New layout: From Under The Duvet..: September 2006

Friday, September 29, 2006

The Scariest Thing I've Done To Date...

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It is finished.. UCAS that is. I've sent it to my referee. You may be able to see the word "complete" under each section up there. (Although I've four A2 subjects on my form - but it's easy enough to remove one by writing to UCAS/the universities and it should pose a problem.)I have never been more scared in my entire life. This is now officially out of my hands. This is a grown up kinda thing. What if they all hate me? What if my personal statement is beyond horrendous? What if I'm rejected by them all? What if... What if I breathed and remembered there's a plan beyond my actions and UCAS? *exhales*
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My life in no longer going to be ruled by personal statements and meetings with the career department.. It's now sitting and waiting for the offers and/or rejections to come through my door... Crap... (I've been saying worse in relation to it all evening - don't worry, I know I'm going to hell - pinched stuff from the library (for all of five minutes - just to take it to the photocopying room)).
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Instead of doing homework (which I will now do in common room tomorrow morning before class) I watched Dogma. (I also ordered wee cards off moo - FlickR people get global shipping free in September!) Dogma is a wonderful movie. I think it's great. Not something I'd show in church but it raises some cool points and has some brilliant lines in it(if you take out cetain words..).
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Matt Damon plays an angel (Loki) kicked out of Heaven and Hell is too easy for him so he (and his friend, Ben Affleck (Bartleby)) is sent to live in Wisconsin forever. Loki spends time on earth convincing clergy that God does not exist and they're wasting their lives... Here is the conversation between Loki and Bartleby after Loki has convinced a nun she is wasting her life ("edited"):
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Bartleby: You know, here's what I don't get about you. You know for a fact that there is a God. You have been in his presence. He's spoken to you personally, and yet I just heard you claim to be an atheist.
Loki: I just like to "mess" with the clergy, man. I just love it. I just love to keep those guys on their toes.
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I love what Bartleby says. There's a lot more good quotes here (but don't shout at me for linking to a page with "bad words" [what makes words bad? did they do something wrong?] - I've warned you!).
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Ok.. Going to bed now! Prayers appreciated as my form goes off to referees and UCAS and unviersities and I hear back.. Yikes...
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Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 12:14 AM   9 comments

Monday, September 25, 2006

Innocent Gets Funky(er)

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Innocent smoothies rock. They're super cool and don't have any non-fruit stuff (unless they're the fruit and vegetable brand, of course). And they have less calories and are less expensive than Boots' "Shapers" brand. As hard as it may sound they're about to get cooler.

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The Innocent website it a funky website to mess around on - from looking at job vacancies in the Maldives (yeah, go and look) to some of the more interesting Frequently Asked Questions (I guess lots of people ask "What is love? " "Where did I put my keys? " "Do you think I should dye my hair? " and "How are babies made?"[particularly five year olds for the one I guess])

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As the weather gets cold we find ourselves approaching the cold winter months (during which I may hibernate this year) we find ourselves putting on hats, scarfs and gloves. So, this year, Innocent Smoothies, between November and December Innocent Smoothies are wrapping up too.

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50p is donated to charity for each behatted bottle that is sold as part of our little Supergran scheme. Of this 50p, half is donated by innocent and half by EAT and Sainsbury's. All the money raised goes to Age Concern.
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So, as I can't knit ickle hats (and don't have the time) I am encouraging you guys to do so! Or encouraging you guys in the same boat a me to encourage others! It is a really cool idea and I hope to buy lots of little behatted smoothies!

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posted by Rach @ 4:58 PM   0 comments

Sunday, September 24, 2006

So, I thought I was going to die...

So, tonight was a touchdown service in Comber. It was Paul’s first time in Comber so it was wonderful he didn’t get lost (congrats). However, going home was... err... interesting... Little windy roads – in places with rocks around really sharp bends – in a minibus going fast… With a youth worker who kept looking in the back! Combine that with them making references to the stories told last week – when I didn’t sleep well or with the light off after hearing! Including when Paul said “Did you hear the story about the minibus that was going up a lighted lane (here is about 3/4 of my lane at night) when the lights on the minibus went out (and the lights “went off” at that point)…” – impressive…
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Oh, and my supportive youth group said “stall” (as in stall the car) when I drove past. You guys make me feel so confident and loved… Especially as I’ve now booked my test (which is so far away it’s stupid). I’m picking out frames to get made into prescription sunglasses – I’m picking frames that will get lenses made for them and then they will be tinted. I think I’m gonna go with the purple ones – they look cool and should look nice tinted. I’ll let you see the finished result – I hope it’s good! It’s to make sure I can see in the low sun!
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I am feeling a little disheartened at the moment. Don’t really know why. Just everything is so busy etc. I think I’ll drop English lit… UCAS is horrendous. My school’s career department is so awful. My personal statement is 304 characters over – do you think omitting vowels would work? I think I may replace Luton with a regular psychology course in Cardiff – Luton sounds rather depressing (despite changing its name to Bedfordshire…) and I could maybe, if I don’t get onto the applied course, switch over or something.
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Anyway, I should go to bed or something. Before I go, I’m rather proud of this photo I took yesterday – it looks better than the colour version, which seems odd.

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posted by Rach @ 11:26 PM   2 comments

Good Night

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So tonight was the "Kick Off" - a social at my church held by our school's SU - well done to all you guys who were part of the organising!! It was great craic - lots of fun dancing and silly games.
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Apparently it's rather sad that teens today are line dancing (eg 5, 6, 7, 8, Saturday Night, Hokey Cokey etc - all the old ones everyone gets up to at weddings). The same person also said that no wonder there were so many there (140 odd) because sure it's a choice between the social or cow tipping... I'm sorry, but pot, kettle and black springs to mind - someone from Castle Dawson ( have you heard of it? no? exactly...) isn't really qualified to diss rural life.. And, what's wrong with cow tipping anyway?
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Today was my second (and last, thank goodness!!) GB subofficer training day. There was a talk on leading worship. Apparently we shouldn't rehearse what we're doing (what if it's a quick sketch?) and the cardinal sin is... Enjoying it. There were tips for how to lead a worship thing and the last point was enjoy it. But apparently that's the wrong idea. I'm sorry, but.. Surely God doesn't want people to be there hating the experience...
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Anyway, I have so much work! And should go to bed... My tablets just keep making me feel worse and worse...

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posted by Rach @ 12:14 AM   3 comments

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Argh..

So, I've been contemplating doing a theology degree. But, I've been told to do another degree first. So, I put theology out of my mind and I love psychology so I'm happy with that.
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However... Here's a conversation with my RS Theology teacher today:
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"So, what are you wanting to do?"
"Psychology"
"And are you considering OxBridge? Because you got 4As, didn't you?" (Why is the first question anyone and everyone asks me when I said about 4As are you considering OxBridge? Just because you get 4As doesn't mean you can't go anywhere else!")
"Well.. no, because you need a science I think"
"But I was thinking about would you be interested in studying theology at Oxbridge? Because I think that's the standard you're at or certainly could achieve. Your understanding is good and you've got the right idea."
"Erm.. (oh no! I had it all planned out! No!!!) Well.. A theology degree is something I've wanted to do but I hadn't given Oxbridge (oh my goodness...) much thought."
"Well, think it over. Get back to me."
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My next thought was the careers lady (who helps with the personal statement business) would kill me... And how honoured I was that he thought I could do a theology degree - let alone a theology degree there!!
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I don't know. Psychology seems more useful. And I do want to do it long term. I don't see myself becoming a minister or anything. If I did a theology degree it would be more for my interest or even to become someone who looks at psychology in specific religions or something. So, a theology degree would not really get me anywhere I want to go.. maybe. I primarily need a psychology degree.
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Maybe I've answered my question already. But does anyone have any thoughts..?
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Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 10:15 PM   4 comments

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Quote of the Day Goes To...

A critic of Aquinas’ theory on religious language/analogy named Peter Greach, who said “I certainly could not define either oak tree or pink elephant, but this does not destroy my right to assent that no oak tree is a pink elephant” (he’s saying that it’s reasonable to talk about God).
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Well, at first I wondered what drugs he was on. But maybe he just saw Banksy’s latest work (go through the photos) – I love this guy! And I think the elephant makes a good point (granted, I can see why he’s in trouble with animal welfare!).
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Speaking of drugs and pink things – I’m currently taking highlighter pink tablets that are huge and make me feel really really ill… Yay… And I've had a really bad day. Still, if I fancied a five-star getaway I can think of better places than Crumlin to go...
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Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 11:41 PM   0 comments

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Sayings

Behind every great man there's a woman doing all the work...
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Behind every great woman there's a man checking her out...

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posted by Rach @ 12:32 AM   5 comments

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Review

So, Cardiff…
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I’ll do it chronologically…
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The flight over was good. We were sitting at the gate in Belfast International and my mum (who doesn’t like flying) said “oh my goodness – the plane is *tiny*” (not really – six in a row. But most of the ones in the States were huge). I was reading The Independent (which I bought because it had a cool free poster – I’m kind of fickle in regards to which newspaper out of The Times, The Guardian and The Independent I get) and I glanced up to see the plane and said “Oh well, at least it has wings…” . Oddly, that wasn’t really appreciated…
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So, we got there and got the bus to Cardiff (and noted the airport was so ickle – only ten gates – that it wouldn’t matter if we arrived a little bit under the two hours before). We found the Travel Lodge we booked and went in…
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Mum: “Hi, we booked a room. The name is…”
Receptionist: “Ok, I’ll just look for you now…” *five minutes keying stuff in and checking clipboards*
R: “erm.. we have a problem. We’re overbooked and you don’t have a room..”
“What?”
“You see, we use a company called Central Reservations for our phone bookings and they overbook -booking about 105% of the rooms- relying on people to cancel. Now, you aren’t booked on to it so would you accept another hotel – we’ll pay the difference?”
“You had a bad reputation on *some travel forum type thing that people rate hotels etc etc on* and you’ll have an even worse one when I get home… We thought you had a good location – and we choose you for the location (five minutes walking from the uni, five minutes walking from Millenium Stadium). And I work for the Belfast Telegraph…” Hold up, my mum works at the Belfast Telegraph? That was a quick career change that I have been totally unaware off… “…and I will be doing an article on it…”
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The result of the conversation was that we got a double room, a free breakfast (saving £13) and a complaint form. We did bump someone else out. But it didn’t make sense – the family behind us in the queue were checked in. We weren’t! I think mum regretted the double bed as at 6am she woke up with no covers on her – I had myself wrapped up in them. Hehehe
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We had a bit of a walk about that night – and it was lovely. Very clean. We went to Cardiff and found a Queen’s Arcade! Although we heard four different sets of sirens in our little walk!
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The next morning we went to a shopping centre in the pedestrian place and I saw an art gallery. In the window there was this beautiful series of paintings called Over the Moon by Caroline Shotton. I fell in love with one particular piece called “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” (although “Daisy” is lovely too). Go to http://www.castlegalleries.com/news/2006/08/over-the-mooon/ to see it.
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I took a picture of it through the window and I heard a kiwi voice say
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“I’ll print you out a free copy of the photo if you want”
“oh that would be lovely, thanks”
*both go inside the shop*
He took the painting out of the window and into the back viewing-y area.
“So, do you have a place you’re looking to fill with some art?”
“Erm.. Yeah, I’m redecorating and I’m looking for something for a wall” (A lie of omission – I am redecorating, and I am looking for something for my wall but I’m choosing some of my own photos to get blown up etc)
“Lovely, are you from out of town?”
“Out of town.. Out of country!”
“I guessed.. Are you.. I’m bad at this.. From Ireland?”
“Yeah”
“My mum’s side of the family is from there”
“Lovely”
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So he rang up the courier they use to ship stuff within the UK and it costs £30 to get it there. While waiting for the courier quote he told me about Cardiff as a city – I didn’t make it down to the Bay area which was recommended. He said because I was from Ireland, where his mum is from, he said he’d do the courier for free. That was really nice of him. However, I would have to find a spare £400 to actually buy the painting… Dammit! I said I’d have to think about it a bit more and I even asked him if he had a card... hehe
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I do feel kind of guilty… It’s a beautiful beautiful piece! If you look at it on the website – all the little white dot things are actually gem/sequin-y things. If anyone has £400 sitting doing nothing…
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Anyway, on to the purpose of the trip!
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The university is gorgeous – the main building is beautiful and the psychology building is lovely and modern inside. The residences look good. I’d a good time talking to a guy called Jack about psychology. He was just so enthusiastic and gave me tips etc. It’s a really lovely university and in a lovely city – just heads, shoulders, abdomen and knees above Queens! A lot of the streets are tree-lined. Everywhere is pretty much within walking distance (expect if you go to one of the far far out halls – and even then there’s a regular bus service) There’s really good security about the “University Square Mile” and the halls are apparently really good value. Everyone seems really friendly.
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My conclusion would be that unless Canterbury pulls something wonderful out of the hat that Cardiff would be my firm choice – if they offer me a place and I get the grades! And you could all come to see the rugby and visit me!
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In a way I hope I can see Canterbury isn’t for me - then, at least I won’t have a decision to make! But if Cardiff don’t give me an offer or if I don’t get the three As they’re looking for I might be a little disappointed going to Canterbury. We’ll see I guess!
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The flight home was ok – it was delayed a little because on the flight before some people were really really ill and had to use the oxygen – the plane had to recharge/recover or something. All we knew though was “There’s something wrong with the plane” – that really helped my mum!
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Tonight was Rachel’s surprise party. Because the plane was delayed I wasn’t going to be there on time before the “SURPRISE” bit so I was a little late… But it’s getting late now (and I haven’t done any homework for tomorrow – oops!! But don’t think I really have any…) so I’ll leave it for another post (this one is long enough!).
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Oh, about psychology – two showed up at class on Monday (despite others saying they had enrolled and were going to be there!). It won’t run with so few so I’m still in limbo… I’m settling into it!
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Photos to follow...
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Peace!

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posted by Rach @ 11:49 PM   1 comments

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Anniversaries

Sometimes something happens and you think that it's the end of everything. You don't know how you'll go on and survive the next week, never mind the next year. You long for it to all be over, you ache for a time machine to take you back to the time you pine for, or to the day that you care about it no more.
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For a long time you think about it ever day. Wishing you could put it behind you. And then, a while later you realise you haven't thought about it for a few days. And then you realise you haven't thought about it for a couple of weeks. And then you realise that you really have put it behind you.
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It's not like you never think about it. But the pain lessens. The memories fade. Feelings change. Hindsight and being that little bit more impartial with each day that passes make it easier.
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Can't believe it's been a year...

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posted by Rach @ 9:44 PM   0 comments

Monday, September 11, 2006

100th Post


A drawing made up of the victims' names


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Firstly, this is my 100th post. Congrats if you're still reading after one hundred!
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I thought I should comment something on 9/11. Five years. Is it just me or have they just flown by?! I went and visted Ground Zero when I was in New York. I don't know... It wasn't how I pictured it. I expected more of... nothingness. Just a big empty space. But it's all boarded off etc.
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On September 11th 3000 or so people died. Since that date, as a result of the wars, 2,974 US military personnel have died in combat in the places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Add to that the number of British soldiers and all the other countries "on that side". That's far more than died on the day. And then add up all the people in Afghanistan and Iraq etc that have died because of the conflict.
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I'm not trying to belittle the 3000 odd who died at 9/11. It was an awful thing to happen and I pray it doesn't happen again. More than 11,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion. Every one of those people had partners, children, parents. Should we not chose this day to remember them all?

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posted by Rach @ 9:24 PM   0 comments

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Brave Brave Man...

Anyone who gets on stage wearing a Spanish football shirt deserves great respect! And Davey Beckett rocks! It was a great first wee night at Mannafest - this year we'll be looking at spiritual disciplines - praying, quiet times etc etc. It looks good.
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There were lots of football analogies going on. And Beckett's point was that God changes us from a loser (the Spanish shirt) to a winner (he took off the Spanish shirt to reveal a Northern Ireland one).
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Now, I know I'm an optimist but I'm maybe not this optimistic:
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"NORTHERN IRELAND 1 - 0 ENGLAND SEPT 05.
NORTHERN IRELAND 3 - 2 SPAIN SEPT 06.
NORTHERN IRELAND 6 - 4 BRAZIL SEPT 07 ?????
Its all the same to me......."
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Now, a kidzone craft to prepare...
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Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 10:42 PM   0 comments

Friday, September 08, 2006

Queens' Open Day

Today was Queens’ Open Day. I went, even though Queens on my UCAS just in case none of the other universities like me (I’m stuffed if Queens’ don’t like me either, of course). I love Queen’s – it’s a really nice place and I think I’m just so used to Belfast and I know the city pretty well. But I do want to go away for a few years and my preferred course isn’t available at Queens.
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I went to the psychology talk. And hated it. The man who did it paced backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards. Having went to a couple of lectures at the geography department (and will be again this year) I realise lecturers do pace a lot. But this guy didn’t look at us – he looked at whichever wall he was walking towards. And for five full minutes of the talk he stood and faced the back wall… It made me really stressy – I wanted to get out of there! It just was not a good impression to give.
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On the other hand, the theology talk I went to was over in less than twenty minutes (psychology lasted well over half an hour) and it was great. Laurence Kirkpatrick did it (for those of you in the know, so to speak) and I now want to do theology at Union! It looks good, I’d get to go to Queens and it’s a subject that interests me greatly. So, maybe after my psychology degree I’ll make a little stop over and do another little degree (I think I may be one of these people who never actually gets a job…).
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In other news… We have our prefect ties and badges! Woot! Now I won’t feel quite so bossy when I tell the first years that standing on a busy road, instead of the pavement, isn’t a good idea…
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Aren’t you all very lucky – a blog post every day for that past four days…
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Tomorrow I am at a sub-officer training day from half nine until half four… And then Mannafest is on. I also need to come up with a prepare a Kidzone craft – but I have ideas so it’s all good.
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And I’ve lots of homework – because I, being the good and conscientious student I am, have told my teachers that I am not going to be in their class on Tuesday (in the afternoon) and Wednesday – so I’ve homework and catch up to do. And on Monday my psychology class starts. So I won’t be home from 8am to 9pm. I can’t wait…
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Have a good weekend folks!
Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 10:24 PM   0 comments

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Overwhelmed

The past couple of days have been good. School is controllable (for the moment) and things have been good.
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And tonight I just feel so overwhelmed by something that is happened. It’s funny, I’ve been “fine” (in that I could speak about other stuff and do other stuff) with it all day and it’s only now, as I reflect on what happened today – what could so easily of happened and what, or who, I could have lost, that I realise how easily I go into autopilot to deal with some stuff. I guess it can be good, because there wasn’t much I could do about it, but it’s just hit me in one big massive tsunami-esque wave.
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Oh, and when I was painting wallpaper lining to test out paint for my room a fly landed on the paper and got stuck (I was away leaving it to dry) – it’s now sitting dead in the paper. Really gross. I feel rather guilty…
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Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 11:41 PM   1 comments

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Sing With Me...

Beckham in Windsor Park last year -- Keep Clapping...
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What. A. Match.
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So, on Saturday we lost to a team below us (yes, there are teams below us) 3-0... But tonight we pull of 3-2 against Spain who are seventh in the world!! That's "Irish".. hehe
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So brilliant though!! A bit nail-biting towards the end but Healy pulled it off!! And with a hat-trick!! Brilliant!! Another lovely wee win for Winsdor Park. And tomorrow is a year to the day that we beat England 1-0.
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Remember, remember the 6th of Spetember...
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So, We're not Brazil we're Northern Ireland....
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Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 10:21 PM   2 comments

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

A Controversial Comfort Blanket?


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So, philosophy class started today. The first thing she asked us (apart from all the regular start of September class stuff) was to write a three line answer to the question "What is God like?" - so, bloggers, please answer that question. Anyone and everyone can answer it.
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The class atheist's opinion was that God is like a comfort blanket people use to make their lives that little bit nicer, "he started more wars than George Bush could in a life time" (oh, but GWB can try...) - meaning God is a very controversial thing. I would partly kinda agree that there have been wars over God or religion or something but God did not start them! It was us!!
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This topic of religious language, I think I'm gonna love it! Like, we're addressing things like, can we actually say God is good. Because, God is so beyond us we can't begin to think about it. And then we have people like Aquinas who said yeah, but we need our very human words and to impose them on God because they're all we have.
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Anyway, something to ponder, answer, reply about. What does God mean to you? It's kinda a hard question. Like, I'm thinking "God means so much" - and that was the last line of my answer: "God is everywhere, but He is so far beyond everything that we cannot even begin to imagine".
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I've just had a great night at Renee's house - it was good! Can't believe you're going! Will miss you buckets. I have one question for those who were there... Cookie?
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Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 6:38 PM   5 comments

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Real Christians of Genius...

We're not all like this... Promise!!

Another great video.. Worth watching - and cringing at if you know people like it!

Rachxx

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posted by Rach @ 11:06 PM   0 comments