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Qs

Keen to do work experience somewhere fun, youthful and innovative?

Like the freedom of working bare-foot and/or in a bean bag?

Want to do more than make tea and photocopy?

Got a positive and can-do attitude?

Fancy spending your breaks wandering about Temple Bar?

Yes, you say? Excellent, we reply!

To get the ball rolling, email info@spunout.ie with the following info:

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Follow us on Twitter @SpunOut

1. Be the 1st to know about SpunOut job/ internship/ volunteer opps!

2. Get the latest and greatest YOUTH-related news, events and opps from Ireland and the world!

3. Procrastinate with us!

4. Have a laugh!

5. Win prizes from @SpunOut competitions!

6. Ask a Q, get an answer ASAP!

7. Hear what's happenning in SpunOut HQ!

8. Have your say on the hottest controversies!

9. Vent!

10. Revel in our randomness!

11. Enjoy something FUN and FREE!

Follow us on Twitter @SpunOut

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 Engaging with politicians isn't always easy, no matter your age!

This week, representatives of SpunOut.ie were engaged in very intense discussions with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs about what SpunOut's all about and all the great stuff it's doing for young people in Ireland... ha! Well, that's not how this article is going to go because I'm here to give you the down low on what really went on in a particular discussion room in Leinster House.

Well to begin with, I had no preconceptions of what our meeting with the Minister would be like, I was ready for any situation, happy to represent young people and get my points across.

Cut to the actual meeting: In the meeting room there was the Minister, Francis Fitzgerald, her two advisers, Will (the man who arranged the meeting), our very own Manus Hanratty and Marie Duffy, and yours truly. I don't remember exactly the order of the conversation but it went something like, Manus introducing us and explaining what we're about; Marie talking about her experience with SpunOut; and me speaking whenever I felt was appropriate as “an average young person.”

I'm going to give you my own character analysis of the Minister, as she came across to me. I'll be honest and say I expected her to be a little more interested in me as a young person. I felt like her attitude towards me was more like I was a young child with little understanding of “grown ups business” and no real opinion. It came across as patronising. It didn't feel like she made any effort to involve me in the general flow of the conversation which was mainly dominated with facts and figures about the website and what do we do that sets us apart. I don't at all think this was intentional on her part, I think she is just unaccustomed to relating to young adults in any situation, which is worrying seeing as she is our voice in the government. I understand that her business-like, straight-to-the-point style of conversing is only necessary in such a situation when there is much to be discussed and little time but her abrupt change of tone when she was talking to me made it clear she didn't see me in any way on the same level as the other adults in the room.

I was disappointed with how little she validated that I had an opinion on what they were discussing, after all I am her “target audience.” If I was her I would have used the time to get as much information on today's young people as possible. I finally did butt in towards the end of the meeting and voiced the point that she needs to make herself and the workings of her department more known to us the youth and make sure we know when there is something we can have a say in. Basically we have no idea who she is or what she does and we bloody well should. But even her response to this was along the same lines as what you would say to a child when they show you a drawing looking for your approval and you have to pretend like its beautiful when really you have not a clue what it is. You know the tone I'm talking about? Well that's how she spoke to me. I felt like my (valid) point had been trivialised and she was just trying to make me feel better and like I'd contributed to the conversation in some way.

I totally get how in her head she would think that by raising her eyebrows and smiling encouragingly at me it would make me feel like she was listening and taking in what I was saying but I found it frustrating beyond belief. Maybe she did listen to what I was saying but it didn't at all feel like it, which only reinforces the fact that although she has “a background in social work” she is clearly totally un-used to dealing with teenagers.

She of all people should be putting herself out there and getting right into youth culture, trying to understand us and our needs and what is happening right now. This can not happen when she purely relies on the Chinese whispers that passes from actual teenagers through person after person until it finally reaches her. A watered down version of the truth is no good! Brave the elements and engage with us, we don't bite. Furthermore, you have a formal invitation to my school.
 

Speaking purely as part of the SpunOut delegation, all dis-satisfaction with the minister aside, the meeting left me feeling indifferent. I hope this feeling is not justified because I want to think that we made an impression on her and her encouraging words weren't just routine. It's hard to tell, although she did accept our gift of the SpunOut “Find Help in Ireland” app and made it clear that the work SpunOut does is of high importance and value. The meeting definitely had a positive sheen to it and things look bright for SpunOut in the future.

Viva Ferguson

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• Have your phone or diary full of reminders that you never do until the final deadline is looming.
• Take so many tea/coffee breaks that people start thinking about checking you into caffeine rehab!
• Always do the easiest and least important tasks on your ‘to do’ list first i.e. responding to your friend’s email rather than doing the report that’s due tomorrow morning.
• Experience a lot of stress doing things at the last minute.

Why do people procrastinate?

• Because they find it tough to organise themselves.
• Because they lack confidence that they can get the task done.
• Because humans are wired to seek immediate rewards before long term gains. It’s how we evolved.

Living with your procrastination tendencies

• Choose a job where procrastination isn’t a big problem. If procrastination is an issue for you, you’d be best off avoiding careers that demand high levels of concentration such as accountancy, writing and the legal field. You may instead find more happiness in the health and fitness industry, in PR or as an entrepreneur.
• Be realistic. You won’t ever become totally cured of your tendency to procrastinate. So if you can just improve your concentration and abilities to get things done, that’s still really good.
• Be aware that you are not alone on this one. No matter how efficient your friends and family seem, it is very likely that they have procrastinated at some stage too.
• Use some handy anti procrastination tools. You might enjoy a disconnect tool. This is an application/programmethat disconnects your Internet for up to eight hours and thus allows you to slave away without being tempted to check your Twitter every five minutes.
• Be aware of what you need to work efficiently. For example, some people absolutely cannot study or work in silence. If they try to work without music or radio, their procrastination will only worsen and they won’t get anything done. On the other hand, maybe music distracts you and you are better off working in silence. Only you know the answer to this one.
• Give yourself a specified amount of time. Some people like to set their phone alarm to go off in twenty minute chunks of time. This means that they have a nice break to look forward to when it goes off, but before then they will simply be working. Cutting work down into bite sized chunks like this seems to help many people become more efficient, as they are not facing three hours without a break, but are instead getting a lot of work done in short bursts.
• Start with the roughest task first. The natural inclination is to go with the easiest task first, but many people find that getting the tough one out of the way first makes life easier. Try it and see if it works for you.
• Start with the easiest task first. Yep, the exact opposite of the advice above. Apparently, it seems that procrastinators do do stuff. In fact, they do plenty of stuff. It’s just that they tend to put off the most important tasks in order to do the less important ones. Accepting this fact allows you to order your ‘to do’ list so that the most important tasks at the top of the list are the ones that seem vitally important, but actually aren’t. This clever concept is called ‘structured procrastination’ and it was created by the Harvard professor John Perry.  It may well work for you.
• Reward yourself. This is a biggie and many people find it motivating. The reward can be as cheap and simple as a bath or it can be as extravagant as a trip away. It depends on your finances and the extent of the task.
• Make sure that there are consequences of not following through. Some people are not motivated by positive rewards and instead need the threat of something negative to get them going. So maybe tell yourself that you won’t be allowed to watch that all important match if you don’t finish the project. Of course, this requires discipline on your part, to actually follow through with it. If you do though, you may actually find it very motivating.
• Seek support if you feel that procrastination is really interfering with your happiness or if it’s preventing you from getting on at school, college or in your career.

January 31st is ‘Backward day’, February 4th is ‘Vacuum day’ and (loving this one) February 6th is ‘Wave all your fingers at your neighbours day’. You said what?! We don’t know if someone just made that up but hey, it’s fun, so who cares!

One that we recently heard about and that we reckon everyone should celebrate is ‘Escape day’ on January 30th. It’s all about kicking back and making time for your favourite escape – be that picking up a rucksack and heading travelling, wandering through the wet countryside or sneaking off to bed in the middle of the day with a good book.

Some juicy escape ideas:

• Escape from being a student:  Be a teacher for three minutes – pop into the staff room and give your ‘colleagues’ a great big happy hello! See how long it takes them to kick you out.

• Escape yourself: Dress up (or get in the headspace) of someone else for an hour. If you’d like to be more confident, take on your favourite super confident role model’s persona. If you fancy being a joker, start channelling Charlie Chaplin or Des Bishop.

• Escape your mindset: If you love heavy metal, listen to some cheesy pop and have a silly dance. If you’re pro-environment, think anti-environment for a while – picture yourself sucking diesel in a big SUV.

• Escape your saintly self: Try a bit of pride – be arrogant for a few minutes. Or if you really want to go wild, dip into those seven deadly sins (without being nasty to anyone else though!).

• Really escape: Pick a day and bunk off from doing anything. Grab  your i-pod and chill out with no worries and no pressures.

Enjoy celebrating!

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I was just sitting here floating through the SpunOut site (as I do), when I started wondering what it is all about. Why are we here? What is our purpose? I guess that's the old age question isn't it?! And the answer......who knows? I guess we are here to learn.

I truly believe that life is a learning experience and that as long as you still want to learn; you’re still young and still have a reason to be here. Of course, your family and friends are (or should be) reason enough to just be here and exist, and then of course there are jobs and well just anything that you hold important, but learning and discovering is what makes life's journey really great!

I am young (only 20), and by all accounts have much much more to learn and experience. Lord knows that there is so much that I still want to do and see, and just experience, but if there is one thing that I have realised in my (young) life, it is that the joy of life is discovery. If you take all your experiences and learn from them, you will become a much better person for it! I know that I am young, but I also know that I have already lived a pretty exceptional life, thanks to some pretty colourful characters indeed.

I have lost people I loved, both through the eventual and ever real concept that is death, but also through my own foolishness! And what have I taken from those experiences - well lessons! Lessons on how to live and how to cherish those that I truly love and those that I care for. I’ve learned to never take them for granted because one day they are here and the next they are gone!

I lost my grandfather in a matter of hours in a foreign country; he took ill and within hours was gone. I was alone, and even though I had lost a mentor and confident, the man who had raised me, I have been able to use that dreadful day to grow and to become a better person.

Although it was easily one of the worst days of my life, it has also become one of the best because now I know how to live life to the fullest. I know that when I want to do something, I should do it and not just wait and let the opportunity pass me by. I know how to really show people how much I appreciate them. The experience has allowed me to grow and really experience life. I LEARNED from that day!

So I guess I just wrote this to say that no matter what happens, just remember to use the experience and learn from it. You will become a better more fulfilled person, and isn't that what life is about?

By: Anonymous

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To think constructively and clearly is an art frequently ignored by many. We all know someone who describes themselves as "strongly opinionated" and who "never backs down in an argument". Such phrases I have found are red flag signals for the more accurate description "usually wrong". I had a professor who introduced his lecture on the ethical issues behind euthanasia by claiming, "If you find yourself flat out in favour of or against euthanasia, you don't understand the entire dilemma". Not understanding the dilemma or refusing to take account of each side are the principal stumbling blocks in the art of proper thinking.

To think, very simply, is to reflect on a question. Perhaps every thought can be boiled down as an attempt to answer a question. To think, then, is to question. Asking the right questions is the foundation of clear thinking. The right questions shed light on every forgotten detail of a subject. In this little reflection then we find the value of what is a maxim of our generation: Question Everything. We think ourselves as the generation that will ask the awkward questions. We think we subscribe to the values of punk in refusing to meekly accept authority without question. We think we live these values by chastising our politicians and exercising our free choice in which clothes to buy. We wish we could spread our values of freedom to North Korea where they wailed at the death of their dictator and to the religious extremists who unquestioningly throw away their lives in service to their leaders. We wish everyone had democracy and freedom of speech. We wish everyone could and did question everything like we do. We wish, in short, that the entire planet shared our noble values.

Something we never do, however, is question whether we really do question everything. Is democracy so great? Do we rule ourselves? Do we have freedom of speech? Why am I so emotionally invested in the Arsenal result last weekend? What is so wrong with the North Korean way of life? Are we free to dress how we want or do we dress how our social group expects us? Is choosing between H&M or Forever21 a true show of freedom? What about McDonalds or Burger King? Meteor or Vodaphone? Why is the log-off button on facebook more difficult to access than the "find friends" button when the former is by far more commonly needed? Is there a God? Can He create a stone so heavy that nobody He can create can lift? I will admit that I don't know the answer to most of these questions and in a way I hope you don't either.

We need to embrace our ignorance and throw away the dogma of being "strongly opinionated." Socrates was wise because he realised his own ignorance. It’s high time we begin to realise our own ignorance and to truly Question Everything. Not to just memorise quotes from Fight Club in the hope of attracting girls.

Gary Doyle

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Once you register, you will receive the Show Racism the Red Card DVD for free with links to the 28 page education pack, downloadable interactive activities and other resource material that will help you promote learning around racism in your group. Once the young people have watched the DVD, they will then be challenged to create their own written, visual or audiovisual piece arising from the themes of the DVD.

Register: www.theredcard.ie/competition.php

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• City parks. Most cities (and even many towns) have parks where anyone can go for a walk. Just make sure to avoid walking on your own at night and don’t go to very deserted/remote parks on your own.

• Exercise outdoors. If you are into exercise and enjoy being fit, why not bring it outdoors?  Some sports such as cycling or walking easily lend themselves to being done outside anyhow. If you’re worried about the cold, there is a lot of well designed winter sports gear out there. It’s specifically designed to keep you toasty. 

• Make a conscious effort to go outside sometimes, i.e. study outside or eat lunch outside. Weather permitting of course. You can’t really tuck into your sarnies on a bench outside if the rain is lashing against you!

• Gardening. If you already have your own garden, but someone else looks after it, why not take the reigns and learn a bit about gardening. It’s a great way of getting out in the fresh air on a regular basis. If you don’t have access to a garden of your own, you could splash the cash and see about renting out an allotment. www.allotments.ie

• Get on your bike. If you have a bike, you could go off for the day and explore the countryside.  You could make a day of it and even have yourself a little picnic. This is probably best done with a friend or partner for safety reasons.

• Take the bus out to the sea or the country. If you don’t cycle, why not hop on a bus and go to the nearest beach or local country area? Bus tickets are fairly cheap, and it would make a great day out.

• Wilderness therapy. If you’re really adventurous, you could go on a Wilderness weekend. Wilderness therapy is a form of therapy that involves going out into the countryside and living there for a few days. Wilderness therapy aims to raise self confidence and to increase your survival skills. It’s a bit out there, but it certainly will get you right smack bang in the middle of nature.

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