Pudsey the Dog: predictable, yet heart-warming

If you’re not familiar with Pudsey, then where have you been? Pudsey is the 2013 winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2013, and now he has his own movie simply titled: Pudsey the Dog.

The movie sees Pudsey wandering the streets of London alone after being fired from his job as the dog in a black and white film (do they still make those?). Pudsey is happy to be a lone ranger and explores London doing what dogs usually do… Well, maybe dogs aren’t actually allowed on the London Eye, but one can dream! It is during his solo adventure when he meets the misunderstood Molly, the often irritating George, and sulky Tommy, who take him under their wing…before their mother chucks him out again!

A twist of fate sees Pudsey joining the family as they move from London to Chuffington, a homely little village in England’s countryside. This is where we meet a range of cliché characters including the dreamy farmhand, Jack, and the evil, dog-hating landlord, Mr. Thorne.

The plot itself is very predictable: Mr. Thorne plans to tear down the cottage he has just received new tenants into (as you do!) and place a large shopping centre in its place (because this homely village consisting of about fifty people needs such a thing!). Pudsey discovers the evil plot, but being a dog, the family cannot understand him. So it’s up to Pudsey!

It is the furry characters that make this film entertaining. Pudsey’s love of sausages and his knack for getting into mischief delivers the majority of the laughs, with David Walliams providing his cockney vocals. The film also ensures that Pudsey’s award-winning talent of dancing fits into almost any scene he wishes, and for the most part, it works, because what moment doesn’t call for a dog dancing and twirling on his hind legs?

Unfortunately, the human actors drew the short straw script-wise and delivered forced and often cringe-worthy performances. The mixture of accents, from English to Irish to Scottish, is also a little off-putting.

As a children’s film, it is a worthwhile watch. As for dog lovers, it is best to keep in mind that you’re there for the four-legged actors, not the two -legged!

3/5

Pudsey the Dog is in cinemas 14 July 2014

My First Published Article

The editor of my college newspaper asked me to write up a survival guide for each year of an undergraduate degree. It was a small start, but to see my name in print was truly amazing. Here is my article:

The transition from school to college can be quite a daunting process. Suddenly you find yourself in a position where your timetable is not as consistent as it was in school, the materials you need are much pricier, and the social scene is something altogether different than you’re used to. Some handle it better than others, but that does not mean to say that everyone can’t use a little help along the way. Here is some tips/advice on how to ease your settlement into college life:

Year 1

Get a map: No matter how small a college is, you will get lost! It can take a couple of weeks to properly get your bearings, but the assistance of a map will help speed this up. By the end of your first week, you could be giving directions to other freshers!

Make friends: Remember that everyone in your course is in the same boat as you. Perhaps some people already know each other, but a majority won’t. If they’re studying the same subject as you, chances are you already have a good bit in common with them. The first week is all about settling in, so lecturers will go easy on you. In the free time between classes, get to know your classmates, arrange a lunch date or night out to get to know each other better. These people will be your support system for the duration of your studies at undergraduate level.

Don’t get overwhelmed: Every undergraduate course generally begins with an induction. Aside from the library tours and ice breakers, you are given a summary of what you will be doing in each year of your studies. This can seem frightening. You have only just started and the lecturers are already talking about your final year thesis! Take a deep breath and remember that you will not be thrown into the deep end. The lecturers will do everything they can to ensure that you know exactly what you are doing, and come final year dissertations, you’ll wonder why you ever fretted.

Get involved: College is not just about academics (though it is a vital part!); it is also about socialising and get involved in campus projects. Clubs and Socs week is a great way to get involved and to meet people of different ages and courses. With over sixty societies currently running in DIT, you are bound to find something that interests you. However, in the off-chance that you don’t, why not set up your own?

Manage your time appropriately: Because your schedule won’t always be within the standard 9.00am to 4.00am time frame, it is important that you ensure that any outside commitments are arranged in such a way that it does not disrupt your studies. Maybe you have a part time job. A good employer will ensure that your work hours suit your college hours.

Manage your assignments: Assignments usually begin around mid-October, and you will get them from each subject you are studying. While it is unlikely that more than one assignment will be due on the same day, they may be due around the same week, or month. Don’t panic! Good timekeeping is essential to carrying out assignments. Draw up an assignment schedule and decide when you will work on each one. If you find you need help, or possibly an extension, talk to your lecturer. They will do what they can to help.

Presentations will happen: The idea of standing up in front of a room full of people can seem scary. Just keep in my that everyone in your class will have to do the same thing, so support each other and take away the nerves, it’ll be over before you know it! The more you do them, the more confident you will become.

It helps to talk: Stress can occur under the pressure of assignments and class schedules, and in times like these, it is important not to suffer in silence. DIT has a counselling service that caters for students who need that extra bit of support in their studies. They will listen to you and work with you to reduce your stress. Just remember, no matter how small you think your problems are, they are willing to listen.

Budget: College is expensive, that is most likely the first thing you are told once you’ve decided to go. However, with the rise in student discounts around Dublin, it can be quite easy to manage your money sensibly and still be able to afford reasonably priced luxuries. Make sure to take advantage of the Student Union Ents card, which gives you discounts all over the city centre.

On the same note, buying books is not essential: In school you received a booklist and everything on it had to be purchased. Due to third level books being alarmingly expensive, colleges recommend reading material rather than deem it necessary for you to buy them. Your lecturers will more than likely recommend books that are available in the college library, so you can always get your hands on the material you need without spending a fortune.

Make time for yourself: For a student who has classes and assignments, and possibly part time jobs and/or long distance travel times, it may seem impossible to find time to kick back and relax. However, just two hours a week dedicated to you and what you do to chill can have a positive impact on your college life.

Find your study space: Whether this is the library, or a free classroom on campus, it always good to know you have somewhere to go where it is quiet and you can do your work in peace.

Year 2

There’s no denying that second year is a little easier than first year in terms of knowing what to expect. Assignments and unpredictable schedules are second-nature to you now. Here are some tips to help you get back into your fresher routine:

Dig out your map: You may think that after first year you’ll never get lost again. This is not always the case. The summer is long and your mind is focused on non-college related stuff, and you may come back realising that you can’t remember where your photography class is. If you’re super organised, you’ll still have your map from first year. If not, grab another one and don’t be late for class!

Don’t get cocky: It is a common pitfall that once you’ve completed one year in college, the rest will be a breeze. Wrong! Apologies for sounding blunt, but it only becomes more challenging, but that doesn’t mean to say it’ll be worse. Dedicate as much effort to your assignments as you did in your first year. The lecturers started you off easy, now they want to get you ready for the big stuff.

Get re-involved: Maybe you neglected the societies you joined in first year, wanting to focus more on the academic side of college life. Or perhaps you decided against signing up to a particular society and regretted it later. Clubs and Socs week happens every year in DIT and it always comes with new societies to join. As mentioned in Year 1, you can always start your own society if you’re feeling a bit more confident than last year.

Learn from your first year: It may not just be societies you regret not signing up to, but perhaps you wish you had made a better effort in certain assignments, or you didn’t pay as much attention in a particular subject as you should have. While you can’t go back and change that, you can learn from it and improve yourself this year. College is all about progression, not just in the course, but yourself too.

Help out freshers: This doesn’t necessarily mean volunteering at Freshers Week, or dedicating your spare time to being a tour guide. Should you see a fresher who clearly looks lost, approach them and ask if you can help them find where they need to be. They will appreciate your help. After all, you were in their shoes this time last year!

Year 3

For some, third year could mean the final year, for others it’s just as important, as it’s paving the way to your final year. Stress can be most rife among third year students. Suddenly you realise that you’re halfway through/finishing your course and you’re thinking: where did the time go? Don’t worry; just keep these tips in mind:

Don’t lose the balance of work and play: Third year will either be your final year and or your second last year. Either way it’s a big deal. The assignments will be more challenging, and your workload will increase. However, that does not mean you have to sacrifice fun to make way for work. If you find the balance you managed in years 1 and 2 worked for you, keep it up. Otherwise, try to come up with a schedule that allows enough time for both sides of the coin.

Consider your options: Whether it is your last year or not, it might be a good idea to make an appointment with the career counsellor to help you look at what your options are after you graduate. If you already have an idea of what you would like to do, the career counsellor will help you decide how best to go about doing it.

Don’t beat yourself up: Now that you’re coming to the end of your studies, it is easy to tell yourself that you’re not capable of getting good grades in your final years. You’re quite capable, you just need to focus and put in the right amount of effort whilst not overdoing it.

Support each other: By now your classmates have become your family. They too may be feeling the stress of third year and need some support. Help each other out. If you have techniques to help you decompress after a stressful day or assignment, share this with your classmates.

(Note: For those who are finishing their course in third year, see Year 4 tips.)

Year 4

Here you are: a fourth and final year student. It may require you to write a dissertation and/or carry out a research study, but either way it’s a big deal, but that doesn’t mean it has to get the better of you.

Don’t stress: You have come this far, which means you are more than capable of doing it, and doing it well.

Balance, balance, balance: This cannot be said enough. Don’t tip the scale. Overworking yourself can lead to burnout and your efforts will end up having the opposite effect. Keep the two hours a week you have dedicated to ‘me time’.

Create a good working relationship with your project supervisor: Most courses set a dissertation for their final year assessment. If this is the case, you will be assigned to a lecturer who will act as your supervisor for the entirety of your research. It is important that you have a good working relationship; after all, this person is trying to help you, not sabotage you. Trust is the key.

Attend career fairs: Organisations such as Graduate Ireland hold career fairs in the RDS to help students like yourselves find work in your field. It is a good idea to visit these fairs, as they are a great way of meeting potential employers, and possibly getting your foot in the door of an organisation you are eager to work in.

Don’t procrastinate: The dissertation will be your longest assignment out of your entire course, and it’s easy to put off working on it for the sake of assignments that are due before it. Set yourself a chunk of time a week to work on it so you don’t fall behind.

Be proud of yourself: Perhaps you never thought you’d make it this far, but here you are, and you should be proud. Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back!

It was edited down because I went over the word count, but I figure it’s easy to cut than it is to add. The picture above is the finished product. I am making it my goal to have a piece published in every issue, which isn’t as difficult as it may seem, as it is only published every three weeks.

Why Introverts Shouldn’t Work in Retail

I begin my MA in Journalism in a little less than a month, and I’m well aware I’ve made no real attempts to write an article. I always have ideas, but I rarely put them down on paper. So here is a first draft of one I have been working on, which I know needs a lot of tweaking, and it doesn’t even look like it’s finished either. But if I don’t post it, I’ll never finish it. Opinions are welcome! I heard a quote that went something like, ‘when you finish your first draft, forgive yourself’. I can’t remember who said it.

All job listings have certain requirements for the positions they’re offering: good computer skills, excellent phone manner, fluent English, etc. Retail job offers in particular look for someone who is a people person, outgoing, a team player – basically someone who thrives in social interactions. It is pretty obvious that if you consider yourself having none of those characteristics, then you should probably avoid applying for retail jobs. Money is money, however, and in times like these beggars can’t be choosers. We must take what we can get.

I consider myself introverted, but that isn’t to say that I prefer being alone for a majority of my day. I do enjoy social situations, but with people I know very well such as family and friends. I have a tight-knit group of friends and that suits me perfectly. I don’t want to be one of those people who has thousands of friends on Facebook and has plans for the entire week. I like to have time to myself, to recharge. What happens to your phone if it isn’t recharged? It stops working. That’s not to say that I stop working if I don’t get time alone, but I become uneasy.

Retail is a pretty easy area to find work in, providing you have some experience. I applied for my current job as a sales assistant so I could save up for college, which, after two years, has finally come to fruition. While it is easy to get into, it is not easy to stay there. If you work in retail yourself, you know what you have to put up with. There are dozens, if not hundreds of websites dedicated to rants of the retail worker. As a frequent reader and contributor to some of these websites, I have nothing but respect to those who can keep up a good manner even in the face of such horrible and unnecessary abuse from customers. No, I don’t freak out at customers, the best I can do is change my tone to sound a little irritated, but mostly I hate confrontation full stop and I will do anything to avoid it.

Managers and team leaders expect you to interact with your customers, to chat to them, or at least greet them to make them feel like they’re not just another face in the queue. As a social pariah, this is not easy for me. Sure, there are occasions when I am in such a good mood that I’ll talk to anyone, but most of the time I just want to scan the customer’s items through, take their payment and send them on their way. Next!

It’s easy to talk to customers whom you can relate to. For example, when I see a customer buying cat food, I am instantly interested to hear about their feline friend(s), as I have a cat myself. It’s the same with dogs and other animals. I am a great animal lover. Most of the time it is me who has to begin the conversation, but sometimes you get an extremely chatty person who will talk to anyone and I find it difficult to keep them going with my ‘oh right’ and ‘I see that’ responses. I’m not interested in the economy, or how we should get rid of the smaller coins in the Euro. Yes, I do think it’s a disgrace that we don’t have paper bags for the clothes or the wine, but I can’t do anything about it. Even if I agree with them, they stand there expecting me to come up with a solution, which I’m convinced involves me magically pulling said out of stock item out of nowhere.

Career First, Writing Second

Ideally I would love to make a career out of writing stories, but I’m sensible enough to know that I still have a lot of practice and confidence building to do before I can ever hope to submit my work to a publication. Therefore, how could I possibly hope to make a living out of it?

I do have a career aspiration in mind, I’d love to be a proof reader/sub-editor. Whenever I read a book I can’t help but notice the odd spelling mistake or missing word. And I think I would enjoy it. I’m currently doing freelance proofreading work through the Internet for barely any money, but it’s gaining me confidence and practice.

Writing will always be my passion, but editing and proof reading would be an enjoyable career. I’m hoping my MA in Digital Journalism will help propel me into this field, as well as my freelance work.

It’s Been A While…

I talk about my first week of my writing course and then I shut off. Apologies for that. In fact, I completed the six-week course just this Wednesday last. I’m glad I did it, in spite of putting my stories out there and allowing myself to be criticised by people who wouldn’t volunteer their own work. I don’t wish to sound bitter, but it annoyed me a little bit.

More detail on my course coming soon, but I should announce that I have been accepted to study my MA in Digital Journalism (formerly Journalism). Very happy!

Creative U-Turns

Turning down the MA in Journalism was one of my most regrettable decisions. Creative U-turns, Julia calls them. However, I have rectified that by applying again, informing them that I had applied before and reassuring them that I was 100% ready to do the course this time, and I am…I think!

Maybe my pessimism is blocking out new ideas, not necessarily story ideas, but ways in which I can nurture myself into becoming a confident writer. For example, my epiphany about the dangers of writing out story ideas before beginning the actual story. Another came to me just last Sunday. I was reading the next chapter of my course book and I suddenly decided that I would love to do a Creative Writing course. It came to me while I was reading about Creative U-Turns. Whilst the Journalism masters is my biggest regret, I also look back on the Creative Writing class I dropped out of after one session because I felt intimidated. Now is my chance to rectify that!

I Googled courses in my area and found one called Beginners of Writing Fiction. I have been writing stories all my life, but I am very much a beginner because I’ve only ever based my writing on those who have already been published. I’ve so many issues that I look past when writing my stories: character development, especially. A six-week course could be just what I need to help me improve. I signed up just last night, with the first class beginning on the 24th of April.

I do hope I receive more epiphanies!

The Artist’s Way

If you have never heard the name Julia Cameron, she is, put simply, a woman on a mission. That mission is to help people become unblocked so that they can uncover their creative potential. Whether you are a writer, a painter, a sculptor, an actress, Julia believes she has the tools to help you realise your full potential.

I was introduced to this course over two years ago by my creative writing teacher, Stella*. She saw that I had a talent for writing and encouraged me to put more time into it. It is because of her that I am applying for my Masters in Journalism this year. However, whilst I carried out 12-week course set out by Julia, I did what I usually do whenever I finish a course – I forget everything I learned. I said that I am applying for my Masters, but what I didn’t tell you was that I applied for the exact same postgraduate course two years ago, and I was accepted. Somewhere along the way, however, I convinced myself that I was dreaming. I could never be a professional writer. So I turned down the offer, and it has haunted me ever since.

There’s no denying that a sensible person should aim for the highest paying career, even if that means putting your dreams aside. I spent two years not sure what I wanted to do. I had convinced myself that I wanted to be a counsellor, to help those who were too afraid to speak about their anxieties. I had finally gained an interview for a Masters in Psychotherapy last summer, and…

…it was a disaster.

The college had no intention of taking me on. They wanted me to do their foundation Psychotherapy course first, which would have been too much money for me afford. I cried in the interview and I cried afterwards. I’m the kind of person who needs to have a direction in life, and at that moment, I was stuck at a crossroads. No doors had closed, and it took me a while to realise that I just needed to set myself a new path. I kept thinking of the missed opportunity I had with the Journalism course. I went as far as asking for spiritual advice on what to do. The reply came to me very clearly: you already know what you want to do. I wanted to do Journalism.

At this stage it was too late to apply for the academic year of 2012-2013 so I decided I would explore my new road map. Over the past few months I have discovered that I have a talent for proofreading, and I find it quite enjoyable. I invested in a worthwhile eBook on Proofreading and began doing freelance work online. I haven’t been paid a whole lot, but I didn’t expect to be. I wanted to experience, but more importantly, I wanted to know if this was what I truly wanted.

I would be lying if I said that I am now certain that this is the direction I want to take. Part of me is still terrified of perhaps choosing the wrong option. I am surrounded by both supportive people and sceptical people; conflicting arguments ringing in my ears day in and day out. I had to find a way to help myself to block out the negative and listen to my inner artist.

The Artist’s Way once again lay in front of me and I made it my New Year’s resolution to redo the course, this time with more commitment and determination. I am currently on week four, and I would like you to follow me as I try my best to do this course right and become the confident, self-motivated person I have so long craved to be.