BACK UP THE TRUCK... carefully, though

Y'know, I was expecting TY to be busy, but I never knew we would be doing so many things. I find I never even have time to be bored any more.

This week was no different from the rest, as we were away at Rathbeggan Lakes for a ~maths trip~ on Tuesday, which was probably as much fun as it could be in such cold weather. Unlike most activities we have participated in this year, our groups were picked for us, so we were kind of forced to interact with people outside of our friend groups. Most people seemed disgruntled upon hearing this, but it actually was quite nice.

~Source~

Yet again, we were let loose on the public for an hour or so in Blanchardstown shopping centre. That's always fun.
Possibly not for the public, though.
//shakes fist// YoUthS

gpoy
~Source~

Since we've finished our first work experience block, we have a free Wednesday every week, so yesterday we went to a Road Safety thingy thing to be lectured about drink driving and such. It was quite informative, but I must admit that there was little I hadn't heard before. I still enjoyed it, despite the hoards of rambunctous teenagers and the stench of Lynx.
And that Tangobot dude.

Due to parent teacher meetings, school ended early that day, so we skipped lunch and went straight home.
HuzzAH.

Well, Sir! You don't look a day over 1000.

I wish I could say that the sole reason for the neglect of this blog is my busy life, but, if I'm being honest, it's more because I'm lazy. The past few weeks actually have been quite busy, though, so maybe it's not all my fault. Last Monday (the 11th) we went on the first of three trips we've been on since. Due to its being Science Week and whatnot, we visited Tallaght Institute of Technology for a presentation on the XTRA-Ordinary (because misspelling makes you cool, kids). It was pretty interesting, despite the ridiculous title, and we got free stuff, so all was well. After all that excitement, we headed to Liffey Valley for a lengthy lunch break, which was a nice addition to an already pleasant day.

On Thursday (the 14th) we were off yet again for an English trip. The year was split up by class group and brought to the National Gallery, the Yeats exhibit (in the National Library) and the National Museum of Ireland. I gotta say, being the massive dork that I am, I was pretty fascinated by the bog bodies.

After all that excitement, we were let loose on Grafton street for an hour or so, which was great news for McDonald's.

If I'm being honest, the most memorable part of the day was seeing some guy in a terrifying mask waving at our bus.

I've got a... thing  about masks.

And street performers.

How about no.

This Week On 'Wow, Kyra Is Unfortunate'...

Okay, so I might be overreacting a tad, but getting caught in the lashing rain without an umbrella  is not fun. Luckily, being drowned was the worst part of the day, and everything looked up from there. The artist dealing with me was finally well again and taught me quite a lot, actually. Mostly I was working on technique and looking through the few books he had recommended. One of my main problems tends to be focusing on the little finicky details, but I found that in animation that's a huge pain in the.. uh, neck.

There isn't actually that much to tell. I worked away happily until lunch time, went out for a sandwich, and returned to the studio for an hour. Sorry to disappoint, but there was little to no drama, and I'm really looking forward to returning next week! This whole train malarky isn't all that bad either, and the free wifi is a definite plus, though my travel sickness can sometimes put an end to the fun.

~

So the above was written aaaaages ago, but I felt I should probably updates this anyhow. I had a pretty uneventful mid term, but I somehow managed to be busy almost every day doing nothing, which wasn't great news for homework. I noticed an unusual lack of trick-or-treaters and fireworks this year, which I was quite disappointed by, but, all in all, hallowe'en was great.

I really have nothing to write about. Sorry. I'm off to work experience again tomorrow, and I really look forward to it now. My supervisor told me that tomorrow I would be looking at all the different processes involved in animation, rather than doing the same thing every week, so that should be fun.

Wooooow, I'm gonna stop rambling now. Apparently we have a couple of trips organized for next week, so I'm sure I'll have loads to write about next time...

Probably.

"So We Drove On Toward Death Through the Cooling Twilight"

~Source~

Fitzgerald's magnum opus had always appealed to me, and what with the new movie released last summer, I could hardly resist when choosing from this year's reading list. Having very little knowledge of the book's plot before diving in, I wasn't quite sure of what to expect, but I most certainly was not disappointed.

The story of The Great Gatsby may be entitled as such, but does not solely revolve around the enigmatic North Dakotan. In fact, there are several individual yet intertwining tales focused on throughout the novel.

Nick Carraway, a graduate of Yale and former World War I veteran, is our narrator. Having recently found employment and dwelling in the village of West Egg, he is soon aware of the aforementioned enigma living next door to him. After visiting his cousin, Daisy Fay Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, Nick becomes acquainted with Miss Jordan Baker, with whom he strikes up a romance. It is divulged unto him that Tom has a mistress (Myrtle Wilson), and he is soon brought by Tom to the apartment in to which they confine their escapades. This particular adventure is short lived as a dispute between Tom and his mistress results in Myrtle's broken nose and a shattered relationship.

Not long after the drama in New York, Nick finds himself finally attending one of Gatsby's infamous parties. All is normal until he and Jordan actually meet their host and discover that he had actually been in Nick's division in the war. When it is mentioned that he is a relation of Daisy's, Gatsby asks Nick to help him rekindle their old flame, revealing that they were romantically involved five years before, but has never quite stopped loving her.
Nick's efforts to reunite the pair are fairly successful, but that is not to say that things turn out well.

Though some may describe this book as a love story, I feel it focuses more on Gatsby's idealism, and the concept of the American dream. In my opinion, Gatsby was less in love with Daisy than he was with the idea of her - it was as if she was merely another valuable item for him to procure; to have her would be to feel complete. This, however, intrigued me further as I was interested in his interpretation of the meaning of happiness, and how he thought he could obtain it. In trying to achieve serenity, this man was only further destroying himself.

Not only was the character and plot development of this story fascinating to watch unfurl, but the cultural context was new to me. The story is not only set before my time, but also in a wealthy area of America. The language, although not difficult to follow, was quite formal and eloquently used. The description of scenery paired with this set the atmosphere perfectly, and it was easy enough to get lost in the story.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone my age as, it may have been written 90 years ago, it is still incredibly relevant today. We are brought up being taught that we have a certain purpose in life, and that there are set goals, (i.e finish school / get a job / fall in love / get married / have kids / grow old and spend time flipping wistfully through an old photo album and knitting) but the story of Jay Gatsby and those around him uncovers the truth in this belief.

I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here

*Last* Wednesday was the first of eight I would spend in Kilkenny for work experience at The Cartoon Saloon, the studio that animated The Secret of Kells.

I was super nervous that morning heading to the train station, so I blamed my queasy stomach on both anxiety and excitement. The day got off without a hitch - that is until I began retching on the train from Newbridge to Kilkenny. Everything went downhill from there.

After that ordeal, I made my way to the studio with the determination that I would not let it ruin my experience. I was greeted by the studio manager and introduced to the girl I would be working with for the day. Once given my work, I set about finishing it *at my very own desk aw yisss*, studying the lines of action and skeletal structure of the characters on the model sheets. Time kinda flew by, and before I knew it it was half one.

This is approximately the time that I threw up in the hallway.

The studio staff were really nice about it, but I was mortified all the same. The day got progressively worse from there on. A taxi was called to bring me to the station, but traffic meant that I almost missed my train home. I got settled, threw up some more, and accidentally went on to Heuston. My phone died, too, and I was forced to borrow one from a kind stranger. After getting in contact with my parents, I bought a ticket back to Newbridge and finally reached my bed at around half seven.

~*~

My second day in Kilkenny was so much better than the first. Unfortunately, the man in charge of teaching me during my time there was absent again, so I was downstairs filing. I didn't really mind, though - it was mind-numbing in a ... therapeutic kind of way. Once I had sifted through and alphabetized everything, I took my hour-long lunch break and wandered around the town eating my revolting Tesco wrap. I spent the rest of the day watching one of the studio's own works and got home without a problem. All in all, it was a pretty successful day.

Adventure Is Out There!

*Hey there. I apologize for being so neglectful. I've been too busy avoiding my responsibilities to update.*

After much panic and excitement the evening before, everybody was set for the long awaited trip to Carlingford Adventure Centre. Even though the majority of students attending the trip could not be marked down as 'morning people', the bus was unsurprisingly noisy. I'm marking it down to the adrenaline, but I may be incorrect in assuming that my peers are just as cranky at 7 am as I am.

The bus journey seemed short enough, but I may have fallen asleep, so I can't make the most accurate judgement.  Once we had scrambled for our luggage we were greeted by a couple of the instructors and immediately split into two groups. Before we had even time to sit down, my group was suited up and sent off to play laser tag. If I had to take away one thing from this experience, it would be the knowledge that being small can be advantageous at times. If I ever need to crouch in a cramped space and shoot at my classmates again, I'll be the one laughing.

In the evening we set off back up the mountain/ hill thing for the night walk. The walk itself was quite brief and ended in my group being frightened by the other.  After that ordeal we headed further into the forest and played some games in the dark. The walk home was not as horrible as the one up, and gave us a gorgeous view of the coast and the brightly-lit town below us.

On Tuesday morning we gathered up our things and dragged ourselves from our rooms, not wasting the opportunity to complain as we did so. Breakfast was quick and we were soon out again for archery, body zorbing, and a team activity.

I may have fallen over more than I would like to admit. (Source)

The last activity of the trip was kayaking, and nobody was too enthusiastic in the cold and damp wetsuits. Once we got in, though, it was fine. Freezing cold, but fine. The leaders brought us out to the water trampoline, so, in the end, almost everybody was very red or very blue.

Though we would have liked to stay for another little while, I don't think anybody was too sad to get on the nice, warm bus.

*~Insert Clever Title~*

On Wednesday we had the first of our workshops. The day was split into three individual activities, and was a lot more fun than I had expected.

We began our day with a presentation on self-confidence called 'Life Without Limits'. This workshop was quite interactive, as were the rest, and at one point we were asked about our most embarrassing moments. There were a few amusing ones, but most people answered with 'I don't have any embarrassing moments', which I found kinda hard to believe. We are teenagers, after all. All in all, I think each of us came away with some inspiration regarding our future and such.

After break, my class and I headed upstairs to attend the second workshop in which we learned about spiritual energy and its healing benefits. To relax ourselves, we began by trying to channel our energy and send it to our friend. Once we had finished that, we moved onto massage techniques. It probably wasn't the best workshop to have in the middle of the day, as afterwards we were all a little bit too mellow to do anything productive.

The third workshop, Positive Parties, called for a fair amount of energy (which was lacking after the massages, to Denise's dismay). We were taught different methods of staying positive, even in more difficult times. One of these was to listen to positive songs. I'll leave you off with one of my favourites.

Allons-y!

Though I had many preconceptions of what my time in Transition Year would be like, it has not yet failed to surprise me.

To say that I was a tad nervous arriving at school last Thursday would be to make an understatement. Seeing as our year group was given no instruction as to what to do before our first assembly, there was quite a lot of aimless wandering. I found a few of my friends, though, so that calmed my nerves slightly.

However, I found myself worrying once again as we ambled into assembly. Although one of the main benefits of TY is making new friends and bonding, I was still terrified that I would be separated from my existing friends. My worries were for nothing, though, as my class, Tabei, is full of people I already know.

Right from the beginning, I was told that there would be a lot of project work, and was not disappointed. Already we have been assigned Religion, Irish, and Geography projects, along with the Junk Kouture, Mini Company and Science projects. (Not that I'm complaining - it's not like we have a ton of homework).

I've found this year to live up to its reputation so far, and it's certainly a break from the immense stress of Third Year.