Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Gotta be startin' Somethin' Part 1: My Story.

So you may have asked yourselves what I may have been up to recently.

And if you follow any of my other Internet Presence's then you will know that to some extent.

I have been Volunteering for the Political Campaign of a Candidate in the Irish General Election.


A Stock photo to Illustrate an election...


To describe how i got to this Point i will blitz through some of the history of this blog and provide some links here and there.And after that i will talk about the campaign itself and what inspired me, my involvement and some of my closing thoughts, and what next...

Considering the Length i will make this all kind on you dear reader and split the whole story into part's.
This being the first obviously.

So where may you ask did my interest in politics emerge from?

Well back in September 2008 my life took an unplanned course exactly at the same time the Country's economy was hitting it's first rough patches.

In fact exactly on the Monday morning that Fianna Fáil were announcing that the government had given a Guarantee to the Banks on their bad debt, money and so on, to keep the banks running. I was setting out on this new Twist to my life story. I had just failed my Supplemental exams for 2nd year of General Nursing. So in a panicked and confused state i accepted my parents suggestions and applied for a repeat year.

Now i won't go into mass detail, but Seeing i had a new Chance, path and opportunity in life i decided i would spend more time on Campus in Trinity college. To do this i committed to Joining The Society, which to past readers it was obvious which society this was, but i might as well name it, The Hist. Through my long time Friend Gammaman who was the Recruitment type person for that year I started hanging out in The conversation room, reading newspapers, absorbing Campus Society and the issue's of the day. From time to time i debated but i never really was very good.


Obama's Plagerrised Can Do attitude slogan!


By the morning of November 5th Barrack Obama Was Elected the first American-African President. To say i was skeptical of The American System was an understatement, but i Admired the man and was caught up in the Zeitgeist of the Politic's students, fan's, nerds and Anorak's around me. I also took part in what was an epic way to celebrate the President's Success. A Lecturer in Trinity was kind enough to take a bunch of us to a Hotel penthouse that night where we drank Champaign and had breakfast at sunrise.It was a rather impressive night.

That Winter i Jetted off to Australia with my Family for my sisters wedding and spent about a month there. A different world completely. I Adored several Aspects of Melbourne but i was pretty alone with all the Wedding prep and even a wonderful Tram System, trips to the cinema or a 3 day spot trip to Sydney could console me.

My time with the Society was also good socially, but my college work was slipping. My heart wasn't in it. And Spending time in The Hist was a more a distraction than a Social experience. I learned of the wider world Passively without my own opinions and the same i gained friends and admired people i saw as Impressive future movers and Shakers.

The one person that had caught my attention was the rather impressive Dylan Haskins. Who i have referred to as DJ in the past on this blog.


(Pictured a much younger Dylan in his Gig space in his House)

First I had seen him around as any other young debater.But i sat up and payed attention when i learned that he was the Manager of The Heathers. Who only month's before i had found on myspace and fell in love. While in Australia i had the Margie in Irish stuck in my head.

I first learned of Hide-Away records, his Label in an Irish Times List of up and coming Irish artists which featured the Heather's. The Conversation room table switched to talking about them and Dylan and I was impressed to say the least. He also ran gigs out of his Own House, Hide Away House.

As the Internal Committee elections for the next year approached I ran into him further as We were both Candidate's. We had a interesting conversation one day about Social Networking and the Emerging demise of Bebo and Myspace at the time. I could tell at that time, that not only from what i knew about him, but from that conversation that this guy had a more impressive head on him than a lot of the others i had met in my time in the Society and i was certain he could go far.


The Strange thing about Hist Elections is that you are not allowed Canvas. And i adhered to this. A female friend tried to Insinuate that we might have a pact with each other, to support each others vote, but being a stickler for the loftiness of tradition i was now entering to, I didn't really discuss it with anyone, and didn't go through with it. Just brushed it off. The same Person was subject to a rather odd Facebook Canvassing Troll of some kind that upset the election a bit, but remained a mystery.

Come the Day off the election I, in stupidity didn't put myself as my 1st preference for MC (member of committee), big mistake. As far as i recall, i also put 1st preference for Dylan on the ballot for deputy Correspondence secretary. However he didn't get it, and neither did he get elected MC.

He came second with 27 of 85 votes for Deputy Corr-Sec.
He also received 6 of 89 1st prefs for MC.

I received 3 first preference's, none of which were my own vote, as i didn't give number 1 to myself.


That summer I was still in a massive funk and Failed further a 2nd exam that year, leaving 2 I had the whole summer to prepare for, and a Paper i never submitted to do for the first time in its entirety. This process wasn't exactly very productive, but somehow i pulled off the exams... but the Paper was a disaster of laziness.

In contrast to my Self-Uncertainty, and downward spiral, Dylan had just established Exchange Dublin a collective arts space in Dublin's Old Town in Temple Bar. I wanted to help out, but amongst weak studying and depression i had not searched for a job, so was unable to commit any time.



Due to the poor Quality of paper i turned in, despite passing my exams. I failed my supplemental year. So in Turn i was left Unemployed and at home. I made little effort to help my situation, and eventually it was Decided that i was to go off to Australia and live with my sister for a year and try and find work there.

Parts of this journey were chronicled in my other blog: http://reticsplinesoz.blogspot.com/

That however didn't pan out.

One of the day's i did venture up to Dublin to see my college friends I hung out again in the Hist for a while and Dylan was in the Corner Panicked over an Essay. Using the TCD wi-fi and talking to someone about the Trinity Arts festival which he was helping organise that year. He noticed me and said he was sorry he couldn't talk to me, which at the time i thought was strange as i had barely known him in the past. But the idea was nice. As well as a late essay he was late for RTÉ as he was also working for Rté 2's Young Adult evening period at the time.

In the weeks after that i spent some time Looking for work, but not much. I even Volunteered for Exchange Dublin a few days. But eventually i couldn't afford it. While there i met young people just as impressive as in the Hist but from creative and not entirely intellectual backgrounds. Some of their diverse stories were impressive and i would have loved to have been more of a part of that experience but Living in Louth, and still without a job it was not possible.

I had applied for the CAO again on my return home and Even attempted to Sign up for the Dole, but i had hit a stumbling block. Thanks to a momentous clerical Error, i was down as Off-Books with TCD. Somehow my appeal was miss-marked and when entered into the computer i was given a 2nd Repeat year at Nursing if i could pay for it. Which i couldn't.

During the summer i got a part time job and things were on the up.

However the money was not exactly much, and i wasn't paying tax. And as it was cash in hand, i just spent spent spent. By the time my CAO results came through I was not in the position to attend college financially. So sort of Hap-Hazardly i accepted my Place in Arts in Galway and sent off to post-pone enrollment till the next year.


I continued to work right up to christmas but still not saving anything really. And with the snow driving down business it was a bad time for the Bar that i worked in. I also didn't try and get a shift during the week of melt just before exams. And then took the time off. The week after Christmas I tried repeatedly to get work but to no Avail. I aimed to get New Years eve but it never happened. It turned out i WAS needed back on St Stephens day but by the time this under-staffing was realised it was to late.

However for the next 3 to for weeks in January I kept trying to get shifts but to no Avail.

I wasted my Christmas money and other gift money on DVD's, such as 2 box sets of The West Wing.

I was inspired by this Show and slowly started to turn towards possibly including Politics in my Reserved Art's course in Galway.

In Late January i Applied for a Fás course to help boost my CV and started to apply for the Dole again. I had  given up on my Work as i was no longer able to contact my Boss and he seemed to not care about my call's when i tried.

On Febuary 1st my CAO application was due. I completely forgot about this. By not applying, i forfitted my place in Galway. My mind was else where. Seriously unemployed and Sad about my Isolation and birthday alone i wasn't in a good place. And neither was Ireland.

An election looming i had switched to watching more Irish news.

And when Dylan Haskins Announced his Campaign with the video below. I was Certain what my next step would be:





1 comment:

notRuairi said...

Compelling. Looking forward to part 2.

I've failed supplementals before. While not brilliant, it's not the worst thing that happened to meand my life has taken an interesting path. Seems yours has done the same.