Artygirl's Blogs

A new year, A fresh Start

2008-01-07T21:11:00Z

Well everyone, happy new year! I hope you all had a happy christmas, or at least, a safe christmas. I spend the day with my family then Conor and I visited my little cousins and gave them presents- was great fun! Can't believe it's 2008, I remember being in P7 and it was coming up to the millenium, everyone thought a crazy computer virus was going to take over the world.. Haha I actually remember having this little book, it was a 'time capsule book' and you wrote all your thoughts in it about the new year and your plans for this millenium. I guess it's an old version of the blog.. unbelievably I'd probably never even been on the internet back then! How weird is that?!

I dunno about you but I think New year is a strange time of year, everyone sets themselves challenges- things like: I'm going to stop eating junk food, going to start being a nicer person, going to go to the gym etc... Suppose I said to you, right, today I want you to do nothing at all- tomorrow I want you to swim across the atlantic. It wouldn't be do-able, however, if I said to you 'tomorrow, go for a long walk and keep doing walks for the next week, then work up to a run, then start going swimming etc, you'd eventually get to the standard to complete the challenge. If you're finding it hard to stick to your resolutions, do them in bitesize chunks- otherwise you'll get overloaded.

I've decided to take my time over things for my resolution... I have a habit of doing too much and burning myself out.. I'm starting to realise the importance of some quiet time at the end of the day where I don't have to think about university, work or anything else.. You should try it, if you are like me and collapse into bed at the end of each day because you haven't taken the time to sit back and contemplate over the days happenings then give it a go :) I know you'll all be busy with school now, christmas test etc- it's not always an easy time of year, just try to stay positive, I believe in you all- anyone I've met on YC are all very talented and I have no doubt that any new member will be the same.

All that's left to say is that I'll be thinking of you all and you won't be forgotten. Have a great 2008 and hopefully I'll be in touch with you all soon! P.S: Read this poem, always remember to enjoy the happy times while they're there- you're all fantastic, everything you do- be proud of yourselves!

Slow Dance

A poem by David L Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids
on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain
slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Do you run through each day
on the fly
When you ask "How are you?"
do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,
do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste,
not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
'Cause you never had time
to call and say "Hi"?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away...

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Allo

2007-12-12T14:16:00Z

Sorry for not writing for a while! Things have been busy with end of term projects and I was away seeing my sister at the weekend in Surrey- my little niece has gotten so big bless her! She's teething so she's biting away at everything at the mo haha

Hope all is well with you? I finish uni for christmas on friday- can't believe my first semester is over, time really does fly! I'm class rep in uni which is fun, means I get to meet lots more people and get to know the tutors better- pretty cool. I've organised for the class to go out on friday night, dancing and all that, should be fun haha even though we're all broke! We have to design 6 book jackets over chrsitmas, some with typography and others with photography/illustration/print etc... it's gonna take up so uch time but I'm kinda excited about the outcome!

Any of you guys getting up to anything exciting this christmas? Hope you'll all have a good one- as always, you deserve it! I'll spend christmas day with mum and dad, then my sister, her hubby and the baby are coming over on boxing day- soo excited! Can't wait to show her to friends,

Chat soon, Arty xox

Weekend Happenings

2007-11-30T21:52:00Z

I decided to write you all a wee entry tonight, I'm in a good mood so I thought I'd share it with you. Had a crazy day at work today but as soon as I got home it all picked up. My brother's back from London and after dinner we decided to go down to see the Christmas tree in Belfast.. My bro, mum, dad and I all headed to the market- was nice to do something fun like that as a family - it was nice having dad in town, he rarely gets to do things like that!

We went around the market stalls, looking at the christmas lights and even had some mulled wine! Lovely evening really- you should see some of the beautiful stalls, haha I was pretty amazed- there were some muffins and OH my WORD- they had thick belgian chocolate all over them with full chocolate sweets on top- unhealthy? why yes but ya know what? I think I'll buy one for the fun of it some day soon haha.

What I'm lovin about uni is the fact that you don't have to go in eeeeevvvvery day at the same time, some days I'm not in at all- or even in durin the evenings some days. Cool eh? I'll tell you something though, if you're hating the exams and stuff at the moment (which I'm sure you are!) it'll all be worth it- whether you head to uni or straight into work, I know you'll all rock the working world- honestly! It'll all be cools

Alrighty, I'm gonna go get ready for work in the morning- working in a shop at the moment, it's crazy with the run up to christmas. Hope you're all looking forward to Christmas? Not long now m'darlins!

Love yas lots like jelly tots etc

Arteh xo

University Life

2007-11-27T17:00:00Z

So, how about a bit of a low-down on uni life for me? I'm a design & visual communication student-a fancy name for me doing graphic design, advertising etc. The course is pretty tough but I'm learning a lot. The one thing that I find quite hard is organising my finances but it's very much a possibility to go to uni if you're from a low income family- or no income (like mine).

If you're worried about not being able to go to uni because of lacking money- don't worry. Generally your fees will get paid by the government. For me, my course costs over £3000 pounds per year for 3-4 years. (yes, an insane amount of money) but I got a grant which means the government pays money to me 3 times a year so that it's possible for me to pay my fees.

If you work very hard in school and make a lot of extra curricular achievements you might even get a scholarship. This is something I did get a few weeks ago, which was a lovely surprise- it means I can pay for my supplies for university myself with money from my part time job and then put my scholarship money in the bank to save up for the future! Cool eh?

If anyone has any questions about anything you want me to cover in the blog, uni related or caring related- I'm sure the YC Net team will let me know! As for the folks who know me from before I left YC Net, Hallooooo! Hope you're all well- things are going great as far as uni's concerned, meeting some really cool people. Still with conor and loved up etc <3 haha and I'm also gonna be an auntie again, my brother this time. fun!

Awlrighteh then, Seeyas soon.

T <3

Long time no see!

2007-11-26T17:25:00Z

Dear YC'ers,

It's quite exciting to be back surfing the white and green slopes of the YC NET website once again. I must say, it took me a sec to remember where I had to log in- clearly all this old age business is affecting my memory.

I'm guessing some of you are new to the site and have the burning (or mildly tingling) question: "Who's artygirl?!'. I'm 19 and I'm a girl. So, that's the gender and age issues sorted out, but why am I here? Well, my dad has MS (Multiple Sclerosis) which some of you might be all too familiar with for your liking or indeed, you might be hearing about it for the first time. In summary it's all down to his central nervous system (which is pretty important for making your body work) He can't walk very well and has lack of control over his hands and general body- especially when it's really cold.

I'm hoping that through my blog you might learn from some things I'll tell you about. Even if you just take one thing away from my blogging then that'll be me happy. I hope you're all holding up well and things aren't getting too tough for you. Remember that even when things seem daunting, you WILL get through them and you WILL come out the other side. Young carers have a few challenges to face in life that most people will never come up against, but hey, we're fighters, we can get through it and you know what? I reckon it's made me a stronger person in the long run and I'm certain it'll do the same for you as well.

Well, until tomorrow,

Artygirl