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.