Eeny meanie miney moe!!!

Well today i had my theory exam in Business software applications when i had relatively no clue of!!
All I can say is thank god for multiple choice as now I have at least a 25% chance of passing the exam!!
I had a brainwave during the exam........seen as i had no idea of any of the answers i decided i would rely on sheer luck to try and pass this exam. So i played a game of eeny meanie miney moe with each of the four choices each time and completed the exam in all of six minutes!!!Ok I reralise this isn't something I should be proud of however I do feel that these occasions call for such actions!
My conscience was eased when i spoke to the rest of my class afterwards also as many of them used the same method to answer these questions!
I cannot understand why as public relations students we are forced to learn about hard drives and modems when in my opinion I cannot see how we will ever use this information in everyday working life!
When i decided to do public relations i was under the impression that it would be mostly classes on communications and writing skills and I am now quite disturbed by the high level of computer skills require in this course!!
Well thats my rant for the day hope you all enjoyed because I did!!!

Stupid things said in College!!!

Setting: College bar!!
Chloe: So where do you think we should all go on holidays??
Amy: What about Playa De Lingus?
Eimear: Playa De Lingus??Is that a band???
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Setting:Main street Dundalk
Chloe: We should go back to statoil to get a mixer.....
Aisling: Sure then we're going backwards to come forwards do you know where we're going??!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Setting: Eimears apartment
Eimear: Is Belfast a County???
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Setting: College bar (again!)
Aisling: I think i want something from the vending machine!!!
(Aisling returns from the vending machine some time later looking rather happy!!)
Aisling: You'll never guess what happened me there??
Chloe: Whatt?!?!?!?
Aisling: Well I pressed the wrong button in the vending machine and got so confused but thank god that there was no such number as the number i pressed in the machine so i still go my Moro!!
Chloe: What the hell are you talking about ash??!!!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Eimear: Where will we have the Christmas party then??
Adam: Well theres a great little place right across from Chloes apartments......
Chloe: What???You want to have our Christmas party in a fileld???!?!?!?!

My weekend!!!

Well today is Monday my most hated day of the week:(
It was quite a busy weekend for me this weekend, I arrived home to mayo on Friday evening at 4pm it's a long journey to mayo, four hours to be exact!!After apending a few hours catching up with my family I went down to visit my friend Brendan where we spent the night watching The Late Late Toy Show!!Very interesting i know!!I eventually made it to bed at 3am absoloutly wrecked tired!!
Saturday i began work at 9am, I work in a little restaurant in my home town of Swinford called "The Tara". Iv been waitressing in The Tara for the past three and a half years and I really enjoy my job because at this stage all the regulars know me well and I now have a lot of responsibility as I am the shop floor manager which means that I am in charge of all the waitresses and ensuring every customer is satisfied and well looked after.My favourite time of the day is when the work men are in for their breakfasts in the morning time they are all so funny and a great laugh!I was told on Saturday by one such workman that i was like "a little piece of heaven!!".I finished work at 7pm after a greulling ten hour day and went home for a quick shower and got ready for the night ahead!
I went into town at 9pm and met up with all my friends, we headed to our local pub "The Hopper". It was great because all our friends from another town called Tubber came down for the night too!!
When The Hopper closed at 2.30 am we proceeded to a house party in Tubber which continued on until Sunday morning......unfortunately for me i fell asleep and missed my lift home so i ended up staying there until 9pm sunday night watching Catchphrase and talking utter jibberish!!!
When i eventually arrived home i was so tired i went straight to bed only to be woken by my alarm at 4.30am this morning to get up and go back to the lovely Dundalk for college today!!!

College nightlife!

Well when we ,dedicated students, are not busy studying or completeing assignments there is plenty of partying to do!!
Since coming to college I have learnt a lot such as the rules of the drinking game "Kings", to how to get into every nightclub whilst still underage!!!
Lastnight was no exception!!It was a typical Thursday night in Dundalk involving many of our Public Relations class getting together in a certain house or apartment for a "few quiet drinks!!".
So we decided to go to Chloes apartment to begin the night for a few drinks first which also involved a strange combination of toasted brown bread and oranges as appatisers!!
A few hours and a lot of vodka later the gang hopped into a taxi destined for Silence nightclub!!!
In all it was a brilliant night but I dont think I should divulge anymore information about the night as it may have became quiet messy upon entering the nightclub!!!

Funny day!!!!

Well today i go up like any other day and went into college............however my lunch time was definately not the usual!!
I went home for lunch along with my friend Chloe only to run into the second year PR students in the corridor of my apartment!They persuaded us to star as nurses in their film which was part of their film studies project!!
We then spent the next hour learning our lines and putting on our costumes!!
I have to say we were probably the most unprofessional people they possibly could have picked for the job as we giggled everytime we had to say a line for the first five minutes!!After about an hour though we had finished and we decided seen as we were already all dressed up that we may aswell go to the bar for a few hours!!
However this lead to be a bad idea seen as we were two of only 10 people in the bar.......so.... as we sat there sitting to the boring romantic music coming from the juke box we decided that our day shouldn't end there!!!
So we walked to the centre of dundalk and started scouting around for a suitable bar to go to!!little did we know that it was only 5pm!!Along our adventure we met many humourous characters particularly one woman who quizzed us on our faith and our favourite saints!!!!
I must say it was a very random but funny day!!!1

Stupid conversations had in college!!!

<= Katie, Chloe, Amy and myself!! You will hear more about us in these stupid conversations!!

Conversation 1!!

Chloe: You know what we watched last night??

Julie: What?!?!?!?!

Chloe: You know that programme chicken and cow?? or is it cow and chicken??

Julie: Cow and chicken?!?!?!?

Chloe: Yeah you know its that programme with the cow........(Chloe looks confused!)........and the Chicken....

(Room erupts in laughter!!)

Conversation 2!!

Chloe: You know I could imagine you in a shi**y red starlet ash....

Aisling: I think i should buy a lilo and a toothbrush for your house...

Chloe: (Confused looking....) Where will you fit the lido in the starlet though?!?!?

Aisling: Its not a lido dumbass its a lilo!!! And why are you wearing a purple hippy hat??!?!

Chloe: I dont have a hat on!!

Aisling: Ok well you'v a pair of sunglasses on so!!

Chloe: Ok we really have to go to sleep now we've college in a few hours......(Conversation continues for another four hours).....

RDF Baby!!

1. Cle is your left.
2. The Corporal never does anything for his/her own enjoyment.
3. This is not a NATO exercise.
4. “Switch on!” Is the favorite phrase of an NCO.
5. When on the ground, use the designated toilet area.
6. Do not stroll out 20 yards in front of your bivvy and go to toilet.
7. When getting ambushed in the night don’t start screaming “Charlie’s in the trees!”
8. Likewise, don’t start yelling “The Germans are coming”
9. Velcro is there for a reason.
10. Camo up everything is not to be taken literally.
11. The NCO is always right
12. The Officer is always right.
13. When Officer and NCO contradict each other, use better judgment.
14. If the NCOs wanted us to smile they would take us down to the armory and issue us all with smiles.
15. The sheep are not laughing at me.
16. The PDF however are laughing at my marching
17. Rumors should not be believed, even if the NCO/Officer starts them.
18. There is no such thing as a half-day in the army.
19. We are on government time.
20. Being hungover on duty is a chargeable offence, if you’re caught.
21. Mass parade will be made available to all persons.
22. Mass parade will take place only if enough people sign up for it.
23. Blank ammunition can kill.
24. It’s still safe though.
25. I will not trick the NCOs into saying they are firing blanks today.
26. I will not trick the new recruits into saying that they enjoyed their camp experience.
27. Despite my own opinion, Kilworth is not a deserted wasteland.
28. Participation in the “Fun evening recreation” is mandatory.
29. The Corporal does not like to be called “Corpy”.
30. Admin is the easiest thing in the world to do.
31. If the corporal can’t find you, he can’t give you a job.
32. The best NCO is the NCO who doesn’t know your name.
33. The worst NCO is the NCO who knows your name.
34. DJ + 2 different Battalions + Alcohol + Dancing NCOs + Curfew = Funniest night ever.
35. The 7th can’t dance.
36. The 21st can’t dance, but we give it a bloody good effort.
37. Under no circumstances will the chorus to the song YMCA be replaced with “The, F, C, A”.
38. Recruits will always be looking for the keys to the square.
39. And DPM paint.
40. It is not nice to tease recruits.
41. It’s damn funny though.
42. Never call the Military Police Parking Attendants to their face.
43. Don’t ask them where their traffic cones are.
44. Never try and hi-five an NCO. It will end in tears.
45. I am not special.
46. I’m still waiting for the long weight from the CQ.
47. We’ll get issued everything we’ll ever need…………..next week.
48. The Sergeant may be god, but even he shits himself when the BSM is about.
49. The chap who asks the guard commander can he go to sleep fifteen minutes into a 24hr guard duty is not someone you can depend on.
50. Can machines in the army will break down just as you’re given a canteen break.
51. 58 webbing, despite all the CQ’s promises, zip-ties, bungee cords and duct tape will fall apart five minutes on the ground.
52. Never tell the POT’s instructors it’s your birthday.
53. If you don’t have to run, walk.If you don’t have to walk, stand still.If you don’t have to stand, sit down.If you don’t have to sit up, lie down.If you don’t have to stay awake, fall asleep.
54. The greatest motivators in the army are the promise of pay, rest, the mess and the huge PDF corporal with the 12” boot’s threats.
55. The ARW snipers aren’t people like you or me. They are moving bushes who can hide anywhere and appear everywhere.
56. When the sergeant asks is everyone having fun, the correct answer is not “Very Fun, Sergeant!”

Reference: xoxox-ashy-xoxox@bebo.com

Recruit Camp

Well I was nervous going on recruit camp mostly because i heard that for two solid weeks i would be fed bread and water, screamed at constantly, and made work extremely hard from dawn till dusk!!
I was wrong!!!
I was staying in a room with 8 other girls all as crazy as eachother and also from the west!!
(that probably explains the craziness!!)
The work was very random indeed, we were shown the basic marches and then separated into platoons and then sections.
I will explain in my next post how an army is divided....!
Evening activities included an hour of physical training every evening but there were ways around that.....simply run one lap and then claim a stitch or sick stomach and drop out!!worked like a treat every time!!
The pub on barracks was affectionately known as "The Mess".
This could be the trickiest place of all for a young recruit as whilst you were in your plain clothes or "sivvy's" as the army call them and you can call your seargents and corporals by their first names bygod you still have to be careful with what you say or you may find yourself and your platoon marching for an hour straight the next morning!!
Of course on the recruuit camp we were not authorised to drink but surprisingly we managed to have a laugh without a drink!!
I suppose it was all the fun of the lads tryin to sneak over to the female accomodation without gettin caught and of course watching the corporals stumble through the barracks after having one too many drinks!!!

This was a hard days work on carnagh range,Mullingar.

Well as you see can we were all working very hard the day we went to the firing range in carnagh, Co. Cork!!
Seriously a lot of hard preparation must be done before you are allowed set foot on the firing range let alone fire a weapon!
Firstly you must do intense training on the weapon you will be firing, in this case I was firing the GPMG (general purpose machine gun). You must learn the theory and history of the gun, be able to perform safety checks, be able to go through the motions of firing the gun safely and altering the gun if something should happen to it. At the end of this all you must complete your T.O.E.T'S(tests of elementary training).
If you do not succeed in passing these then you will not be allowed set foot on the firing range.
Thankfully I passed all my tests without any problems.
I must admit it was quite scary and daunting firing live rounds for the first time after doing so much preparation for that moment. Despite my nerves I fired the best shot of the day and obtained a total of 378 points of a possible 400.I won an award for this,
I couldn't help feeling quite proud of the fact that at the tender age of 17 I had fired two army weapons and had a vast knowledge of them both!!

Introduction to RDF

The RDF (reserve defence forces) otherwise known as the FCA (affectionately known as the free clothing association!!) is probably on of the best experiences a teenager can get!!
I joined last year and spent 5weeks of this summer on camp some might think that's a bad thing wasting your summer on duty but that couldn't be further from the truth!!
The RDF enabled me to meet fantastic people and have one of the best times of my life!!
I did my recruit camp in Mullingar and i swear i have never laughed so much in my life as i did in those two weeks!!
As recruits they were pretty lenient on us giving us cigarette breaks every five minutes and lovely meals!!!
Rules could be pretty strict but our seniors the corporals soon taught us how to bend them!!
Such rules as there is to be no affection shown between males and females while in the barracks were bound to be broken with about 6 guys to every girl there ,living working eating and going out together every day for two weeks!!
For our recruit camp it was also supposed to be a "dry camp" meaning that we weren't allowed to drink alcohol........ya that didn't work!!!
My next blog will detail the recruit camp and the many ways of bending rules and not getting caught by the officers or sergeants!!