Only 9 more sleeps

Only 9 more sleeps and then it's Christmas! Well it won't actually be Christmas day but for me personally, it's the start of Christmas. The minute I step onto the plane in Dublin, it will be the start of Christmas Holidays. The holiday SPIRIT has infected me since the 1st performance of the Bray Gospel Choir  (November 27th) and has continued to manifest itself as decorations, candles, and the continual playing of Michael Buble's Christmas album. As I headed into Dublin City Centre on Saturday afternoon, to join some merry singers for an afternoon of carolling, I took a few minutes to observe my surroundings. The LUAS was jam packed with people travelling into town for shopping or sipping or singing. When we arrived at Stephen's Green, the atmosphere was electric! Everywhere I looked, people were smiling, laughing, chatting happily to one another. The tacky Christmas jumper brigade were out in full force-  groups of friends gathering for their first drink of the evening, some loud and proud about their outlandish costumes, some a little more embarrassed about their woolly ware. 

If someone asked you to bottle the spirit of Christmas, what would you say? Here's my list of ingredients: 

•  1 tbls cinnamon
•  1/2 tsp all-spice
• a sprinkle of vanilla essence (preferably baked into cookies and pies!)
•  1 cup smell of a wood burning fire
•  2 cups spiced rum
• a dash of that warm feeling you feel when Bing Crosby starts singing

So if it's today, or in 9 days, or in 15 days, pour yourself a glass of Christmas Cheer!

My other 'job'

As the Festive Season comes racing in again, I wanted to share a little bit about Bray Gospel Choir. This is always a hectic time of year for any choir, but a busy choir is a happy choir. 

When we are performing three times in one week, I like to think we are learning and growing together and getting better each time. 

There are quiet times in the year when we will have only one performance in a month. 

But not in December.... oh no.....December is Manic!  It's the time of year when Christmas-meets-Gospel-meets-Motown-meets-Soul. When I get to sing with a wonderfully talented group of my friends and perform Christmas Carols with a Gospel flair.  Sometimes, I'm lucky enough to stand in front of them and listen to the incredible beauty of their voices while also attempting to keep the tempo. 

Here's the first entry (of many more to come) where I introduce, my happy day, my amazing grace, my rock, my Bray Gospel Choir: 

In January 2009, while sitting around the kitchen table of a very close friend, the idea for the Bray Gospel Choir came about over several pots of tea. There were four of us, all looking for a musical outlet - having individually participated in singing groups in the past - and wanting to sing with our friends. Just once a week, hang out and sing with like-minded people. 

Nearly 5 years later, and Bray Gospel Choir is a performance choir with an extensive repertoire of music, 43 current members, 8 session musicians, as well as 8 babies (and counting)!!!

In 2010,  We worked with Mary Coughlan on a Charity gig for Umoza, joining her on ‘The Magdalene Laundries’. That summer brought the fantastic Bray Summerfest and the opportunity to perform in front of hundreds of fans on Bray Seafront. In October, the choir joined Eurovision legends Niamh Kavanagh and Johnny Logan for a charity event on radio and later, Christmas carolling on Grafton street. 

 Here are a few pics of our Wedding Choir - available for wedding ceremonies, receptions, even outdoor-mountain-top nuptial blessings....we've done it all! 

Recognise this from RTE Big Music Week???????

This is the first of many entries I will dedicate to my special singing group. Every thursday night, 11 months of the year, you will find us rehearsing in The Martello in Bray, preparing for our next big performance. Undoubtedly, you will hear us before you see us! 

The people I have met through the choir continue to inspire me; they are talented, they are my friends, and most importantly they are positive people. Rehearsal nights are my escape from the frantic world outside, where I can step in beside my friends and sing loud and proud, all to my hearts content.

Our website is www.braygospelchoir.ie where you can read more about our musical accelades and upcoming Gospel Gigs. 

The Story So far...

After a hectic few weeks, I've put some time aside to update my blog.

Actually, I'm avoiding some homework that needs to be done for tomorrow.

Actually, I'm using this online forum to vent about my frustrations in an attempt to draw a veil over what happened today.

So lesson for the day: ALWAYS double check your media files and your laptop before a presentation. Practise at least 10 times before your presentation. Practise right up until the last minute, if you have the opportunity. That's my advice after what happened in college today....

My Dragon's Den group made an heroic recovery today from a  presentation. The video just never played. we clicked and tried again and clicked and restarted. But the video never started. Thank you team ( you know who you are) for staying professional. It was my fault - no way around it- and I will spend the rest of the evening dwelling over "what if....". What if I have just plugged in my laptop? What if we had an extra few days to practise - even an extra few hours?
I'm not going to get over this guilty feeling any time today, but ranting online is helping a small bit!  However, throughout the entire presentation, the team remained calm and collected on the outside. I'm very grateful that I had a team of classmates with audio-visual expertise standing at the ready to help us. I'm very grateful that somewhere along the way, during the lat 5 years living in Ireland, I have picked up the gift of the gabb and so when the entire class was staring up at a blank screen, I was able to blabble on and fill a few awkward moments of silence. Maybe kissing the Blarney stone is not just a myth after all....

Lesson learned!

Inspiration from beyond the grave ....of W.B.Yeats

The wind and rain are howling outside the walls of this ancient castle, nestled among the green moss-covered ruins and rolling hills of Sligo. I have found inspiration far away from the confines of scholastic endeavours,  but not enough inspiration to read the 'Introduction to marketing' textbook... just enough to sit down and convey my thoughts through this blog.
Under the shadow of Benbulben, at the western tip of county Sligo, in a quiet church graveyard,  sits a simple and understated grey tombstone that marks the grave of  William Butler Yeats.
 His poetry has been read in hundreds of different languages and studied in many countries around the world. In his middle years, Yeats became an Irish senator in this countries early parliament. As he grew older, he longed for the lifestyle of his youth. His poetry was provocative and revolutionary in a time when sexuality was still a big taboo.

''O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?''

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Among the books in the W.B.Yeats gift shop in, I stumbled across the biography of a fascinating Irish revolutionary named Countess Markievicz. She was a tireless worker with the poor and dispossessed, and later held an influential leadership role in the Irish Easter Rebellion of 1916. Her story was remarkable to me, having never heard of her in any of the Irish history lessons passed down to me by family and friends. The Countess Markievicz was a woman of great determination, independence, idealism. She used her wealth and social status to influence local politicians and was incarcerated in Dublin for her involvement with the 1916 uprising. Looking at the current catastrophe that is the modern Irish government, i can't help but think that the Countess would be disappointed at the present state of the nation. 

Just a late night rambling from the wilds of Sligo....thank you for reading. 

Risk assesment

Today I feel like this... Juggling options and assignments. Balancing my BIP courses and my other responsibilities. 

There is a mantra flying around our class at DCU Ryan Academy and that is " Fail early, Fail cheap,  and fail fast". My personal motto for the past 29 years has been "Plan and prepare, or prepare to fail" with a much more negative connotation on the word FAIL. I am not comfortable with failing at my goals (personal or academic), I am even more uncomfortable with the idea of failing at work or in completing a project. I am trying to listen to the ideology behind the "fail fast" mantra and can understand where it fits into the Ideate stage or project development. But it's going to be a while until I personally give up a "dead-horse" idea!

What about people who are told time after time that they will fail, sometimes by numerous  businesses, but persevere with their idea and take it to the next company pitch, to the next inventors forum, and the next dragons' den. What about passion? What about drive? Will they not succeed if they have a product they believe in? I have been led to believe (thanks to Disney story telling and positive-thinking career counsellors) that I can do ANYTHING if I put my mind to it. If I put my energy and time into a silly project, will I still fail? I think the sceptic in me would say " Yes, but you are too clever  to support a silly project!". I fear that the influence of others could  sway my decision making when supporting a project or idea, especially as I enter this new field of marketing which I unabashedly admit to know very little about. 

 The real story here is that I have never personally had to back a project with my own funding. With my own money at risk, or indeed my company's money at risk, would I be so understanding of a project that doesn't produce profits? 

I'm juggling with these ideas today. 

Assignment: Swedish Design and Innovation

As I sit down (on an Ikea 'Geff' chair at my Ikea 'Meuble' desk) to begin my first PROPER assignment for DCU, I am finding myself slipping back into old habits. Old study habits that is. I sat down at 1pm this afternoon with an entire afternoon set aside to Creativity & Innovation ( as the course title suggests) but have not really been creative or innovative in my study methods. Instead I have:

•  made a cup of tea (steeped to perfect I might add)
• called my sister-in-law to chat about babies
• browsed Facebook for friends up-to-the-minute posts
• reviewed last nights Twitter chats with classmates (informative and possibly drunken?) 
• organised my binder of papers from last weeks class.

I have a designated study space in the spare bedroom which is nicely lit by natural lighting and a power-save light bulb. I have a clear head and feel quite determined to finish at least my research portion for this Ikea project. However, my old study procrastination routine has crept back in to existence after nearly three years away from academia. How can I have learned nothing from past mistakes?! Am I doomed like the Titanic project (great workshop with David Staunton on Wednesday) ?! 

Now I'm tempted to logon to Moodle and peruse the forum post.....

First Post

After 2 weeks into the DCU Business Innovation Programme, my head is swimming with facts and marketing jargon. For example,

• there were more than 150 million births worldwide in 2013
• China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world
• 1 in every 2 workers in the US has been with their current company for less than 5 years
• Apple ousted Coca Cola as the leading brand in the UK in 2013 

Some of the jargon and new vocabulary I have learned includes: 

• clickthrough
• Reach
• Trending
• hashtag
• PESTLE
• SWOT
• Branding

There have also been some interesting revelations about what type of learner I am, what personality traits I have, and what role I may assume when working in a group. After completing three exercises including "Test of a Leader" (Driscoll and Eckstein),

• I can identify with the characteristics of a Tiger: aggressive, enterprising and ambitious
• I can identify with the characteristics of an Eagle: Independent, Clear thinking, Egotistic
• I can call myself a TiGle. 
• In a team, I will probably become the Chairperson or a Shaper of the group. 
• I can call myself a Chairper.

All in all, a very engaging and educational two weeks! Looking forward to more......