Ironman 70.3 Galway 2012. Awesome Humans 3

So here we are with part 3 of why humanity is awesome. I am actually really enjoying this segment of the blog. I know I haven't written much for it, but I am loving finding ideas to write about and all the amazing people that are out there. I think I will just spend a week solid writing about them and see what happens. This one is a couple of weeks old and I am a bit late but sure it still counts. The internet in my house has the most temper mental connection so I haven't really been on it lately. I had it on my phone but we all know it isn't the same thing at all. It's so difficult to write a post on the phone and I needed to write something, so I decided to put up with it so I could write and because I was missing the internet.

A couple of weeks ago I was volunteering with Civil Defence at the Iron man 70.3 which was being held in Galway. For those like me who would have/had no idea what the Iron man 70.3 is you can go here and read all about it. That link will bring you to the ironman website and give you all the information you need to know about a full Ironman event and the 70.3 event. But for those other people that are like me and tell themselves that they are going to click that link after reading and totally forget, an Ironman 70.3 is a triathlon event consisting of a 1.9km swim, a 90km cycle and a 21.1km run. That's a 1.18 mile swim, a 55.9 mile cycle and a 13.11 mile run. 2500 people took part in this years event. I don't know about the you guys but I would never be able to do this in my wildest dreams. In my opinion the people who do these events are superhuman and they are another reason why humanity is awesome.

The start of the cycle

Earth Day

Week 15 Day 6:

So yesterday (22nd of April) was Earth day. For those who do not know what Earth Day is, it is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment. It is organised globally by the Earth Day Network and more than 175 Countries celebrate it every year. There were events organised all over the world, but unfortunately I have no idea if there was one organised in Ireland anywhere. I for one am very fond of our Earth and its Environment and want to see it continue forever, so I am totally in favour of Earth Day and think everyone should make an effort to be more green in their lives. We all get so used to taking things for granted in our lives that we forget it could be causing catastrophic damage to the Earth. It is really easy to make small changes that can make a big difference.

One Mans Angry Rant

Week 15. Day 3.

So I am a bit behind on my stories. So I may or not upload two today. This one is going to be a rant. Not about anything specific and it may ramble after awhile so please forgive me. I just feel like ranting lol. 

Just look at his face. Enough said. What kind of emotion
is that?

This rant was brought on by the cinema last night. I went to see the Cold light of day. It was supposed to be a dramatic movie that kept your attention the whole time. It was supposed to build tension so the watcher couldn't actually stop watching. But unfortunately this movie was pretty terrible from the very beginning. The camera work was full of off angle shots, unnecessary over the shoulder work and really annoying rotate around the scene shots. The script seemed to be lacking something and the lead actor acted as if he was on shot poorly written half arsed soap. Me and the people I saw it with spent most of the time laughing at the whole thing. They made the trailer look amazing, but that is the only good part about the whole movie. I hate when they do that, they put all the best parts in the trailer and then the movie sucks.

This got me thinking about the future generations on the way home. When I was growing up reading was one of my favourite things to do and I nearly always had a book in my hands. But when my brother got to the age where I started reading technology had become better and he preferred his gameboy to a good book. There is only four years between us.

Firefly Review. Week 15 Day 2.

Ok so in my last post I said that for this week I was going to a new story everyday for the week and upload them. I know that technically a review of a show isn't a story, but in all honesty I couldn't come up with a new story for yesterday. I had a few ideas, but couldn't flesh them out and kind of gave up. It was also my brothers 18th birthday so when I got home from college all the family were over for dinner so I had to mingle lol. So instead I wrote a review of the tv series firefly. I am sci-fi nerd and will watch anything no matter how bad people say it is.

For those of you who have not watched firefly it is a show based in 2517 when humans have reached and inhabited a new star system. It is basically a futuristic western movie where you have the outlaws on the run from the law, taking jobs where ever they can get them. I really liked that about the show, because to me it showed that no matter how advanced we get there will always be the cowboy element of human life.

Lent

Well since we are a fair bit into the lenten season I thought I would write something about it. I for one am not a religious person in any way at all. I haven't been for a long time. I have no problem with other peoples beliefs though. But I also do not believe in giving up something for 40 days just because Jesus Christ went into the desert for 40 days with nothing. But I do give something up every year because I was raised a God fearing Catholic and took part in Lent every year until I gave up religion. 

I give something up every year to see if I can do it. I do it for myself and no one else. This year I gave up all sweets, chocolate and crisps. I was going really well and hadn't broken it, that was until Paddy's weekend came along. Not only did I break it, I destroyed it. Since Mothers day was the day after Paddy's day, there was cake and chocolate everywhere. Since I didn't manage to last 40 days, I have decided to see how ling exactly I can go without eating any sweets, crisps or chocolate. I have set myself 20 day intervals to make it shorter and hopefully easier to manage. I wonder how long I can last? Anybody care to hazard a guess. I think this will be rather interesting. Do you guys think Easter Sunday counts when i get an Easter egg, or would that be breaking it?

I may put a post up here from time to time to say how I am getting on and how difficult, or easy it is. I know it will be hard at the start, but hopefully it will get easier as time goes on.

More than likely I will be posting updates on my Facebook and Twitter. Go like and follow me on those if you want to. 

Stardansheill o7

New Things Week 10

So I have completed 10 new things to do each week this year. Only 42 to go, woo. Man, that's a lot of weeks left. I don't think I'll be able to think of 42 more things to do.

To be honest, I made this resolution and didn't think I would last this long, thought I would do one or two weeks and give up. I can't remember any year where I have managed to stick to a new years resolution. I usually last until the end of January and give up. I always used to make the same resolutions and end up putting them off until the following year. That picture is just one I found on the internet, not actually my resolutions. Just a bit of emphasis. As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. I firmly believe that having a set deadline for my resolution idea has really helped me stick to doing it. Also writing these entries and having my friends help me really has helped.

So, my advice to anyone having difficulty keeping their New years resolutions is:

• Have a friend doing the same kind of resolution do it with you and encourage each other to keep it up. 
• Break it up into easily managed goals and set yourself a reasonable deadline for these goals. It really helps and I hope it helps someone who reads this. 

Anywho, for week 10 I completed a Golden Week in College. Nearly 2 years in college and I have never managed this :/ For those people out there who are unaware as to what exactly a golden week is. It's basically a term used by Irish students. Refers to a week where you manage to make it to every lecture, on time. No skiving off. Seems simple enough ya? Would expect that to be what happens anyway. Well, it doesn't... There is usually one or two lectures one might find that attendance isn't mandatory and the lecturer puts the notes up online and therefore takes it upon oneself to not bother attending. Especially 9am lectures. In second year of my course there aren't really all that many mandatory lectures, so a lot of people skip a lot of them.

New Things Week 6

So for my 6th week on my new things to do every week resolution I went to footpool located in the Eyre Square Shopping Centre. Only 46 weeks to go. The rest of this year shall be fun. It's basically a place where you stick your feet in a pool of water full of fish that eat all the dead skin off your feet and make it smooth. I was always hesitant about having this done because I never fully understood it, also I was a bit sceptical about it actually working and was worried about the hygiene side of things. But then I heard from loads of people that it worked wonders on their feet and felt awesome after it was done. So I was in town with my brother and we decided to get it done for the laugh. I asked the man about the hygiene side of things and he said that the fish couldn't transfer diseases and you were required to pre rinse your feet before using your own dedicated water pod with the fish in it. 

New Things Week 5

As part of my new years resolutions I decided to do something new every week that I would never have done before. 5 weeks down and 47 weeks to go and it's going well. A couple of weeks got off to a shaky start because of difficulty coming up with something, but all weeks ended successfully :) 

Attempting to get the needle through

So for the 5th week I decided to see how I look with my ear pierced. Since it may only be temporary I didn't want to pay to have it done so I got my brother to do it for me lol. He has done it to a few people before and never messed it up before. But when he went to do mine he couldn't get the needle to go out the back of my ear so he ended up pushing it through hard and it went in at a weird angle. So when he went to put in the earring itself it wouldn't go through the other side. Between himself, myself and my Mother we spent about twenty minutes trying to get the earring in with absolutely no success and a lot of pain.

New Things Week 4

I know it is only week 4 but it is getting hard to think of new things to do :/ All suggestions are welcome :) I will always come up with something to do, but they may not be great some weeks lol.

So for the 4th week of my new things to do resolution, I did things for me and didn't really think about a lot of the possible consequences.

New Things Week 3

So this is week 3 of my new things to do each week as part of my new years resolutions. To read the previous to click here for week 2 and here for week 1.
This week started on Saturday the 21st as I started all my previous weeks on a Saturday. So technically I kind of skipped the week from the 1st to the 7th. But I will do all 52 weeks. This week I was having difficulty in coming up with something to do and then on Monday I got a text about a blood drive that was happening in the College on Tuesday. I had never given blood before and it was the perfect opportunity to do something to help someone else and do something new this week :) I did attempt to give blood once before last year, but I don't like needles so I freaked myself out while I was queueing and left. I never really forgot about that day and since then I have always kept my open for blood drives in my area since, but always missed them somehow. I went out to the clinic which was in the sports hall in GMIT with a few friends who were also donating. Them being there and us chatting together while we waited really kept my nerves down and I actually forgot about the needle until I was lying on the table and saw it.  The people from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service were lovely people and took great care of me and everyone else on the day.

New things week 2

This week for my something new, I decided to accompany a friend to an anime movie. It was called cowboy bebop and it was really good.

People judge anime too harshly. It's not just for nerds. It's kind of like cartoons for adults. After the showing a gang of us went to Kellys bar for a few pints and the banter, as you do. Hung out there until it closed, just chatting away and having the craic. Then we moved onto the Roisin Dubh for a few more pints and the banter there was mighty. All in all it was a fantastic night out and a great second weeks adventure.

Stardansheill o7

Project 365

This is the second installment of my project 365 project. 9 days down and it's getting easier to remember to take a picture and to think of something to do. One thing I do find difficult about the project is finding one picture that can be taken to sum up my day. But that's just because I am picky and awkward lol. Sorry this is a bit late being put up, I just got very backlogged with things to do. I have been staying on top of it though :)

So on Saturday (Day 4 7/1/12) the picture I decided I would use to sum up my day was a picture of me after my back had been waxed. A little bit of back story is that a friend invited me to a charity waxathon in aid of The Irish Wheelchair Foundation and I decided I would get my back waxed lol.The see the whole story you can read about it here!

Sunday was another day of study (for Monday) after I got home from the waxathon in Tuam. Thankfully the study for Mondays exam was a lot easier to study for than the other ones. I got home about 5 and did 4-5 hours study before hitting the bed lol. 

The start of project 365 :)

So as part of my new years resolutions I decided to take part in Project 365. This is a project where you take a picture everyday for a year and upload them to a blog or website. So I am going to upload them on here 2 to 3 times a week and include the story behind each of them. I started this project on Wednesday the 4th of January. 

Study for First Exam

Unfortunately this week is when I started my second year first semester college exams. So this picture is me studying (on Wednesday) for my analog devices exam. (Thursday) I started studying at 4 o'clock after making my delicious french toast and rasher lunch :) Except for dinner and bathroom breaks I spent 8 hours studying :( It was one of the most boring days of my life. I did however learn so much for my exams. I did the exam papers for the last 3 years over and over and over again until I knew as much as I was going to learn. Thankfully the exam the next day went pretty well and a lot of the stuff I studied came up on the paper.

2012

So it is the first week (day 2 infact) of 2012 and apparently the world is going to end at the end of this year :-! I'm not exactly so sure that is going to happen, are we really supposed to believe that the world will end because of something the Mayans calender ended in 2012 and apparently predicted the end of the world?

However, that isn't going to stop me living everyday as if it is my last. As part of my new years resolutions, I am going to do one thing every week that I would not have done before. And everyday I am going to do my best to put a smile on the face of someone that I care about. Even if all that takes is just texting them something funny.