Tedx Challenge!

Speaker: Jane McGonigal
Talk: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html


This talk was inspiring and also very interesting as it explains to you how you can gain 10 extra years of life over a long period of time by doing very simple tasks that only take a couple of minutes everyday. Jane talks about a hard time where she was depressed due to an brain injury and she was suicidal, this showed real strength to talk about this to hundreds of people and it showed how much she has changed and how strong she is, i thought that was very inspiring. I found this interesting as Jane tells us how simple things can make you happy and positive, give you the strength to get through tough times and have fun while doing these things. She tells us the 5 wishes that people make on their death beds, at the end she give the results of the 5 changes people say that have happened to their lifes after doing these challenges everyday. They all are the opposite of the death bed wishes.

I would recomend this video because it is very interesting and Jane is an inspiring woman, by wastching this it might give someone else the strenght to get better from an illness. Also it tells you hiow to gain 10 extra hours to your life, i think everyone would be willing to do these 4 simple tasks everyday that only take minutes to add time to their life span. This talk as well shows people how to be happier with their lifes and not have any regrets, most people long for happiness and this video might be the answer they need to achieve it.

Lecture 13/11/12

for our year lecture on the 13th of November an man came to talk to us all about his career in enginering. He gave us all a lot of advice on how to get your "dream job" and that you should never give up. He explained that is you are doing something that you do not like or have no interest in that you should find something you do, that you shouldn't just do something for the sake of it. It was a great help and he was an inspiration to all as he has followed his dreams and now he has the career that he wants and he is happy.

Chernobyl lecture 18/09 For one of our class lectures two aid workers, Siobheal and Ian came into to tell and explain chernobyl and the trip that they had taken to Belaruse in Ukraine. Siobheal went on this trip with her fellow Rose of Tralee comopetitiors and friends, Ian also went as he was Siobheal's escort during the Rose of Tralee. Before they all went they had to raise money so they could buy medicine and medical remedies for the children over there and aslso to pay for there expenses to get over there. In the end they raised over 1,000 euro for the children in the orphanages. One of the things that they explained was what Chernobyl was for and what it does, they told us about the radio active waste that lies beneath the ground harming the locals and children as they feed on the crops that come form the soil and the animals that graze from the earth also. When they travelled to Belarus they arrived at night and they were a bit nervous as they didnt know what to expect. Over there they helped the nurses and played with the children also. Siobheal and Ian said it was a great experience and would never forget, it has changed their perspective on things and has made them more aware.

The Unconscious

For this weeks lecture we had two physcho analyists, Liz Monahan and Brian O'Connor who came into us. They explained what physcho analyists do and how they are different to therapists. Physcho analyists work with people to unravell their problems, it is more about what they dont say that they try to understand and come up with a reason or solution.

They spoke about a man, Singmund Freud. He has written books 100 years ago on this subject. Freud invented psychoanalysis and the method of understanding The Unconscious.
 

One of freuds first patients was Anna O, her symtoms were halluciations, word salads, cough, lost a limb, became paralysed. Whern she would speak it woudnt make sense but when you thought of it you nwould be able to see what she was trying to say. One of her sentences was "wood-dead cousin", her father had just died and her cousin had came for funeral and had collect wood for the fire. Freud tried to see if he could help her. The only way to unravel a symthom is to talk about it.

Liz and brian explained to us about our mind, there is only a small part of out mind that is open. The tip of it is called "The superego" which is our conscience and then the other part id out "ego" but underneath all that is our "Un concious" we are not open to that ourselves.

Here is a link of the Prezi that Liz and Brian used http://prezi.com/69ajnnur13ie/st-a/

Mark Polluck

Yesterday as our lecture for the day we had guest speaker Mark Polluck come in and talk about his story.

Mark pollock is blind and paralysed from the waist down, he wasnt always blind or paralysed. Before this happened he lead a normal life in fact he was a student at Trinity College and studied business and economics and alswell he was on the irish rowing team.

Unfortunatley in 1998 Mark lost his sight as his retina detatched. He stopped rowing and going to college, he thought his life was over. After a couple of months mark got back up on his feet and started giving lectures on his suituation and how to get the strength to over come it.

Mark started training again and over came oppsticles that he wouldnt have done unless he was blind. Mark started his own business and went back to college to do a masters in business studies. He took part in many adventures, raced to the south pole and came 5th he also did six marathons in the Koby desert in seven days.

In 2010 Mark had an acident, while attending a rowing regatta he fell off a two story balcony and fell to the ground. Mark seriously injured himself, when people found him they had to start his breathing again. When he got to the hospital the nurses thought he was going to die. His skull was fractured, he was bleeding in his brain, broken ribs and his lungs were filled with blood. He was on morphine 24/7 for weeks on end. When he finally regained conciousness he realised he was paralysed from the waist down, this was a tragic time for Mark. He was in intensive care for months, in the end he was in hospital for 18 months. It was very hard for him but from the support of his friends, family and doctors he pulled through it.

Now Mark gives inspiring speaches and lectures to people across the country and tells them about his life story and everything he has achieved and accomplished. Although his life is tough and challenging he takes it in his stride and now is training himself to walk again by various exercises and he can feel an improvment as he is starting to get feeling back in his lower half.

In my TY english class we are doing film studdies at the moment. Our class has just finished watching our first movie which was "The Others", directed and also written by Alejandro Amenábar. "The Others" was made in 2001 and stars Nicole Kidman, Christopher eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan, Alakina Mann, James Bently.

The movie is set straight after World War 2, in a remote country house in Jersey where Grace, Nicole Kidman lives there with her two young photosensitivive children Anne and Nicholas, played by Alakina and James. Their father Charles, Christopher is away at war. There is also servants living with them, Mrs. Mills, Mr.Tuttle and Lydia.

Durning the film strange things start to happen and it leads Grace and the children to believe they are not alone in the house and that there i something going on.

I really enjoyed the film as the suspense was built up throughout and aslo it isd all so mysterious it leaves you intrigued and wanting to watch more. The actors all played a briallant part in the movie and captured everything perfectly.

I would highly recommend this movie to all as it is a great story line and is very interesting and exciting.

On the 3rd of September a third of my year, 60 classmates traveled to the Aran Islands for a class trip to start of the beginning of 4th year. The trip was to give everyone a chance to get to know each other a bit better and make new friends. When we all got of the boat we were split into two groups and sent to two hostels. When my group got to our hostel we had to decide on rooms. After we were aloud go to our room and leave our bags there, we had a half an hour of free time before both groups went for a hike around the island. We all had a great time on the hike as we got to chat along the way sometimes stopping at certain monuments for a local to tell us a little about them. After the walk we all traveled to the hotel to get dinner. i had chicken curry and it was really nice. After dinner we had an hour of free time until we went to the local community hall for an irish quiz. The irish quiz was really fun and everyone got involved and had a good time. When the quiz was finished we had half an hour left top hang out with friends before we had to go to our own rooms. in the morning we all got up and had to be done stairs for breakfast at nine. When everything was cleaned up and everyone had breakfast we all split into our two groups and headed for the bike rental shop. We all got helmets and our own bike for the day. we set out for a cycle around the island. We also stopped off at Dún Aengus cliffs to look over the side. It was great fun but we were all very tired by the end of the cycle as it was for 4 hours. We were given time before we had to go dinner, some of the guys and girls in our year jumped into the sea and swam for a bit, i did also. The water was very cold and refreshing. After a while i got out and then we all went for dinner. After dinner we also had some time to get ready for the ceile that was being held in the local community hall. When the ceile started we were taught dances it was great and we all enjoyed ourselves! When it was finishes we were all aloud hang out once again for a while until we had to be in our rooms. In the morning we all had breakfast and then packed our bags, tidied our rooms and left the hostels. We then had to wait a further time for the ferry. When the ferry arrived we all got on and started our trip home. After the ferry we hoped on the bus and headed home. The trip was really fun and a very good idea to get people to socialize with people they usually wouldn't  Personally i think the trip benefited everyone!