I never reflected upon this, until Mam had her first seizure.

It was only then that I learned how much misinformation there is about epilepsy, and how much ignorance and unjust prejudice there is. For example, a layman understanding of epilepsy is the photosensitive form which is a reaction to strobe/flashing lights, but only 3-5% of people with epilepsy actually suffer from this.

My first source of information has always been the organisation Brainwave. Thanks to them I was able to educate myself, and in doing so I was able to prepare myself for the next seizure (this is a straightforward and simple guide to first aid for seizures [pdf] that *everyone* should read). In understanding epilepsy, it stopped being scary.

I often wonder if my hysterical reaction to Mam’s first seizure would have differed if I had been taught to understand why it was happening and informed as to what an epileptic seizure looked like. I now know that sometimes during a seizure a person can go blue in the face; but I had no clue about this during her first seizure and went into a total and utter panic. More importantly, if I had known how to recognize a seizure from the start, I would have been better able to report this to the doctors in A&E – who were adamant that the seizure followed her cracking her head open on the tiles of the frozen food aisle. I was certain that it was the opposite way around. But they wouldn’t give her a diagnosis, or run any tests, or treat her… until consecutive seizures followed.

Thanks to Brainwave we learnt how a seizure isn’t a dramatic emergency (unless she had hurt herself, like the first time) and that she could easily recover without the need for doctors or emergency rooms (thank god). Luckily for Mam, once she was medicated she stopped having seizures, except for the occasional nocturnal seizure. More recently she has also managed to be weaned off her medication, after going a couple of years seizure free (yey!).

Not everyone is that lucky though, and without Brainwave there would be a total lack of information and support for sufferers. As you can see from what’s been discussed here already, being educated about epilepsy in Ireland is falling solely to them. Unfortunately Brainwave is not a government run organisation and they rely on donations to continue providing support, information, advice and improving public understanding of epilepsy.

That’s why I’ll be attending their benefit night “The Horse Show Hustle” on August the 7th –  tickets for which go on sale on the Brainwave website tomorrow (the 1st of July). For €30 you can dance the night away to the epic sounds of the 80’s tribute band Springbreak with the satisfaction of knowing the proceeds will be going to an organisation that is greatly needed in Ireland (if you can’t make it to the show you can alternatively make a donation via MyCharity.ie).

I definitely needed them, and in the future, someone close to you might need them too.

Having very much enjoyed this same event last year

Talks of interest to a Cyberpsychologist?

Mark Campbell from eMedia will be showcasing 3D Medical animations employed as elearning tools for life sciences.

Ronan Skehill from YourPinPoints shall discuss the business, societal and privacy issues surrounding location based services.

PhD Researcher David McKeown will be discussing the shortcomings of 2D mice and keyboards being used to interface with 3D environments, and demonstrating the use of wiimotes with 3D PC applications and robots.

Artist Miriam Lohan will introduce Sound Mapping – how to read a map by listening, perceiving presence and filtering information for navigation or pleasure.

PhD Student Fabiano Pinatti will explore how technology can support the nomadic/mobile aspects of modern work and life.

I’m not going to force it though, I think I just need a break, but I get bored far too easily slumped in front of the TV. I’ve just been in need of an alternative form of stimulation, but rather than allow my mind go soft, I’ve been enjoying aural and tactile stimulation instead – through podcasts, photography and putting the pieces together.

Podcasts: Every day I’ve been listening to “Stuff You Should Know” from howstuffworks.com – which are exceptionally easy to process because they make you feel like you’re listening in on someone else’s conversation rather than being lectured to. I can close my eyes and let the words sink in, my brain is softly soaking up what it finds most interesting and finding this aural input a wonderful break from concentrating on words on a computer screen. These 20 minute conversations have covered a wide variety of topics and I’ve been enjoying learning about subjects outside of Psychology and Technology for once.

Photography: I’ve wanted to take up photography as a serious hobby for many years. Now I’m finally starting to action this desire. I’ve taken 100’s of photos in the last few weeks, some of which are on my Flickr. I’m finding this a great source of relaxation, especially when combined with a long walk - Two weeks ago I walked for about 3 hours through the beautiful Portumna Forest Park, it’s been the most relaxed I’ve been all year. We just walked and walked, not looking at our watches, just snapping anything of interest or beauty to us. I can definitely see myself doing this more often.

Putting the Pieces Together: I’ve always enjoyed solving problems and working with my hands, but recently this has also been a great source of frustration for me. There’s always been a ticking clock, a deadline more important and distracting. So one of the first things I found myself doing once college was finished was buying a new desk, because I finally had the time to put the pieces together. (In retrospect, the comfy new desk would have been handy during my studies…) I really enjoyed the simple act of creating something from all the pieces and I’m sitting at this now with a small sense of pride. Following this I couldn’t resist picking up a Chinese 3D wooden puzzle when I saw them in George’s Street Arcade last week; my bookshelf is now home to a Tyrannosaurs Rex.

Both photography and putting the pieces together are simple acts of creation that require a person to conceive them. Without you, it’s just a scene or a set of instructions and pieces sitting idle. They are actions that require some focus and put YOU firmly in control. I find myself calmed by this. I imagine other people would too. Perhaps you’re feeling the impending doom of the recession and/or that you have no control over what happens to you, my suggestion to is that you try to relax by doing something physical that will lead to creation. If you prefer art, paint a picture, put it on your wall and let it remind you that you’re capable of being in control, of being that volatile element in your own environment.

Sometimes, our minds just need a break, and not just from reading.

I myself have been using Twitpic to post the occasional interesting photo from my iPhone, but only when I’m on the move and I usually post these same photos to Flickr at a later date. Recently I’ve had much more free time to take photos with my “real” camera, and many of these photos are now on Flickr. Sometimes I’ll post a favourite photo to my blog and then link to the rest (rather than posting all of them as a long blog post). The reason I do this is the ability to tag, edit, archive and view stats – but there is so much more to it than that.

Flickr allows me to have a space online independent from my blog, my twitter, and my social networking. I have control on how they are displayed and archived (and can be as meticulous about this as I need), I can tell stories that go with the images, I can make notes to focus your attention to something special hidden within, and when I’m feeling nostalgic I can go back and review my own photostream based on tags I’ve created (see my tagcloud here). I can upload the well taken photos, and the badly taken ones too – if they say something that should be retold, they belong on my photostream.

However, what I really want to do with Flickr is share my photos, and see yours too. Today for instance I checked up on David’s travels in Beijing, Rory’s travels in Japan, I also met John’s gorgeous family, laughed at the bizarre mannequin Steph spotted, day-dreamed about Killiney Bay and wondered about the mind of an artist. Flickr can be a wonderful sneak peek into the lives of people you know and even strangers you might one day meet.

At the moment I only have 56 contacts (compare this to the almost 300 people I follow on twitter). I want more.  I want to follow your interesting lives, I want to comment on the things you’ve done and places you’ve seen. Almost every day I login to Flickr and check my contact’s uploads, the same way I login to Google Reader to check my RSS feeds – the difference is, photos can tell a totally different story, and can share the stories we don’t have the time to tell. Many of us lead busy lives, leaving us with not enough time or patience to blog as regularly as we would like, photoblogging is a taken a bit too seriously, but Flickr is a great way of sharing your life online without too much of a time or energy strain.

Plenty of bloggers that I read regularly will occasionally post their photos, but I always wonder about the photos that weren’t “good enough” for a blog post. Also, some bloggers are far better photographers than they realise and it’s a travesty that their incredible photos can disappear, lost in their blog post archives.

If you’re reading this and use Flickr add me. If you’re reading this and you post photos somewhere else, open a Flickr account and let us follow your life, taking a peek with each new upload.

This one involves the number 8, which for the Chinese is a lucky number - because it sounds similar to the word which means “wealth” in Chinese. Not at all like the number 4, which sounds exactly like “death” - I learned this many years ago when I worked in retail, Chinese customers never wanted a phone number with a number 4 anywhere in the digits. Always found that interesting. In some Asian countries there isn’t even a floor no. 4…

This is the 8 things meme…

Eight things I like:

1. Photos.
2. One to one conversations.
3. Really strong coffee.
#. Working with my hands.
5. Learning new words.
6. Solving a problem.
7. Thoughtfulness.
8. Dancing in the kitchen.

Eight things I did yesterday:

1. Got on a train at 7am.
2. Participated in a student showcase.
3. Had lunch with a good friend.
#. Felt bipolar.
5. Talked to a stranger.
6. Thumbed through 100’s of comics.
7. Put together a Chinese 3D wooden puzzle.
8. Laughed so hard I got a stitch in my side.

Eight things I wish I could do:

1. Go into Space.
2. Go Whale Watching.
3. Write a novel.
#. Swim every day.
5. Live in the City.
6. Be my own boss.
7. Remember the lyrics to songs.
8. Have a conversation with my grandparents.

Eight things I don’t like:

1. Personality being used as an excuse for negative behaviour.
2. My groundhog days.
3. Materialism.
#. Nightclubs.
5. Cut and paste personalities.
6. Accidentally drinking cold coffee.
7. Not being taken seriously.
8. Not knowing what’s going to happen next.

Tagging… Curlydena, because she’s new to my rss feed (and twitter!) and I’d like to learn more about the Curly one.

I’ve written once before about my love for science fiction, but Star Trek is definitely where it all started out. From a very early age I watched Picard and Kirk, and later Sisko and Janeway. I quite literally grew up consuming everything Trek, and in the process I learnt some very valuable life lessons. Star Trek has always had these long running ideologies – to be heroic, make the right decisions, don’t be selfish and above all else show compassion. These are part of me too. I’ve never been religious in any way, this is probably as close to it as I’d ever want to get (what would Janeway do? ).

The reason I’ve always been so drawn to Star Trek is because it portrays an attainable future, one that could actually happen and that you really wish you could be a part of. It always made me feel like I could actually fit into their world (this is probably why there are so many obsessive uniform wearing fans). In part this was because the storylines were often incredibly imaginative but they still somehow fell within the realms of possibility – the pseudo-science really helped with that. Also, the characters are just normal people, even the aliens. They aren’t superheros – but it doesn’t stop them from being able to save the world. These realisations have always inspired in me a desire to push myself harder, because for Starlfeet officers it always paid off in the end. If you worked hard enough, you too could be the Captain of a Starship one day. It didn’t matter if you were male or female, black or white or green, or bald – but you did need a hell of a lot of brains and courage too.

Through Trek I discovered and had a passion for science, technology and writing nurtured. At 7 years of age the very first thing I ever did on a computer was draw a black moustache on Leonard Nimoy’s face using MSPaint on Windows 3.0 and as soon as I got my hands on my own computer I learned to type so I could print my stories out on dot matrix paper – that always impressed my primary school teachers.

Obviously there are very many critics of Star Trek, but when you grow up with something you stick with it and see it differently to everyone else. You can gloss over the bad writing here and there, or feign no interest in the blatant overt sexualisation of the series in the late 90’s and early 00’s. It doesn’t take away from your enjoyment because you continue to feel deeply connected to it despite the plot holes and the spandex. Only someone who has grown up watching it understands the draw the franchise can have over you. Which is a pity, because in the end, it all went downhill, the last few movies and Enterprise were severely disappointing and I’d pretty much given up on it after that. I’d moved on to more modern science fiction and didn’t think Star Trek could make any kind of legitimate comeback, especially after the woeful Enterprise.

However, the new movie has completely restored my faith in the franchise. It embodies all of the things that I’ve always loved about Star Trek –  great characters, great stories, incredible action sequences, moral and emotional questions, all this and it also continues to uphold the ideologies that Gene Roddenberry intended to be at the core of Starfleet.

For that I am an incredibly pleased Trekkie, and proud to be one too.

At least he didn’t slice and dice me

Here are the rules:

1) Put the link of the person who tagged you on your blog.
2) Write the rules.
3) Mention 6 things or habits of no real importance about you.
4) Tag 6 persons adding their links directly.
5) Alert the persons that you tagged them.

1. My alarm is always set for 6.45am but I don’t get out of bed until 7am – it’s a fake 15 minutes extra sleep, or sometimes I just lie there listening to the radio thinking about what I’d do if I had the day off.

2. The first thing I do when I get home from work is go to my desk and press the ON button for my radio – which is always tuned to PhantomFM and doesn’t get turned off till around 10pm.

3. I always get a Metro in the morning, despite knowing that it’s total drivel. I save it for lunchtime to give myself a break from the computer and I always read my horoscope, just so I can scoff at it.

4. The only personal items on my work desk are a “Word Origin of the Day” calendar and an uneaten candycane stuck between some pens in my organiser.

5. It still surprises me when a friend says “I can’t imagine you with long hair”, like I’ve forgotten they’ve not known me forever.

6. I can’t stand the smell of bananas, and it makes me gag to look at them when they’re black.

Tagging Noel-y Pie, Stacey Face, Smiley Eily, Will Knott, Phil and Tommy.

I really liked Jentertainment’s one, especially the part about Elephants - it’s her first meme!