Finished the first of my Leaving Cert exams. English Paper One.
It was a fairly standard English paper one. The theme was “Identity”. I ended up answering questions on a piece about a potentially stolen/fake violin, writing a letter to Jon Savage (an author) about teenage culture, and writing an essay about a beautiful place. There’s not much thinking time, but overall I’d say I got on alright. The essay choices were fairly broad, I don’t think there’d be any complaints there. The “Question Bs” weren’t quite as handy, but they were manageable. Overall, not a bad start.
I was fairly impressed with the organisation and all that too, so it’s one of those rare occasions when I don’t find anything wrong with the situation.
English Paper Two tomorrow. Testing my knowledge of Shakespeare, Poetry, and my ability to compare three texts. A lot of studying to be done tonight, and a lot of quotes to be learned. We’ll see how it goes.
Any other Leaving Certers out there, let me know how you got on, I’m interested to see what you all thought.
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Posted on 4 June '08 by Mark, under Education. No Comments.
The Leaving Cert. Tomorrow.
It’s very strange, it’s finally here. And I’m probably not as prepared as I’d like to be, but then again, realistically, would I ever reach that stage?
No use worrying now, just gotta go in and do my best.
English Paper One is first up. Not an exam you have to do much studying for, it mainly tests your ability for English and creativity. I’m confident enough in my English ability, and am hoping I wont blank for the creative bit (which is difficult to prepare for, since there’s essay titles given at random). I usually use the essay to rant and be a bit cynical or satirical, and my current English teacher has always liked this, so I’m hoping it’ll all go well again. Often I think my essays could be taken very well or taken very badly, but fortunately I have yet to encounter the latter.
The weather had been so hot lately (a rare occurence), which is going to be a bitch when we’re sitting inside squirming and clasping our pens with sweaty hands while the whole world rejoices outside and basks in the sunshine.
I’m imagining being handed out the exam paper and looking out the window to see everyone dancing around, having water fights and frolicking. Old people throwing away their walking aids and chasing each other around like children. An ice-cream man has just won the lottery so drives around giving away free ice-cream to the masses. A blind man sees. A paraplegic leaps out of his wheelchair and does the Macarena. The tourbus for Girls Aloud breaks down and they go outside in skimpy clothes and join in the fun. Meanwhile, poor Mark and the other Leaving Certers are inside, writing furiously and dehydrated to the point of resembling a dried prune, with some vicious, bitter supervisor skulking around making us feel even more uneasy.
Remind me why I’m doing this again?
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Posted on 3 June '08 by Mark, under Education. 1 Comment.
The events of yesterday were surprising, to say the least. But here we go.
Long-time readers will remember the old forum I used to run, Pete Doherty Forum. A few days ago a member on there (Ruth) said she had a spare ticket for a Dirty Pretty Things gig. This band is fronted by Carl Barat, who formerly co-fronted The Libertines with Pete Doherty. While Pete is a hero of mine, I’m a huge fan of Carl and his new band too. So I messaged my phone number to the girl, in case she didn’t find anyone else for the ticket (I should be studying). Yesterday I get a text at around half six telling me the ticket is still there. Feck it, I’ll take that as a sign.
So I get a lift into town. We’re just reaching town when the girl texts me and tells me that they’re at a pub with the band. Knowing my luck I thought they’d be gone by the time I get there, but I’m actually in luck! I reach the pub and a good few people are outside having a few drinks, Carl Barat and the band included (Guinness drinkers they were too!). I found Ruth and her friend first, then went up to Carl and got a handshake and a photo. He was really lovely and obliging, though really is a mumbler when he talks, making it difficult to make out exact words. It’s quite endearing though! It was actually quite a big deal for me, I’d never before met someone famous that I was a fan of, and for Carl Barat to be the first one was just brilliant.
The gig was immense, brilliant setlist. At one point, the girls and I threw up a few of my business cards onto the stage. Carl picks one up and reads out “Thank you Walsh Enterprises”. Double whammy! Afterwards we bumped into a few people and got chatting and found out we knew one of them from the forum. Small world eh?
The girls had to go and I ended up wandering around making new friends (one group I got talking to were basically following the band around everywhere, some great stories they had). My journey home was epic in itself (mainly due to my absolutely horrific sense of direction and Dublin Bus being on time, the one time I don’t want them to be), but that’s neither here nor there.
So here’s the picture of myself and the lovely, mumbling Carlos Barat. Do excuse the pleasantly bewildered look on my face.
He may be famous, handsome and hugely talented, but I definitely triumph in the height department. So, if we were to disregard absolutely everything except height, Me > Carl Barat.
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Posted on 1 June '08 by Mark, under Life etc.. 6 Comments.
