Awesome humans part 2

Just realised that I completely forgot to publish this when I finished it. Ooops. So now this is part 2 of reasons why humanity is awesome. But it was written 2 months ago. 

This week I worked with Civil Defence, the voluntary organisation I volunteer with. We were providing first aid cover for a filipino family fun day on in a local area near where I live. I didn't sleep very well the night before hand so I wasn't in the best mood the next morning when I got up at 7. But once I got to the duty and saw all the people up at 8 in the morning to come and enjoy a day out amongst friends and family with big smiles on their faces really brightened my day. It was actually such an awesome thing to see, because no matter what was going on in the rest of the world or their own lives, for that day having fun and meeting up with people was the only thing that mattered.

Everyone was in such high spirits all day (even though it rained for most of the day and everyone had to stay inside) and they were so lovely. They had never met me or anyone else that was volunteering with me that day but they still made sure that we got some food and that everything was ok. Everyone was on the go from 9 am until nearly 8 pm partaking in a loads of different events, from table tennis, to basketball, to dancing. The whole building was just buzzing with energy all day long. It was quite contagious. It was even harder to not want to smile all day long just watching all these people together as if there wasn't a care in the world. In my opinion it is very rare to see that level of community involvement year after year which is why I have chosen to make that event another reason humanity is awesome.

I guess what I am really getting at in this long winded story of mine is that the sense of community is still alive and kicking in the world and it just takes a bit of organising and the right people for the job and things will get done. So I dub this story reason 2 as to why humanity is awesome and there is hope yet.

Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments below :)

Stardansheill o7

Web design/new project

A couple of Months back my Uncle asked me to design him a website for his carpentry business and I said I would. But he didn't have all the information for me at the time so it was put on the back burner until yesterday during my day off coming up to the end of my work period. I decided that since I have a bit more free time on my hands now that I am entering what I like to call "limbo". This is the time between my work periods. It usually lasts up to about 2 weeks and I tend to get very restless for things to do so this project is exactly what I need. I thought it would only take me a few hours maybe a day to whip up the basic design template for all the pages as I had done a year of some basic web design in the course I was in before I dropped out of college. But that was over two years ago now and it is amazing how much of it I have forgotten. I guess it's like everything, you forget how to do it over time if you don't use the skills. I guess the saying "practice makes perfect" is true.

So I think what I am going to do is buy myself a couple of books about web design and learn from them and find a couple of decent tutorial sites online to help as well. Because at the moment I feel a little like the picture below. I really enjoyed designing websites during college and when I am in front of the computer typing code for sites the time seems to fly. I'll sit down after lunch we'll say and then before I know it, it's dinner time and I haven't done much because I keep changing my mind about how exactly I want it.

College and the future and finding a job

So this entry is going to all about my college fiasco and the future. I hope that some of what I say in this entry can help people with decisions in their lives. Early during my last year in college (which was the second year of my degree course in Electronic Engineering) I realised I wasn't enjoying the course and I couldn't really imagine myself doing this for the rest of my life. But I didn't say anything to anyone because I wasn't entirely sure. I thought that maybe it was just other things happening in my life at the time were getting me down. I suffer from depression and can become very down all of a sudden and have to figure out why or I am useless to anyone. I usually am able to figure it out by talking to someone that I trust about all the things going on, but that is a story for another time perhaps. I kept with the course for the rest of the year, but as the year progressed I started attending less and less classes and didn't really mind that I was falling behind, but I still went to most of my labs and did the projects to get some marks. It was about march when I really realised that I definitely did not want to do this for the rest of my life. But I thought about the fact that my parents had spent a lot of money on me and this course, the way the economy is at the moment and that it was an in an area that had an awful lot of job opportunities once I got my degree. So I decided that I would work hard with my study and do my best to pass my exams in May. I actually felt like I had done ok in the exams and may have actually passed. There were a few that I was worried I had failed, but I thought it would be ok...

Sleep deprived Saturday

So I have currently been awake for 31 hours and I don't like it. I miss my bed and my awesomely random dreams. I decided that it would be a great idea to write this entry in my sleep deprived state and see what happens sure. I had to get up at 3 am to go to work today and I actually went to bed early last night but I just could not sleep at all. My brain kept telling me that I was going to sleep through my alarms and I would miss work, so I just lay there staring at the ceiling for what seemed like days.

I eventually decided that there was no way I was going to get any sleep so I put on my headphones and started to listen to some music and paroose some random blogs. I came upon THIS one that was truely random indeed. I highly recommend this blog to anyone looking for a blog that is compossed of literally some of the most random things I have ever read. I can honestly say I would love to be as random as this person. I for some reason love being pure random and saying things that make my friends wonder what is going on inside my head. I also found some amazing songs that I am now going to stick a few up here for all to see and enjoy as I know ye will :-)

The first one here is Breezeblocks by Alt-j. It is definitely my favourite of all the ones I have found recently. Don't really know why, I'll get back yo you on that when I figure it out. I think it's because of the lyrics. They are amazing.

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

How do we achieve peace?

Today I had a pretty uneventful day but while I was making my lunch there was a movie on in the background which sounded pretty good so I went into the sitting room and paused it so I could watch it when I was finished with lunch. The movie was called "That's what I am". It is based in 1965 and is about a student (Andy) who like most students will do anything to avoid conflict and ridicule from his classmates. But then a teacher (Mr. Simon) pairs him off with the schools biggest outcast (Stanley) on an important term project. Over the course of the movie Andy discovers that the teacher had a reason for pairing him with Stanley. Andy learns that Stanley is a brilliant, kind, tolerant and decent human being who has more dignity that anyone he had ever encountered. It's a heart warming tale about overcoming bullies and being who you are rather than trying to adhere to the social norm. 

But the one thing that will stand out for me is this wonderful quote. Mr Simon entered a competition to win a car. Each participant had to write in 50 words or less how to achieve peace, Mr Simon did it in 5. "Human Dignity + compassion = peace" I don't know why, but that quote really stuck with me more than anything else that happened in the movie. I am usually quite attentive to movies that are about overcoming adversity and standing up for what you believe in because it is tough to do those things. But after this quote came up I couldn't really focus on the rest of the movie. I was just thinking about how amazing that quote is and how easy it would be for people to be more compassionate and have more dignity. If everyone learned from this quote I think we would be taking a massive step towards peace. I highly recommend this movie. It really makes you think about everything that is happening in the world and your own life. Has anyone else seen this movie? If so what did ye think of it? I would really love to hear peoples opinions on the movie, on how we can achieve peace or even just what they thought of my ramblings. 

Stardansheill o7

Reasons why humanity is awesome

So I haven't really being very good at posting on here lately so I have decided to create a new segment where I post about things that make me so happy to be alive and why humanity is awesome. Lately whenever I watch the news or read a paper it is usually full of sad news stories but every so often there is that one story that you read or see that makes you smile and see why people never give up on things. So I am going to post some of the stories and videos that put a smile on my face. These are only my opinions of the reasons why I think humanity is awesome I would love to hear from you guys as to why you think humanity is awesome or even the opposite. Just leave a comment below.

 I decided that the first post I do on this segment will be about a few videos I found by the Piano guys while stumbling around the internet and literally spent a good 2 hours listening to and perusing the rest of their videos. They have written a lot of their own music but they also cover a lot of classical music. But in my opinion this doesn't make them any less awesome because it still takes a ridiculous amount of talent to cover some classical songs.

I decided to include them in the reasons why humanity is awesome segment because they are so passionate about their music and they play because they love doing it. They have spent countless hours of their lives honing their talents as musicians and have probably thought about giving up many many times while learning, but they never did and they are now amazing and have made a career from something they love. Every time I watch their videos I can't stop smiling. I couldn't even in my wildest dreams even imagine being able to do something like that. The skill involved is immense. People like these guys are truly awesome. And there are plenty of them out there. The internet is full of them. All we have to do is look :)  

Expect to see a few more posts in this segment as I am often stumbling upon amazing stories or even just seeing things in my own personal life that restore my faith in humanity and show that humanity really is awesome. I like to remember that no matter how depressing things can get there is always something out there that will put a smile on your face.

Stardansheill o7