What I decided to do on my First Day Off Work...

I haven't written here for ages! Let's remedy that.

I received the results of my MA thesis 'Defending the Land, Defending the Faith: Ian Paisley and the Rhetoric of Protestant Defence' last week - I was thrilled to pass with a First Class Honours. God has been so good to me. Last year was so busy and even though I spent the summer researching and writing, travelling to Belfast, examining archives in the Linenhall Library, PRONI and the James Hardimann Library, writing drafts and re-writing drafts in Mom's office which she very kindly lent to me, I was not at all sure that it would be successful. The topic is controversial and I was ever aware of the fine line between fact and bias. Even when I submitted it on the last Friday in August, it was with much trepidation.

Last Thursday I arrived home from work and found an A4 envelope awaiting me in the kitchen. It had a blankly ominous look and sure enough, the postmark confirmed that it was from NUIG. Without allowing myself to think, I raced down the hall away from the curious eyes of my little sister and ripped open the letter in the silence of an empty sitting-room. Feverishly my eyes sped to the final mark at the bottom of the page. I saw nothing else except the words 'First Class Honours'.  Moments later I was babbling incoherently down the phone 'I'm so happy, I'm so happy, I'm so happy', and wrapping my arms around bemused siblings, who reacted to my hugely uncharacteristic behavior with slight bewilderment. I am normally not prone to such outbursts! But yes, such a relief. I'm still on cloud nine. 

I was like this for a while. But now it's all DONE:)

Other important things:

• I'm teaching and loving it! As well as German and English, I'm taking on Basketball responsibilities, and helping with Athletics coaching. And I used to hate sport as a child.
• I'm campaigning for a NO vote in the upcoming Children's Referendum. I will be posting more info about that very soon.