I got back last night and meant to post it then, but here you go. I'm just going to call Saturday today and Schedule it, hush. Oh, and I'm just going to go chronologically with all the minutiae. Read if you want.
I'd been looking forward to today for months. I'd been planning to go to the cinema and then go for dinner at Jerry's house, but he cancelled that a few days before. Luckily, Ciarán then invited me into town and Jerry would still be there for the CTYI reunion (there's one for Dublin CTYIzens every Saturday) so I still went up.
I got up at 8am and took the 9.35 train, which got me to Dublin for 10.40-ish. I found my way to Grafton St. by 11, then went shopping for a late Christmas present for Jerry because I lose things. I had to go to literally ten clothes shops looking for a hat as he'd requested, and I hate clothes shops. Anyway, I didn't have any luck finding a hat so then I just went to Tiger and got a few things. Tiger is a delightfully odd shop. I got him novelty party glasses, a pedometer, pens and a notebook. I think it was the most I've ever spent on a birthday present for someone. Getting older can suck sometimes.
Once I'd finished that (at 11.50) I went to the Disney store, where I was supposed to meet Ciarán at 12. I got impatient and hung out with CTYI people for a while, then went back to the Disney store until he finally turned up. Quite impressively, considering the hug from behind knocked me over. Good job.
I gave Jerry his present and he seemed happy enough, but it's hard to tell with him. I tried. It gets a bit foggy from here, but I think myself and Ciarán went off somewhere. Uncommunicative as always, Ciarán didn't say it was a date but it totally was. We went snack shopping and managed to spend €14 on sweets in EuroGiant, which is kind of disgraceful but yeah. I had a tenner handy so I spent that, thinking I'd get change later. I did, indirectly. Anyway. Then Ciarán brought me to an ice-cream shop he likes called Murphys.
He bought a 3-flavour icecream that we shared. I chose strawberry and caramel and he chose cinammon, which he said was divine. Not that exact word but whatever. We went down the back and I showed him my dress as it was finally warm enough to temporarily take off my hoody. I then put it back on and leaned on him and we shared the ice-cream. Totally not a date at all, guys. Use your words, Ciarán.
After that, we went back to the Rock Gardens and chatted. We always saw someone with an amazing blond afro, and there's only one person I know with hair that great. We debated over whether it was Ogden for a while until eventually he said hi and we talked for ages. He was doing his Maths assignments (he's in his first year of studying Mathematics in Trinity), which were fairly complicated. Anyway, Ogden is really awesome. He advised me to try get the Naughton scholarship; he got it, and he gets €5,000 a year for college (niiiice). I'd been planning to do that anyway but it was a good reminder.
Around half 2, CTYIzens left came back from Asia Market and filled up the Rock Gardens, as they do. Some girl had a ukulele and they were singing along to things. There was also a preponderance of fezzes worn by Whovians. I kept thinking about bloody Kay. Anyway, Ciarán and Ogden were doing Diablo stuff as Ogden also spouted maths formulae, which is something he tends to do. Then Odgen left because his girlfriend had an interview with Intel, I think, and we hung out for a bit.
Eventually, we all walked to Apache Pizza, as is traditional. I thought there were only five of us going, but once we got there there were at least twelve and probably more. Someone ordered three communal pizzas and we all dug in. Did I mention I love these people? I had a big downer, though, because suddenly I realised that I was missing €20. Dad had given me €50 that morning and asked me to give him €15 back, and I should have had at least €25 euro left but I had €3 in coins. When I said that, Dáire was an angel and gave me a fiver. Also, John Joe had arrived, it was great to see him.
The pizzas were great. I texted Seán the whole time off Ciarán's phone, which was funny because we were both pretending Ciarán couldn't see the messages. Handy way to let him know things. Tommy/Fez let me use his phone to check cinema times. I was planning to go see The Theory of Everything with Jerry and Ciarán, but at the last minute Jerry pulled out because he supposedly didn't want to be a third wheel. That was sad. We did hug a lot as I was leaving, though, and then he said he'd been planning to pay for my ticket anyway (because he is a ridiculously good person) and then gave me a tenner saying he didn't want it back. So now I'm a bad person. I'll pay them back eventually, I promise. Then I hugged everyone, and oh wow CTYI is amazing for replenishing hug stores, it just makes me super happy.
Then myself and Ciarán left and walked to the Savoy. Ciarán bought tickets for The Theory of Everything (€8 each) (more debt) (well, it was a date so I don't know if it counts). The movie was pretty good, better in the first half (interesting, since I'd read the first half of the screenplay. It's a really fantastic screenplay). There was some awkwardness wondering if/when certain things would be said/done, but anyway. We held hands during. Ciarán's dad was waiting outside the cinema when it ended and he walked us back to Tara Street so I could get my train. His dad invited me to stay over sometime. I then couldn't find my ticket and had to buy another (argh). I don't actually remember if we hugged goodbye but I assume we did.
That night Ciarán asked me out over Skype messenger, not following the script at all. I was apparently coaching Seán for nothing. So I got him to call me and redo it, which was better. I said yes. So it seems I have a boyfriend now. Hm.
I skyped Kay for a while, though not for as long as the night before (jesus, that conversation) while texting Ciarán. In fairness, Kay lives in Cork and I miss him a ton whereas Ciarán's around steadily, so I think that's fair.
So that was the day. Quite eventful, and an inevitability finally came to pass. Tada.
Saturday, 24 January 2015
Friday, 23 January 2015
Photo Friday #4: My First Date
Photo Friday is a weekly event on this blog where I pick an image that means something to me and talk about it.
It's hard to remember the details, but we went to McDonalds and the shopping centre, and had a really great time chatting. I remember talking to James about this girl with hydrophobia, and laughing every time Niamh/Cahal tried to say we were a couple.
I think around this time we were actually talking to each other late at night (one time we talked 'til 3 am), so it was going to happen, but I didn't want to move that fast. Niamh actually gave out to me in school afterwards, saying the whole point had been for us to shift, so what was the point?But like, ew, shifting.
We loitered in Waterstones for an hour, just sitting facing each other in the YA section and chatting. It was magical - I love that place. They did eventually make us leave but they were nice to let us stay the hour.
It was a new experience, definitely. Very teenager-y, for the first time, I guess.
Our second date (a real one this time) was on Valentine's Day.
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
Gender Ratio in Shakespeare
In English today, I realised that Goneril, Regan and Cordelia are the only female characters I can think of in King Lear. Obviously they're very important in the play, but I think that's interesting in itself; it seems that when Shakespeare was making up throwaway characters, they were just automatically male.
So I wanted to test that with his other plays. I'm using this site which lists all vaguely important characters in each play, and will do a total of each tally at the end.
All's Well That Ends Well
Female: 6
Male: 7
Antony & Cleopatra
Female: 8
Male: 26
It was hard to tell the gender of the ancient names, so I just went with my gut and said Cleopatra's attendants were female. And looked some of them up.
As You Like it
Female: 4
Male: 16
Not Clear: 1
Coriolanus
This one was difficult as there are a lot of unnamed characters. I only included the ones for which I had a number and could discern gender.
Female: 4
Male: 13
Cymbeline
Female: 3
Male: 23
Hamlet
Female: 2
Male: 18
Henry IV (Part I)
Female: 3
Male: 18
Henry V
Female: 4
Male: 33
Henry VIII
Female: 5
Male: 32
Julius Caesar
Female: 2
Male: 31
King John
Female: 4
Male: 16
King Lear
Female: 3 (as I thought!)
Male: 17
Love's Labour's Lost
Female: 5
Male: 13
Macbeth
Female: 7
Male: 21
Measure for Measure
Female: 5
Male: 19
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Female: 4
Male: 16
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Female: 6 (chose two of the fairies for each gender)
Male: 15
Much Ado About Nothing
Female: 3
Male: 14
Othello
Female: 3
Male: 11
Pericles
Female: 5
Male: 12
Richard II
Female: 4
Male: 24
Romeo & Juliet
Female: 4
Male: 20
The Taming of the Shrew
Female: 4
Male: 17
The Tempest
Female: 4
Male: 14
Timon of Athens
Female: 2
Male: 19
Titus Andronicus
Female: 3
Male: 18
Troilus and Cressida
Female: 4
Male: 21
Twelfth Night
Female: 3
Male: 11
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Female: 3
Male: 10
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Female: 6
Male: 20
The Winter's Tale
Female: 7
Male: 13
Whew. That was a lot to go through. The totals are: *frantically adds*
Female: 130
Male: 558
Men outnumbered women on all counts, but the extent to which they did is quite surprising. The total number of characters is 688; women made up 18.9% of this total, with men making up the remaining 81.1%.
That doesn't even account for the problem of Shakespeare automatically making disposable characters male, as most of those characters aren't counted in this tally.
I can't believe I just sorted through 688 characters for this but there you go. Men: women in Shakespeare is roughly 19:81, or even more roughly 20:80, or 1:4. So women make up less than a fifth of his characters. While they are often formidable women, that's not great. And I noticed that the source I used often referred to the women as "wife of" "daughter of" rather than in their own right.
So there you go. I didn't include sequels, but I think that sample size is big enough.
Julius Caesar was the worst offender, with 15.5 times as many males as females, whereas All's Well that Ends Well was almost equal, with just one seventh in the difference.
So I wanted to test that with his other plays. I'm using this site which lists all vaguely important characters in each play, and will do a total of each tally at the end.
All's Well That Ends Well
Female: 6
Male: 7
Antony & Cleopatra
Female: 8
Male: 26
It was hard to tell the gender of the ancient names, so I just went with my gut and said Cleopatra's attendants were female. And looked some of them up.
As You Like it
Female: 4
Male: 16
Not Clear: 1
Coriolanus
This one was difficult as there are a lot of unnamed characters. I only included the ones for which I had a number and could discern gender.
Female: 4
Male: 13
Cymbeline
Female: 3
Male: 23
Hamlet
Female: 2
Male: 18
Henry IV (Part I)
Female: 3
Male: 18
Henry V
Female: 4
Male: 33
Henry VIII
Female: 5
Male: 32
Julius Caesar
Female: 2
Male: 31
King John
Female: 4
Male: 16
King Lear
Female: 3 (as I thought!)
Male: 17
Love's Labour's Lost
Female: 5
Male: 13
Macbeth
Female: 7
Male: 21
Measure for Measure
Female: 5
Male: 19
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Female: 4
Male: 16
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Female: 6 (chose two of the fairies for each gender)
Male: 15
Much Ado About Nothing
Female: 3
Male: 14
Othello
Female: 3
Male: 11
Pericles
Female: 5
Male: 12
Richard II
Female: 4
Male: 24
Romeo & Juliet
Female: 4
Male: 20
The Taming of the Shrew
Female: 4
Male: 17
The Tempest
Female: 4
Male: 14
Timon of Athens
Female: 2
Male: 19
Titus Andronicus
Female: 3
Male: 18
Troilus and Cressida
Female: 4
Male: 21
Twelfth Night
Female: 3
Male: 11
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Female: 3
Male: 10
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Female: 6
Male: 20
The Winter's Tale
Female: 7
Male: 13
Whew. That was a lot to go through. The totals are: *frantically adds*
Female: 130
Male: 558
Men outnumbered women on all counts, but the extent to which they did is quite surprising. The total number of characters is 688; women made up 18.9% of this total, with men making up the remaining 81.1%.
That doesn't even account for the problem of Shakespeare automatically making disposable characters male, as most of those characters aren't counted in this tally.
I can't believe I just sorted through 688 characters for this but there you go. Men: women in Shakespeare is roughly 19:81, or even more roughly 20:80, or 1:4. So women make up less than a fifth of his characters. While they are often formidable women, that's not great. And I noticed that the source I used often referred to the women as "wife of" "daughter of" rather than in their own right.
So there you go. I didn't include sequels, but I think that sample size is big enough.
Julius Caesar was the worst offender, with 15.5 times as many males as females, whereas All's Well that Ends Well was almost equal, with just one seventh in the difference.
Sunday, 18 January 2015
5 Reasons I Prefer Blogging to Vlogging
I was planning to call this "Why Blogging is Easier than Vlogging" but that comes across as lazy and is restrictive. Headline deception!
Less Technical
If you can post Facebook statuses, you can use a Blogger template to run a blog. But there's so much extra work involved in recording, editing and distributing a video that it's prohibitive. Even a total technophobe can write their blog posts on paper and get someone else to type them up (though that doesn't make them a very true blogger).
Cheaper
I know badly-taken videos do go viral on Youtube sometimes, but they're almost always one-hit wonders. To consistently do well on Youtube (or another platform, I guess) you need a good camera, possibly a tripod (or, like, a stack of books), maybe editing software ... What I'm saying is that there's a lot more hardware needed for vlogging, and none of it is cheap.
Fewer Skills Required
As a blogger, you should be a good writer and/or funny and/or useful. If you're a vlogger, you still have to do all that (at least, I would - I need a script), but you also have to be a good speaker, preferably photogenic, engaging... It just really ups the barrier.
Less Preparation
For a video, you need to keep in mind your background (i.e. clean your room), lighting, energy level, in-frame distractions. If I were to film a video at this time of year, there are only eight hours a week in which I could do it; It's dark before I go to school and dark when I come home, so since I need natural light I only have the middle of the day at the weekend. When I tend to be doing stuff. If someone comes into the room while you're filming, you have to either edit it out or start again (because sometimes it's impossible to edit out).
And then you have blogging, where you can literally do it in bed with your laptop on your chest, wearing pyjamas (or less), and no one has to know. You can write a blog post in stages, coming back to the document whenever you feel like it, but if you do that with a video people will notice the light/your appearance changing.
Editing
This is the biggest reason, I think. Editing a video is awful, because unless you're really good at it it leaves traces (and it takes time to get good, time in which people see your mistakes).
Now, I'm not talking about the difficulty of finding fault with your own work. That applies pretty equally to any creative work.
But backspacing is an awful lot easier than cutting a video, because the cut is visible in the final video (again, for the inexperienced. Famous vloggers have got this down, obviously, but they probably don't use Windows Movie Maker).
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So there you have it, that's why I'm more comfortable blogging than vlogging. Vlogging seems to be more rewarding when you look at the teenage stars it's made, but I think blogging suits me a lot more. Feel free to agree/disagree in the comments.
Less Technical
If you can post Facebook statuses, you can use a Blogger template to run a blog. But there's so much extra work involved in recording, editing and distributing a video that it's prohibitive. Even a total technophobe can write their blog posts on paper and get someone else to type them up (though that doesn't make them a very true blogger).
Cheaper
I know badly-taken videos do go viral on Youtube sometimes, but they're almost always one-hit wonders. To consistently do well on Youtube (or another platform, I guess) you need a good camera, possibly a tripod (or, like, a stack of books), maybe editing software ... What I'm saying is that there's a lot more hardware needed for vlogging, and none of it is cheap.
Fewer Skills Required
As a blogger, you should be a good writer and/or funny and/or useful. If you're a vlogger, you still have to do all that (at least, I would - I need a script), but you also have to be a good speaker, preferably photogenic, engaging... It just really ups the barrier.
Less Preparation
For a video, you need to keep in mind your background (i.e. clean your room), lighting, energy level, in-frame distractions. If I were to film a video at this time of year, there are only eight hours a week in which I could do it; It's dark before I go to school and dark when I come home, so since I need natural light I only have the middle of the day at the weekend. When I tend to be doing stuff. If someone comes into the room while you're filming, you have to either edit it out or start again (because sometimes it's impossible to edit out).
And then you have blogging, where you can literally do it in bed with your laptop on your chest, wearing pyjamas (or less), and no one has to know. You can write a blog post in stages, coming back to the document whenever you feel like it, but if you do that with a video people will notice the light/your appearance changing.
Editing
This is the biggest reason, I think. Editing a video is awful, because unless you're really good at it it leaves traces (and it takes time to get good, time in which people see your mistakes).
Now, I'm not talking about the difficulty of finding fault with your own work. That applies pretty equally to any creative work.
But backspacing is an awful lot easier than cutting a video, because the cut is visible in the final video (again, for the inexperienced. Famous vloggers have got this down, obviously, but they probably don't use Windows Movie Maker).
-----------------------------------------------
So there you have it, that's why I'm more comfortable blogging than vlogging. Vlogging seems to be more rewarding when you look at the teenage stars it's made, but I think blogging suits me a lot more. Feel free to agree/disagree in the comments.
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Review: The Dying of the Light (Skulduggery Pleasant #9) by Derek Landy (SPOILERS)
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Okay, that's enough spoiler warnings. I've never had to put a spoiler warning in the title before. This is going to be a really hard review to write, and I can't do it justice without spoilers. So there are going to be spoilers for the whole series from here on out.
This review might not be entirely coherent, but it'll be cathartic.
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Publisher: HarperCollins Children's
Date of Publication: August 28th 2014
Pages: 605
Source: Christmas present
Rating: ?????
I'm so disappointed. As a whole, the book was thrilling and emotional and everything we expect a Skulduggery Pleasant book to be (almost), but I'm so upset by the ending.
The book starts with some weird chapter from the perspective of this randomer called Danny living a boring, ordinary life in Meek Ridge. Periodically, he brings groceries to a girl called Stephanie who lives all alone in a mansion. The name is supposed to ring a bell with us (and it does, obviously) but we don't understand it. This subplot continues through the book, with Danny at one point being kidnapped as two killers chase Stephanie. The Danny chapters are just sprinkled throughout, and I hated them because I didn't care in the slightest about Danny or this mysterious Stephanie.
All I wanted was Valkyrie's perspective.
For the majority of the book, that is not what I got.
At the end of LSoDM, Darquesse took over Valkyrie. So for a large chunk at the start of the book, we get Stephanie's perspective. Skulduggery is sullen because he's lost his partner, and while this is entirely understandable I missed his wit. I really dislike the dark turn the last two books took. I mean, SP has always been gory, and that was okay. But there are all these real war casualties, and it's so sad. Then again, I'm glad I properly grew up with these books. The Harry Potter books are very special to me, but I pretty much missed the Hogwarts express, or only caught the tail end. The first book came out shortly before I was born, and so I read Fred's death when I was eight or nine so I didn't really get the emotional impact.
I'm getting the emotional impact here.
And that's why I'm so annoyed with how Derek toyed with it.
TV Tropes just told me Argeddion died. Fucking Argeddion, and I'd forgotten it, because there were too many other deaths.
TV tropes also says Skulduggery beat Darquesse and Argeddion in LSoDM by giving them epileptic fits. I don't remember half of this stuff. I really need to re-read the books.
I think I understand why Derek gave us Stephanie's perspective. It was really awkward for the characters because they had to sort out in their heads that she's now her own person, but that makes it awkward for the reader too. Derek probably liked that, but I didn't need that particular complication while reading through everything else in the million subplots. The book mentions her killing Carol, but that line isn't resolved at all. She's not even punished for it, as far as I can remember. I'm so mad.
I was pretty apprehensive when I saw the cover (the titular character's skull is on the ground, burning), but that particular reality doesn't come to pass, as far as I know.
A plainly ridiculous amount of stuff happens in this book, and it's impossible to go through it all. I know I said there'd be spoilers here, but honestly describing the book would just be "x dies, comes back to life, dies again, y dies, z dies horribly, a betrays b, everyone dies".
I get that the chapters were an artistic choice, but I hated them. I mean, I got the point later on in the book when they were just one line, but Derek would end chapters in the middle of a sentence and then finish that sentence in a new chapter in a different character's perspective. I shudder to think of how much editing this book must have needed.
A ton of characters are brought back from the previous books to deal with Darquesse. It's really great to see Fletcher, who I love, but then you also have, let's think ... Wreath, Melancholia, Vile, vampires, Cassandra & Finbar (who have a surprisingly huge role after just turning up), the Dead Men, Billy-Ray Sanguine, Tanith, Mevolent, Serpine and more.
Tanith finally loses her Remnant, thanks to Darquesse. Darquesse has become really annoying in this book; rather than being playful and crazy with her power like in the previous books, she's now studying weird and arcane magic, trying to become The Most Powerful of All. Whereas in Death Bringer she and Lord Vile were pretty evenly matched, she goes up against Vile and Melancholia together and literally blasts both of them out of the park.
I loved Scapegrace, Thrasher and Clarabelle's subplot. They're one group that has been consistently funny all through the series, and I'm so glad they get a happy ending.
Valkyrie loses her magic partway through the book in a gutwrenching twist, but then we have yet another reversal and she gets her surge, giving her some weird, unsatisfying magic where she blasts beams of energy through her hands (but she's not an Energy-Thrower). So we don't get any of that Elemental good stuff or the cool/scary Necromancy. I'll admit, her heartbreak at losing her magic was one of the few twists I did appreciate (though it pained me).
I also quite liked the failure of the plan to suck Darquesse out of Valkyrie, because Darquesse goes along with it and actually has a moment where she considers being good. She also has a pretty awesome fight seen with what I'm remembering as a giant dog impervious to magic, which Valkyrie definitely wouldn't have survived. The fear on people's faces when they realise she's Darquesse is pretty great too. I also liked how Stephanie and Valkyrie have to deal with dirty looks because they look the same as Darquesse.
Then again, I've never really understood how Valkyrie always gets forgiven after Darquesse goes on a rampage. They may have different names, but Darquesse is Val's true name, remember? It's just uncomfortable to think that's who she really is.
Look, I probably would have liked the book if not for that stupid ending. Everyone's losing in the fight to Darquesse, and then she kills them all gruesomely, including Val, Skul, Fletcher, everyone. She then torches the rest of the world, and flies off into the solar system, then into other universes, where she's bored so she solves quantum mechanics (I'm not kidding). I was sitting reading it with a friend and I didn't even consider that a spoiler because it's so bloody ridiculous.
And then we find out, oops, it was a dream organised by the psychics, Darquesse has now sent herself through a portal into the land of the Faceless Ones, everyone is alive (well, the few who were alive before this scene.)
Not only is that cheating, the conclusion of the Danny arc is so important and I hate it. It turns out the reason it's written in present tense is that it's set in the future. Val fights a random bad guy in a stupid, unsatisfying fight scene, and once she's rescued a mortal, it turns out she's been telling him this whole story.
Seriously. That's why the series is from her perspective. She's been telling some irrelevant mortal called Danny. It's extra-annoying because it shows that there's been no great conclusion; Val is still fighting run-of-the-mill bad guys, which is a bit of a let-down from Faceless Ones and Darquesse.
Skulduggery pulls off a last-minute twist by (instead of sacrificing himself, like we thought he would), throwing Ravel into the Accelerator to save the world (again). It's a very Skulduggery thing to do, yes, but still.
After this it's just Val reminiscing to Danny. We learn she's been living in America for five years, taking time out, and don't know if she ever talks to Skulduggery or any other character we know and love. She just leaves it all behind. It reminds me of the ending of Fangirl; she's matured, but it's so unsatisfying and I'm not ready to mature that much with her.
Only, SP matters so much more to me than Fangirl because I grew up with it. I'm so disappointed it missed the mark on this one, but I will always love the series. Especially Death Bringer. Now that's the Darquesse I like.
And there's always fanfiction.
Friday, 16 January 2015
Photo Friday #3: CTYI disco 2014
Photo Friday is a weekly event on this blog where I pick an image that means something to me and talk about it. This week's photo is from a CTYI disco.
In the picture are Ben, Bridget and me. There's also a not-so-well-taken picture but I want to include Ciarán so here it is.
This was from a CTYI disco, the second one if I recall correctly. Ciarán's the one with cat ears. He's going to get introduced like that a lot, by the way, so get used to it. It's his thing.
We see that I'm carrying on my unintentional tradition of wearing oversized dresses to CTYI discos and having to irritatedly fix their positioning all night. The size of the dress makes my arms look really weird. And white. I'm just gonna pretend that's because of the camera angle.
Anyway, this reminds me of one of my favourite things in the world, which is CTYI discos. I've been to very few real-world discos, but one I remember (and discussed properly here) was Galaxy, a standard under-18s disco. I hated that one, and CTYI discos are so very different.
For one thing, I actually like the people there. There are very few people in CTYI I'm not friendly with, and even less I actively dislike. I'm always surrounded by friends and not afraid I'll have no one to dance with.
Also, the music is infinitely better. There's a setlist that has to get played or else the Nevermores get cranky, which includes Mr. Brightside, Iris, Bohemian Rhapsody, the Pokémon theme tune, American Pie, Gay Bar and Bad Touch. By now, all of those songs have huge sentimental value to me, and so I can really get into them while in the disco. And, see earlier point, I can do it with friends. Last year Ciarán spun me around awesomely during the high point of Footloose and I remember it very fondly, it was so exhilarating. I Don't Care (I Love It) was also played a lot last year, and oh wow did I dance to that. I must resolve not to develop a crush on someone in CTYI next year. It can taint it after we break up.
Also, CTYI discos are themed (except for the last one). The fancy dress discos are cool because CTYI people actually make an effort. I remember last year Ogden was Willy Wonka, my roommate was Wilhelmina Wonka, and while this was spontaneous they co-ordinated excellently. There were also some other brilliant costumes. I went as Katniss last year, using a whole packet of my room-mate's BandAids to stick little flames cut from orange and red crepe to my dress. I also wore a pink feather boa, and by the end of the disco there were mysteriously pink, red and orange feathers all over the floor. To this day, no one knows the cause.
I'm getting really sentimental thinking about those discos, but yeah. This is one of my most treasured memories. I think my first ever CTYI disco might well have been the happiest moment of my life.
In the picture are Ben, Bridget and me. There's also a not-so-well-taken picture but I want to include Ciarán so here it is.
This was from a CTYI disco, the second one if I recall correctly. Ciarán's the one with cat ears. He's going to get introduced like that a lot, by the way, so get used to it. It's his thing.
We see that I'm carrying on my unintentional tradition of wearing oversized dresses to CTYI discos and having to irritatedly fix their positioning all night. The size of the dress makes my arms look really weird. And white. I'm just gonna pretend that's because of the camera angle.
Anyway, this reminds me of one of my favourite things in the world, which is CTYI discos. I've been to very few real-world discos, but one I remember (and discussed properly here) was Galaxy, a standard under-18s disco. I hated that one, and CTYI discos are so very different.
For one thing, I actually like the people there. There are very few people in CTYI I'm not friendly with, and even less I actively dislike. I'm always surrounded by friends and not afraid I'll have no one to dance with.
Also, the music is infinitely better. There's a setlist that has to get played or else the Nevermores get cranky, which includes Mr. Brightside, Iris, Bohemian Rhapsody, the Pokémon theme tune, American Pie, Gay Bar and Bad Touch. By now, all of those songs have huge sentimental value to me, and so I can really get into them while in the disco. And, see earlier point, I can do it with friends. Last year Ciarán spun me around awesomely during the high point of Footloose and I remember it very fondly, it was so exhilarating. I Don't Care (I Love It) was also played a lot last year, and oh wow did I dance to that. I must resolve not to develop a crush on someone in CTYI next year. It can taint it after we break up.
Also, CTYI discos are themed (except for the last one). The fancy dress discos are cool because CTYI people actually make an effort. I remember last year Ogden was Willy Wonka, my roommate was Wilhelmina Wonka, and while this was spontaneous they co-ordinated excellently. There were also some other brilliant costumes. I went as Katniss last year, using a whole packet of my room-mate's BandAids to stick little flames cut from orange and red crepe to my dress. I also wore a pink feather boa, and by the end of the disco there were mysteriously pink, red and orange feathers all over the floor. To this day, no one knows the cause.
I'm getting really sentimental thinking about those discos, but yeah. This is one of my most treasured memories. I think my first ever CTYI disco might well have been the happiest moment of my life.
Sunday, 11 January 2015
Aftermath
Here's my dilemma (and what an inconsequential one it is): I'm currently a day behind on posting, but I don't want to post twice. And so I'm going to do something truly thrilling, and decide when to post this when I can be bothered.
It's Sunday night, and I've had an astonishingly unproductive day. I feel awful. I woke up past 3 p.m., which has to be the latest I've ever woken. I know I've been extremely tired because of the BTYS, but still. I was supposed to catch up on tons of homework for tomorrow and I ruined all that.
I found a photo of me on Senator Mary Moran's blog that doesn't look awful like last year's:
It's Sunday night, and I've had an astonishingly unproductive day. I feel awful. I woke up past 3 p.m., which has to be the latest I've ever woken. I know I've been extremely tired because of the BTYS, but still. I was supposed to catch up on tons of homework for tomorrow and I ruined all that.
I found a photo of me on Senator Mary Moran's blog that doesn't look awful like last year's:
I just realised that, for its size, Louth did extremely well. Brap girl is from Louth and she got Overall Biology (or was that Lobster boy?) and Best Individual. St. Vincent's had a couple of winners, I think. Conor Begley from Coláiste Rís was up on the back wall, I think he might've got Best Technology. The page online listing all the Award Winners has suddenly disappeared, but yeah, we did well. Cork blew everyone out of the water, of course. And Synge Street unsurprisingly took Best School.
The media coverage of the winners is different this year, I think because they're Social & Behavioural, only the second S & B to ever win. It could be because they're a group too, but they're not named in the headlines and the articles are written differently from Paul's. I don't think they were expecting to win.
Also found a writeup about me in SiliconRepublic, though there's no picture so you can just find it here.
It's weird that it's over. I don't know if I want to continue; I guess I feel a bit stung. I'll regret it if I don't, but I seriously have to question whether it's worth it.
I'm still completely behind on homework and have done nothing today. It's awful when there's one event your life has been focused on for a while and then it just ends. It happened with CTYI too. I do have that other competition, Soroptimists, in February, but I don't think I'll do well at that.
I'm hoping Sentinus 2015 will motivate me to keep working on the project, and that CRANN lets me back into their labs (Tyndall offered but they're far away), so that once it's time to apply for YS 2016 I can. I don't know, I really don't. I started this year's project two days after last year's ended, but I don't know if I'll be ready to launch back in tomorrow.
Sure, I'm being melodramatic. But I'm tired.
BTYS: Day 4
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| It's hard to see Aoife in this one, so look down further. |
Waking up wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. We had agreed to get to the train for 8.15 (later than usual, but I wasn't being judged any more so I didn't really care). Dad woke me up just in time so I only got a few bites of cereal but whatever, MOR had given me money to buy food.
God, it's hard to remember yesterday.
We got onto the train and, to my delight, Patsy was there! It was so good to see her, she's lovely. She doesn't usually visit the Exhibition but said she did this year because she's had such good vibes with us.
I wasn't nervous on the train up, which was nice. I wasn't exactly happy either, though. I use too many commas. I bought a demibaguette and Pinballs in Centra and we got in around half nine, maybe a bit later.
The first thing I did was check if Kay was at his stand, because of the way the conversation ended the night before. He wasn't, so I took advantage of my newfound freedom to explore some of the other stands. I stayed and chatted for ages to Eve Casey at her and her friend Cathy's cane vs. beet sugar project. I recognised Eve from winning one of the big prizes last year but she looked friendly so we talked. She also gave a demonstration of her speech, which was cool. She has a funny accent. She's from Kinsale (the school that wins everything but isn't hated as much as Synge Street) so it was nice to see the human side. Some others came around too, including that guy Anna was with at Sentinus last year, whose name I can't remember. Was also talking to a guy from Kinsale who entered last year and got in even with his yellow lanyard, though I think he did insist on paying.
Anyway, they were really cool.
A while after that I went back to my stand and found Jerry. Well, spotted him out of the corner of my eye and was so excited, it'd been so long since I'd seen him. I ran over and hugged him and yay it was great. I'd missed him. He said I was the most annoying friend to get to and that he could get to London faster but whatever, shut up. He gave me my Christmas presents (I forgot to bring his, shit), a badly-needed laptop battery and a selection box. I just adore him oh my god. We chatted and wandered for a bit. He is so great.
A while later, Kate and Éle arrived and said hey and congrats and stuff. They disappeared shortly afterwards though. Kay still hadn't arrived. Then, in short succession, Ciarán, Seán, Paddy, Owen and Kevin (other Kevin) arrived. It was great, just this gang of boys. It was cool having Kate and Éle see that. I also kinda choked Paddy hugging him, though I don't think Ciarán was as choked. Seán is weird about hugs but consented. We messed around and had a fabulous time, though they had to move whenever a visitor came up to my stand and wanted to talk to me about the project. Now that I think of it, it might've been better to put them over at Brap girl's stand since she was moved.
I also talked to Aoife a bit. She's cool. Kevin was there and of course immediately started flirting with Aoife. He's an astonishingly fast operator; I think they kissed by the end of the day.
I was so happy seeing all of them. I wasn't expecting to see Paddy but it was just really great to see Seán and Ciarán. Why do both of their names have fadas? Damnit.
I didn't get my report book back for ages so I thought I might be getting a good comment, but then I got it back and had none. I was raging so went to MOR and she went looking for an explanation. Eventually a Judge came back and apologised, saying that during the category change my project was just "left between stools" so basically forgotten about. He went off and got Tony Scott to sign it, which was nice, but still so unfair that the category change ruined it.
Eventually Kay arrived and I tried to talk to him but he was avoiding me (or must have been, because he wouldn't talk). I'm not sure what I wanted to say; Moya was annoyed at him so I probably should've given out, but I just wanted to make a stand of some sort. I tried to get all the boys to intimidatingly stare at his display but they wouldn't, sadly.
He talked a little to me later and we hugged goodbye, which was nice. He's a great hugger. Plus that blazer, oomph. Pity he lives in Cork. We did get to have a wonderfully candid talk over text on the train home, though. I love moments like that. The battery Jerry gave me was excellent - I didn't have to have my laptop plugged in at all times!
Definitely got to replenish my hug tank yesterday. What a weird way to put it.
Quite a few members of the public came over. One was a paediatric oncologist, who talked about some of the kids she'd taken care of dying of brain cancer. Another man came over and said he was interested in my project because he himself had Glioblastoma Multiforme. They were both nice but it was terrifying, and not great for the imposter syndrome.
Grainne Allen came over to say hi and stayed for the rest of the day, pretty much. Paddy and Owen left pretty early, and Ariana arrived. Her and Jerry were very affectionate, which was ... interesting.
I bought four packets of crisps (2 Salt & Vinegar, 2 Cheese & Onion) again and tried to share them out, but no one really wanted them. I gave one to Sinéad Mulvihill. Oh yeah, Ms. Mulvihill, her daughter, Mr. Coone, his son, Mr. Conway and probably others from the school came and said congrats. I felt awful because the €150 I got from third in category didn't repay the €600 my principal had spent on me (plus train tickets), but she didn't bring it up thankfully.
I hugged Aoife Gregg and her mam came over saying I'd been robbed and that the project would get valued more highly somewhere else, which was nice. The Kinsale people I'd been speaking to earlier said at least I didn't let Synge Street win another whole category. Small consolation, but definitely something.
Jerry helped me take down my board as the end of the exhibition neared, and we had a group hug as Ciarán, Seán and Kevin had to leave. It was sad. MOR came over when nearly everyone had left and gave out to me for apparently not respecting my school, because my friends were scaring off people who'd paid to come look at the stands. Well, my friends paid in, so there. I talked to anyone who asked about the project, and I'd been there stuck to my stand for three days already. Hey, at least I was at my stand most of the time; most people weren't.
Órla's mam took my board and folders in her car, and I told MOR Jerry would get me to the train so that she'd let me be. Jerry and I got lost a bit on the way to Lansdowne because I was the one leading the way, but it was really nice. I'm so glad he's around. He even got the Dart with me to Pearse before hugging goodbye.
Talking to Kay kept me occupied on the train. I love DMCs. Then I was home to Dad and yeah. I was really, really upset that it was over. A year of work and then this. Gone out with a whimper, kinda.
I did make friends, and I had a wonderful time with friends on Saturday. But.
C'est la vie.
Saturday, 10 January 2015
BTYS: Day 3
I'm writing this on the train home on Saturday but the entry is about Friday, shut up.
So, I'll try to do it in chronological order. But it'll be hard, since the end of the day was so heavily weighted. Anyway.
I got to the train station at like 7.50 and we went up. I'd sat there on Thursday just waiting for more judges, because MOR kept going on about Anna having had more judges on the Thursday evening. But no more appeared, even though I stayed there until the exhibition closed for the day. So on the train I was shitting it, expecting to get shedloads of judges on the Friday like Anna did.
I got zero.
Well, I got a Judge, the first winner of the Young Scientist, but he was off-duty. He came and asked for a five-minute chat about the project, but ended up staying much longer. He seemed really interested and afterwards went on and on like "It's a phenomenal piece of work" "You're a dyed-in-the-wool researcher" "You have that extra 5% that's hard to quantify, and I wouldn't say that to most of the others here" "You're going to do very well". He was really nice, but you could forgive me for taking that as a good sign.
So I was very encouraged, and didn't die of worry while waiting for other judges who never came. I still didn't move off my stand for lunch until long after the final judging period was over though, rationalizing. It didn't help that the girl two stands over from me was constantly surrounded by judges, often groups of them. Her project was a handwrap for boxers. It didn't seem that innovative, but it was really well done, great statistical analysis and she got Katie Taylor to try it out which I guess always helps.
I talked to Aoife beside me during that, wondering why Brap girl was getting so many judges. It was a nice bonding experience, I guess, seeing our disbelief grow together as the girl was just ringed by judges. MOR came a while after 1, when the judging period ended, and told me to go for lunch. I waited, though. Maybe waiting for Kay, though that might have been Thursday, I can't remember (I don't think Young Scientist days are like normal days; Thursday feels like weeks ago).
Anyway, I felt obligated to spend my daily €4 food voucher even though the food hall was awful (smelly, crowded, loud, generally unpleasant), but I could only order off the Healthy Options menu and everything there was way overpriced ("Infused Water: €3.05") except the crisps, so I just got four packets of crisps. Gaming the system, guys. Buying so much of the Healthy Option that it becomes unhealthy? Right?
Cahal was there, so I gave him, Luke and Jude (who'd come up with Mam and Moya) a packet each. So I ate barely anything, but at least I wasn't being unhealthy, I probably won't get Type 2 Diabetes ... (rationalization, I know). It was really nice to see Cahal and we had a great catch up, we do get on and talk extremely well, so that was fun. We reminisced about the relationship a bit too, though he did go a bit far in saying ours was still, in his opinion, the "model" relationship (you don't really say that to your ex) but yeah, it was definitely a very enjoyable relationship. Ended around 11 months ago, but great fun. He went on about his college debating, which he's become obsessed with (the Hist and the Phil, he's in, as well as the Trinity Players I think).
Moya was there and kept suspiciously disappearing with Kay, I wonder why. More on that later.
I didn't have any judging so I was theoretically free to wander from 2 to 5.30 but I talked to Cahal for most of that and waited for Ciarán and Seán, who ended up cancelling. Then we had to join an enormous queue to get into the BT Arena for the Awards. I couldn't believe the time for the Awards had come so fast. They didn't even spend that long rousing cheers before reading out the awards.
They started with the Special Awards. I thought if I got one it might be HPRA for medical devices because, well, duh, but nope. However, I did get called up to the stage for a prize from Intellectual Ventures. I was sitting in the very middle of a high-up row to the left of the stage so I had to get past everyone, oops, with the camera following me. Apparently I looked very shocked. I thought, OK, that's nice, I'll get a trophy/glass plaque so I was happy going up. Then while I was shaking the man (representative)'s hand, he whispered "There's another part of the prize - you're coming to visit our labs in Seattle." So then I was way shocked, and apparently since the camera was zoomed up on my face you could just see my expression change - mouth drop open, eyes widen. It was so awesome, and when I returned to my seat I was delighted. I was still listening though, to see if my fellow Greenhills students won any special/category awards, or if I won another, or if one of my friends did.
They went through all the other special awards and Claire Gregg won the Best Female award from Google, yay! Claire is Aoife from CTYI's sister, that whole family is really cool. Her Dad had come to my stand earlier in the day after Niamh showed him the way and yeah, they're all awesome.
Mark who had the "Injury Increasing Crop Yields" project who I was talking to on the Wednesday/Thursday got a special prize too, which was cool. I think it was the SFI one but it could've been for renewable stuff either. Something environmental. He's really nice and he'd been working on it for 18 months. Can't really remember the other Special Awards, I'm sure they're online and in the paper.
Then they did the Category Awards, of which there were 72. It took forever. 3 each in Junior, Intermediate and Senior in Group and Individual in Bio/Eco, Tech, Chem/Phys/Maths and Social/Behavioural. After the category change all the Greenhills projects were in Chem/Phys/Maths so we were paying attention to that one. I was listening out for Niamh's because I thought she'd get 2nd, but she didn't get anything. The Collatz conjecture project got something, but I hadn't even known that was in her category. Claire got first in category though! Then it got to Intermediate Group Chem/Phys/Maths (henceforth CPM) and I was hoping but Neasa and Órla didn't get anything. That was more understandable though, because there were 40 projects in their category. There are so many TYs there.
Then it got to Senior Individual, the category I'd newly been moved into. I think there were 3 Synge Street projects in my category, which was awful because they always wipe the floor with everyone. In a category beside mine they took everything, literally 1st 2nd and 3rd. My name was called for 3rd.
3rd in category.
I couldn't believe it. You could see my face in the close-up camera, probably, but I was upset. Everyone had assumed I'd win some big prize. I'd been careful not to assume anything, but still. I know if I won 3rd in category I couldn't win anything bigger later on, and it felt like such a waste of time and effort for that. I know 80% of projects got nothing, but - yeah, it's hard to explain. Not really, but I'm tired so shut up. I was obviously thrilled about Seattle, but I was devastated that I'd specifically been moved into this category and then was beaten for 1st and 2nd by two Synge Street projects with almost identical boards.
Ah yes, I've put my finger onto (part of) the reason why I'm so annoyed. On Thursday morning, when the head Bio judge moved my project, he said it's such a strong project, moving's in my best interests, they'll be sad to lose me etc. So I was pretty happy, thinking that was a good sign. The head judge seemed to really like the project. Other judges seemed to think it was good, I guess, though they were hard to read. John Monahan, the first winner, came by on the Friday morning as I said and, well, I told you what he said.
Yeah, nope.
So I felt very misled, I guess. I also lost my main judge after the category change and to my knowledge never got another one to argue for me, plus one of my other judges was for Special Awards, so I really only had one. They were great people, like, all qualified in their own areas, but they didn't stick.
Blah, blah, get over it. But I was upset.
I'm sure you know the overall winners. Brap girl got Overall Biology, Radon in Mallow group got overall CMP (think they're Kinsale), the communication aid got overall Tech (the guy there is nice) and I think Cyber Contagion: the science behind the ice bucket challenge got overall Social. It's funny seeing the discrepancy between the Intel (CMP) and RTÉ (Social) prizes; Intel people go to ISEF in America, whereas RTÉ winners tour RTÉ studios. Best Individual was that guy with Smartphone PC, Best Group I can't remember, Runner-Up Individual no idea either, but the winners of the BTYS 2015 were a girl and a boy from a school that hadn't won before I think, with a Social project on alcohol and whether parental alcohol consumption influences that of their children (I wonder). Definitely wasn't expecting a Social to win, though I'm sure they're nice. I guess a Social had to win eventually.
It was very weird this year.
We got back and Niamh had no Highly Commended although the TYs had a Display Award which was nice. MOR said she was disappointed and then we went out for the traditional meal in the Bewleys restaurant.
Do you ever get that feeling after a big disappointment, or when something goes wrong? Where you're sure there's been a mistake so you wait there, like I stayed in the hall until they forced us out. Or you think it's a dream, or that you shouldn't have woken up this morning so you can repeat the day because this isn't how it's supposed to go.
Narrative justice is what I'm thinking of, I guess. The lack of it. Maybe just my immaturity, whatever.
On the walk to Bewleys and while we waited MOR talked to the phone and broke the news to people. She said Niamh's project was weak and that mine didn't do as well as Anna's to our faces, which did Not Help. The food was nice, and I appreciate the gesture; I got pasta and icecream with sorbet for dessert.
But I cried (silently - my crying is almost always silent, it looks kinda funny because there are just these tears rolling down my cheeks and you can't hear it) during that dinner. I was very, very upset.
On the bright side, and it is lovely, we had a great time from then on rushing for a taxi/train and messing with each other. Me and Órla did this thing where we made up stupid Social projects about whatever with the worst possible experimental designs, e.g. "Do taxi drivers in Dublin at night mind when Young Scientist students spill ice cream on their car?" Sample size n=3. For further work we would like to investigate whether hotel people mind ice cream on their carpets. We will use our research to compile a leaflet to hand around to help solve the problem.
Also, Anna rang and really cheered me up talking about Seattle. I so appreciate how sensible and sound she is, it's fab.
I don't know. It was really nice. We got the train back and Niamh's mam dropped me to Dad's.
I tried to talk to him about the prize but he was just like "blah blah go to bed we're up late blah"
(yes yes obnoxious teenager, shut up I'm tired)
When I got in Moya said she was pissed at Kay because she thought he liked her for her but then he asked for the shift and said they could be "less strings attached". So I texted him telling him he was in deep sh--. Why am I censoring now? People reading this is bad anyway. It was quite entertaining. I mean, it was insulting that he immediately moved from me to my sister when she arrived, but I appreciate things like that because of the literary value. He guilt-tripped for a while before going to bed (well, I missed his last messages because I went to sleep), and I knew I could see him the next day.
So, I'll try to do it in chronological order. But it'll be hard, since the end of the day was so heavily weighted. Anyway.
I got to the train station at like 7.50 and we went up. I'd sat there on Thursday just waiting for more judges, because MOR kept going on about Anna having had more judges on the Thursday evening. But no more appeared, even though I stayed there until the exhibition closed for the day. So on the train I was shitting it, expecting to get shedloads of judges on the Friday like Anna did.
I got zero.
Well, I got a Judge, the first winner of the Young Scientist, but he was off-duty. He came and asked for a five-minute chat about the project, but ended up staying much longer. He seemed really interested and afterwards went on and on like "It's a phenomenal piece of work" "You're a dyed-in-the-wool researcher" "You have that extra 5% that's hard to quantify, and I wouldn't say that to most of the others here" "You're going to do very well". He was really nice, but you could forgive me for taking that as a good sign.
So I was very encouraged, and didn't die of worry while waiting for other judges who never came. I still didn't move off my stand for lunch until long after the final judging period was over though, rationalizing. It didn't help that the girl two stands over from me was constantly surrounded by judges, often groups of them. Her project was a handwrap for boxers. It didn't seem that innovative, but it was really well done, great statistical analysis and she got Katie Taylor to try it out which I guess always helps.
I talked to Aoife beside me during that, wondering why Brap girl was getting so many judges. It was a nice bonding experience, I guess, seeing our disbelief grow together as the girl was just ringed by judges. MOR came a while after 1, when the judging period ended, and told me to go for lunch. I waited, though. Maybe waiting for Kay, though that might have been Thursday, I can't remember (I don't think Young Scientist days are like normal days; Thursday feels like weeks ago).
Anyway, I felt obligated to spend my daily €4 food voucher even though the food hall was awful (smelly, crowded, loud, generally unpleasant), but I could only order off the Healthy Options menu and everything there was way overpriced ("Infused Water: €3.05") except the crisps, so I just got four packets of crisps. Gaming the system, guys. Buying so much of the Healthy Option that it becomes unhealthy? Right?
Cahal was there, so I gave him, Luke and Jude (who'd come up with Mam and Moya) a packet each. So I ate barely anything, but at least I wasn't being unhealthy, I probably won't get Type 2 Diabetes ... (rationalization, I know). It was really nice to see Cahal and we had a great catch up, we do get on and talk extremely well, so that was fun. We reminisced about the relationship a bit too, though he did go a bit far in saying ours was still, in his opinion, the "model" relationship (you don't really say that to your ex) but yeah, it was definitely a very enjoyable relationship. Ended around 11 months ago, but great fun. He went on about his college debating, which he's become obsessed with (the Hist and the Phil, he's in, as well as the Trinity Players I think).
Moya was there and kept suspiciously disappearing with Kay, I wonder why. More on that later.
I didn't have any judging so I was theoretically free to wander from 2 to 5.30 but I talked to Cahal for most of that and waited for Ciarán and Seán, who ended up cancelling. Then we had to join an enormous queue to get into the BT Arena for the Awards. I couldn't believe the time for the Awards had come so fast. They didn't even spend that long rousing cheers before reading out the awards.
They started with the Special Awards. I thought if I got one it might be HPRA for medical devices because, well, duh, but nope. However, I did get called up to the stage for a prize from Intellectual Ventures. I was sitting in the very middle of a high-up row to the left of the stage so I had to get past everyone, oops, with the camera following me. Apparently I looked very shocked. I thought, OK, that's nice, I'll get a trophy/glass plaque so I was happy going up. Then while I was shaking the man (representative)'s hand, he whispered "There's another part of the prize - you're coming to visit our labs in Seattle." So then I was way shocked, and apparently since the camera was zoomed up on my face you could just see my expression change - mouth drop open, eyes widen. It was so awesome, and when I returned to my seat I was delighted. I was still listening though, to see if my fellow Greenhills students won any special/category awards, or if I won another, or if one of my friends did.
They went through all the other special awards and Claire Gregg won the Best Female award from Google, yay! Claire is Aoife from CTYI's sister, that whole family is really cool. Her Dad had come to my stand earlier in the day after Niamh showed him the way and yeah, they're all awesome.
Mark who had the "Injury Increasing Crop Yields" project who I was talking to on the Wednesday/Thursday got a special prize too, which was cool. I think it was the SFI one but it could've been for renewable stuff either. Something environmental. He's really nice and he'd been working on it for 18 months. Can't really remember the other Special Awards, I'm sure they're online and in the paper.
Then they did the Category Awards, of which there were 72. It took forever. 3 each in Junior, Intermediate and Senior in Group and Individual in Bio/Eco, Tech, Chem/Phys/Maths and Social/Behavioural. After the category change all the Greenhills projects were in Chem/Phys/Maths so we were paying attention to that one. I was listening out for Niamh's because I thought she'd get 2nd, but she didn't get anything. The Collatz conjecture project got something, but I hadn't even known that was in her category. Claire got first in category though! Then it got to Intermediate Group Chem/Phys/Maths (henceforth CPM) and I was hoping but Neasa and Órla didn't get anything. That was more understandable though, because there were 40 projects in their category. There are so many TYs there.
Then it got to Senior Individual, the category I'd newly been moved into. I think there were 3 Synge Street projects in my category, which was awful because they always wipe the floor with everyone. In a category beside mine they took everything, literally 1st 2nd and 3rd. My name was called for 3rd.
3rd in category.
I couldn't believe it. You could see my face in the close-up camera, probably, but I was upset. Everyone had assumed I'd win some big prize. I'd been careful not to assume anything, but still. I know if I won 3rd in category I couldn't win anything bigger later on, and it felt like such a waste of time and effort for that. I know 80% of projects got nothing, but - yeah, it's hard to explain. Not really, but I'm tired so shut up. I was obviously thrilled about Seattle, but I was devastated that I'd specifically been moved into this category and then was beaten for 1st and 2nd by two Synge Street projects with almost identical boards.
Ah yes, I've put my finger onto (part of) the reason why I'm so annoyed. On Thursday morning, when the head Bio judge moved my project, he said it's such a strong project, moving's in my best interests, they'll be sad to lose me etc. So I was pretty happy, thinking that was a good sign. The head judge seemed to really like the project. Other judges seemed to think it was good, I guess, though they were hard to read. John Monahan, the first winner, came by on the Friday morning as I said and, well, I told you what he said.
Yeah, nope.
So I felt very misled, I guess. I also lost my main judge after the category change and to my knowledge never got another one to argue for me, plus one of my other judges was for Special Awards, so I really only had one. They were great people, like, all qualified in their own areas, but they didn't stick.
Blah, blah, get over it. But I was upset.
I'm sure you know the overall winners. Brap girl got Overall Biology, Radon in Mallow group got overall CMP (think they're Kinsale), the communication aid got overall Tech (the guy there is nice) and I think Cyber Contagion: the science behind the ice bucket challenge got overall Social. It's funny seeing the discrepancy between the Intel (CMP) and RTÉ (Social) prizes; Intel people go to ISEF in America, whereas RTÉ winners tour RTÉ studios. Best Individual was that guy with Smartphone PC, Best Group I can't remember, Runner-Up Individual no idea either, but the winners of the BTYS 2015 were a girl and a boy from a school that hadn't won before I think, with a Social project on alcohol and whether parental alcohol consumption influences that of their children (I wonder). Definitely wasn't expecting a Social to win, though I'm sure they're nice. I guess a Social had to win eventually.
It was very weird this year.
We got back and Niamh had no Highly Commended although the TYs had a Display Award which was nice. MOR said she was disappointed and then we went out for the traditional meal in the Bewleys restaurant.
Do you ever get that feeling after a big disappointment, or when something goes wrong? Where you're sure there's been a mistake so you wait there, like I stayed in the hall until they forced us out. Or you think it's a dream, or that you shouldn't have woken up this morning so you can repeat the day because this isn't how it's supposed to go.
Narrative justice is what I'm thinking of, I guess. The lack of it. Maybe just my immaturity, whatever.
On the walk to Bewleys and while we waited MOR talked to the phone and broke the news to people. She said Niamh's project was weak and that mine didn't do as well as Anna's to our faces, which did Not Help. The food was nice, and I appreciate the gesture; I got pasta and icecream with sorbet for dessert.
But I cried (silently - my crying is almost always silent, it looks kinda funny because there are just these tears rolling down my cheeks and you can't hear it) during that dinner. I was very, very upset.
On the bright side, and it is lovely, we had a great time from then on rushing for a taxi/train and messing with each other. Me and Órla did this thing where we made up stupid Social projects about whatever with the worst possible experimental designs, e.g. "Do taxi drivers in Dublin at night mind when Young Scientist students spill ice cream on their car?" Sample size n=3. For further work we would like to investigate whether hotel people mind ice cream on their carpets. We will use our research to compile a leaflet to hand around to help solve the problem.
Also, Anna rang and really cheered me up talking about Seattle. I so appreciate how sensible and sound she is, it's fab.
I don't know. It was really nice. We got the train back and Niamh's mam dropped me to Dad's.
I tried to talk to him about the prize but he was just like "blah blah go to bed we're up late blah"
(yes yes obnoxious teenager, shut up I'm tired)
When I got in Moya said she was pissed at Kay because she thought he liked her for her but then he asked for the shift and said they could be "less strings attached". So I texted him telling him he was in deep sh--. Why am I censoring now? People reading this is bad anyway. It was quite entertaining. I mean, it was insulting that he immediately moved from me to my sister when she arrived, but I appreciate things like that because of the literary value. He guilt-tripped for a while before going to bed (well, I missed his last messages because I went to sleep), and I knew I could see him the next day.
Friday, 9 January 2015
Photo Friday #2: the Choir at Croke Park
Photo Friday is a weekly event I'm starting where I find a photo that means something to me and write about it. This week's photo is from my school choir's performance at Croke Park.
From left to right: me, Kate, Grainne, Ellen.
We took this photo while we were waiting backstage for our performance (and oh god was there a lot of waiting). We got breaks in between rehearsal rounds, and what else was there to do but take selfies?
The road to Croke Park was pretty awesome. When I was in 2nd Year, the choir won an All-Ireland Choir Competition sponsored by Waltons (which I've mentioned before in my ukulele post). Stuff happened, can't remember, but we practised a lot and enrolled in an event there to break the world record for most simultaneous carols. We were the only choir actually allowed up onto the Croke Park stage, which was nice, although we didn't break the record and the sound setup was awful.
It was freezing, but definitely a choir highlight, and man choir has been good to me.
Thursday, 8 January 2015
BTYS: Day Two
It's 21.11.
I was at the RDS today from 9 until 5.30. When I arrived, the head judge for the Biology section was at my stand. He asked if I was 4305 and I said yes, so he said that they'd had a chemist review the project overnight and they'd decided to move it to a different section - from Biology to Chemistry/Physics/Maths (I hate how broad that category is). He said good things about the project too, which was reassuring, but I was very comfortable in my old category as there were only seven of us there. At least I didn't have to physically move or change my number, I was just to be judged in Chemistry from then on.
On the negative side, I'm now in a much more difficult category, competing with all the Synge Street Ramuna-whatever maths projects and some chemistry ones as well. I understood all the Biology ones in my category, whereas I don't about the new section. So that's a bummer. But that's the Intel category which is fun. All three of my school's projects are now in the Maths/Chem/Phys section.
There was a notice on my desk saying I'd have an "Invited Visitor" at 11 a.m. Those are usually politicians/VIPs. I had one last year who came up to me, said "Could you just point up at your board and pretend you're explaining this to me?", took a photo, had his assistant give me contact numbers, and left. The senators from your county always come found your project and look interested. Mary Moran was nice enough, but the way they generally operate (the senators at the YS) seems a bit fake.
Anyway, the VIP was supposed to be Minister Gerald Nash, but he didn't turn up so I was just there waiting at my stand for ages. Then I went to look at some other projects and when I got back my sister Moya (who'd been minding my stand) said I'd missed a judge. I freaked out a bit but she said he'd be back in around 10 minutes, so I waited. My judge was male this time, my first judge since being moved to Chemistry. I'm not sure if he's my main judge ... this morning seems like weeks ago, I can't even remember the interview with them. It was half an hour long again, I think, and my talking about the project went well although I remember there was one question he asked that I couldn't answer satisfactorily and it's bugging me because I know it, it's easy and I could say it now, I just couldn't articulate it under pressure (the answer is: the insulator). The judges in the senior category have really made me think on my feet and haven't asked me simple fact questions. It's a lot of extrapolation.
I was extremely nervous between judges, because I've worked so hard on this I guess. Earlyish a photographer came to take photos of me (duh) for SiliconRepublic, the one the journalist talked to me about yesterday. I wonder when/if that'll go up.
I waited for an hour for Gerald (first name, yes) then waited for Kay to finish his judging and went for lunch. I didn't want to waste my daily €4 voucher so I bought four packets of crisps and shared them out with Cahal and the boys. I had another judge, Eoin Mac Neill (O' Neill?) I think. Found out later he's not actually a Category judge, he's a Special Awards one.
Oh, and once Moya arrived Kay immediately starting flirting with her.
Probably other stuff, but I'm writing the last paragraph of this on Saturday on the train home and I can't really remember.
I was at the RDS today from 9 until 5.30. When I arrived, the head judge for the Biology section was at my stand. He asked if I was 4305 and I said yes, so he said that they'd had a chemist review the project overnight and they'd decided to move it to a different section - from Biology to Chemistry/Physics/Maths (I hate how broad that category is). He said good things about the project too, which was reassuring, but I was very comfortable in my old category as there were only seven of us there. At least I didn't have to physically move or change my number, I was just to be judged in Chemistry from then on.
On the negative side, I'm now in a much more difficult category, competing with all the Synge Street Ramuna-whatever maths projects and some chemistry ones as well. I understood all the Biology ones in my category, whereas I don't about the new section. So that's a bummer. But that's the Intel category which is fun. All three of my school's projects are now in the Maths/Chem/Phys section.
There was a notice on my desk saying I'd have an "Invited Visitor" at 11 a.m. Those are usually politicians/VIPs. I had one last year who came up to me, said "Could you just point up at your board and pretend you're explaining this to me?", took a photo, had his assistant give me contact numbers, and left. The senators from your county always come found your project and look interested. Mary Moran was nice enough, but the way they generally operate (the senators at the YS) seems a bit fake.
Anyway, the VIP was supposed to be Minister Gerald Nash, but he didn't turn up so I was just there waiting at my stand for ages. Then I went to look at some other projects and when I got back my sister Moya (who'd been minding my stand) said I'd missed a judge. I freaked out a bit but she said he'd be back in around 10 minutes, so I waited. My judge was male this time, my first judge since being moved to Chemistry. I'm not sure if he's my main judge ... this morning seems like weeks ago, I can't even remember the interview with them. It was half an hour long again, I think, and my talking about the project went well although I remember there was one question he asked that I couldn't answer satisfactorily and it's bugging me because I know it, it's easy and I could say it now, I just couldn't articulate it under pressure (the answer is: the insulator). The judges in the senior category have really made me think on my feet and haven't asked me simple fact questions. It's a lot of extrapolation.
I was extremely nervous between judges, because I've worked so hard on this I guess. Earlyish a photographer came to take photos of me (duh) for SiliconRepublic, the one the journalist talked to me about yesterday. I wonder when/if that'll go up.
I waited for an hour for Gerald (first name, yes) then waited for Kay to finish his judging and went for lunch. I didn't want to waste my daily €4 voucher so I bought four packets of crisps and shared them out with Cahal and the boys. I had another judge, Eoin Mac Neill (O' Neill?) I think. Found out later he's not actually a Category judge, he's a Special Awards one.
Oh, and once Moya arrived Kay immediately starting flirting with her.
Probably other stuff, but I'm writing the last paragraph of this on Saturday on the train home and I can't really remember.
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
BTYS: Day 1
I really can't write much because I'm exhausted, but today was the first day of the BTYS Exhibition. I was super nervous We got a minibus up and I was only at my stand a few minutes before being interviewed for SiliconRepublic. Then had opening ceremony, music too loud.
Was judged at 4.40. It lasted half an hour. I talked well, but the questions were tough and I couldn't read the judge. She was nice although I'd been hoping for a materials scientist. She did stay ages and ask about clinical use which was hopefully a good sign.
I met some cool people including Celine, Mark and Kay.
Just want a dated record of this. More tomorrow.
Was judged at 4.40. It lasted half an hour. I talked well, but the questions were tough and I couldn't read the judge. She was nice although I'd been hoping for a materials scientist. She did stay ages and ask about clinical use which was hopefully a good sign.
I met some cool people including Celine, Mark and Kay.
Just want a dated record of this. More tomorrow.
Friday, 2 January 2015
Photo Friday #1: JC Results Night
Photo Friday is a weekly event I'm starting where I find a photo that means a lot to me and write about it. This week's photo is from Junior Cert Results Night 2013.
In the picture are Niamh, Kate, Courtney, Ellen, me (far right) and Chloe in front.
I was in TY, and in the morning the school brought us out for a talk on entrepreneurship to keep our minds off the results. It was pretty fun and I met some people, but when we returned to school the tension just mounted all day. At 3.10, I think, my whole year was called out to the gym and we had to get into lines in our classes.
I was terrified. I thought I could probably manage 7 As, but my Dad had promised me €100 if I got 8 As, which I thought I couldn't possibly get. By that point it wasn't even about the money, it was just about this pressure I built up for myself. But anyway, I got 8 As, it was all good, Mam collected me and dropped me to Chloe's house so we could get ready for the disco!
To be honest, I didn't want to go to a disco to celebrate Results night, but it was where all my friends were going so I had to. And when Chloe invited me to her house to get ready I was chuffed (what a word), so that was good. We got ready in Chloe's bedroom, curled/straightened each other's hair, talked about outfits (blah blah stereotypes) and just chatted about whatever. There was also some drink, but I didn't have any.
Here's another picture from the same night.
It was just really nice, full of camaraderie and friendship. Everyone pretty much forgot about their results by the time we got to the disco.
Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.
Everyone was drunk. One girl from my class was off her face and careened into me, saying "I don't know why everyone hates you so much, Elle, you're actually quite nice." So hearing that everyone hates me was fun. I was also carrying a can of Diet Coke and almost everyone assumed I was hiding alcohol in it, even at my insistence that it was just Coke. They made me empty it out before going in the door. I understand why, but it still annoys me that that was necessary.
I didn't enjoy the disco. The music was really shite and too loud and I kept getting separated from my friends, so I just went into the Smoking Room where, you guessed it, everyone was smoking (cigarettes or weed). So many people asked me for a fag and I was just like "Do I look like I smoke?" I know I seem really judgmental right now but it was very annoying. Another girl repeatedly offered me weed and I was like "Nah" until someone else stepped in. Peer pressure really isn't that difficult to resist when it's a peer you don't like, and thankfully my actual friends don't force me into anything.
So many boys asked me for the shift. I told them no, I have a boyfriend (true), but they persisted. A lot of them didn't believe me, they were like "Well where is he then? Why isn't he here?". Because he's in sixth year, you idiots. I wouldn't have shifted them anyway but it was a convenient excuse. Seriously, they were so gross.
I went home around midnight in my brothers' babysitter's car. It was meh. We had school the next morning so I was glad I didn't drink.
The reason I like this photo is because of memories of being in Chloe's house and the friendship there, so it doesn't really matter that the rest of the night didn't live up to standard.
In the picture are Niamh, Kate, Courtney, Ellen, me (far right) and Chloe in front.
I was in TY, and in the morning the school brought us out for a talk on entrepreneurship to keep our minds off the results. It was pretty fun and I met some people, but when we returned to school the tension just mounted all day. At 3.10, I think, my whole year was called out to the gym and we had to get into lines in our classes.
I was terrified. I thought I could probably manage 7 As, but my Dad had promised me €100 if I got 8 As, which I thought I couldn't possibly get. By that point it wasn't even about the money, it was just about this pressure I built up for myself. But anyway, I got 8 As, it was all good, Mam collected me and dropped me to Chloe's house so we could get ready for the disco!
To be honest, I didn't want to go to a disco to celebrate Results night, but it was where all my friends were going so I had to. And when Chloe invited me to her house to get ready I was chuffed (what a word), so that was good. We got ready in Chloe's bedroom, curled/straightened each other's hair, talked about outfits (blah blah stereotypes) and just chatted about whatever. There was also some drink, but I didn't have any.
Here's another picture from the same night.
It was just really nice, full of camaraderie and friendship. Everyone pretty much forgot about their results by the time we got to the disco.
Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.
Everyone was drunk. One girl from my class was off her face and careened into me, saying "I don't know why everyone hates you so much, Elle, you're actually quite nice." So hearing that everyone hates me was fun. I was also carrying a can of Diet Coke and almost everyone assumed I was hiding alcohol in it, even at my insistence that it was just Coke. They made me empty it out before going in the door. I understand why, but it still annoys me that that was necessary.
I didn't enjoy the disco. The music was really shite and too loud and I kept getting separated from my friends, so I just went into the Smoking Room where, you guessed it, everyone was smoking (cigarettes or weed). So many people asked me for a fag and I was just like "Do I look like I smoke?" I know I seem really judgmental right now but it was very annoying. Another girl repeatedly offered me weed and I was like "Nah" until someone else stepped in. Peer pressure really isn't that difficult to resist when it's a peer you don't like, and thankfully my actual friends don't force me into anything.
So many boys asked me for the shift. I told them no, I have a boyfriend (true), but they persisted. A lot of them didn't believe me, they were like "Well where is he then? Why isn't he here?". Because he's in sixth year, you idiots. I wouldn't have shifted them anyway but it was a convenient excuse. Seriously, they were so gross.
I went home around midnight in my brothers' babysitter's car. It was meh. We had school the next morning so I was glad I didn't drink.
The reason I like this photo is because of memories of being in Chloe's house and the friendship there, so it doesn't really matter that the rest of the night didn't live up to standard.
Thursday, 1 January 2015
New Year's Day 2015: Town with Ciarán and Seán
It's 21.47 on the first day of the year, and I've had a good day.
It was pretty tense, I'll admit, because of some dodgy parental permission stuff. But Dad dropped me to the train station at 9.30, my train left at 9.45 and off I went.
I got to Dublin around 10.47 and went past the ticket barrier, downstairs, and waited. I was supposed to meet the boys at 11, but that time passed, and then half an hour did, and by the time an hour had passed I was seething. I was sure they had stood me up, and I was cursing my stupidity for getting myself in trouble for people who weren't even going to turn up.
And then they arrived.
I had rehearsed a speech by that point (it started with "And what time do you call this? I've been waiting for an hour.") but to be honest I was so shocked to see them I just kinda mumbled it. They explained that Seán had slept in (Ciarán insisted he was up on time but had to wait for Seán), and apart from flailing at Seán a bit I went with it.
Apparently when they saw me sitting down against the wall reading (The Dying of the Light), they thought I was homeless. Oops.
Ciarán's hair is now long and magnificent, like a lion.
So we started walking. We followed Seán, I guess because he's the most authoritative/sensible one (he's also the oldest), and as almost all the shops were closed because it's New Year's Day, there wasn't much to do. I sent Ciarán to get me a Fanta because I was thirsty (don't worry, I paid for it). We went to Dealz, where Seán told us to support his work (he makes sandwiches). I had a pink scarf that I kept looping over Ciarán, and then when I went into a bookshop Ciarán started choking me with it.
Which was interesting.
It's a bit of a blur where we went next, but we definitely had a lot of banter and it was great fun. We went to Subway (I got nachos with cheese, not great) and went up to the top floor where there are cosy semi-private armchairs. While relaxing and eating Ciarán played Pokémon on his DS (3DS? I don't know), Seán played on his PS Vita (Persona, I think) and I finished reading The Dying of the Light. I audibly gasped/cried as I read it (my review of it may be quite disjointed, I fear, but then so was the book itself), and Seán lived in fear of me spoiling the book (I didn't too much. I did tell him about one stupid Darquesse-related dream sequence that was just too stupid to be true). I'm unhappy with the ending of the series, but that's for another blog post. (Speaking of which, I've just had an epiphany about why the Danny chapters were in present tense.)
We went to CeX, a used tech store, where Ciarán and Seán informed me that Nintendo is actually a brand name and that me saying "my Nintendo" is stupid. I have been living a lie. We also saw a secondhand Google Glass set, which was weird because according to Ciarán they're still in beta testing. George's St. Arcade was closed, I think.
Seán is excellent at navigating around Dublin, which makes sense because he lives there. We then went to Gino's so Ciarán could get a waffle with ice cream and chocolate sauce or whatever in it, and while he was in the queue (which took FOREVER), Seán and I talked. Mainly about video games and pretentiousness. It was a really interesting conversation and Seán is witty and awesome. I like the way he thinks, even if he's lacking in the affection department.
We went to the Disney store and found a dress that, in all fairness, would probably fit me. It's a replica of Anna's from Frozen. Ciarán said I should wear it for his Debs. Unlikey. Also, we went to Penneys in the morning, which was unpleasant. They told some cool stories. And Ciarán gave me a piggyback out, though I got down pretty fast because it looked embarrassing.
After Gino's we went to The Sweetest Thing. Seán ordered a milkshake with Terry's Chocolate Orange and was given two straws. I got a Cadbury's hot chocolate.When paying, the cashier asked him if we were going to pay together. So yep, because Ciarán was sitting outside and the two of us were standing together, she thought we were on a date. Seán said it's not even the first time it's happened to him in that shop; he was in there with his friend Kevin before and it happened. Shipping there is non-discriminatory, it seems.
We went back out and rejoined Ciarán, who attached my lid and straw professionally as he is "trained to do this" from working in McDonald's. In fairness, it was very well done. Then I didn't think and sucked up some hot chocolate. Because of the pressure in the straw I had to drink it even though it was scalding hot, and I ended up spitting it all over the street. Oh God. Reminder: hot chocolate is hot.
I got a demibaguette for 37c in some shop (great bargain). Then we thought Stephen's Green might be closed and needed somewhere to sit so we went to McDonald's (even though Ciarán appears traumatised by that place). I bought an Apple Pie for €1 to gain us entry and then we just relaxed there for ages.
Seán talked about some game maker who is apparently shitty (David someone), then they pretended I was a Pokémon (I think I was like Charimander and then a fox thing. Please don't kill me, Pokémon fans). Ciarán taught me about Dungeons & Dragons and Seán talked about Persona a bit. It was lovely. I leaned against Ciarán in that particular way and maybe held hands shh. Seán "went to the bathroom" after that, which was unnecessary.
We left around twenty to seven and walked to Pearse, where they sat with me for about three minutes before I had to go. Ciarán picked me up and spun me around by way of a hug, and Seán's hug was lovely too.
In conclusion, it was a really great way to spend my one day off from Young Scientist and I really need to see those guys more often.
I then went home and got grounded for three months.
Worth it.
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