Festive Greetings

My apologies for the complete lack of blogging! But I have started a new era in my life and it has taken quite a bit of getting used to. Blogging has been the last thing on my mind if I’m honest! Since my last post, I got my leaving cert results which far exceeded my expectations- more on that later. I have also started college and have moved out of home (well- I come home every weekend). With all these changes I have also been trying to control the ould crohn’s disease which got a little bit temperamental in September and October but it has calmed down now... thanks be to Jesus! I have just finished my first set of college exams and I am now back home with the parents and the sister and I get to relax for a WHOLE month... bliss!

So, seen as I’m a nerd, my first topic of discussion is going to be my leaving cert results. I’m going to be quite boastful so I fear my head is going to get rather large. Having missed two months of sixth year and struggling through school with sheer exhaustion I managed to do damn good in my leaving cert. I’m very proud! For those non-Irish people, let me explain. The maximum you can score is 600 points. Most people study 7 subjects and then they count the best 6. For an A1 you get 100 points, an A2 90 points, a B1 85 points etc. It is extremely hard to get 500 points never mind 600! Well, mo chairde, I got 515... I was rather chuffed... in fact the mother and myself bawled our eyes out with sheer disbelief and joy! Here’s the breakdown:

English- A2
Maths- C1
Home Ec- A2
Business- A2
French- B1 (So proud)
Biology- A2 (but in fairness, that’s no shock. I have crohn’s disease- which is a disease of the digestive system and the digestive system came up in the exam).

So anyway, I got more than double the points I needed for my chosen college course, so I had no worries when the CAO day came around. I’m now studying Financial Services and I love it... obviously, I am a nerd after all.

In order to go to college, it was necessary for me to move away from home. It took a long while to get used to. First, just meeting new people can wear one out and then having to cope with brand new subjects and then having to feed yourself at the end of the day. And due to me having crohn’s disease, I couldn’t just stick a pizza in the oven I had to make everything from scratch. Because of all this, the disease reared its ugly head and I had to go into hospital for 2 days for tests and stuff. But I’m used to it now and at my last hospital visit, all the blood results were up and so was the weight... so I’m a very happy bunny.

Now on to my favourite topic of conversation- yep, you’ve guessed it- BOOKS! You might expect me to have read millions of books since my last post, but alas’ that is not the case. I will start from the last book I read which was “The Confessions of a Demented Housewife” by Niamh Greene. This book could be quite funny in parts but it wouldn’t set the world on fire. Sometimes the main character can be so dense you want to scream.

“The Teahouse on Mulberry Street” by Sharen Owens. I have to say I wasn’t expecting much from this book. But it turned out to be a really pleasant and light read. It could also be quite amusing in parts, particularly with the “Creepy Crawley’s”.

Of course, it wouldn’t be my blog if Meg Cabot wasn’t mentioned. I read “Airhead” by Meg Cabot. I have to say it wouldn’t be my favourite. It appeared to be unfinished to me which is very unlike Meg Cabot. I know it’s the start of a new series but the ending could have been a lot better.


I have also read two more Jeffrey Archer books, one which was far superior to the other. “A Prisoner of Birth” was a very good story but it couldn’t have got more farfetched. However, the courtroom scenes were savage!!! The other book was “As the Crow Flies”- typical Jeffrey Archer. It had me hooked from beginning to end and the ending was so sweet! I absolutely loved it!
Probably the most tragic story I have ever read is “The boy in the striped Pyjamas” by John Boyne. I did not see the ending coming and it is absolutely heart breaking. I couldn’t recommend this book highly enough!

That’s pretty much it. I’m reading a really good book at the moment. It’s so romantic. I’m not ashamed to admit it- it’s a Mills and Boon! More on that in a later post... which hopefully won’t be in 6 months time!

Oh my God! I saw The Killers in concert in August. They were absolutely amazing! The only thing that stopped me enjoying it to the full was the fact that I had to stand for 5 hours... my back was in absolute agony. But it was an amazing concert. They sang all the classics- Mr Brightside, Read My Mind, All These Things That I’ve Done. I love ‘em! I just bought there new album Day and Age... It’s not near as good as the first two but it’s still a good record!

Woohoo! It’s Christmas... don’t you just love the holidays with the smell of pine needles and Christmas pudding and the strains of “Fairytale of New York”? I’ve got all my presents bought so I can just relax and eat until the 19th January when Semester 2 begins.

Talk Later

Sal