Comhairle na nOg, your mental health

Hey everyone,
Sorry I'm late, so today me and and another one of the girls from they youth media group went to Comhairle na nOg meeting. Comhairle na nOg is a youth council and they are all around the country. They are a council that help the voice of young people to be heard. Today we did a workshop on mental health which I found very interesting they talked about things such as that our mind doesn't actually live in the present its either the past or future, they then got us to close our eyes and concentrate on our breathing for 5 minutes this is very difficult because it requires us to concentrated on the present which our mind hates. Our mind will always try and focus on something else like the noises around you or the homework that's due tomorrow so after you read this I want you to try concentrating on just your breathing for 5 minutes and see for yourself how difficult it is.
so that's me for the day guys and girls hope you enjoyed reading talk again soon,
Penny

P.S. Feel free to contact anyone from youth work Ireland if you are experiencing any mental health issues  they are there to help and support you. Also please check out  Comhairle na nOg monaghan website: www.monaghanyouth.ie .    

Sorry I'm Late, I Suppose

I'm not sure what I'm going to talk about today. What's going on in my life at the moment, you ask, wanting to give me inspiration as to what to write? Well, nothing much, to be honest. All I can say is I was in Spain up until twelve yesterday (Friday).

Spain?

It's lovely, especially the little place I was. I have to hand it to them, the Spanish have the resilience to give in to learning English with perfectly articulate words while firmly remaining delved within the Spanish roots. The place I went to was probably the most anglicized of the lot, and yet all the natives spoke their own language with the utmost pride, not giving in for one moment to the Englishness that seemed to pervade the crisp, cultural, sweetly scented scene of Torremilinos in Spain.

Spain in October?

The weather's nice, albeit the low lying fog that settled over us like a thick, unsnuggly, rather annoying duvet sent my mind to the suspicions that it wasn't going to be the sunny break of doing nothing that I yearned for since fifth year settled in. Then, after a humid evening, Wednesday morning opened up the refreshing air, cold but with a crispness that didn't send you searching for your coat.

Spain's Population...?

By population, most teenage girl's minds snaps straight to the gorgeously tanned boys that roam the beach with their swimming trunks hanging lower around their delectably tanned fronts... The masculinity echoing waves of sauciness that send women into a hot flush as they breeze past.... The smugness of their hint-of-a-smile and the confident look in their eyes that sends any woman within a five feet radius spinning in a drooling, melted mess on the floor. Or beach. Or Jacuzzi. Or wherever you happen to be.

However...

The teenage girl's mind didn't anticipate the sea of swimming, tufty grey hair that sits on the top of a balding man. Blotched skin, like thick, wrinkled leather that sits on their faces. Some mahogany -resembling that old, tan-coloured, leather couch we all have come across in a home, the one that everyone refuses to sit out of principal. These had exactly the same stature when sitting down, although not as comfortable. Others were that pale, greying colour that leaves them looking drawn and bulgy eyes and their mouths, just seem to be puckered continuously. Or as I recently encountered, stuck open and rounded like a gawking goldfish.

I'm not talking about those uber-sexy, brown-golden haired, handsome Spanish boys with their piercing, liquid-gold eyes.

I'm talking old, decrepit men, walking around on their shiny little Zimmer-frames, inching this way and that, causing road blocks and numerous accidents. You want man-boobies? I got them everyday!

Nah, in saying that, I didn't mind. My thoughts were elsewhere, in the quiet murmurings of my own vivid imagination, creating perfect scenarios of things I want to happen. Something I spend a bit too much time doing these days.

It was nice to get away, to see a different country, and anyone who has been to Torremilinos would never trade it up, the people are lovely, it's quite anglicized. You wake up in the mornings and wander outside and embrace the crisp, October air with your nostrils, welcoming its refreshing feel into every little bronchiole. The sea is an idyllic myriad of forty shades of blue, and the shimmering gold and silver. The sand, a perfect, sandy colour of pleasant gold and the weird, pineapple-like trees floating above us, against the sky.

Was I happy to be back?

Undoubtedly. I don't think I could've stayed longer. Not only fifth year's burgeoning duties or my parents and their annoying ways (especially felt because of the absence of a certain older brother), but because I felt I was missing out. Even if I wasn't, the only place I wanted to be then was home.

Home.

I know I'll end up leaving the nest eventually, and frankly, I can't wait to get gone, even if it's only to Dublin. But right now, my life and everything in it is here.

And you could NOT get me to go away with my parents again.

So the next time I'll be shuffling abroad, you ask?

We'll have to see, but at the moment, I'm thinking France. Namely Paris, but maybe inter-railing would be a good start. Lots of variety and very fetching boys to ogle in a variety of places.

Now, back to the homework I've been avoiding... Anyone else notice who procrastinating against one thing will make you do other things you previously were avoiding? Life's funny like that....


Peace out, Y'all,

Arma.

the common cold.

Hi guys, sorry I'm late.

As I'm sure most of you have noticed we're fast approaching flu season again. I've had more than a few run ins with everyone's favourite disease; I spent majority of days between the ages of 8 and 14 sniffing in an ever failing to clear my bloody nostrils. It drove my mother up the wall. Mind you, it suddenly became ok whenever she had a cold, but it went straight back to being the eighth deadly sin whenever she was cured. 

  So, fast forward a couple years and I've finally been cured of my 6 year long plague. It still comes back to play every now and then, but my body seems to have mastered the art of getting it to f*ck off when it does. Trust me, I'd love for this to be a blog about the 100% bona-fide truth about how to get rid of that dasterdly curse once and for all. But seriously. Scientists haven't even figured that out yet. Give it time, I might surprise ya, but at said moment in time I don't have close to enough resources. 

Anyway.

  Here's a quick run down. Your body is constantly produces mucus to fight of any bacteria that might try and make it's way into your body. The mucus is drained down two holes at the back of your nose, with then led down your throat. However, when you get a cold, the blood vessels around these holes become inflamed. This is what causes that ''stuffed nose'' feeling. The holes become blocked, and mucus can't be drained properly. So no amount of blowing your nose will allow you to breathe freely. 

What will you may ask? In my experience;

•plenty of water

•plenty of rest

•wrap up warm.

I know, I know, this isn't exactly a scientific break-through, but it's all I've got ok? I've heard that breathing in steam helps to unblock those holes, but it's a theory that I've yet to test. 

so That's all for now folks. See yas real soon!

-teri

chocolate chip cookies

Hey everyone penny here,

So nothing very intersting is happening with me at the moment so I've decided to give you another recipe hope u like this one let me know how it turns out.

Chocolate chip cookies

8oz Butter

8oz Brown sugar

10oz Flour

4oz Chopped nuts (optional)

4oz Chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar together. Sive in the flour. Then add the nuts and chocolate.

Shape into 2 rolls about 1 3/4 thick. Wrap in cling film and chill for 2 hours. Slice into even sections put on a baking tray and cook at 180 degrees for 8 – 7 mins till the edges are golden brown.

Hope u enjoy these little treats love hearing from you so let me know how things went.

Signing out

penny x

The Scottish Play

Ye all may have heareth of the Scottish Play, that which is known as Macbeth,
A cursed name so full of evil, but good in it, all the same,
A play, a lesson and a message,
All brought together in one,
Macbeth is the play that us Leaving Certs are studying,
And with haste, be it done.

Yada, yada, yada. For anyone living outside of Ireland, us teenagers have to sit at least seven exams for what we call the Leaving Certificate, or the Leaving for short. And of course, in English, my favourite subject, or at least one of, we have this long, arduous course to get through, full of indecipherable Shakespearean language, daunting symbolistic poetry, a novel that is bound to be as boring as watching paint dry...

We started off on that, which is probably the most hated out of all that is in the course..... The Shakespearean Drama. Ours? Macbeth, or "Macbeth" as we must refer to it, when speaking about the play's name.

I expected it to be dull, rendering me half-asleep every time we opened the book to try and nudge our way through the almost hieroglyphic language that is Shakespeare.

Call me pleasantly surprised when it wasn't like that at all! I love reading "Macbeth", well maybe love is a bit strong, but a lot more than I could have hoped!! It's a nice play to be studying, full of mysticism and intriguing supernatural powers that are in play, but mainly it is reading into the play and its meaning that gets me every time.

English, is just one of those subjects that just keeps on exciting me day after day.

Hope you are all well, and settling back into school!

I also have to say how envious I am of the college students! D: Arrrggh, begone with you all and your freedom!!

Arma.

Concerts

Taz here,

   So it looks like me and the gang will be going to see Ed Sheeran in January. He's in concert in the O2. I'm pretty buzzed, honestly. We're planning on standing tickets-though it's unlikely we'll have to deal with much jostling at a heavy metal concert like Sheeran's will be. 

   The best thing about his music, in my humble opinion, is the lyrics. His songs are almost poetic, with some of my personal favourite lines being, "Resembling cutlery on the sofa," and "I could do without the tan on my left finger where my forefinger meets my knuckle." For all us softies out there, lines like that are written for us. Just so we can melt into a puddle of goo and coo softly. 

However, he wouldn't be my first choice of artists to see live. My past concert experiences are both meagre and sorta pathetic; Westlife; The X Factor Concert; and The Script. Nowadays I'd be more eager to get tickets to Freelance Whales, Of Monsters and Men, FUN.... all of which probably won't be playing in Ireland any time soon.

Ed Sheeran though... that'll be brilliant. 

Anyway, you're all to check out this new band, "Bastille." Their album just came out and they're FRICKIN' AWESOME. Look out for their songs, "Flaws" and "What Would You Do."

GO NOW AND YOUTUBE THEM.

So will I get ya a pint of something? (warning: teenage moaning)

Teri here.
Just to clarify, I'm sixteen. For those of you who don't know, the legal age for drinking in Ireland is eighteen. But needless to say, most people start before that. And by most I mean pretty much everyone I know at said point in time has 'a couple' when they go out. I'm not gonna lie, I've had a few sups here and there myself. Mind you, I've never been properly drunk, a bit tipsy maybe, but that's the height of it.
Whenever someone drinks they are putting a substance into there body that changes the way they act. For some people, that scares them. Others like that idea. I use to think that people who needed alcohol to have a good time were sad. But I've gotten to the point where I understand it.
It's hard being a teenager. And I know I'm only young and I don't know what the world is really like, but at said moment in time, being a teenager is the hardest thing I've ever done. Maybe in a couple years time I'll figure it out. But that's not the point. I'm facing these problems right now, and right now I haven't got a fucking clue. I know that the sun will come out tomorrow, but I still have to make it through the tough days. And that really sucks.

Aw, would you look at that. I was in such a great mood this morning.

Listen lads, I'm not saying I think under-age drinking is a good idea. Jesus I don't even know is putting corn in my roll is a good idea. I just know that whatever age you are, everyone needs a chance to breathe.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's all I've got. later :)
-teri