Happy New Year

Well here we are another year has begun. Lets just hope it brings happiness, closure and new beginings for us all.
Have not made any resolutions except the "I'm not making any resolutions" resolution!
Lets just hope that 2008 is my time cos it's about time.
will keep you all posted.

exams and all that

well, This is my last exam today for this semester and I am just happy to have survived the whole experience.
Talk about pressure,I have never worried ,fretted and dreaded anything more than I did these exams.
In comparison to last years cert exams ,which in hindsight I can see we were spoon fed,it was really difficult.
Coming from the relatively intimate environment that was VTOS last year into the complete;y impersonal and huge examination rooms in DKIT was a truly terrifying experience.
What really struck home for me was the fact that as a third level student somewhere along the line I basically gave up my identity and became a number!
I am a certain number for college references and a different number for exam seating arrangements I obtained yet another number with the granting of my invalid car sticker the list is endless.
On exam days the strain was obvious on every ones faces but I still came up against that old age barrier thing when I tried to share that it was no different for me with my classmates.
I suppose it was a bit like mammy telling them it was gonna be OK .
All in all I think I did relatively ok January will tell the tale I really did study for theses exams but that old dragon came back to haunt me after nearly 30 yrs I was still physically sick on the morning of the exam,I still had that mad moment of having a total blank and I'm still living in dread of the results!
Oh well now its back to the real stuff and sorting out "Daddy Christmas" for all my gang here and abroad.

"Yeah My Momma Told Me There'd be Days Like This!"

Van the Man sure got it right,some days you wish you'd just stayed in the leaba don't you?
Luke Kelly on the other hand went to great trouble "Thanking everyone for the Days"
I guess the secret is in there ,somewhere between the two.
That's my cryptic thought for today,now for my good news.
Got word in the post that a poem of mine is going to be published albeit in a little obscure anthology somewhere in Oxford ,but they all count.
I'm dead chuffed really, It's nice to do something right for a change.
Let me share it with you,I won't go into any explanations as to what it is about though,That's for a different forum..............so here goes

Passover.

I passed your way tonight and I smiled,and you in your world didn't see me.

We both knew I was close by,as I caught you in my breeze

You don't believe? Why then did you lose time?

You closed your eyes for just a while,and in that while I passed your way

And you in your world could feel my presence

Then, came the smile, the smile that brings

the knowledge that I've just passed by

And brought you with me on the breeze

and in that breeze you heard my name

I passed you by with open eyes

I touched you.Yes,and whispered

and with that whisper came "Your" smile the smile that says I've just passed by.

Marie Mc Crum 2007.

has "Blogging "spelt the end for the proper use of English?

Having just spent a wee while spell checking all my blog entries and editing them hopefully to gain a few extra marks,I ventured into the world of blogging and had a peep at some others on site.
Remembering that I come from the days when in order to get a pass at the most basic level in an English exam one had to have 1.proper spelling
2.proper grammar
3.proper punctuation


My question therefore is,if it is acceptable to use slang, colloquialisms,and "text speak" why
then am I slaving over presenting my staid and old fashioned (purely in the literal sense)efforts.
Is the use of swear words and vulgar words now the norm instead of the exception?
Don't get me,as a writer of sorts I believe in the power of the written word and the freedom to write as one thinks,but under these so called exam conditions where does the person correcting them set their boundaries?
May I just add as an aside I was actually quite shocked that some students would even dream of posting some of the examples I peeped at knowing that they were going to be marked on presentation.
If on the other hand the tutor is looking for a realistic verbal reflection on what is actually happening in the blogger's life then disregard what I have just written,but please clarify for the sake of my old shaky trembling hands and my mangled brain just what is the primary purpose of this exercise.

The missing word

Ive always prided myself on being literate,verbose and as anyone who knows me will tell you I could talk for Ireland,but it came to me whilst watching a re-run of the film "in the name of the Father" that there is one word missing from my vocabulary.
I haven't used the word "Daddy" since I was 10yrs old,when my own father was sadly killed in an accident.
All these years and 8 kids of my own later it suddenly hit me like the proverbial sledgehammer .
With my own children I always referred to my husband as "your Dad","your Father"but never "Daddy".
What a can of worms to have opened!
Who would have imagined that nearly 40 years later I would be actively grieving a little word that most take for granted.
It's hard to describe the emotion and for sure this is not the place to do that so I'm not gonna go there .
It makes sense though of that phrase much beloved of psychologists and counsellors "trigger words".
What it also does is actually put a value other than an academic one on the importance of language cos I always believed that using all them big words that only a few could understand somehow made me just that little bit more intelligent than those around me.
It seems though that for whatever reason I have deprived or removed from my vocabulary what is probably the very first word we as children ever speak!
Sorry if I appear to be waffling here but there is a point somewhere in all this,and its probably not just about being aware of the words we use.
It would be interesting to know if other people have words or phrases they just wont or cant use for whatever reason .
OK that's enough of the psycho babble for one day now its back to that other head wrecking subject in my life today,.... exams!

Car park you gotta be joking!

No ,This is not yet another whinging session from your resident in-house grumpy ("not so old")woman.
I am now officially jumping on the "car park gripes" band wagon and here's why.
having had to have an unexpected stay overnight as a guest in Louth co. hospital I was determined to make it in for my study and writing skills class for last minute help with my project,but it was not to be.
Being the holder of a disabled driver sticker I duly pulled up at the designated parking spaces only to find they were all full,I drove around and I drove around nearest spot I could get was in Horseware,not a practical place for me to park.
Back I went to the front door (by this time class has started),still no spaces so I went in and asked at reception if I could park in one of the visitors spaces.
"are you a student"? I was asked "Mmm well yes I am " I answered ,"well sorry students are not allowed to park in visitors spots"
"OK " says I and headed towards my car which is parked in one!!!!
I then had a look at the cars that were parked in the disabled spots and found that of the 6 cars parked only 3 were displaying a permit!
Remembering Colin's recent blog bout staff being clamped and forever listening to my friends and their misery every morning looking for a space,I did some thing I normally would never do
I reported the offenders!.
So anyone who was illegally parked in the disabled spots yesterday and got clamped it was me !
I'm not making any apologies cos the decision did not come easy.
This cannot be allowed to continue, either you increase the parking spaces or you police the ones available properly.
To that end I am giving due warning to the parking company next time I try to park in a designated space or I cant get parked close enough for me to walk without breathing difficulties I will park in the visitors slots,I will double park,I will park in the set down only spots.
Don't worry I will be easily recognised.
I will be the one carrying the placard (in the making process)protesting,cos isn't that what we students do????
oh and just to say this is not the first time i have been left spaceless,but enough is enough.
Opinions on this invited,but support would be welcome and appreciated.
one very tired,angry and ready to fight for the cause blogger.

Now who's useless?

Hi folks progress is being made I now have a pic on my blog!

So what ? you may say ,but for mr this is the equivalent of moving from L driver status to ready for the road.

who knows maybe soon I will be able to put in some photos and even a video just to prove I do actually exist and am not just this faceless person who writes some inane C**** !That is of course always assuming anyone is interested.