Archive for April, 2008
posted by Mark posted on 25th, 2008 at 07:09 pm
Lately I’ve been mentioning that this site might have been getting a little exposure over the next while.
Fortunately, that came to pass last Tuesday.
A journalist from the Irish Times (Ireland’s best paper, none of that tabloid rubbish!) contacted me around the start of April, and got me to review a couple of Leaving Cert websites. It was this very website that enabled her to find and contact me.
Last Tuesday, April 22nd, my work appeared in the paper along with some pieces from Aaron Donohoe, or Madringo as some may know him, and the crew at Leaving-Cert. Congrats to them too 
It was nice seeing my name in print in that paper, along with a mention of this blog. That small link to this site even got me a few extra hits that day, so I was definitely happy to have done it (The link given was actually Walsho.com, but thankfully I had that domain already, and made it redirect to here, Walsho.net). I was also happy to give theleavingcert.com a mention in it, as that’s owned by Smemon, an online friend of mine. You’re welcome man! 
So, a thanks to Gráinne Faller from the Irish Times for giving me the chance to help out, and also my English teacher, who was delighted with the appearance and even made an announcement to the class about it!
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posted by Mark posted on 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 am
Was flicking through the newspaper the other day and had a startling observation.
As we all know, Brian Cowen is going to be the new Taoiseach of Ireland, after Bertie’s resignation. While Brian seems great for the job and all, we should really be asking ourselves - Do we really want one of the world’s most unphotogenic men as our leader?
As I flicked through the paper I noticed that sadly the camera doesn’t do Mr. Cowen any favours. (I apologise for the low quality of some of the photos!)
Firstly, what’s supposed to be a display of affection with his wife, well it just doesn’t turn out too well, and gives the impression Brian’s been eating a little too much garlic before his press conference.
Next we have Brian’s suberb imitation of his goldfish.
And what have we here? Our new Taoiseach’s feeling saucy! Check out Brian’s seductive lip licking.
Oh Brian, just ravish me!
And as for these final ones, I just don’t know what to say. A picture speaks a thousand words, enjoy!
Has anyone else noticed how in general the daughters of famous people are nearly always rather attractive? I asssure any fellow adolescent males reading this that Mr. Cowen’s daughter is no exception. I shan’t post a picture of her however, as that’d just be too weird. You’ll usually catch a glimpse of her in the papers next to her father anyway. (Sinead Cowen : Call me!)
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posted by Mark posted on 19th, 2008 at 06:45 pm
Been a while since I’ve posted on here.
After the success of my French oral last week, I had my Irish one to worry about on Monday. It wasn’t quite as good as the French one, but it went fine really, the examiner was a little awkward though.
Today I was in Trinity College for a maths revision course (as I was last Saturday also). Pretty tiring, but it was pretty useful in the end, since we basically revised the entire higher level maths course over two weekends. And during lunch today I walked into the wrong shop (the one beside the shop I thought I was heading for), and for fear of looking like an idiot by walking back out immediately, I look around. Thankfully I was surrounded by dvd’s and cd’s, not some weird sex toys or something. Then I glance at the top shelf and see a Redneck Manifesto cd I’d been wanting for ages but hadn’t been able to locate. Second-hand. €10 . Fuck yes.
We also saw Dave McSavage around town, doing his little thing. While admittely I did laugh at some of the stuff he was at, I really just wanted him to shut the fuck up and get off the streets. You can tell his material is just the same stuff over and over, and he’s just irritating. I can’t quite explain it. It’s like he thinks he’s far funnier than he really is. When it comes down to it, there’s a reason why he’s selling his dvds out of a bag on the street rather than in shops. Personally I despise the whole “PC brigade” type of thing these days, but he was pretty insulting to some people, and usually I’d be pretty easy-going with that sort of thing. Moral of the story? Dave McSavage : Shut up man, you’re not that good.
On the website side of things, this blog finally reached 40 RSS subscribers. Finally! You bastards had me peaked at 39 for ages. The number tends to fluctuate, but had hit 40 a few times now, so I thank all my subscribers, and apologise for calling you bastards in the previous sentence.
Tune in on Tuesday when I’m hoping to get a decent post (or two) up here, hopefully to coincide with some exposure the site might be getting. More on that to come my friends!
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posted by Mark posted on 10th, 2008 at 03:46 pm
Today was the day I did my Leaving Cert french oral exam. I’ve always been fair decent with the french oral, and I think it went pretty well today. Hs asked me some of the harder topics which is considered a good sign. I was asked about the celtic tiger, obesity, social problems and technology and bebo.
I produced an answer for every question, so I was happy that I didn’t resort to the “Je ne sais pas” or “Ca ne m’intresse pas” type of answers to get yourself out of jail.
The orals are in my opinion, the worst type of exam you can do. They’re so difficult to study for and very nerve-wracking. I was sitting outside waiting to be called in for ages. Then the guy comes out and tells me he’s going to get a cup of coffee and will be back in a few minutes. At this stage you really just want to go in there and get it all over with. I’d also been over-dosing on Rescue Remedy (a dropper type thing that supposedly keeps you calm) to keep the nerves at bay. I’m not too panicky usually, but when I found that stuff in the house the night before, I thought I may as well bring it in.
When I was in there the nerves didn’t affect me very much at all, I knew I was getting on well, and the examiner was a nice guy that seemed all to willing to help if I had needed.
Also, there’s been some exciting news for me of late involving a national newspaper, but I’ll keep it all under wraps for now at the risk of looking like a fool if it doesn’t all go through.
Next week I have my Irish oral, just four days after the French, boo-urns to you State Examinations Commission. There was an incident in my school with the german orals actually. The german oral examiner for our school was in a car accident and the exams had to be postponed. The thoughtful Examinations Commission suggested doing the german orals the following week (the same week as the Irish orals). Thankfully my school had enough sense to say no and do them the week after. It’s times like this I’m grateful for being a dirty, smelly, arrogant French student rather than a hardened beer guzzling German student.
Good luck to any fellow leaving certers with the orals this week and next week. Remember, your examiner is just another teacher, they want to see you do well.
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posted by Mark posted on 2nd, 2008 at 02:36 pm
Only the Irish readers will care about this one, but if you haven’t heard already, Bertie Ahern announced today that he’ll be handing in his resignation as Taoiseach on 6th May. It’s a pretty interesting case really. Bertie’s been Taoiseach for nearly 11 years, and was liked by the public for seeming like a pretty down-to-earth kinda guy. He should be remembered for his work on the Peace Process with Northern Ireland and the “Celtic Tiger” economy that grew under his leadership. Lately there has been a tribunal though into some of his finances during his time in office, with some suspicious large sums of money under question.
With this tribunal going on I don’t think too many people would have been surprised to hear of his resignation.
Personally I liked Bertie Ahern. I’m not too into politics but he seemed decent enough, and I once met him him a local shopping centre when I was way younger (I’d say nine or ten years of age) and he was very polite, even to me, a young child at the time, despite the fact that he was surrounded by a ton of people trying to talk to him. I asked him “What’s it like being known everywhere you go?” I basically just wanted to ask him something for the sake of talking to the Taoiseach. He answered that it had some advantages and disadvantages, but then some middle-aged bitch interrupted with “I’m a teacher and I’m very upset” and I decided it was time to leave the man alone, I’d gotten my wee chat with him, I was happy.
Whether he took brown envelopes or not, I liked him, and he seemed to be doing a decent enough job. What’s so bad about brown envelopes anyway?
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posted by Mark posted on 1st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
As I write this post, I have been officially 18 years of age for the past eleven minutes. How wonderful.
Finally, I can attend clubs and pubs without having to borrow an ID off someone that looks like me. Finally I can go buy beer without having to worry about getting asked for ID and having to shamefully admit that I don’t have it, and then face the horrible walk of shame. My mate Warren always had the hilarious idea of heading into an off-licence on the day of your 18th birthday, wearing only a nappie (diaper), baseball cap, and holding a giant lollipop. And you can proudly produce that identification card that proves you can purchase alcohol despite you wearing the attire of a two year old.
Unfortunately, I’ll never again get to experience the thrill of getting served alcohol or getting into an over-18s club when technically you’re not supposed to. Perhaps that was even the best part?
Posts like this really show my Irish-ness don’t they?
For my birthday I’m getting mostly money, because quite simply, I need it! I’ve had to buy a new laptop though, as over the weekend I broke my old one. I’ll post about this in detail soon, I hope!
The laptop partly explains the lack of posting on here lately, but mainly it’s due to exams. I have Leaving Cert oral exams coming up on the 7th (French) and the 14th (Irish). Two orals exams in such close proximity is quite unfair in my opinion, as it’s so easy to mix up both languages. Today I had a practice French oral, which went quite swimmingly! My teacher was hard enough on me too, allowing me very little chance to talk about the basics or stuff I had learned off, but instead challenged me by asking about the economy and stuff like that. She was very pleased overall, so perhaps sacrificing my blogging time has paid off a little!
Because of the afore-mentioned exams, I wont be doing anything for my birthday. I’m not happy about this, but when it’s sacrificing two weekends for the sake of my Leaving Cert oral exams, I think it’s a wise decision. A nerdy decision, but a wise one.
June 16th is the day I finish my Leaving Cert folks, and I promise you walsho.net will be back with regular posting from then on!
In the meantime, feel free to get me to buy your under-age friends, relatives, or general acquaintances alcohol or cigarettes. Why? Because I can. And it makes me feel like a big man.
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