The List

Last August I made a bucket list.I didn't get much of it done though.

THEN I found BribryOnTour's youtube channel.He does things to do before you die,tapes them and raises money for charity(ross nugent foundation-he started the channel to show his friend who was dying of cancer)

I also saw that logan mckay55's video about making a list of cool things to do in videos over the summer.

So I merged them together to come up with..*drum roll* The List.

It's a list of things I want to do this summer,before I go into 6th year-The year of the Leaving Cert,where I'll be studying all year.And who knows?maybe I'll even film it!

So here is the said list:

Make a movie
Act in a movie
Go out and don't come in until 7am
Camp
Make a bonfire
Do weed
Win something
Make a song
Do a body shot
Do a DJ gig

So I am in the process of doing 1. and 2. but it is proving quite difficult as people keep backing out last minute and I'm also keeping it from my friends/fam which is a task in itsself..
4. will be done next week and 7. I have no control over apart from entering so..yeah!


What are the 10 things you'd like to do this summer?

Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis

So I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at the start of this school year in September.
It has been awful,especially since I am(well,was) very Adventurous,Sporty and Independent.My life has Drastically changed.
Now I have no way of being sporty,adventurous or active because I can't apply pressure on my hands(do press-ups,chin-ups,open jars,play tennis or hockey,box or rockclimb)it's not fun.At all.

So anyway,back in September all of a sudden my feet got so painful I could barely walk and going up/down stairs was like climbing mount everest in barefeet standing on pins.Then in went into my legs,arms,back and shoulders.
I first thought it was an injury from all the constant skimboarding I did 24/7 for two weeks in summer which entails throwing a board,sprinting,jumping and landing on it,which had made my feet sore by the end of each day anyway.

My doctor said there was no way it could be arthritis because my bones are so healthy(due to the fact that I'm addicted to dairy products and drink about 2 litres of milk a day!)
But then I got blood tests(which I was DREADING soooo much since I LOATHE needles and the thought of blood being taken out of petite little me was not something I felt ok with-I need all the blood I can get!)
Anyway,rheumatoid arthritis showed up in my blood.It is different to normal arthritis since it has nothing to do with the bone,it is purely muscle.
So I went to a specialist.Another blood test confirmed the results,aswell as 2 giant syringes full of fluid taken from my knee!I was put on medication and ever since then,the pain has been only in my hands,which I suppose is great.The annoying thing is,it wasn't in my hands before that!

More than 8 months later and my hands are still in pain(if not even worse than before)and my medication has been upped numerously aswell as new medicines on top of the old ones.

I tried everything.
A fruit and veg only diet,a sacro something or other therapist,epsim salts baths,new medication,x-ray microscope injections before my Christmas exams so I could write(for 3 months I went to school and just sat there-no books and no writing) and the list goes on.

Since I haven't improved,my specialist suggested self-injection pens(HUMIRA) where you inject yourself every two weeks.
I found this ironic since the only thing that kept me going was that I only needed blood tests every 1-2 months and at least I didn't have Diabetes and had to inject myself every day!
So after bursting into tears hearing this news,I thought about it and I said to myself "which is worse-a tiny injection or the pain of this arthritis?" an so I began the HUMIRA.

The nurse came to my house a month ago.She explained what to do and I injected myself.It was PAINFUL.I mean seriously sore!The nurse had said I wouldn't even feel it,but the needle wasn't the sore part.it felt like I was injecting acid into myself and setting it alight.NO EXAGGERATION.
So me being me,I burst into tears in front of the nurse because the pain was so unexpected.
She said it would take 2-12 weeks for it to start having an effect,so I decided that I'll give it a shot(no pun intended) and if I didn't feel the effects after 12 weeks I would stop with it.
I did my second injection by myself and it was still as sore as the first but I didn't cry and the pain went away within an hour.My third went quite the same,but my fourth(almost 2 weeks ago) was bad because I started getting really worked up and couldn't face inflicting pain knowingly on myself so I got my mum to do it.And I cried.

The lesson is,don't take anything for granted because you really never know what is going to happen.Despite this dreaded arthritis I still try to see the positive side of things,like how lucky I am to have been born into a developed country and that I have been blessed with good parents who aren't alcoholics and don't abuse me,and that I still have all of my siblings alive.
I am also a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,so this setback will benefit me.I just don't know how yet.Or maybe I do; since I have had arthritis my test scores have greatly improved and I got lots of As and Bs in the christmas exam.Maybe if I hadn't got this,I wouldn't have got my desired points in the Leaving Cert.Or maybe it was for a different reason.
All I know is, I will grow stronger with this.It will help me develop into the person I will become.

These are a few of my favourite things

Dad :  Where's all the milk gone?
Mum :  Claauudiaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Me :  Yeeaaah???
Mum :  Did you finish the milk?
Me :  ..maybe..

1. Milk


Ever since I was young,I've had an obsession with milk.I just can't get enough of it.
One of the things I loved about Primary School was that you could sign up to be on the 'milk list' (or whatever they called it) in which at the start of the year you paid a fee so that each lunch time you would receive a little carton of milk,fresh out of the fridge!It was heaven. :)


2. Where's Wally (or waldo - as the yanks call it!)

I don't know when it came about but it was pretty recently (2 years ago I think) when I realized I have an obsession with Wally. First, I (along with some class friends) printed out LOADS of where's wally characters in school.During art class we cut them all out and secretly ran around the school sticking them in various places (including the inside of a vending machine,inside a clock,and lots of other places.)During that week,people started noticing them and it was pretty funny for everyone!
Then, I unknowingly/subconsciously started buying lots of striped clothes (it was only until I was queuing up for a dressing room in a clothes shop a while back when I suddenly noticed that all 6 items of clothing were striped.) When I was trying to find a halloween costume to wear,I came across the perfect wally socks (red and white striped obviously.) And people in school have picked up on my wally obsession and started calling me wally!It's pretty crazy :)

3.The Smell of Apple Products



This has to be the most bizarre of my favourites. Every time I buy a new Apple product I spent (at least) the first week constantly sniffing it. It really is amazing,yet none of my friends/family shared the same experience as me,and gave me some weird looks for it.So me,feeling a little worried for my mental health at this point,immediately hit the internet to see if I'm the only one with this product sniffing fetish. I stumbled across a blogger who wrote an article about it which put my mind at ease when I found out I'm not the only one.

Best Holiday Ever

Just arrived back from Puerto Banus after a week of sun,and I just don't know what to  do with myself..

Khans Indian Restaurant

I arrived in our apartment on the 3rd of June,had to get up that morning at 4.30am and I had been up that night until 2.45am packing and waxing. The days previous to that consisted of finishing LCVP assignments(which were due when school finished - 2 days earlier!)

Day 1-Sat: I sunbathed at the pool and later in the evening played Paddle Tennis much to my surprise since with my arthritis i can't even play normal tennis.That night we went to an indian restaurant with the family.ALL 7 of us!It was gorgeous even if I did come close to collapsing of sleep deprivation at the table!

Paddle Tennis

Day 2-Sun: Did the same again except went to La Moraga Tapas restaurant for dinner.The restaurant was slick.It had this Cool (excuse the pun) glass column ice machine,and every so often ice would fall from the roof!

La Moraga

Day 3-Mon: My two friends Ellie (my best friend who I've grown up with,who's a joker but very organised) and Hannah (a lovely,sporty girl who is a little scatty and indecisive- you'll soon see why)

Plaza Beach

So the three of us hit the beach.My sisters went down the port(or strip or whatever you wish to call it) and I wanted to go down but Ellie was wrecked(she'd gotten up at 4am so it was understandable) but of course Hannah,who always seems to be different(and always wants to do everything)wanted to go,but we ended up staying in and having a big poker session with my brother and dad.

Day 4-Tue: The three of us hit Aqualand waterpark by ourselves.we had to wake up at 9am,get a taxi to the bus and a taxi to the waterpark.We came close to getting lost but arrived in any case about 30 minutes after it opened.After going on 4 enjoyable slides,some huge clouds formed and it lashed for a good 2 hours.In spain.In JUNE.So much for "the rain in spain falls mainly on the plane".. anyway,we took our lunch and the rain eventually stopped but it was still cold.We did a few more slides just to get our €42.50 worth(€5 taxi,€4.20 bus,€2.50 taxi,€19 entry fee,€3.60 crisps,€4.20 bus,€1 ice-cream,€3 taxi)then walked to the bus stop where we met this french guy and i offered to let him share our taxi(much to Hannah's discontent-if you've seen 'Taken' you'll know why)and got home save and sound.

Raining waterpark

Day 5-Wed:  My oldest sister went home to study for her exams coming up.My friends and I went to Marina Banus to do some shopping but i didn't end up buying anything.

Day 6-Thur: We stayed at the pool and later cycled into Marbella where we had dinner in a Brunos italian restaurant.

2011 Nikki Beach White Party

Day 7-Fri: We went to my aunts apartment for dinner and later walked back to hit the port for the first time.We decided to go since it was a Friday night so it would be packed.I had been going to spain for about 8 years so I had very high expectations for the night.And let me tell you..it exceeded my expectations by miles!!We didn't spend a penny!We went into a few clubs getting free drinks here and there and then met this boy who has to be one of the richest kids in marbella.On our walk back to the port we passed the infamous White party,and this kids Dad was the owner!He also owns the second largest yacht in the port,and thats saying something!He bought us drinks and we met up with his extremely hot friends.I remember turning to my friends and saying "This feels like a dream!" because it really did!The police turned up to the club and since we're only 17 we had to run around the corner.Unfortunately we lost the hot guys,but it wasn't long until we met new guys.At 3.30am i got a text from my parents which putting it nicely said get your ass back to the apartment.All in all it was an amazing night and at the time was the best so far of my life.

Day 8-Sat: We hit the beach where we met 2 english couples in their 20s.We soon found out that one of them just won £3.8 million in the lotto so she quit her job,bought an apartment in Marbella and put a deposit on a yacht!Needless to say the free sangria was flowing.We headed out again that night,bumped into the same rich kid(but he only talked to us for a second and then avoided us)but we met these hot english footballer guys who we hung out with in tibu. I kissed one of the guys but we had to leave soon after because my parents wanted us in at 2.30am that night.

Day 9-Sun: My friend Hannah went home along with my brother and dad.Ellie and I went back into Marbella and got an ice-cream that night.

Day 10-Mon:We lay by the pool and headed out for our last night.We had texted Tom(the guy I kissed) and met up with them to start the night off.We got VERY drunk and i had been sitting beside one of tom's friends so tom thought i didnt like him anymore which was annoying.Ellie and I were with two guys who we kissed but the others left without us knowing.Then I was walking with a different guy and we met up again with the group.Then after dancing with half of that group I decided they were annoying and found the guys we'd been with the previous night.then I danced with some randomers then we went home.I drunkedly texted Tom but at least he texted back twice.

Day 11-Tue: spent the morning cleaning the apartment and getting ready to leave.

Thats been my summer so far,and its gonna be hard to live up to!