The Leaving

It seems like I’ve been neglecting this place as of late. I’d like to claim that my hardcore study habits were keeping away from the computer, but alas that’s not the whole truth, I’m just a horrid procrastinator with very little worth blogging about.
I have actually been studying a bit lately though! More than I ever did last year so I feel ever so slightly proud of myself. My mocks were before midterm and over all I was relatively happy with how they went. There were a few things that annoyed and frustrated me; like the MEB Geography exam, where they didn’t supply us with aerial photographs and the map grid references were wrong. And in the DEB chemistry exam where they asked us a question that certainly wasn’t covered in our textbook, and when I mentioned it to my teacher she said “Ah well, you should be able to figure it out”. What? No Miss, no. That is some serious overestimation of my intelligence there! Still, only the mocks. Not important. It’s not going to count towards anything, certainly not collage applications.
And even though I know that, I still think I’d be devastated if I didn’t do fairly well in them.
Some of the classes got their results back this week, but none of my subjects have emerged. It seems that no one has done particularly well, and a lot of people have failed. I heard one girl saying that her C1 in English was the highest in the class. I’m half dreading getting mine back. One part of me –the over confident side with a superiority complex- likes to think that I’m smarter than them, that I worked harder, that I’m at an advantage and that I definitely did better, maybe not all As but certainly nothing lower than a C. Another part of me isn’t so sure; maybe I’m not as smart as I think, I certainly could have worked harder and I made so many mistakes...I’m probably going to end up with worse results than I got last June.
I’m trying not to dwell on it; it’s more important to focus on the exams that count instead of carrying out post-mortems on tests that don’t matter. Easier said than done though.

Has anyone tried the Barbara Daly makeup range in Tesco? I bought some foundation, blusher and powder today and they're pretty good!! The Beige really suits my skin tone, and the Nude blusher isn't too OTT. So ya, I approve! =)

So I'm currently supposed to be writing an English question, but I have writer's block. Keeping Up With the Kardashians might have something to do with it......

Caitlin

not for any mere thing like a person, but for the holidays that were truly buried this morning. Halfway through double Irish, watching my breath fog before me and slowly losing feeling in my toes, I closed my eyes and could faintly hear my teacher talking about how some people think they're too good to pay attentiion in class, and it honestly felt like I'd never left.

I barely made it through the day, the only highlight being that my grinds teacher never called to say we were back, so more sleeping time for me :)

I feel really bad over my lack of work over the holidays. But, on the up side, I've topped up the old college fund (for the time being) and I got to relax. I also read "Sense and Sensibility" (which is not the second book to "Pride and Prejudice", before anyone asks!) and I really enjoyed it. I'm going to read another Austen soon, but I think I'll space them out because once I've read it for the first time, I won't be able to read it without knowing what's going to happen again!

But, that is as far as I stretched my brain these past 2 weeks. My bag stayed under the stairs until Sunday, until Mam's hints made me move it upstairs, so it would look like I was doing work. I did grinds homework and History, then I intended to study but just couldn't bring myself to do it. After 30 minutes of staring blankly at the book I re-located to the couch with my duvet and DVDs- bliss!

The most worrying thing that happened over the Christmas was that the inevitable happened- I am starting to doubt my first choice. At the moment it's Arts with Drama in NUIG, and I've wanted to do it since it started, a few years ago. But I never gave a thought to the work placement year. The third year is spent on work experience in a theatre, but I don't want to spend a year sweeping the stage, and then 4th year consists of writing two theses, in the two subjects I've kept on (at the moment- English and History/Irish) that relate to theatre/drama some way. So, on top of the stress of pres, pre orals, study, friends and the Leaving Cert in general, I now have the "Am I doing the right thing?" dilemma.

Oh, and we started a new topic today in History :) We have 5 weeks to our pres. 5 weeks to do all about Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. And it took us a month to do the Apprentice Boys!! I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks :( And ye are all going to have to listen to me!

Cheers
Kate

By the way- kudos to whoever re-vamped the blog. Loving the new skin.

First of all. Happy new year everyone. I hope ye all have a fantastic one.

Now, I had plans to study over Christmas. Nothing mind-blowing, just to do a bit here and there. I have failed. To be quite honest, I don't even know where my schoolbag is. I've spent my time listening to music, watching films and browsing the internet (which I am sure I am one step closer to finishing).

I consider this to be a fantastic success, but my studious self knows that this is not good enough. Meh! I'm too laid back. I've always been laid back. It's something my teachers have always pointed out at parent-teacher meetings. "He likes to take his time" is how it usually comes out. I've never really known a teacher to hold this against me but my English teacher thinks it's fantastic.
There's loads of time left though... isn't there?

New years resolution: Study more! Procrastinate less.

Ah I had so many good intentions once upon a time (And by that I mean about two weeks ago). I was going to review all those chemistry chapters that confused and frustrated me so that they would finally click, and then when we went over them after the mocks, my teacher wouldn’t look me with those disappointed and pitying eyes that suggested science at university level really wasn’t my thing. I was going to read Kavanagh’s poetry and accompanying notes and then write a profound and compelling essay which would out shine every other essay in my class, despite the fact that they had a teacher helping them through this section while I was on my own. I was also going to some maths and stuff, but yeah, you get the idea: I was going to study, I was going to be the most amazing student ever and teachers and students alike would fall to their knees before me in jealous awe. But instead I spent the Christmas break working my way through the House of Night books, watching Naruto online, and playing Mario Kart on my brother’s Nintendo DS. Bow before my work ethic mere mortals!
Yeah...
And I’m not going to get anything done over the next few days either since I’ve got a rescheduled ice skating trip to attend to, and I can hardly be expected to work on New Year’s Eve, and I have a sneaking suspicious I may not be up for much on New Year’s day either.
As much as I’d like to say I hope the rest of you are making more progress than me, I’d be lying: I hope you’re all time wasting, wasters like me.

Peace!

P.S. Check out the new countdown clock, just incase you weren't stressed enough ;)

... And we'll all get fat!

(Not the traditional rhyme, I know, but who eats goose anymore anyway?)

Anyway, we did the traditional 6th year sketch in our schools' Christmas concert last Friday, it was good, considering we only started to organise it the day before!! Then, for a bit of relaxation (and a Christmas party) I hit the town on Saturday night. I have to say it was great to forget about school and work and just dance away with my friends. Surprisingly, loads of 6th years were out too. Is it just our alcoholic year or do many 6th years around the country turn to alcohol as a release? Saying that, I found myself talking to a guy I know in NUIG about courses, points and accommodation. Does it ever stop?

I find myself looking forward to next Friday, but also slightly dreading all the work I know I'll have to do over the holidays. I have to try fit in work and study around relaxation, my job, going ice-skating and going out. Maybe I can just sleep for 2 weeks then take another 2 weeks off?

Well, I'm not sure if I'll be on before Christmas (busiest time for butchers!), so Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy it! (I know I will ;) )

Kate

Hello, I'm Jack and I'll be giving my opinion on this whole leaving cert lark as it unfolds in front of me. I'm 17 and from Cork.

The subjects I do are English, Irish, Maths, French, DCG, History and Physics. I do all except Irish at higher level.
This year hasn't been the best for me so far. I've been in and out of hospital with a persistent eye problem. It seems to have affected me badly for my Christmas tests. Hopefully the same won't be said in June. I am hoping to study Computer Science next year. UL and UCC have caught my eye but I'm still unsure about where exactly I would like to go. Comp. Sci. is 300 points and since I'm capable of far more than that I'm confident that I will get a place in whatever course I choose. I'd love to become a successful programmer in the future.

I LOVE music. The only genres I dislike are dance, rap and R n' B. I play the guitar and I used to play the violin (I probably still can a bit). I love sport too and I'm an avid Liverpool supporter.


So, that's it really. Just a short introduction. I look forward to blogging and reading what Lawliet, Kate and Crow92 have to say also.

Jack.