying to fit through the gate so we got off and walked up to the house. This was better because the building was very beautiful and it had stopped raining. When we went in they weren't quite ready for us so one of the men there told us all a love story of two of these gods I can't remember. It was a lovely story. Then we went into a big room and another man gave us a lecture about telescopes. The room we were in was very tall and once was home to a telescope and the roof could open. It was very interesting to see. He told us about the rosetta telescope that was to land on an asteroid the next day which was a very big step for science, it also cost a lot of money, something like 1.8 billion euro or more. After the talk we went outside to the bigger telescope which was in a dome like house. It was very cold inside to stop temperature change from damaging the telescope. We got to see the roof open. I was disappointed that we didn't get to look through it because there were too many clouds and a lot of light pollution. But the man said that the telescope weighed as much as a single decker bus but the engineers who made it were so marvelous because they designed it so that it could be moved around with very little force. He also told us that the telescope had its own foundations seperate to the floor so that it wouldn't shake no matter how much you stomped around. The man described how it was used to tell the time and this time was sent to other places, including the docks, all around Dublin. The man who invented it (it was someone Grubb) owned a factory that made telescopes and it was very funny because he had to pay a jewlers to set his watch to the right time (the jewler wouldn't let him see the clock), but Grubb didn't like the fact that he had to pay for the time that he had worked out from his inventions, so he got one of his workers to sprint down to the town clock and back so that he could set his watch to the closest minute. I found this very funny because he had to pay for his own time. I also learnt that every telescope is unique because it has to be made specially for where it is going to sit along latitude. Dublin is something like 53.something degrees north and it is very important to get the angle right on the foundations down to the last point of the degree. Also when it was first discovered that you could tell time with telescopes, it meant that the east of Ireland was a couple of minutes ahead of the west and Ireland was 25 minutes ahead of England so it was very difficult for trains to work out times, so eventually they decided to set all the clocks the same. This was very funny. After we saw the telescope we went inside for another lecture on astronomy and how starts are born and die. I found some of this interesting, other parts were boring. A lot of people weren't interested in this. Some of it was also very confusing for young teenagers like us.
We finally left for home at 9:30p.m. I was very tired by the time we got home at 11pm. It was time for a nice, dry warm comfy bed.
I am very interested in cosmology and would love to go back to the observatory on a clear night and learn more about the universe. It is a very beautiful place.

Beautiful snow leopard

Tigers. I had never seen them this close before.  They were massive and gorgeous.

Meerkats in the resturaunt

Some animal skulls

Giraffe skull

                                                    Armadillo

Red Panda

Telescope. This is when we were opening the roof.

 

The lights were red so that it didn't affect your night vision.

Mask Making

11th, Nov,'14


Today in mask making I finally finished my mask. Well I just have to put a wire on the back to keep it upright to display it. But everything else is done. I'm pretty proud of my mask, even though the music notes look a bit clumpy because the brush was too big.

IT is not just for geeks

10th, Nov,'14


Today for our 5th and 6th periods we had a talk on IT. Two Dell representatives came to our school to give us an insight into what they do and how IT affects the world. For me it was quite boring because I have no interest in computers. They had some inspiring videos that all looked a bit too 'happy' and unrealistic. I wouldn't want to work with computers when I leave school. But they did say their side very well and I think they got a few more people interested in IT.

Chinese

10th, Nov, '14


Today in Chinese we had a test. It was very hard and I don't think I did too well in some parts, but I know I got the names of all the family right which I was pleased with. It is such a difficult language with so many different ways to say things.
Also in the class we learned to use chopsticks. It was so hard at first because they kept slipping in my hands. But then I realised that I had been holding them wrong the whole time. A lot of people had been. I was holding them wrong my whole life and once I held them right I realised how much easier it was. She gave us some popcorn to practice picking up. It was really fun. I never thought I would get the hang of using them. I'm still not great at using them but I'm a million times better than I was. We also learnt a bit about the different styles of Chinese food, it all looked so tasty. Next week for our last Chinese class our teacher will be bringing in some Chinese food for us to taste. Can't wait!