Referendum to be YET ANOTHER Lisbon Treaty?

Yes, I know, boring topic of conversation. Mind blowingly boring topic of conversation, but as you may know if you're living in Ireland (or even if you're not, you can see how we're doing) there is another referendum to be voted on.

And everyone immediately sighs forlornly and thinks back to the last treaty that the E.U. pushed our way eagerly like the Irish do with food to their guests. Only, unlike food, this wasn't an inviting plate of toasty warm stew, it was cold, bland and spit-it-right-back-out nonsense you get at your school canteen.

No one remembers the last treaty joyfully, I suppose you could say it was catsatrophic. Everyone voted no and so, in an effort to please the E.U., the Government forced it down out throats again. This didn't end well, to say the least -the Irish, of course, threw on their defensive scowls and sarcastic mockery and even those who had voted Yes, began saying they were voting No.

It went through. May I suggest something went wrong in counting those ballots.....?

But on more recent topics, we have the new plate of food pushed our way, surprisingly more appetising looking, like that one time you try the canteen just once more and you think, this might not be so bad. Well, now that I am of an age to actually understand all this economic non sense we got ourselves into, I thought I might as well try and explain it to you.

But first, I had to understand it. Easier said than done, may I say.

I looked it up on the internet to say the least, like I do with everything I don't understand, (A bad habit to say the least, especially when you're an impressionable first year....) and I read through it. It was more inviting looking than I first thought it would be, to tell you the truth.

So I worked my way through it, reading over stuff twice and thrice over just so that I wouldn't make any fumbles in explaining it to you. It's called the Fiscal Stability Treaty and honestly, it doesn't seem so bad. If you support slashing government spending with a Spanish machete meaning that hospitals, schools and all those employed by the government will suffer.

I suppose you could say in response to that, the government doesn't spend much on hospitals and schools anyway, which is a fair point seeing as all hospitals seem to be closing down one by one. People may also say, good enough for those civil servants! Doing nothing and getting paid more than the ministers, another good point on which nearly every Irish person feels inclined to mention every political conversation.

However, it's not as bad as you'd think despite all the impending cuts if it does go through.

To put it straight, Ireland's in a bad way. Seriously bad.... I mean we need a Youth Cafe and the situation Ireland is in is worse than that. We spend too much and our government income just isn't sufficient to cover all this. E.U. , who may not be the most sympathetic of councils at the best of times, are forcing us to pull in our belts and make those cuts so that maybe we'll get out of this slump.

So, the big question -Yes or No. Those who are eighteen and over will all be stepping into those booths; a pen and paper in hand, but those pens may be the most powerful tool they have in that moment. As they finally closed over the curtain behind them, they'll stare down at the ballot paper. Bite their pens. A sweat might break and finally they'll check a box.

Yes.

or.

No.

So, which is it.....

Cuts in spending close to that of a machete-yielding ninja that will at the least help us out of this crisis or increasing debt upon increasing debt and life staying like this, floating in a bad situation and getting worse.

Now, this blog is too long, so go vote or tell people to vote, OK?

-Arma

Squirrels

Taz here, 

You may notice that it's a Friday, and typically we update on a Wednesday. Rebellious, aren't I? 

Well actually, my excuses are sorta the opposite of rebellious. I was... 

STUDYING. 

So sue me, I study sometimes. My Leaving Cert is only two years away! 

(On a side note I'm told regularly my sarcasm is atrocious (On another side note atrocious is a really fun word to say (atrocious))) 

Actually I have my TY summer exams, which unfortunately involves higher level math and Irish, and do you ever just want to please your teachers? Like, "Admittably you may think I suck but I tried really hard in this test and I'M WORTHY AND CAPABLE OF BIG GIRL MATHS." You know what I mean? 

Of course you do. You always get me, random stranger nodding empathetically at your computer screen. 

What I actually planned to write about, before I started RANDOMLY RAMBLING oh jesus I'm so hilarious like seriously you did not see that coming hahaha literally tears was how exams have been given a stupendously stupid amount of power over our lives. 

Like really, for most of us, our entire career can depend on our ability to memorize information. Not our ability to run a business, not our bedside manner, not even our intelligence, in all honestly. When whether or not you get a job is determined by the months you spend muddling through the Shakespearean language, there may be a problem. If we were to take out a calculator and start adding up every single hour you've spent over your entire lifespan studying, then take away the time you spent studying the stuff you would one day use? It's a frighteningly large number. 

Think about that. Now think about squirrels. Squirrels, in my opinion, have pretty good lives. They eat and hibernate and get awww-ed at by passerbyers, though not in that particular order. I don't know about you, but at times when I'm sitting in an exam hall, on one chair with one table in rows of chairs and tables, I think about who else in the world  is also taking an exam at this very moment, and combined how many hours did we ALL spend studying, and who of us will pass and who will fail and what it'll mean for our lives and jesusthat'salotofchairsandtables but more importantly, squirrels. 

When did humans make lives so complicated? Wouldn’t it just be simpler to carry food in our cheeks ("for later," we'd tell the waitress) and sleep for really long periods of time and just be squirrels? Enda Kenny is fabulous and everything, but once I'm old enough to vote? The Taoiseach I'll be campaigning for will be of the rodent kind. 

atrocious 

spring rolls and shiny glass things.

I'm not exactly a journalist, but since the presentation was last night, the obligation to write about the monaghan award ceramony has fallen on me.

And you know what? past that I've actually drawn a blank. I was never any good at summaries. You should see the state of my book reports from second year. Not to mention my irish paragraphs about 'what I did over the weekend'.

You know what's a stupid phrase? 'Not to mention'. Hat to break it to you sweetheart, but you kinda just did.

anyway, back on topic.

All I can think of really is that we got a 'youth award', whatever that means,that was made of glass and was shiny. also there was a lot of pretty awesome people there, so awesome I was wondering how we even got an award. There was some really nice spring rolls as well.

So yeah it was a good night through and through.

...

yeah, I think I'll leave the journalism-ing to arma

until next time, if there is a next time.

-teri

The Circus

Hey guys penny here,

So at the weekend, I went to see Cirque du Soleil with my family. In the show there were these two clowns that kind of reminded me of me and my sisters bickering. Then a man came on stage with an impressive six pack and he lifted himself off the ground onto poles using his hands. There was also a group of guys who had a + shaped trampoline and the had this co-ordinated bouncing act where they jumped over each other and did somersaults in the air.

After seeing this showI have decide to runaway to the the circus and join the trampoline act. Also, my dear friend, arma, is going to join the circus with me, using the piano to sound like an elephant .


Goodbye for now,

penny :P