Utter Frustration

You know when you look at where you are at a given moment and you think "Humph this is a bit crap" and then you look to the future and it occurs to you "Yeah there are possibilities out there I've just got to make them happen" and that thought cheers you up and you go back to your hum drum life and make some plans, and take some action.

Six months later you're back thinking "This is still crappy" and the possibilities are still out there but haven't come to any fruition yet. That's where I am right now.

I know the path I'm on I can see the end sign it just feels like I will never get there. I call it Frustration.

This Robert Frost poem keeps coming to mind at the moment.

The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I've always taken sustenance from this thought when I have decisions to make or like now when I am on a path and wondering did I take the right one.

Food Conservatism

I have been pondering on the different levels of adventurousness that people exhibit when it comes to food this weekend.
Personally I'm a foodie, I love trying new food of all shapes and sizes be it with a face or without. I generally don't mind as long as it tastes good. I am also of the opinion that most things taste good apart from a very short list of food that I have tried but have failed to warm to. The list includes aparagus and caviar oh and artichoke.


Yuck!


Double Yuck!

Everything else I will either suffer through or wolf down. Now I admit that I was not always as adventurous as I am now and I definately remember a time in my childhood when onions made me gag and I made my poor saintly mother sieve anything that might have "lumps" in it, specifically yoghurt. But I'm over that now and what's more since meeting me the Lovely Boy has also tried all varieties of new cuisine and also likes it! All is good.

Some people just aren't into being inquisitive or adventurous with food at all and it just puzzles me really. There is so much out there to be experienced why would you limit yourself to what you know? Well that's my thought for the day!

I'll give you a laugh at my expense!

I received a call today from Mr. Q who is the financial director of the company I work for. I have no real dealings with his department and apart from a friendly Hullo whenever we meet, there really is no need for me to have any interaction with this sixty year old man. So the phone call today came as a bit of a surprise and I was even more surprised when he asked me to come to his office to see him.

So up I get and stick my head round his door fully expecting him to say he had made a mistake and actually wanted to see someone else. Instead he was sitting there looking sheepish and grinning at me. So I said hi and he said hi and then he asked me who Lovely Boy (insert real name here) is. I replied he was my boyfriend, I was beginning to get very suspicious at this stage so I asked why.

Here goes deep breath... I had sent an email to the boy stating "I love you loads" it had somehow ended up in Mr. Q's mailbox. How? I have no idea. Embarrasment factor? Massive.

I turned a lovely shade of purple and burst out laughing. Whereby he started laughing so all I could do was look him in the eye and let him down gently with a "Timmy I'm sorry but I'm not actually in love with you!" Oh the shame. That'll teach me to send random emails without checking the address bar at least 6 times!

Hope this story of my humiliation has given you a giggle. I'm still alternating between laughing and turning an unattractive shade of peuce!

Rainy August Days

It feels like Autumn has come early today. It's very wet and dark and not cold exactly just cool. If you could chose weather to match your mood today would suit my mood perfectly!

I think I have sorted out the problems with my site by moving things around a bit but if somebody sees anything else its always good to get constructive criticism!

We went to see the Ireland v Italy friendly last night in Landsdowne Road. I really enjoyed the game and while it was crappy that we were beaten at home for the first time in 17 games I felt that the team played well as a whole and with the inclusion of the 2 Keanes for the qualifier against France in September we shouldn't embarass ourselves. I hope to God we win though, I really do. Of course we never make these things easy for ourselves if we had only just beaten Israel like we are capable of doing we would'nt have put ourselves in a position of having to beat France. And they've dug Zidane up again just when we thought we were safe. It's a bit of a disaster for us really. Anyway everything's crossed that the Gods of the FAI will smile on us and pure rays of genius will burst out of all our player's pores collectively, which will blind the French thereby allowing us to score fabulous goals due to their distraction. Well we live in hope I guess...

Problems with css (whatever the feck that means...)

Anyway thanks to the anonymous blogger I have moved stuff around and hopefully firefox users will be able to access and see my site properly! This is all double dutch to me!

The FEAR

Oh Lordy I got the fear real bad right now! It's consuming me as I sit here making me more and more antsy and agitated. Why do I have the fear? Exams dear reader stinking yucky life consuming exams!

I have to date passed 5 of the FE1 exams which are the entrance exams to Blackhall place where you train to be a solicitor. They are notoriously difficult bloody things and I have only 3 more to get before I will be in a position to seek training as a solicitor. Yeahhh say I, I'm over half way there! Booo say I, I still have 3 to do.

It's a year since I took my first set and considering I have heard verifiable tales of people spending up to 5 years trying to pass all of them (and some not even suceeding within that time frame) I'm not doing too badly and shouldn't really complain. But I miss my life and so I do complain.

However the best thing possible has just happened to me in the past 24 hours.

I got the fear.

The fear is when all you can think about is studying and how it tears you apart because right at that moment you are not. It's like an itch you can't scratch. The only relief for the fear is to sit in a quiet room just you and your relevant books. If people interrupt you, you growl at them, the time for welcoming distraction is now over (the poor unfortunate lovely boy discovered this last night). You examine your timetable over and over trying to figure out where you can squeeze in more study time. You stop watching the soaps and you start buying throw in the oven convenience food. You get fat. You ignore your mobile and your friends.

This is the fear and I got it.

An Action Packed Weekend

I am only just on the point of recovering from the weekend of excessive drinking and howling which I and my pack of friends indulged in. Hence no post yesterday as I could barely speak never mind formulate thoughts to put into words!

Princess Peaches arrived over from London with 2 realtively large backpacks to sustain her for her long weekend in Dublin. I counted a total of 5 outfits in the 3 days I saw her and 2 pairs of shoes which is probably not a lot for herself when I think about it. She stayed with me and the lovely boy friday and saturday and miraculously reduced her room to the status of kip within an hour of arriving! I love that girl she's mad bad and great to know!

So the plan for the weekend was to go Karaoke singing in Ukiyo at midnight with the aim of getting as pissed as possible before hand in order to make the pain of listening to each other sing be more acceptable! Here are some piccies from the booth...


It looks like Beefor is getting intimate with Doyle Doyle but they have the T-shirt for that move already and were just staging a re-enactment for our titillation!


This is the Princess strutting her stuff. Beware!

All in all it was a night packed with good humour and hilarity and I would definately recommend it to one and all as an option for a different sort of night.

On saturday we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as we figured more alcohol would probable kill us. I'll give my views on the film elsewhere. But it was a fun evening and the darkness of the cinema was a great blessing in our time of need.

On saturday Doyle Doyle rustled up a roast chicken and all the trimmings for everyone and it was delicious! More alcohol was consumed and Princess insisted that we watch Eddie Murphy Raw. It was funny for about 10 mins and then the tutting started and the glancing to check was anyone else being amused. After that came the accusations and it was eventually turned off. I've seen Eddie Murphy performing stand up while being in the company of lads and its definately more palatible with men around for some reason. Needless to say the girlies weren't impressed and I count myself in their number! Dirty Dancing would have been more on our level that night!

All in all it was a brilliantly fun weekend and it reinforced how much we miss the Princess on a day to day level! But we'll enjoy her company whenever we can get it!

Sometimes I wished I still smoked

Sometimes I really do wish that I still had this dirty disgusting not to mention expensive habit. Why? Because of the extra time away from your desk that you are allowed to get away with. Us non smokers are complete mugs you know. I went for a wander a few minutes ago just to stretch my legs and go to the loo before I actually fell asleep sitting at my desk, and I came across a group of about 10 people all hanging outside the back door of the building basking in the beautiful summer sunshine and heat, puffing away and gossiping. I was overcome with 2 emotions. One overwhelming hatred and secondly I was saturated with longing.

I really don't want to be a smoker again I am much better off on so many levels without the habit but I do want to be able to stand or sit in the sunshine whenever I want like all the smokers do. We really are a pack of idiots us non smokers. We should demand equal amounts of doss time that the smokers get. They get paid to do feck all and kill themselves slowly. I get paid work (and blog heh heh) but thats it.

I think there should be some sort of system that whatever amount of time the smokers spend smoking when they should be working the non smokers should get time in lieu and maybe get to leave earlier. Alternatively I could just go stand outside in the middle of them to make my point. I wonder how that would go down???

Views from a holiday

I have uploaded a choice few photographs taken while on my hols onto to Flickr. But I'm going to post some here as well with some comments. These photos were all taken on my camera phone as I haven't quite stretched to a digital camera yet but I think considering the technology I'm using that they turned out pretty well over all. Let me know what you think!



This photo was taken in le Grand Place in Belgium. The building is of gothic architecture and towers over all of the beautifully gilded yet much smaller medieval guild houses which surround the square. This was the Mecca for tourists in the city and while everyone else ran for cover as the dark clouds threatened I took the opportunity to take this snapshot.



This is St. Catherine's church in Brussels. It was destroyed some time back in the day and this is a nineteenth century reproduction of the original. Its badly weather worn and didn't really photograph well however I couldn't resist the image of the chip van, fancy as it is stuck in front of it! Damn fine frites though!



This is Le Manneken Pis, he's absoloutely tiny. The day I took the photo as you can see someone had made a half hearted attempt to dress him up. Apparantly its tradition for heads of states to bring costumes with them when visiting Brussels in order to dress the Manneken. His wardrobe is now so large that they have allocated a special museum all for his clobber. Maddness. Personnaly I didn't find him at all charming just funny. And the amount of tack you can buy in the strategically located gift shops was even more entertaining. My personal favourite was the cork screw with the screw part you put in the cork coming out of his little man hood! Priceless!



This is the Atomium which was built for the World Trade Fair in 1959. They were fixing it with cranes when we went to visit and was closed. And that's about as exciting as it got here! Also in the park in Laeken they have a mini Europe theme with copies of famous landmarks from EU states. Thrilling. There is also a replica Chinese style house and Japanese tower built by Leopold II (boo hisss I don't like him).

So there are the holiday snaps the question re who buys the lace will be answere later...

I'm obviously BORED

Wow two posts in one day on this site its a bad sign indeed for my employer!
Actually its just a short one this time to let you know that I have posted a new review on the other site.
I also want to tell you that you can view our rugby team on www.tagrugby.ie if you want but which one are we and where am I??? Its a mystery....

A Bullrush in the Eye

My friend JG called on me yesterday to come pay him a visit and drink a cup of tay with him as he had injured his eyeball! My inate curiousity overcame my hunger and need to study and I dropped in on him to find out just how this unusual injury occured, and grant him the delightful gift of my company for a portion of the evening. It was as is usually the case when JG and I get together an evening of random discussions, good coffee and lots of laughing with the added bonus that I got to screw up my face in horror at the damage to his said eyeball.

The incident which led to his disfigurement is a typical JG scenario and one that anyone that knows him will appreciate and laugh along with just as he is at the moment. Mr G every summer takes himself off to Killarney National Park to butcher Rhododendron trees in an effort to save the Oak forrest in the park.


Rhododendron trees in all their glory.

This is indeed a noble venture by my friend each year and he states that the fact that there are many nubile young German women and lots of "recreational" activity has absoloutely nothing do with his commitment to the cause. On this occassion on the last day of the purging of the rhododendron Mr G was considering to himself how fortunate he had been in all his years not to have suffered an injury of an sort in what is after all very physical activity. According to himself it was about 20 mins before the end of the day and there was one gigantic mother of a tree left to uproot and move. Mr G being a strapping lad of over 6 foot decided gallantly to let the ladies take a breather and proceeded to move the monster on his own. In the midst of turning the tree to position it in a way which would prevent the deer for eating the young saplings next spring the accident occured.


A giant Bullrush!

A giant Bullrush which he had obviously knocked against swung back at home dived behind his glasses and gouged him in the eye. My friend when I visited him is now sporting an oozing weeping redened optic and a pair of very fine pimp effect sun glasses stuck together with blue tack, he is also sitting entrenched in a darkened room listening to Led Zepplin. He's bored but happy and will make a full recovery by friday for his birthday I have no doubt.

I'm Back

It's back to the grindstone for little old me today the holiday is finished and will soon become a distant memory but right now it's still fresh in my mind so before I become too depressed at being at home again I will keep a little smile on my face when I remember the fantasically fun week we had in the Little country.

We ate lots of Moules et Frites, drank many glasses of strangely named beer and viewed a breath taking array of Flemish masters and consequently I learned lots of interesting facts and stories about the lives of Saints! It was riveting honestly so much torture and pain being celebrated everywhere!

I have some piccies posted up on Flickr. Here's a taste of Rue de Bourges!


This is a mad place with restaurants lined up on both sides of the street and guys and gals from each restaurant trying to entice you into their establishment with various degrees of cajolment and flattery. It took a while to get used to it but it was great fun and we learned how to be firm but cheerful very quickly!

I'll post some more stuff later but work beckons at the mo so I shall toddle off!

"We're all going on our Summer Holidays"

Yiiiipppppeeeee last day of drudgery here I am! The photo is of the red double decker bus which Sir Cliff and friends converted into a holiday home for their adventure around Europe in the film

Summer Holiday!

When I was a kid all I wanted to do was take a holiday like that!

But its not to be this time! Oh who cares I am out of the office for 7 whole days. I will be missing from my beloved blog for a total of 11 DAYS! - how will I survive? How will my readers survive and more importantly will they come back to me once I return from my holliers!? Ah well only time will tell!

On a different note I have been given a highly important mission by a friend of mine which includes a covert undertaking to discover who it is that buys lace collars (a la mode in the 16th century) from gift shops in Belgium. I will endeavour to do my best on this one. If anyone else has a mission for me let me know before 4.30 Irish time!!

Well thats me for now I shall post loads about my trip when I return and as many pictures as I can manage!

The Saga of the Search for the Perfect Bra

I seem to spend a vast amount of precious shopping time on the hunt for the perfect bra! If I'm not looking for a specific shaped bra, whether it is backless, clear strapped, low cut orplunge to suit a particular outfit, I'm discovering that yet again my bussoms have changed size!

Since my early 20's I have gone from sporting a very pettite A cup to as it stands pretty substantial D cup. Goodie you might think the amazing expanding chest does exist! However I beg to differ...

The rapid and spontaneous changing bussoms are a bane of my life. I am constantly having to expose myself to the rough hands and cold measuring tapes of bra fitters in drafty changing rooms. I hate this process. I hate seeing myself in 3 way mirrors and I absoloutely hate old women pawing at me. If they were attractive and young then at least I could provide the LB with some food for thought, but generally the reality is embarrasing and uncomfortable.

But yet again yesterday evening I found myself in Marks & Spencers trawling through rails of Mulitway bras searching a) for my newly updated bra size and b) for the appropriate shape and fit of bra to suit my lovely new dress, which I plan to wear to my friend's wedding on Thursday. It was as usual a demoralising and depressing experience and after about an hour of holding back the tears I picked what I hoped would be the perfect bra.

Before you read on - None of these pictures are of me, they are the official photos from the M&S website so don't get too excited!



This is bra No. 1 which was the best of the million I tried on.




This is bra 2 an unmitigated disaster on me for some strange reason.




This is the one I wanted but which for some reason just made me look like a mutant!

Now none of these offerings are particularly sexy or attractive. In fact functional is the word I would apply to them. Searching for a pretty mutli way bra is no way zone it seems and did add to my frustration. Therefore in the end I had to setttle and hope that what I picked would be appropriate and more importantly would stay out of view. So I brought bra No. 1 home and thankfully it fits inside my dress (just) and the straps can't be seen where they shouldn't and so this time I don't have to return it!

And so my recent saga of the search for the perfect bra is over, for now. But no doubt I will be back in the same position within another few weeks and when it happens I might as well share it with the world!

Battle of the Blogs!

Ha ha I won! That cheered me up!

I Nearly Died of Boredom

Uuuggghhhh is how I feel this Monday morning. I spent all (yes ALL) weekend locked up at home studying. I hate studying. I hate the FE1's and I want my life back. This round of staying at home with my nose in the books is a zillion (no I'm not exagerating) times worse than either of the previous times with knobs on. I'm like the antichrist today and I'm just going to take this opportunity to vent. Luckily for you, you don't have to read it! But you can if you click onwards!

Ok so yes I did get quite a load of work done this weekend but I'm still behind in my study plan which I get quite anal about and the fact I'm not following it as its laid out really stressed me out. IS stressing me out. This is not helped by the fact that I will be on holidays from this Thursday. I am of course really looking forward to it, however when I get this worked up about my study I would prefer to keep going at it until I was in a better position. So I have to battle with my inner demons to RELAX! Pathetic isn't it?

My poor abandoned little sister who has recently been released from the Gaelteacht (Irish speaking college for those of you not in the know, and who are gluttons for punishment and are actually reading this post) contacted me yesterday and compounded my misery by requesting that she be allowed to come stay with me for a while so we could spend some quality time together because she misses me. I would love to do this more than anything else, but you've guessed the Plan won't allow it. So I had to compromise with her and she is now coming to stay with me for the Bank Holiday weekend in OCTOBER. Isn't that crap am I not a bad selfish person? The poor thing was really good about it as well and said she understood and was really looking forward to it. I'm going to have to really pull out the stops for her for that weekend to show her that I'm not a boring old fart with no life... Oh hell.

The boy was great this weekend, very supportive a cuddly as per usual. He brought DVDs home for me to watch, all designed for my enjoyment. So we watched Ice Age (very funny) and Seabiscuit (gentle and relaxing with pretty horses) and that and the fajhitas I made were the highlight of my weekend!

The good news is that I feel much better now after all that venting. So if you have read this post thanks for listening!

Viking Invasion!

Ok so I've overstated my position again but I like the title of this post!



This is a replica Viking ship which is currently docked in Dublin and I got very excited when I spotted it on Wednesday. My phone was low on juice so I had to wait til yesterday to take my piccies so I thought I'd share with the wider world!

I have a postgraduate qualification in Archaeology which I really enjoyed doing, although with hindsight was not a great career move! However I did learn lots and I got to play with the dirt for a year which was fun!

Of all of the archaeology that I covered in that year I still have a huge affection for and interest in Viking history and archaeology. I just like it. The Vikings were advanced, intelligent and a bit mysterious. As such I am waiting with baited breath to hear how the excavations of the Longphort in Woodstown are getting on. This discovery is phenomenally huge and I hope its chocka block with lovely finds!

I remember the day very clearly that I first met the Viking skeleton, which was removed from the site at Heuston station, and is now on display in the National Museum. He is incredibly well preserved and I could not get over the length of him, he must have been welll over 6" in his prime. He was buried in full battle gear complete with helmet (the horns are a work of fiction Vikings never wore horns on their heads the Victorians just felt that they should) shield boss, which is the central metal part of a wooden shield, and a huge sword. He's shit cool.

So here's to the Vikings! My favourite of the conquering nations!

Code problems

I'm trying to make the flower in the my title bar appear as background picture and the code I have apparantly won't work. Anyone have any ideas to help me out??

Cheers!

So much bad news

I've been browsing around the web a little this morning and a couple of news stories really struck me. Check out this link to Google for a brief snapshot of whats going on in Niger at the moment. For a better analysis than I can give The Big Drought has highlighted the issue in a succinct way.

I have in recent times began to read historys of Africa, and have found myself becoming increasingly interested in the causes and reasons behind the wars and famines on that continent. We all give ourselves a pat on the back when we donate a couple of quid whenever there is a crisis like the one developing in Niger right now, or the continuing crises in the Sudan, Zaire or any where else you might of heard about recently. But very few people realise where these problems have come from and most people think it is because of natural disasters at most.

I'm not an expert just because I've read a few books and I'm not going to preach here about my opinion on this subject, but what I would like to do is to encourage people to start learning about the reason Africa is in such a bad way. I think that a better understanding of the cruelty and exploitation visited on these people may give us ideas about how to make a lasting difference there. And we still need to keep the donations flowing and campaigning for real and lasting justice - and that is where campaigns like Make Poverty History show their worth.

Other news that struck me today was the story about the Mother who sold pictures of her children in the bath on E-bay. She claims she did not recognise any potential danger in her action and she just wanted to raise money so she could visit her daughter who is living in the States. Maybe the woman is at her wits end and beyond desperate but honestly with all the hype in the media about Paedophiles on the internet there is no excuse for ignorance on this question. At least maybe this story will mean other people who show "cute "pictures of their kids in all states of dress and undress will err on the side of caution in future. For the sake of their children if for nothing else.

I've also just seen that three underground lines have been closed in London due to, so the reports say, the setting off of detonation devices. We'll have to wait to see if this is any more serious than the first reports indicate. We were only discussing this morning here in work how places like London and Turkey should be safer to go to now as terror attacks rarely happen so soon after each other. I hope we're not wrong.

I appologise for the rant by the way I think yesterday's hangover has caught up with me today and I feel unlike my usual chirpy self, which has been compouned by all the bad news, but my theory is better out than in!


I

I'm famous!

Alright so that might be pushing it a little but I was on the radio this morning and I did win a prize!



This is Ray D'arcy a DJ on Today FM and a bit of a hero to my generation as he worked on kids telly with infamous puppets and made us all laugh lots. And I spoke to him today!

I was was wandering into work this morning, late, (I had permission to sleep off the hangover from the post rugby drinking session) and they were looking for people to call in who worked in the legal profession so, being still probably a bit drunk I decided to give it a lash, and they picked me! It was the odd one out quiz which means Ray calls out 3 things and you have to pick the odd one out. I got them all right! I couldn't believe it I think I should get drunk more often!

I've won a hoodie and will never take it off as it is the first thing I have ever won in a competition and I'm dead proud of myself!

The Tag Rugby League Final

The mighty Misfits take to the pitch



Action shots with Twinkeltoes on the ball and Mac running is support.

It was a game of epic proportions. We each had two sendings off. The trys were matched one for one for the whole game. With 2 mins to go the score was 12 points each. Then they got a soft girl try (worth 3 points) and we had a girl try disallowed on the final whistle despite the fact she was tagged over the line as opposed to before it. In short we were robbed.

However as it was such a tight game there was no shame in defeat and yes we were all disappointed but plans were soon hatched to steal the winners trophy and that put us all back in top form again. Unfortunatley we didn't succeed but it was fun trying!

One Pint Lighter

They took my blood and were glad of it! I can't donate platelets yet cause it takes me so long to squeeze out one pint! Eleven bloody minutes it took with me squeezing on the bone thing they give you to hold for all that I was worth! And even at that the machine kept beeping at me until I had gathered a crowd of nurses and doctors around me with obviously nothing better to do apart from encouraging my veins to give up their precious cargo! Ah well while I may not be able to play tonight (I say may, only time will tell if I actually will or not) at least I have the warm fuzzy light headed feeling of giving!

Super Tuesday

I am going to have don my Superwoman outfit in order to fulfill all of my obligations for today. I have somehow managed to organise the blood donation drive for work to clash/coincide with the final, top of the table clash in the tag rugby league. A stroke of ingenuity on my part wouldn't you agree? Odds are I will have to sit out the game due to lack of blood but I'm keeping my mouth shut until I know for sure as they may not want my blood today so there's no point panicking about it yet!

I have 12 of my fellow work colleagues lined up to donate today, and most of them are donating virgins so even if I'm out for the game I can bask in the warm glow of having done something pro-active anyway. So I won't feel too disappointed! Or at least I'm trying to convince myself of that!

Life is going to be a lot less interesting from now on without the tag games on a tuesday night to keep my blood pumping. And God only knows what we're going to talk about in work, as it seems to have dominated nearly every conversation around the table for the past 3 months. Ah wel I guess I'll have no excuse but to get the head down 100% for the exams in October and look forward to regaining a life once they are over. I hope to God I pass them in one go as I think I'll crack up if I had to face them again in the spring time. But that is idle speculation and I would be better advised to use my time and energy concentrating on the task in hand!

Post the Harry Potter Weekend

Well the plan for the weekend went smoothly for once and I did everything that I predicted I would do including spending far too much money on Saturday on stuff I convinced myself I needed (well holidays are fast approaching and I have NOTHING to wear etc etc). So the rest of the month will be spent in abject poverty living off thin air. But at least I have pretty skirts to wear in the sunshine... Oh dear.

On the Harry Potter side of things, I stand before you disappointed. I did my review on the other page so you can check that out if you so wish but the bottom line is that its the weakest of all of the books to date and is in short a filler book. However the story line has been moved on and to be fair I think Rowling has set up the finale to be something very special so all hope is not yet lost!

My so called "friend" who works in a library thought it was very funny to send me text messages all weekend asking did I want to know who died, and threatening to tell me. I found it funny as well but tried to keep the fact from her I don't know who was winding who up in the end, but like I said it was amusing!

The Harry Potter Weekend

I just got an email from my friend who works in a library threatening to tell me who dies in the Half Blood Prince. I'm very upset. If she manages to leak it to me I'll probably kill her. I'm not joking.

I know I'm realtively ancient compared to the target audience for the Harry Potter books but I love them and get such a thrill out of reading a new one! I've even reread the older ones on occassion while bored. Its my secret shame (actually not so secret anymore it seems). And so my weekend will comprise of studying Equity and Property law - I have enough of Tort for the moment, going into town to spend my wages - we get paid mid month here which is very inconvenient as it means I'm broke when everyone else I know is flush, and reading Hary Potter and the Half Blood Prince - which in my nerdy excitement I have pre ordered from Waterstones!

A new route home

The new Sean O'Casey pedestrian bridge had its grand unveiling yesterday evening and I was witness to it as I plodded on my course home!



This is the bridge complete with important people walking across it at about 5.20pm yesterday. I had become bored watching the silly prancing people running up and down the bridge in some kind of dancing show and had walked over the bridge further down. By the time I had walked around I was able to witness the first official crossers of the bridge!



This is my maiden journey across said bridge this morning.

Now you're probably wondering why in God's name I am blogging about the opening of a bridge in Dublin, I can understand that most people really couldn't give a damn. But you see this bridge is very important to me. And there's a story about it so I hope you're sitting comfortably.

You see in my last job in the Yuckiest Bank in the country (I'd love to name and shame them but I had better not) I worked with a most horrible and irritating person, let's call her Niamh. Niamh was a very unhappy person. She also liked to spread her misery.

Now I admit that I can be easily irritated at times, but I recognise this fault in myself and I try very hard to see the good in people so that when I feel irritated I can put myself in a better frame of mind. I worked with this creature Niamh for 18 months I can say with all honesty that despite my best efforts she had no redeeming features. She seemed to suck all the light out of the room and all of the pleasure out of the small things in life. She was constantly belittling me and she just made me feel bad. I was glad when I no longer had to work with her. BUT just when I thought I would never have to see her skinny pointy miserable little face again she pops up on my route home every evening. It's feckin torture. I have done all I can over the last few months to avoid her and its been exhausting. However with the opening of this new bridge it now means that it is highly unlikely I will bump into her anymore and it saves about 5 minutes off my journey to and from work every day! Yippppeeeee! And so that is why I have blogged about the opening of the Sean O'Casey bridge in Dublin. Thank you for listening.

Come back Mr. Sunshine

Mr Sun is hiding behind some hazy clouds today but as I write is making a brave attempt to break through and warm this fair city once again! I know I'm harping on this weather thing but its the main topic of conversation everywhere I go and you just have to revel in the heat whenever it arrives. Remeber this is Dublin and the country is Ireland and it is located on the Atalntic seaboard and the rain hits us first before dissipating over England leaving mainland Europe basking in the sunshine (Bastards).

Speaking of mainland Europe I will be there myself in about 2 weeks time and am now allowing myself to get all excited about my holliers! They've been booked for months but I never think about going anywhere until close to the time, otherwise I'd wear myself out with the excitement. This year we are going to Brussels! I know its not exactly the Costa del Sol but all the reports I've heard about the city have been very positive and I was personally sold on the reports of fine dining and excellent beer, so I'm happy enough.

Last year we spent a week in Berlin which was fantastic! Its a great city and although it was my second time there it wasn't in the slightest bit boring. Its a huge place for a start and there is so much history on every street its cool just to kick back sit in a cafe and take it all in. We also hit Amsterdam and Oslo last year on weekend breaks. God bless low flight no frills airlines its so cool to be only 3 hours away from amazing fresh places to see and investigate a definate perk of living in Ireland!

A Heaven Sent Day

Oh its glorious in Dublin today. According to weather pixie the temperature is in the mid to high 20's and the sky is the most beautiful mediterranean blue! I love this city when the sun shines, the people sparkle and strip off and everyone looks happy! Yesterday was the same which means we have had at least 2 consecutive days of summer weather!!! I'm making a note of this here so that the next time its miserable and raining and cold I can look back at today's entry and remember that we had some good weather this year!
I just checked out overheard in Dublin there's an hilarious account of a 'scary burd' on the 77A. Its well worth checking out.
Oh I'm in a real rambling humour today. But I better go do some work before I get caught dossing!

"Scandinavia looks like a willy"

Quote unquote my mate Liz.!



This is Liz looking a bit blurry and grumpy because she probably doesn't want to be blogged but she gets blogged cause she's funny!

Anyway the background to this story is set against a pub crawl in Dublin with my mates. We ate Tapas from here. Drank Mojitos and Margueritas everywhere and fell around the place laughing for most of the night while protesting that we weren't in the slightest bit drunk.

I learned many new things last Friday night not least of those is that Scandinavia does indeed look like a willy as illustrated by Nutty Liz on production of a euro coin! I also learned that being single in Dublin is very scary indeed and that there are some very odd looking men on the prowl out there. Chief among them (that we liked best) was scary outback farmer/Californian beach bum look-a-like (who was probably from D4) with his skin tight transparent white shirt tucked into skin tight across the crotch blue jeans and his Kerrraaazy dance moves. This guy had to be seen to be believed! I'm sure I'm not doing him justice here! Oh yes and a very special shout out also goes to the leather trouser clad long haired blonde "man" with shiny ear rings. Beautiful. That's all I can say. I wonder did he score the terrified looking girl he had cornered?

What has happened to Mr. Unky?

Mr Unky the moody man has disappeared from his site and now all it says is "Coming Soon" I miss him. By changing the picture here on the blog every day it made me analyse exactly how I was feeling and then the fun part of what image best captured that mood. I am one of those people who will announce to all that could be bother listening that I have PMS or I'm grumpy or even that I'm hyper/happy. I feel that it is only fair that if I'm going to be in any way tedious, annoying or even funny that there should be due warning. Unky made me analyse beyond my usual three emotions (as above) and I was beginning to enjoy it! I hope he comes back soon.

Reactions and Thoughts

Why is it that we feel the need to watch disasters unfold in front of us? Why do people rubberneck when passing car crashes? Why were we all glued to the web or the tv yesterday as the events in London began to unfold? The lovely boy posed a question similar to this as I flicked to the news channel as soon as I walked in the door last night. I told him after I had thought about the question that I just wanted to be prepared should I ever be involved in something like that. I would prefer to have some idea of what to expect than to be caught unawares. This is an honest answer from me but its not a complete one.

The other other side of watching images like those that emerged from London yesterday and from New York in September 2001 is that we have a connection with people in London and New York which many of us on here don't have with people in Iraq or India or Africa. Many of us have friends, relatives and history we can draw on when we see those places and it hits us harder and brings it closer to home. We also feed into the drama and the worry and the confusion, if it can happen there it can happen here. We get afraid.

I guess thats what the people who plan and execute these attacks want. They want people in Berlin, Paris, Toronto, Sidney to be afraid. That's the real power they have over all of us. Thats the lasting effect of what happened yesterday.

Of course the first thing GWB had to say was that the war on terror would continue. The attack in another vindication in his eyes for the terror that his war unleashes every day in the Middle East. The logic (if there ever was any) of that argument must surely be wearing thin even in the most conservative of minds. We forget that while upwards of 40 people died in London yesterday in Iraq at around the same time there were 2 suicide bombs which killed 13. The people there face this sort of terror every day. How must they feel? We certainly don't feel the same sort of fear and worry when we hear about the attacks they suffer every day.

sharp return to reality

My thoughts are with all of those people who are caught up in the events that occured in London this morning.
Thankfully my friends who live there are all safe.
I don't see the point in commenting further on this at the moment as we really don't know what has happened yet nor do we have any real idea of the extent of the damage that has been done.

Minor Miracles

I must have some prophetic blood in my lineage as after a day of unrelentless rain as soon as we hit the rugby pitch the sun broke through the clouds and we basked and played in the warming rays of the summer sun for the duration of the game! Surprisingly it wasn't even particularly muddy on the pitch so there was no real danger of injuries from slipping and sliding like last week. However our "surly" coach did have the misfortune of dislocating one of his fingers (really gross) but the valiant young man popped it back in grimaced a bit, sprayed his hand with that magic spray footballers use to cure everything and went back on to score more trys! I'm not sure if I should be impressed or not but I do admire his commitment to the team! The good news is that we are back on winning form with a 12 point win against our opponents last night! So we all hit the pub happy little bunnies once again.

As for Bex she survived the written part of her Irish exam relatively unscathed but was a little out out by the oral when the examiner started asking her questions that weren't covered in the 2 week crash course like "Why did she come to Ireland" - Bex didn't know what "why" was in Irish and had to be told in English! I can't imagine that went down well but she says she rallied as best she could so fingers crossed she did enough to get through it! She expressed her feelings of pent up frustration at the Irish Law Society by scoring a lovely try for the first time and so I have no doubt went home pretty happy with herself!

Spare A Thought...

For my poor friend Becky. Becky is a lovely funny gregarious young one who is presently sitting an exam in Irish which, if she passes will allow her someday to become a solicitor. Becky is from Essex. That's in England. They speak only English there. She has not one word of Irish. She has been learning reams of gooblidegook (Irish) which she plans to regurgitate in the exam today. She also has an Oral exam to pass. Hopefully a "Hello my name is Becky I'm from Essex" in Irish will be sufficient to get her through that one. The poor gobshite.

On the other hand it is feckin raining in this city again. As its Tuesday that means it will be rugby in the rain again tonight unless a miracle happens and we get a heatwave at about 4.00pm. You know it is possible so fingers crossed!>/span>

Sunshine & politics

Its hard not to think of last weekend and this coming week without bringing the G8 summit into the proceedings. Like a lot of other people I watched the Live 8 concert this weekend and while it was entertaining and it was great to see so many people supporting the event I shared to some degree the scepticism many people in the media expressed about the actual point of the day. That was until Bob Geldof showed a film from 1985 depicting children in Ethopia who were dying from disease and starvation, I asked the boy did he ever wonder what happened to those people and he reckoned they were all long dead, which I agreed with and I felt guilty and sad while watching the little faces on the screen. At the end of the film Bob asked the same question and answered it by introducing a young woman who had featured in the film, who when she was filmed was on the brink of death. She is now in her 20's has graduated from university and is absoloutely stunning, with a future ahead of her. The point Bob was making was that despite all the cynicism about what exposure of the poverty in Africa will actually achieve, there is a point to trying to make a difference and that girl was living proof of it. I was deeply moved by that moment. I know that the >Make Poverty History campaign has its flaws and I'm not holding my breath that this G8 summit will make the breakthroughs that we are campaigning for, but if it makes people aware of the problems that are in the world and the potential soloutions and those people add their voices to the campaign, I can't see how so many people can continue to be ignored. Its worth trying for at any rate.

TGIF!!

Yipppeee its the weekend!

We went to see War of the Worlds last night and I have to say I really enjoyed it! I was on the edge of the seat for the whole film with my hand in my mouth to stop myself from becoming too vocal! It was great! The level of tension and fear generated in the movie is excellent and considering how easy it is to be cynical about these types of stories it was very easy for me to be completely sucked into the "We're all going to DIE!" mentality!
It's always great when a movie hits the right mark and despite the whole TomandKatie pre moviewhatthefuckisthematterwithhim stuff the film stands up on its own.
Tonight its Batman Begins which from all accounts sounds like its a fairly good movie! I wonder will it live up to the rollercoaster that was War of the Worlds though??
I used to love the Batman cartoons when I was younger there such an element of darkness to them and they were so story driven it was hard not to get hooked on them! I've heard that this round of Batman movies have returned to that root, which does give me hope! Considering just how bad Batman 2 & 3 were there is definately room for improvement!

Old Grouse

I am turning into an old grouse. I was sitting here at my desk in work thinking about how crap everything is when I realised that I need to get a grip and stop moaning all the time!
Ok so injuries sustained in Tag hurt - but they hurt less then they did yesterday - so get over it.
Alright I'm a bit tired BUT I spent a lovely evening in the company of my wonderful friends last night and then went on to have a very tasty meal with my boy and the family. I'm only tired because I drank too much so I really have no grounds for complaint or being grouchy!
So my job isn't exactly fulfilling but I do manage to sneak study notes in to work, and I have discovered the joy of blogging so its not all negative. Plus it is a means to an end and will put money in my pocket until I am ready to hit the road and then the big time!
It has also stopped raining (for the moment) and the sun is even showing her face so I can no longer claim to be soggy!

I'm going to see War of the Worlds tonight and am looking forward to it - reviews have been cautiously positive so fingers crossed it doesn't suck!
Then its off to Batman Begins on Friday and after that the kids go home and I get my evenings back!! Thats certainly a thought to brighten my day!

I told my friend that I was too apathetic to help look up a nice restaurant for us to meet in next week so I'm going to move my ass and actually do something to help on that score because otherwise I'm just giving in to the negative vibes!

Crappy weather

It pissed out of the heavens this morning from between 7.30 am (thats when I woke up) to 9.00 a.m i.e the time that I walk to work every morning. As a result I was drenched to my knickers. I could handle this on a normal day as I am usually super prepared and bring work clothes in a seperate bag to work and wear a tracksuit bottoms and T-shirt to walk into work. However last night at rugby it also pissed out of the heavens and not only did we loose I and my back pack also got very wet. Therefore this morning I had no bag to carry dry clothes in. Therefore I got wet and stayed wet until roughly half an hour ago when I finally dried out.

As I was walking in the thundering downpour this morning I mused on the fact that on the other side of the world This Girl was contemplating waging war on silly people watering their lawns and the foot path at the same time. In all fairness this thought cheered me up!

As you may have gathered the game last night was a miserable affair and one out of which I personally emerged crippled and in agony for most of the night. We had a new "team mate" last night drafted in as Surly our valiant player/coach is injured. The man played with London Irish there is no doubt he can play rugby he just forgot that this was social grade tag rugby and barrelled into everyone in his way with head down and shoulder up. He hit me square in the back and it feckin hurts. A lot. And I was on his side. I'm beginning not to like this game anymore...

Book Review

I finished a Book recently (last night actually) and have reviewed it over yonder. Its the first book I've read from cover to cover in months as I have been trapped in a web of law texts and apathy in recent times. The fact that I finished this one says a lot about it! Check it out!

Mmmm Icecream

I feel a bit chirpier now as it is after lunch and I had some icecream, an Ice Berger to be precise. You can't beat the old fashioned vanilla ice-cream in a biscuit sandwich if you ask me!

I have written my views on Vincent Wood's A Cry From Heaven on the other site. It's well worth checking out if you are in Dublin at the mo. Its a great Irish Tragedy and deserves to be celebrated in such a fitting manner.

I figured out what put me in such a foul humour this morning. We have the lovely boy's lovely siblings living with us this week and the three of them were snoring away as I got up to trudge into work this morning. Also the fact that they were planning a trip on The Sea Safari without me, didn't help. I'm mad jealous and the reports are it was great fun. Bastards.

We have our penultimate tag game this evening. They lost last week without me ( notice how I have distanced myself from the losers!) We are playing the first team we played in the league who after we beat them organised to train on Sundays (freaks) - they've won all their games since then! Mmmmm

Wrong Side of the Bed

I woke up bored this morning. It's not a good way to start the day. I have no intention or inclination to do anything which means I'll get frustrated which means I will eventually get cranky and will take it out on everyone I meet, silently in my head, which will lead to more frustration because while externally I might be smiling at people internally I will be smouldering with bad humour and probably hate for them.

So far there are 2 people on my list for just being too cheerful and for doing some work.

I don't think it's going to be a good one today. The over clouded chilly day is also really not helping my mood...

Ok dark thoughts aside I'll come back later and try to be more positive. Sometimes its just better to own up to being cranky and when you do you feel a little less mean!

U2 Croke Park Friday June 24th 2005

Oh what an amazing night!

We were seated at the back of the stadium in the middle of many water proofed American and English people, which was kinda odd to be honest as most of them had binnoculars and were lets say a bit older! My brother reckoned if they were going to be dry (as in humourless not as in protected from the rain, which they clearly were - unneccessarily as it turned out!) and remain seated all night that there would be slaps all round! But I'm delighted to say the whooped and roared like the rest of us when the band walked on stage! (So there was no need for slaps after all!)

It was a very emotional night. There was an air of nervousness in the air and the opening rendition of Vertigo just didn't hit the mark and was followed up with a flat I Will Follow. But once the opening notes of With or Without You began the place just lit up with noise and excitement and it didn't look back from there! I cried a grand total of 3 times! It completely shocked me how happy, sad, elated, excited, and poignant I felt throughout the 2 and half hours that the boys played for. It was just incredible. Bono dedicated Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own to his Dad Bobby Hewson - cue me in tears for the first time! Later on in the night Where the Streets Have no Name started me off again and finally One drained me of whatever extra moisture remained! They played 5 songs from the Joshua Tree (my favourite album) loads from How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb and Elevation and also at least 2 from War - the quintessentially for Ireland - Sunday Bloody Sunday and their other great anti war song Bullet in the Blue Sky.

I think they played all of their songs which I had on the wishlist in my head! And I don't think a gig can get any better than this one was!

All I can say is GO SEE THEM if you get the chance! They are the best band in the world and the best Live Act I have ever seen! Oh and they're Irish!

this is me experimenting with my shiny new camera phone!

Oh so tired

today has been a brief return to reality before the fun and frolicks begin again! I am dead on my feet after the wild celebration of my little brothers graduation to doctorhood and of course my own little success in the old exams!
The graduation was brilliant I can't believe he is now licensed to cut people open... its a bit disturbing to be honest! Apparantly he's great at surgery because his thumbs and fingers are mightily dextrous from years of playing with game boys, as a result he has been sought out to use the grippy arm things for key hole surgeries! Isn't that cool?- anyway the lesson there is that there is a point to a misspent teenagehood! He doesn't want to be a surgeon though he wants to be a paediatrician because he gets on great with kids and can really get down to their level! Its true too I think he'd be great at it!!! I still can't believe he's a doctor.... Maybe I never will!
Galway is just amazing I have fallen completely in love with the place over the past two days and its top of my list of places to move to once I'm completely finished with Dublin. I wish I was still there now its so laid back and pretty and the people seem so much friendlier than here and there was craic and laughter everywhere you went with people taking it easy as they did it! Its the way life should be lived instead of the constant rushing and hassle we have to endure here just to get from A to B!
On yet another note myself and my 2 siblings along with the lovely boy are trotting off to Croke park for the first of the Irish U2 Concerts! I can't wait! Snow patrol are supporting and a crowd called the Radiators who I haven't heard much about before. But regardless it should be a great gig. If it isn't I don't think I'll ever get over the disappointment as I've waited my whole life to see them live and even paid the fan club fee this time to make sure I got tickets. I know some people have a problem with that but I think its fair enough and the ticket made a great graduation present for the young doctor, so I'm happy. I think my 15 yr old sister is about to explode with excitement at the prospect of the gig tomorrow and that too is worth its weight in gold!!
I will give a full review of the gig on the othere site of course but it may be monday before I get to a machine so it'll have to wait til then!

Wahoooooo

I passed both contract and company with room to spare!

Can't stop now gotta go and get ready for celebration!

Am so relieved!

Results Are Out!!!

And I won't be able to report how I get on until Thursday! In fact I won't even see them for myself until wednesday night because they would be released on the day that I am going home for two nights straight from work.

And so the lovely boy is charged with the nail biting and potentially dangerous job of opening said results and reading them to me over the phone, while I will no doubt be on some form of public transport either screaming of trying vainly not to cry. Great.

On the up side if I have passed them then Conor's graduation tomorrow will be even better as we will have my continuing triumph over the law to celebrate as well. However that is putting the cart before the horse as they say so I think I will leave all wild fantasies to after I hear how I got on!

I've become a ...

Magpie. I have taken to flitting among other peoples shiny blog pages and nicking their lovely ideas and add ons. So far today its the Make Poverty history button thing and the very cute
Weather Pixie, which I do think is quite fab, but both ideas were lifted from other blogs and were not a result of my trawling though Google looking for ideas.
I find Google boring , I can never find interesting things on it and much prefer using the navigate button on Blogspot to find things to amuse me. Is there a name for this kind of web abuse?

Going Grey

I looked in the mirror in work the other day and was appalled and disgusted to note that I have more than a sprinking of grey shiny hairs popping up all over my barnett. I'm only 27! I don't feel like I deserve to be reminded of my advancing years in such a fashion. As I have dark hair the little buggers really catch the light (and the attention) so it looks like it'll be "Nice and Easy" for me before too long.... (see link)

On to other matters. We won again last night, but there was no pleasure in it. I can't quite put my finger on why but all the same the atmosphere was very flat. I think the lack of a hate figure on the opposite side made it difficult to care if we won or lost! Surely that's not good sportsmanship! We are top of our league and have a potentially decisive encounter with the second on the table also unbeaten team next week. Unfortunately I will miss it as my lil bro is graduating as a MD and its far more important that I attend his graduation ceremony and get drunk with the family while we celebrate the end of him being a student (finally)!!

After that then I (only)have U2 to look forward to..... - bring it on!

Waiting Anxiously

I'm like a cat on a hot tin roof waiting for there fecking exam results the law society just can't be trusted with their date of the end of June so for all I know they could be sitting at home in my post box for me right now....
I think I have another migraine as well which is making me even grumpier not to mention nauseous. I'm sort of hoping that its just nerves and isn't actually a migraine because 2 in 2 weeks seems a little excessive.
I see from the news today that the excavations are starting pn the Tara valley already thats probably another reason for my bad news.
Also the apparant failure of McDowells Cafe bar licensing proposals I feel is more bad news . I was looking forward to the introduction of civilised eating and watering holes to be honest. Not least because I'm a light weight and having food close by would mean I wouldn't get as drunk as quickly (yes I would eat if food was available simply because I like eating better than drinking!) but also because I personally enjoy the social aspect of eating and enjoying a few drinks with people rather than just sinking pints in a bar until I fall over.
Mind you no doubt the PDs will not be impressed by the Fianna Fail back bench uprising in relation to this little matter and that fact combined with the recent poor showing in the polls for FF does not auger well for them at the moment. All we need is one little push and I'm convinced we'll be looking at an early election. I wonder will Bertie be able to continue to hang on until things stabilise again... The problem there is that he hasn't really been all that secure since the last local elections and hasn't really convinced people that he can change the governments position either...

Mid week consumption of alcohol

Is bad for your health. I'm knackered! I met a friend last night for a good old fashioned girly chin wag full of screeching and giggling... Yes we were those annoying women that tend to turn up in restaurants and pubs making loads of noise and wantonly annoying other patrons! I don't do it often and while I hate being subjected to it by others its kind of liberating when you are indulging in the screaming yourself! I'm over exaggerating slightly but I reckon the volume was definately up to 8 rather than the usual 5!
However good food was eaten and very nice wine was consumed and although it wasn't a very late night it was well past my usual bed time by the time I made it home. You see I couldn't go home until after the game was over between Ireland v the Faroe Islands as I would just have annoyed the boy with my drunken questions and frequent trips to the loo and so it was that I had to stay out and drink more. Don't you just love logic?
Anyway I'm suffering now and I still have to drag my ass to Yoga, race home, shower and change and head back out to go see Sin City at 9.00pm! Oh Crap...

Glorious Victory in a Bruising Encounter

I think I'm beginning to sound a bit like a jock, but this tag rugby league is so much fun! Especially because we continue to beat all those around us! It was a glorious victory last night with us coming out 14 points on top of our rivals. The victory was made all the sweeter by the fact that yours truly scored 2 TRYS!!!
I'm very proud of my achievement and the second try in particular I'm told was a beauty! I can't remember myself I was pumped up and running on pure adrenalin. You see it was a bit of dirty game last night. Our opposition didn't seem to understand the concept of Non Contact - I personnally was shouldered around the pitch on at least 4 occassions. However I made my feelings perfectly clear i.e. that to touch me was to lose a limb - and that partiuclar practice came to an end pretty quickly! However some of our men folk took some very heavy hits and we could be in trouble with injuries next week, which would be a disaster as we don't have enough boys to play on our team anyway.
To be honest looking back on it I can't belive just how competitive and driven I became. I can't ever remember being that focused before, not even in school when I played a lot more field sports. Its kind of scary in one way I didn't really recognise myself...
However the buzz has been great in work all day our lady captain/my work colleague is a happy camper so there have been no psychotic episodes today!
On other news I was informed that the law society results won't be available until the end of June early July - so those butterflys can feck off until then!
I have collected the course material for the next set already so the reality is I just need to get stuck into it and hope that the last lot went to plan!

Various Rants

I haven't had a chance to come and rant here all day today until now and I only have a limited amount of time now that I am here so I'll have to make my contribution for today shrink to fit!
On the up side I only met 4 Gobshites on the road this weekend and I take it from the news that there was a significant decrease in accidents this weekend which is great news for everyone and long may it continue.
Mayo is beautiful if you are thinking of visiting! We stayed in a lovely B&B which was smothered in bric a brac and dust catching objects of all varieties! Tack central if you like and was run by an English woman (we named her Hyacinth) and her Husband (otherwise known to us as The Bitch as he was one well whipped man!). In all fairness to the pair the Full Irish on both mornings was the best I've ever had - as a result the choccie biccies on friday are now irrelevant as the weighing scales will now have to deal with fatty frys as well!
However we did scale the heights of Croagh Patrick on Sunday so I'm hoping that that act of extreme activity will balance out all the wonerful food and drink I consumed...
Oh if you ever meet anyone who tells you they have climbed Croagh Patrick barefoot please give them a slap from me. They are either lying or mad and if they are one or the other they will either deserve the slap or not notice that it has been dealt to them in the first place. Its hard going and I will certainly look upon all of the more ancient pilgrims who scale its rocky summit with renewed respect and wonder cause I barely made it!
I have loads of thoughts in my head about recent news worthy items of the last few weeks but as I am pushed for time today I think I'll leave my thoughts where they are for the mo and address them when I have more time!
Sorry for lack of pictures again we have a distinct lack of access to digital technology which is a shame because we were in some of the most scenic places in this country at the weekend. The drive from Louisburgh to Lenaune is spectacular and shouldn't be missed if you are in that part of the world.
Well I gotta buzz off now and pick up my course books for the next instalment in the track to Blackhall place. The results from the last set of exams are due any day now according to my bat sense so I will of course the world know if I was successful and it I'm not my silence will speak volumes on the matter...
I also have the third game in our tag rugby league tonight so fingers crossed its another successful venture otherwise I fear for the sanity of my very competitive and slightly psychotic Captain - and work colleague - who is doing a complete Jekell and Hyde whenever a game approaches. She goes from being very mild mannered quietly spoken slight walkover to super charged psycho and its not pretty...

Chocolate Biscuits

Are very yummy. I've just had three! And feel very full and happy... I won't be happy when I get on the scales next week but hey who cares it's another Bank Holiday!
We are heading west this weekend and the only care I have is that the roads are safe. I was listening to frightening statistics this morning on Morning Ireland. 5 people died this time last year but there were over 90 people injured. When I think of the kind of injuries that can be as a result of a car accident it just makes my blood run cold. The thing is though no matter what advertisements they put out there or how many chilling statistics they shove at us I will be guaranteed to meet at least 5 gobshites misbehaving this weekend.
I consider myself to be a good driver. I don't speed as I don't believe it gets me where I want to go any quicker. I definately would never drink and drive and I make sure that I'm aware of what is going on around me. But that is still no guarantee that somebody else taking the piss won't crash into me.
Mind you if I applied that logic and lived my life by it I wouldn't eat chocolate biscuits or ever set out on a road journey and that would make life pretty boring! SO I guess the moral of this story kids is just do what you feel is right and enjoy life to the full cause you just can't depend on anything...

Victorious!

There was blood sweat and sin binning last night in the second of our league matches but in the end we were victorious! With 2 girl trys (neither scored by me) we earned ourselves a distinct advantage over our worthy opponents and despite having our loquacious coach sin binned (for abusing his own team) in the second half we managed to hold onto the lead we had built up in the first half! It was a relief to have won this game on our own merits as a team this week, as last week I was replaced by a semi professional genuine rugby player who admittedly didn't squeal and drop the ball as much as me and did manage to score most of our trys! Its a funny old game!
Bring it on Next Week we remain unbeaten!

Feeling Better Now Thanks for Asking

I have returned to face this new week full of vim and vigour! I'm finally over all the illnesses which have plagued me for the last fortnight and will stubbornly refuse to succumb to any more for at least 6 months!
Despite both Offaly and Westmeath losing on Sunday the trip to Croke park went well - admittedly there was one disappointed slightly sulky father to deal with, but I have seen him in worse form after watching his county being trashed. Though in all fairness with 19 wides kicked in the course of the match Offaly just aren't good enough at the moment. Overall the standard of football on Sunday was pretty poor I much prefer hurling anyway...
The highlight of the day for both myself and the boy was the presence of a very vocal but barely cognitive Laois Man in the seat directly behind us. For the record I have nothing against people from Laois and this man could have been from any of the 4 represented counties and it would still have been funny. From the moment he sat down (which was after the game had started) there emanated a constant and bewitching string of abuse and foul language which would have made even Shane McGowan blush. (An example goes something like this - Aragh for fuckÂ’s saaake dey havnt settled douwn yet for fuckÂ’s saaake dey need te settle douwn cÂ’maaan Laaaayyse fur fuckÂ’s sake fuckin cunts de baaastards)! This scene was completed by his equally ineloquent family joining in with choruses of "C'maaan Laaaysshe" every few minutes at different volumes and intensities. I don't feel that my account of the scene has really done the encounter true justice but lets just say the memories of that day will live for a long time in my heart!

Pure Genius

Me that is! I have managed to resurrect my broken blog and put it back the way it was. Apart from a template change that is. It's a small concession and I quite like the simple lines of the new template so I think I'll leave it the way it is.
I also rediscovered my lost archives as well which is a small relief! Though reading through them its all total nonsense really!
By the way apologies for the space cadet entry for yesterday all I can say is "Drugs are bad kids" I should know better than even to attempt to function while on anti biotics! All I can hope is that I didn't do anything too silly in work...
On the up side I am feeling decidedly less disgusting this morning I had one of those fabulous nights sleeps last night where I didn't budge from the same position at all and didn't stir until the alarm went off. It was glorious and so good that I haven't really woken up properly yet... Could be another fun day in Fiona Land!
Plans for this weekend include myself, my completely insane father and the lovely boy spending this sunday afternoon in the hallowed ground of Croke park

GAA

. , where we will be planning on watching Offaly beat Laois and Westmeath beat Kildare. Hopefully. If Offaly lose we will then have to deal with my father's tantrum and disappointment which is generally on the one hand kinda funny on the other really tedious. I'll let you know how we get on...

Bloody Blog

I have no idea how I managed it but I've lost the links from my sidebar. Its still on the template but not on the site what the hell have I done wrong?

MIA

I'm back! I was missing in action for the last few days due to the development of my horrible cold into a more horrible and debilitating dose of sinusitis and an accompanying chest infection. See I wasn't playing it up I was feeling terrible! Well anyway I'm back at work still on anti biotics and definately feeling like I would much prefer to be back home in bed or better still stretched out on the sofa watching day time tv. There really is the greatest load of utter nonsense on the telly during the day. I think the show that gets my vote for being an inexcusable waste of my time and that of everyone involved in making it is called "Was I here before" (or at least I think its called that I was on drugs and my short term memory is a bit addled as a result). Anyway the premise of this show is that celebrities are put under the influence of hypnosis in order to unlock memories of their past lives the facts of which are then investigated by an Historian. I subjected myself to two instalments involving Jenny Bond (former Royal reporter and ex participant in I'm a Celebrity) and Joe Pasquale ( don't know why he's famous apart from the fact that he won I'm a celebrity get me out of here). The reason why I watched it is irrelevant, probably something to do with not being bothered to reach for the remote to turn over... Anyway it was the greatest load of crap! I'm not going to go into the details of their stories because its boring but what I do want to do is advise anyone out there who is planning on taking a sickie to avoid this show if at all possible.
On the other hand watch Dr. Phil! He gives out to people and is a bit rude and I like him.

Eurovision

I swore to anyone who would listen that there was no way I was going to sit through the semi finals of the Eurovision last night. No way! Never!
But what did I do? Yep I bloody watched it. Admittedly I flicked around a lot between it and other choice offerings such as the new episode of Charmed on Living and the Abi Titmuss documentary on Channel 4 but unfortunately the lure of the flashing lights and shiny sequins drew me into their spell. Oh dear God. What have I been reduced to?
There can be no doubt that there were more bum notes on the night then there are in the audition rounds of those Pop Idol shows. I can't believe some of them actually qualified. I'm thinking of the (I think it was Romania) little girl with the big yellow drums in particular for this part of the rant!
Anyway I patiently waited for Donna & Joe to do their thang as I had heard the rumors of Riverdance type choreography and considering the beat of the music was decidedly Eastern European in flavour I was curious about how that would fit in.
I will never learn.
It didn't fit with the song for those of you lucky enough to have missed it. Neither did Joe fit with the song. I spent the whole 3 mins (or whatever it was) of the performance mouth agape, turning slowly purple with embarrassment. I thought I had grown out of the need to hide behind the sofa whenever something horribly embarrassing happened to someone else on the telly. I definitely regressed last night.
I feel sorry for Donna she has a good enough voice but the song and her brother were a total disaster.
The block voting by the Eastern European countries would probably mean that we will never get into the competition proper ever again and judging by last night I think we should just cut our losses on the whole affair and keep our remaining pride as a nation intact.

Faux pas anyone?

I am still contemplating the amazing and completely inexcusable faux pas perpetrated by Conor Lenihan yesterday in our national parliament. It is beyond me how it can be considered to be adequate for him to apologise for the remark and for that to be the end of the matter. The problem with this bigoted, racist and close minded country has once again been demonstrated by our elected representatives. How can there be any hope for proper integration and acceptance of the badly needed migrant workers who are keeping this economy afloat by doing jobs we feel we are too good to do now that the Celtic Tiger has roared into our lives? I am whole heartedly disgusted by what happened yesterday.

Friendships

Despite my moaning and the fact that I was feeling very crappy yesterday (still do if anyone is interested) I dragged my ailing body out to meet some friends last night. 2 friends to be precise at different times and different places. It turned into a very emotional night for me. One mate I knew was having difficulties and I am glad that she can talk to me about it and I love that fact that we are so honest about how we feel. So despite the fact the subject of our conversation was mostly difficult and upsetting it was a positive encounter and I think we both felt that everything was better out than in! So I was a little tired but feeling good after seeing her and definately a lot happier about how she was coping with all the crap she has to deal with when I headed off to meet friend number 2 for what I thought would be a little walk and a big catch up session. No. It turns out she too was having a serious crises the type that turns your life up side down and inside out and she had been keeping it all to herself for the past 6 weeks. I felt so sad on her behalf and so helpless. All I could do was listen. But what else is there to do?
I still feel a bit shell shocked and I can't help wondering if I am feeling this bad how is she managing to not let the whole world know that she is feeling all that pain and anger and upset. The up side is that she said that she felt stronger and better for having spoken about it which I suppose is why they say that a problem shared is a problem halved.
I think I'm just feeling a bit guilty because things are going pretty well for me at the moment. I have a great boyfriend, plans to see the world, a pleasant if not dynamic working environment and a fantastic supportive family. I am grateful for it all and I know better than most that things are not always good so I have made a conscious effort to realise it when it is good and to hold on to it for as long as I can. So I should stop feeling bad and just be glad that I can be a shoulder to lean on or cry on if necessary because I don't have to deal with bad things of my own at the moment .

Ups and Downs

Well the weekend went to plan and it was lovely and relaxing. But now I have a cold.
This always happens to me when I start calming down. I'm miserable and I hate everything.

Yeah!! Its the weekend!

Not planning on doing much in the line of excitement this weekend which is why I am looking forward to it! I can't remember the last time I had no plans, agenda or needs to fulfil! I am not particularly tired so any rest I get will be a bonus, I don't feel like I should study or spend time doing any one task in particular and neither of us have anywhere that we need to go to. So I can just kick back leave all worries to one side and just be.
We might mooch along to the cinema tonight I haven't seen HHGG yet so that could be a possibility and if so I will post my thoughts on the subject to amuse myself next week!
The other news today is that I am no longer on probation and am now officially a part of the team here. As a result I made my feelings known about just how bored I've been in recent months, which came as a bit of a surprise to my supervisor! Whoops! Anyway she has taken this into account and has promised that I will be given more responsibility and projects of my own. Now many people would think "Foolish girl doss while you can" but I just can't I go crazy when I'm not busy and just end up depressed and miserable and that is just not a good way to be. So here's hoping that work life will become more fulfilling... but I won't hold my breath these not for profit lovely fluffy places just don't do high powered achievement in the day to day running of the business. I think it's me and my outlook that will have to adapt for the next year while I sort out the whole RTW thing and put my own life on a different track... Jesus I've managed to depress myself in the course of writing this blog! Snap out of it woman remember its the WEEKEND!!!

The Tara Skryne Valley and Woodstown Conundrum

I have been following the issue concerning the routing of the proposed M3 Motorway through the Tara-Skryne valley in Co. Meath and also the separate issue regarding the massive Viking complex found in Waterford with much interest. As a former student of archaeology, Viking and early medieval archaeology grabbed my attention and interest more than any other era and when I heard about the find in Waterford I was thrilled! I mean we haven't seen anything like the possibilities that this site could reveal to us since Wood Quay and Woodstown appears to be many times the size of the Dublin site. There was of course an accompanying fear that the government would do what it does best and decide to ignore all academic recommendations and would put the road right through the site anyway, afterall it had already been approved by An Bord Pleanala and these things are set in stone or so they would have us think. But not in this case it seems. Woodstown is being preserved and excavated properly and there is a possibility it will be made into a major heritage site. Great! But then can someone please explain to me why this is not also the case with the Tara-Skryne Valley area? I mean every dog on the street knows that Tara is a site of major historical importance. Not just the hill, the entire area. It's a settlement complex so detailed and complex that whatever excavations that have taken place there under the Discovery Programme are really only skimming the very tip of the iceberg in relation to this site. As a member of the public I only became aware of the plans for this road late last year. Now we have been told by Minister Dick Roche that any protests or concerns expressed in relation to this issue were all too late - the decision was made in August 2002 by An Bord Pleanala and there is no other option available in relation to changing the route of this road! Yet Woodstown was not a recognised heritage site and was discovered when the by-pass was being built but the road can be diverted to preserve it... This makes no sense to me. I appreciate for the record that the M3 is badly needed and long overdue for the commuters of Meath. But why can't they move the road to a less contentious part of the landscape thereby avoiding the inevitable legal battles which no doubt will follow on from the Ministers decision? Why do they insist on following a path which thousands of people concerned by this decision whole heartedly object to? At least if the route was moved the people would get their road cheaper and quicker and then surely most people would be happier?

Oh the pain....

I had tag rugby training again last night and it hurts like hell now and will probably get worse as the day progresses! I know its sad and I shouldn't moan but I want to! I mean if you ran around for 2 hours chasing a ball you'd probably hurt too. Especially if you haven't done much running in the last 10 years! Yoga did not prepare me for this...

Interesting Developments

I got a mail this morning from one of the editors of sigla with the scary information that people having been linking from this site to their!. This I did not expect I mean who in God's name would seriously be interested in reading this crap?
Anyway do go visit Sigla Mag http://siglamag.com its a great site and has kept me sane when boredom threatened to strike me down on many occasions in the last 6 months! So if nothing else at least your encounter with me might have that one positive experience!
On another note the weekend was lovely I went home and got drunk with my father on Friday night! I had no intention of being as good as the plan I outlined on Friday and knew that there would be lots of wine consumed by one and all! The good news is that the hangover while present was not completely debilitating so I made it to the Bog Train!!!! Yeah I know you don't have to say it! But it was grand! Really! We were both pretty tired so chugging along the bog in a little 3' gauge locomotive looking at the wild life wasn't the worst way to spend an afternoon! Having been brought up surrounded by bog it was nothing new for me but it was interesting to see the plans that Bord Na Mona have for the land that has been completely cut away by the harvesting of the peat. They are going to return it to the type of marsh land which originally existed there thousands of years ago and it looks great! Very primordial with huge rushes and lots of wild life! They are also replanting lots of hard wood trees as well which while only a small thing at least its better than nothing!

Addiction

I think I'm getting hooked on this blogging lark I can't stop thinking about it and the stuff I can do with it! I have set up a sister site which I am going to use to waffle on about stuff I've seen and read or even place's I've been because lots of people do it already and I want to join that gang!
I feel like my creative juices are beginning to flow again! Though knowing me I'll get bored waffling on to myself about stuff I know already! But until then I'm going to run with it!
I had my final exam for this half of the year this morning. I should pass it. Am somewhere far beyond tired now though and I really want to have some kind of alcoholic beverage tonight, probably won't be a good idea as I haven't had more than one bottle of beer in many's a week but I have a self destructive need to drink at least 3 tonight despite the fact that I know I will feel absoloutley horrible and sick tomorrow. I know I'll have 2 drinks and then collapse into my leaba and sleep like a baby until I have to get up and bring the lovely boy to get his hair cut and THEN because I have practiced a little bit I'll have 3 drinks on saturday night and sleep off any potential hangover on sunday! Oh yes that is a good plan me thinks!
Just had a thought will probably be going on the bog train run by the Bord na Mona http://www.bnm.ie/ tomorrow so will review it on my new site on Monday! How exciting!

Diversions

I have just figured out why my pictures won't appear on my site. It seems that my work computer won't let me download the proper program's so unless I get a chance to play around with it at home at the weekend the site will remain pictorially vacant which is a pity!
Right now I am trying to read through my notes so that it won't be a complete disaster of an exam tomorrow but as you can see I am doing anything but that!
I'm constantly seeking diversion at the moment I think its just the tiredness. Well at least it'll be over for a few months once tomorrow is out of the way!
Isn't it amazing the way you can dread something happening for so long and when it actually comes to pass its generally easier and a lot less painful then you thought it would be. Its the same with these exams in October the world was ending before I sat the damn things yet in April while it was tough it was beyond doubt a much easier experience and I'm not anticipating the next batch in Octiber with the same sort of dread.I hope that complacency won't be my downfall.

A new look

I have just changed the template to the blog the pink was just too overpowering and I felt it looked a bit much everytime I logged on. The green is better at least its less cluttered and over bearing but no doubt I'll get bored with it too eventually. I still haven't figured out how to post pictures I have one of those Hello things hooked up and followed the directions but there is no sign of the picture appearing yet! Maybe it'll surprise me when I least expect it!

The weekend

I keep hitting return on the title bar when I start a new post which is really beginning to tick me off! Then I have to go and edit the post as there is nothing in it! As you might imagine I'm not the best when it comes to hitting buttons!
Well I had a most wonderful weekend for the May bank holiday here at home. We hired a car and spent most of the weekend driving and walking in the beautiful Burren area of Co. Clare. unfortunately I don't have a digital camera yet but if I had I would publish some images as it really is a beuatiful place! Needless to say it is on the agenda to purchase one before we head off on our travels!
I also spent time at home with my family which was long overdue! My little sister Ro was in a pantomime style play at home based on the story of Snow White and was a highly entertaining grumpy dwarf! I have a photo of her sent from her phone which I will stick up as soon as I've figured out how to do that!
I'm back in work today and have to face into another exam on friday for the course I've been doing for the past 2 years. Its company law and I knew it inside out a few weeks ago for the law society exams but just know I'll struggle to remember anything for friday. The extreme tiredness and slight feeling of depression due to overactive hormones is of course not helping me to feel motivated for this particular test.
Anyway on the up side I'm going home again at the weekend to spend some proper time with the folks cause if I don't do it now I won't get to see them as I will be back hitting the books shortly. I can't wait to have all of these damn exams behind me so that I can have my life back again.