Procrastinating study by talking about it

I don't feel like studying right now, so I'm going to use blogging as an excuse to entertain me for the next half hour.

Speaking of studying, if you've been wondering why I haven't be blogging recently, that's your answer. You see, the Leaving Cert is approaching much quicker than I'd like, and I need quite a lot of points to get my course. Oh yeah, I figured out what I want to do in the year between this post and the one you're reading now. My CAO (which I'll be filling out next month, scary stuff!) will look like this:

1. Medicine in TCD
2. Medicine in RCSI
3. Medicine in UCD
4. Medicine in Cork
5. Medicine in Galway
6. Human Health & Disease in TCD
7-10: other back up plans

So yeah, I want to be a doctor :) The above choices are liable to some shuffling, but that's the bones of it. Trinity College Dublin is my college of choice, primarily because

a) it's a 5 year course as opposed to 5 + premed in the others (premed sounds boring)
b) it's much easier for me to get to than any of the other colleges.

Unfortunately, it also has the highest points of all the med schools, with last year's 1st round being 729. If you're thinking 'silly Nicole, the max amount of points you can get is 600, you're too dumb to do Medicine', then let me explain the HPAT.

The HPAT is part of the new admissions process for Medicine in Ireland, and stands for Health Professions Admissions Test. Yeah, a test. Basically it's an aptitude test like the DATS, that tests you for your suitability to Medicine. It's comprised of 3 sections: Logical Reasoning; Interpersonal Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning. It's scored out of 300, but the max anyone got last year was 230 (2009 was the first year the HPAT was introduced). So the max score you can get for Medicine is 860 (560 + 300).

Oh yeah, the 560 thing. For med only, after you reach 550 you only get 1 point for every 5 points you get above that. So 600 becomes 560, 595 -> 559 etc. It's pretty good coz it narrows the gap between people who get 600 and people who get 550, because there isn't really a difference in aptitude for Medicine between those 50 pts.

So the new system is a godsend for me, because it'd be extreeeeemely difficult for me to have gotten the 590 average points to get into med previously. It's still stressful, because you can't really predict how you'll do in the HPAT. All you can really gauge is your LC results, but the HPAT could (and does) make or break you. I shall be sitting my HPAT exam on Saturday 27th February, which is incidentally my 18th birthday (oh what fun!).

I've just copped that this post is probably highly boring for 99% of people reading it. But it's pretty much all I have to talk about these days as the LC and study consumes my life. I'm so uninteresting. I do have my heart set on Medicine though, and while my Plan Bs sound good too, it's just not the same.

In other, non study related news...uh...I just made fricken (fake chicken) tikka masala for dinner. And eh...oh! I've 3 concerts within a week next month, namely Paramore, Regina Spektor/David Gray and Paul McCartney. That should be fun. Gosh, I'm distinctly underexcited for Christmas this year though. Maybe it's the realisation that Christmas marks the halfway mark of the school year, and my mocks are 3 weeks after. Oh look, I'm back on the topic of school again...

I'm really obsessed with Bon Iver right now. He's this amazing artist who made this beautiful album called For Emma, Forever Ago. He recorded it himself with an acoustic guitar and layering his vocals. I've listened to it like 20 times this week (yeah I listen to lots of music).

I don't think I've anything more of interest to say right now...I'm gonna go procastinate some more. Tata!

Muse: a narrative

Front Line Soldier, Mosher and I had tickets since June. With the secret release of extra tickets, many more joined our company for the gig. Yes, it was the legendary space-prog-rockers MUSE who we'd all been waiting for. With many notes in hand, the school marked us absent from 3.15 due to 'medical reasons'- not quite false; a lack of Muse would have severely damaged my mental health. Some hijinks in town and a conversational taxi ride later we arrived at the O2 at 5pm to begin the wait.

At first we became worried, seeing the hundreds of people with green wristbands chatting excitedly in line. 'Damn, we must of missed out on the pit' we thought bitterly' Thankfully, a few minutes later we were given wristbands of our own, raising our excitement levels to about 9. Front Line Soldier was ready to do what she was born to do: march us to the closest possible position from the stage, showing no mercy. As we waited in position for the band to take the stage, Front Line Soldier was struck down with a horrible ailment: the god damned migraine. Painfully, she reasoned she must leave the show, before even hearing a note from Matthew Bellamy's guitar. And so the brave soldier was struck out and decommisioned, much to the displeasure of the troop. Rest well dear soldier, and take solace that there will be a next time.

As we tried to figure out the suprises in store for us, from lasers to confetti balloons, we pondered over the 3 columns on the stage. I suggested the band would be playing inside them. Blinded exclaimed 'but then where would the 4th guy go?'. We glared and gave out to him, but it was these moments that kept us entertained as the scheduled support act backed out. Other funny moments include Texter texting the wrong person that she was 'within raping distance of Matthew Bellamy', and Blinded's near miss for interrupting Bridhbh.


Muse hit the stage with all their awe and spectacle at 8.30pm. I was proved right about the columns, which displayed each band member in the middle of 2 columns of screens. They opened with 'Uprising', and the crowd went wild. We jumped, we moshed, headbanged and danced. We sang, screamed and felt our jaws hit the floor. Muse are in their element live. Moving swiftly to Resistance and then a laser spectacle'd New Born. As Blinded put it: Muse is to lasers as peanut butter is to jelly.

The crowd in the pit was rough with jumping, shoving, crowd surfing and all manners of body contact. Blinded soon got his alias when his glasses fell from his pocket, to be destroyed by the many feet of Muse fans. I was having a great time headbanging when I wasn't taking photos, but the night did take its toll on most of us; my back head and neck aches, while I think Lulu is worst off physically, Texter's dignity was quite damaged!

All in all the set was pretty good, but they can play even mediocre songs by their standards and they'd blow away most other bands in live performance. My highlights were New Born, Plug in Baby, Unnatural Selection and Knights of Cydonia. Seeing Matt run around with an Irish flag was pretty neat, as was Dom & Chris' drum & bass instrumental.

Once the concert ended after a 2 hour set we located the shrapnel of Blinded's former specs, and started walking back to the center of town, ins search for water. Never before have I been so glad to down a litre of water than when we reached that Londis.

And that folks, is more or less the tale of Muse. Can't wait til next time lads.

Setlist

1. Uprising
2. Resistance
   
3. New Born
4. Map of the Problematique
5. Supermassive Black Hole
6. Guiding Light
7. Interlude
8. Hysteria
9. United States of Eurasia
10. Feeling Good
11. Unintended
12. Bass and Drum Instrumental
    
13. Undisclosed Desires
14. Starlight
15. Plug In Baby
16. Time is Running Out
    
17. Unnatural Selection

Encore

1. Exogenesis Symphony Part I: Overture
2. Stockholm Syndrome
3. Man With a Harmonica
4. Knights of Cydonia

Fellow Bloggers

I'm getting sick of word verification to leave comments on your blogs. I assume that either you don't know you can turn that off, or for some strange reason feel the need to stop robots leaving comments on your blog, despite the unlikely event of that happening.

If you are of the former, you can turn it off by following these steps:
Dashboard -> Settings -> Comments -> Word Verification -> Click no.

Thanks :)

En Francais

Bonjour! Cette poste sera differente de mes postes habituelles. Je realisé que je n'ai pas écrit á mon blog récemment. Je realisé aussi que j'ai un besoin de passer plus de temps étude Francais. Donc, j'ai decidé faire les deux ensemble. Je sais que le plupart de vous ne comprendrez pas quel je suis dirant, mais il sera salutaire pour moi donc juste prétendre vous comprendez!
Depuis j'ai commencé le terminal je n'ai pas eu beaucoup de temps écriver á mon blog. Le Leaving Cert fait pression sur moi étudier. Francais est un de mes matieres que je trouvé la plupart de difficile. J'ai un dictionnaire à côté de moi comme j'écris ceci. Quand j'étais á Terenure Model United Nations, mon ami Sadhbh et me ont écrit des notes en Francais á l'un l'autre. Il était amusant et utile. J'éspere que vous me direz si vous trouvé erruers dans mon travail.
Bien sûr, ma Francais n'est pas assez bien écrire environ les sujets interessant, mais je pense que cette poste serait plus interessant que un autre revue de musique (bien que, je voudrais vous dire environ l'album nouveau par Paramore, si je trouvé jamais le temps!).

Must-have music (yep, more reviews)

Formalities aside, I have an agenda today. I've 2 new albums to entice you to get, namely newcomer Florence and the Machine's 'Lungs' and Muse's 'The Resistance'.

Florence and the Machine- Lungs
This up and coming new band is comprised of Florence Welch, who will reel you in with her incredible voice, and 'the Machine' - a collection of musicians who provide the backing music that gives her songs their kick. I first heard of them from friends who saw them at Oxegen and said they were one of the best acts there. The snippet of 'Cosmic Love' from the O2 Priority ad on tv intriqued me enough to check them out.

Last week I bought the deluxe version of their debut album 'Lungs' from iTunes. I am prepared to say that this is the best album I've bought this year so far, and probably one of the best albums I own. It is that good. There is none of the usual mediocre songs that one naturally skips when listening to an album. Every single track is different and wonderful in its own way. It's like a collection of fairy tales, each one drawing you into a unique world. Florence's voice is powerful and enchanting, and the infectious beat accompanying her ensures that you'll have the songs glued to the inside of your brain for days. It's not just vocals and drums though, the subtler string and wind parts gently enrich the music with many layers, so that every time you listen to the song you hear something new.

I am obsessed with this band. I wish I was going to see them playing the Olympia this December, but it sold almost instantly. I'm positive there'll be more gigs in the future though, because they're going to be HUGE. Trust me. My favourite tracks (and it's hard to choose without just reciting the track list) so far are 'Dog Days are Over', 'Drumming Song', 'Cosmic Love', 'Bird Song', 'Howl'...ok I have to stop myself now. If you're fans of Regina Spektor, Imogen Heap, Kate Bush or powerful female vocals in general then do yourself a favour and check out Florence and the Machine.

Muse- The Resistance
Ah, Muse. I love you guys. You are my very favourite eccentric uber awesome rock band. You blend together epic guitar/bass/drums skillz with off the wall sci-fi themes so seamlessly. You are the very definition of awesome. I've been anticipating your new album ever since I discovered you last year. And now it's here.

The Resistance is the next step in the evolution of Muse's music. Their experimentation with electronica and the techno side of music has resulted in a very different yet still distinctively Muse-y album. It's very ambitious, I like how they refuse to just rehash Origin of Symmetry. It's unpredictable and caught me by suprise. I never expected a Muse album called 'The Resistance' to contain so many themes of love. Some of the tracks like Uprising and Undisclosed Desires venture into the electronic side of Muse, while Unnatural Selection and MK Ultra retain their quintessential epic guitar playing. I Belong to You is a beautiful song, which I never would have expected Muse to make, but I've never heard Matt sing better than when he's wooing us with his French and piano.

The star of this album, and Muse's most extravagent project yet, is the 13 minute full orchestra space-rock symphony. Yes. A space rock symphony. I KNOW. Exogenesis (Overture, Cross-Pollination, Redemption) is its name. Exogenesis is the name for the theory that life on earth orginated from outer space. It's brilliant. It doesn't sound like a rock band with an orchestra tacked on, the guys worked really hard to make the transition from classical to rock seamless. It's a beauty. It takes up a 5th of the album, but I'd say it's worth getting the album just for it. My favourite part of it is the third one, and last track of the album, Redemption. It'll get even the most hardcore rock fan to appreciate classical music. It's uplifting and one of Muse's best projects so far.

So yeah, get this album too.

Coldplay summarised

I'm really really tired right now so I'm going summarise the Coldplay concert into lists. You can thank me later.

• It required a half hour walk at quick pace to get in & out of the Phoenix Park area where it was held. Not fun at 11.15pm when you know you've school in the morning.
• We missed White Lies supporting, but I've seen them before and don't think they're that good. I liked Elbow, I like their variety of live instruments.
• Coldplay themselves were good. Music was top notch stuff.
• Giant baubles with projected images.
• Many giant yellow balloons released to be bopped by the crowd during 'Yellow'
• Rainbow butterfly confetti cannons.
• Fireworks.
• Sardine'd onto a luas home at 12.30am.

1. Life In Technicolor
2. Violet Hill
3. Clocks
4. In My Place
5. Yellow
6. Glass Of Water
7. Cemeteries Of London
8. 42
9. Fix You
10. Strawberry Swing
11. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (techno version)
12. Talk (techno version)
13. The Hardest Part (Chris piano)
14. Ride On (Christy Moore cover - acoustic)
15. Postcards From Far Away (piano instrumental)
16. Viva La Vida
17. Lost!
18. Trouble (acoustic)
19. Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic - sung by Will)
20. Billie Jean
21. Viva La Vida (remix interlude)
22. Politik
23. Lovers In Japan
24. Death And All His Friends
25. The Scientist
26. Life in Technicolor ii
27. The Escapist (outro)

2 Haiku about Haiku

I feel like September has been neglected by my increased work load from 6th year. So I decided to share my feelings about Haiku, through Haiku by Roger McGough (one of my favourite poets I saw at Edinburgh).

The only problem
with Haiku is you just
get started and then

I could count your syll-
ables, but never managed
to speak your language

-Roger McGough

They're nice and all, but I never really got into them.