For Ruth

Mikados

2008-09-19T14:43:00.002Z

Are they way pinker than they used to be? Or were they always this pink? Or did I buy a weird tainted batch?

City living isn't for me...

2008-07-14T10:41:00.001Z

I just saw a lady help her (roughly) 3 year old boy pee down the storm grating at the side of my street

Things I have discovered since Christmas

2008-02-11T13:21:00.000Z

1) 1001 stain remover really does get wine out of carpet
2) Amsterdam rocks
3) Family weddings are great, particularly when your family's slightly insane
4) Elder siblings getting older implies that one is also aging oneself (shock horror!)
5) Cold pizza is a valid brunch material, particularly if it's meat pizza
6) Sleeping in never gets old

I think 6 things in 6 weeks is an acceptable learning curve...

Today I ate a Wispa...

2007-10-02T21:38:00.000Z

..and it was GOOD! :D

Froodie's secret identity

2007-08-18T16:05:00.000Z

Froodie is superwoman.
I know this FOR FACT 'cause she drove me to Dublin at 4a.m. this morning when my absentee co-habitee got a message to say that the house alarm was going off and could we make it stop before people's ears started bleeding (a neighbour since told me it was going since 5am yesterday...:( )
All is well and the alarm was just being unnecessarily...alarmist... Sighs of relief all round - also I would like more sleep :)

Seamie and I decided...

2007-07-26T12:02:00.000Z

..that the best way to pimp one's crib would be to blu-tack tin foil to the ceiling.

Stuffs :)

2007-04-30T13:53:00.000Z

I finished at my company - which wasn't as sad as I thought. I think I still feel like I'm on holidays and not actually finished...It will hit me in a week or two I guess :)
I worked with the best people so now I have to make sure I stay in touch!

Also I have lots of work to do for the next two weeks at least and after that we'll see...hopefully business will continue as it has been and I can afford eats and drinks and being merry kinda things.

I did the being merry thing last night by attending an 80s night with 2 of my besty friends - I think at most there were 15 people on the floor - I don't mean the dance floor...I mean the entire floor of the club :) I danced in what I like to think of as a Blades of Glory peacock style but I'm very much afraid I wasn't quite up to that standard..the others were, of course, as beautiful as only balletic swans dancing to 80s music can be.

Simile of the day: If 80s cheese were an oil slick, we would have needed Greenpeace.

And now to work at home kinda work.. :) What fun!

i wonder

2007-01-23T00:48:00.000Z

what it shows about one's state of mind when one is dying of vague head explosion brought on by lack of sleep and far too much proofreading but decides to write a blog entry despite having to get up in 6 hours?
Possibly that one is really really whiny :)

The EU official language thing is nice and all but I'm finding it hard to balance sleep, 2 jobs, 3 agencies, 4 projects, 5 days a week, something beginning with 6 probably...yes, I'm all done!!

Except for saying hello to the biggest merkin of all, mr. merkin Gar - on that note I met a Kiwi today (person, not fruit) who was really excited when I told him there was a Merkin Hall in New York - he thought it would be full of actual merkins (including white ones for Christmas for some reason...)
...sadly no, but I still think the fact that there are people with the surname merkin is joy enough =)

zz z

2006-11-09T20:40:00.000Z

I am so tired.
Work has been good in the last week - crazy crazy busy but that's good cos then I don't feel bored and forget that I should be thinking about leaving and moving to Brussels (someone asks me why I haven't gone on average once every two weeks)(actually I've just realised that by not going they must all think I'm the worst translator in the world...)!
Was doing some work tonight - and then some worse than work - doing a document as a pretest for a translation company is really annoying cos you second guess yourself over and over again...and the thing is they do choose really annoying things to test you,obviously!(I would ;) ) but I'm just not in the mood and my head hurts etc. etc. oh woe is me! I'll send it on Monday ors.
Lots of fun things in the last few weeks too though...the wedding of cool and yay!The Muse gig (where the light show wasnt quite as good as in the wedding of cool and yay, but you can't have everything!). And then the Duke Special/Divine Comedy gig on Mr. Hannon's birthday so he got unbelievably plastered but we did get a smidgeon of cake each so why complain? It was really good, if somewhat...impromptu? (if an organized gig ever deserved to be called impromptu, this was the one!!)
And this weekend I go Limerickwards where everyone appears to be having birthdays - which is nice and all but for some reason I spent all my money for this month in the first 10 days... :) Teabags all round methinks :)

As the ad says, what better gift than a bag of tea?

2006-08-20T04:33:00.000Z

There should be a word for going out drinking long enough that going to bed involves getting toothpaste on your nose.

I'm just saying :D

1 year :)

2006-08-08T21:47:00.000Z

I've been at my job one year today.
Today I remembered that it rained a lot on me last August. This may be because it rained a lot on me today. That I remembered. I'm not suggesting that it raining on me today affected the weather a year ago. Though I could if I wanted to.
Was a very fast year. Thought it was the fastest ever and then I realised that I've been in Galway 3 years this month too.
I give up!
Also I watched reeling in the years for 1994 earlier and I wouldnt have guessed that any one of those things was that long ago (Rwandan genocide, IRA ceasefire..ermm...that A-house song...you know...that one)(A-house...you know..that band? they had a song in '94 apparently...)

:D

My Holiday ;)

2006-06-09T23:14:00.000Z

I was gonna write stuff and then it seemed like effort.
Here is a picture of eastern Europe.
Enjoy :)

BEST .... TOAST .... EVER !!!

2006-05-02T19:03:00.000Z

I like birthdays..sometimes I get magical toasters :)

Should the fact that this is the second time I have received a toaster as a birthday gift distress me?! (the other one broke...and was ages ago...shut up)

Yay!

2006-04-27T20:45:00.000Z

Look at the crazy tree!!!! I'm easily amused!

This week has mostly been crazy busy and sleepmongering :D

I'm gonna work less some day!

yay

2006-04-20T21:44:00.000Z

here is a happy post :D Two nights in a row spent with ms. ctfy and paul f the ostensible galway dweller have that effect on me!
And then I got a flower which was nice!
General yay indeed!

Trained ducks

2006-04-03T22:24:00.000Z

I was stalked by ducks looking for bread. It was cool :D
though they're kinda scary when lots of them get close and they also make kind of gremlinish 'it's behind you' noises with their little flapping feet when they hide under the park bench you're sitting on.
Just thought you'd like to know....

stranger every day :)

2006-04-02T23:03:00.000Z

If you look very carefully, you can see where the other end of the chain is attached to the wall...

New Favourite Sport

2006-03-31T13:30:00.000Z

http://www.dp2.org/~nick/images/squirrels/

Oh YES!

bad weeks and good weeks

2006-03-29T21:44:00.000Z

I was exhausted. I am now feeling ok. The reason for this escapes me - definitely not early bedtimes cos I did intend to try that more but kept getting distracted (ooh shiny!!!)I think it's just better this week!

Maybe cos I got home work done and gone and real work done and gone and can pretend my days were productive!Think it's mostly cos I got to see many of my favourite peoples on sunday and on monday and on tuesday and today with pints and visits and hair dying and coffee tho...and have been booked for hot chocolate tomorrow which is kinda sweet!

Also I have 2 polish girls living in my front room - the (POlish)housemate they were visiting extended his holiday in Poland until next Tuesday, and gave them his keys so that they could stay here as was originally planned...until next Tuesday..
Maybe they get to wave at eachother at the airport ors
Slightly odd but a)they're really sweet and b)they brought us posh vodka

And yeah i probly wont get to drink any of it but it has a nice label :)

Science

2006-03-15T17:09:00.000Z

Let's be honest here - I'm not very good at science...mostly what I'm good at is creme eggs (please refer to my fascinating work on potential kinder/creme egg combination). Thusly in the interests of cremeeggpseudoscience (or as I like to call it, "as an excuse") I was forced today to purchase the oh so new and very scary (because of its newness) creme egg bar...
Clearly the name is based more on marketing than on reality as it is a bar and not an egg (or a number of eggs glued together with some kind of chocolate paste...now that might be good...)but nonetheless as a consumer I was convinced so I guess it works.

There's very little science actually - just a verdict :)

It was good. But the chocolate vs goo ratio is all off - too much chocolate and too little goo.

So clearly, the creme egg bar is the healthy option :D
Huzzah!

Note: If I had a car/could drive I may have had to drive to Gort, where the seasonal speciality (no I'm not joking) is battered creme egg.
This is yet another fantastic reason (or..excuse...I may have mentioned this term before...) for me never to own a car...
I rest my case.

my new favourite graffiti

2006-03-06T17:32:00.000Z

on the bus

"Carina is a ugly wore"

young people, huh? :)

Too Cool :)

2006-02-13T20:27:00.000Z

Fridays

2006-02-04T12:20:00.000Z

Fridays I get off at half 2. And then I feel guilty for not staying on and doing more work - its been that kind of a week :)However yesterday i got to come home and watch tv and rip 30 million cds for my housemate who has a go-gear mp3 thing - maybe its just me and my inherent aversion to windows media player but all I'll say is don't go there - and to think I had issues with itunes!

But mostly here's a link I dedicate to one special London dweller ;) :

London Underground

:D

2006-01-30T00:15:00.000Z

Fires on the beach with friends and stars and hot chocolate are awesome :)

bleurgh

2006-01-23T20:57:00.000Z

Hate being ill. It's boring and lonely and only warm if you dont have to leave under the duvett space. which I of course avoid inasmuch as possible ...but that's every day and not just sick days.

I think I'll get up and buy beans and pretoast(/bread). And then I'll sleep another 12 hours and then all will be well.

I praise the power of panadol actifast.

And that is all.

(all monetary expressions of sympathy gratefully accepted ;) )

2006...

2006-01-16T18:33:00.000Z

Most years I'm worried cos it takes me until about April to automatically write the right date down...I have had to ask people what year it was in that tragic way that kids on tv always do when they think they've been away travelling for years but REALLY it was all just a dream...I digress! Anyway, this year I'm worried because I've adapted so quickly. Maybe I was meant to be in 2006 ALL along... which makes the last 24 and a bit years finally seem to have some purpose : (ok...maybe not..!)

Anyway, after having finished my first week back at work and then having my first weekend back at work, I have concluded that really, it might all be ok!! Work's cool and the people I work with are far cooler even than work itself (*shockhorror*) And Seamie even said I was allowed to keep some of them which either means a) he likes them or b) he wants to ruin my life by telling my colleagues all my secrets...actually now that I think about it I'm getting paranoid!

But Christmas was indeed good (yay 2 weeks of holidays!) Though it didn't feel like Christmas until the 30th of December which is weird in and of itself when you think about it - but then that was when we got round to opening our presents in our great family tradition of laziness...!

And despite the tragic illness and thus absence of a trivial member of one's social circle, New Year's Eve was very wonderful!!! (Thanks guys :)!!! ) Had an excellent night and got to eat tiny pringles...yeah there was other stuff too but the tiny pringles made a large impression on me!

And the first week of January was probably the nicest lazing about holiday I've ever had...of course I can't remember too far back and I KNOW I used to spend months lazing about during the summer all those many moons ago (*sniff*) but I have decided to stand by my decision regarding its niceness cos ... well...it's easier, to be marvin.

And now I'm back getting up at 6.40 a.m. during the week and teaching random subtitling classes in the uni and going to the cinema more than can be healthy (note how i didnt mention going out drinking...that's because discretion is the better part of etc.)

So I have started as I mean to go on - which as far as I can make out is by bleeding the bank acc. dry wooo!! Hey I figure if you can get through January and not starve, you HAVE to be fine for the rest of the year!...if this is not so, someone may want to mention it ;) !

pretend you missed me?!!

2005-12-04T19:26:00.000Z

I have returned from a week in Germany, most kindly paid for by my employer(YAY!!!). This is a most gorgeous time of year to visit Heidelberg what with the Christmas markets and everything so it's safe to say I had a damn good time.

Itinerary as follows: Monday flew, landed, got driven to hotel, receive key for Aportment 4 (it was an aportment-not an apartment, and thus far posher ;)) As a small bumpkin child I am highly amused by the fact that I have a couch and kitchenette. I giggle and go out for drinks. Tuesday is work followed by a meal out in a brewery (paid for by my employer double YAY!) Spend the evening discussing with my direct superior how anothe colleague of ours sneaks into setts and shaves baby badgers...there was also something about badgers being stapled to foreheads...all in all, resulted in a vague fuzzy feeling about working with this woman - table was renamed the Spasstisch :) (We received a thank you mail from the German guy sitting with us the next day...worrying but true..!!) Fuelled with gluehwein beer and badgers we taxi home happily. Wednesday is training day - was probably fun...! Followed by gluehwein and watching ice skating in Schwettingen a little town up the road..oh yeah and then dinner with the badger superior in another brewery...oh laughter :) Thursday more training...turn into a vague leonardo da vinci...something food something etc beer early night etc. Friday day of meetings running all day meeting highly important people and giving them chocolate...cos we're brown nosers and proud OH YES! Attempt an evening search for waffles but to no avail siiigh. Saturday up at 9.30 to run about and shop happily interspersed with coke and sitting and eating and drinking and hot chocolate and finally a return to the aportment (a porty in the aportment how wunderbar!!) where with 6 others, 2 bottles of red, a dodgy champagne and a table full of happy german food, Barbies movie auf deutsch (which seemed pretty awful) was converted to porn (bad porn but more fun than barbie) in a beautiful display of teamwork...

And today I got up at 6a.m Irish time an hour to the airport and got back to Galway at 6.45 p.m. and THATs why its ok that I'm eating a supermacs meal :) when I say ok I mean...bad and wrong ...but meh!!

I feel..

2005-10-26T18:54:00.000Z

..crappy - as in in a general way...crapcrapcrap...sick and tired and sickandtired...I would like sympathy and hugs and general permission to be miserable accompanied by attempts to make me all better.

It's not so much to ask? ;)

Scientific Research

2005-10-25T17:08:00.000Z

Today, I carried out a study to see how wet my feet could get while walking from Eyre Square home - the results...were astounding!

Very wet...VERY VERY wet...so very wet...

I reiterate - Galway is even wetter than Limerick...!!

So yay for toast!

la la la la la

2005-10-18T07:32:00.000Z

(an excerpt from the 14 minutes to lunch song - a continual favourite in my office)

So stuff! Life's good-its just half 7 and I have already eaten breakfast...this is odd!...course I havent actually got dressed yet but will do that veh soon!

Bellx1 on Friday - were excellent sarahs party on saturday was excellent and ultimate golf on sunday was totally excellent though wet and rainy and muddy and possibly illegal...and david o doherty (comedian NOT mathematician and scientist) is now one of my new favourite comedians :) Oh laughter and things!

And last night we worky peoples went to see wallace and gromit and the puns were worthy of...some really terrible punners (you know who you are!). I was amused all the same oh yes!ANd they have a short movie before it with the madagascar penguins which is far far to moral and christmassy and things BUT it does have the penguins and as they were the best bit of madagascar (the movie...not some weird breed of penguin..)i choos to have been amused.

And now I'm off to work =)

yawn

2005-10-02T22:02:00.000Z

Mostly quiet weekend :) Saw the shiny carbon man on Friday and went for minimal pints on Saturday which was most fun but I still seem to be suffering for it all the same damn head!
Much familial bonding was achieved on Saturday afternoon and today I mostly spent the time in bed reading which was bad of me but nice all the same.

No matter the evil of bus eireann and their not turning up to bring me to work at 8 the other morning, they have mollified me by providing 3 buses to Galway at 7.25 this evening instead of the one advertised on, and making it so that I left Limerick at 7.30 and was in my house in Galway by 9.30 - pretty good going really!

And tomorrows monday again crazy crazy and 2 new people starting in my office - one called helen one called helena - this is the office with 24 ppl where we already have 2 annettes and a colm 2 colins a colleen and a collette.
The hiring practices are getting even more suspicious than I thought they were after they hired me...!!

and soon I go sleep :)

:)

2005-09-28T20:24:00.000Z

I'm a happy bunny :)

Its Wednesday already and I'm still unbelievably sleepy since last friday (when I was actually unconscious by 4 o clock).

And I have my first personal teleconference tomorrow which is kinda cool(or hilarious if I admitted how little I know why I'm taking part in it at all!)(i'm hoping someone will tell me eventually..!)

And works still good :) And Cinderella Man was overly sentimental but enjoyable even if I had to hide one eye behind my jacket for all the punching type scenes...dont ask me what leads me to believe that hiding one eye will make it more bearable...!

And Selle got a NEW job and Srah is living in Galliway and nothing to do with Google :)

Yup

Yay end of September!

thing

2005-09-18T19:36:00.000Z

You know, sometimes I am immensely slow.

There was going to be a long post but at the end of three (might I add, beautifully crafted!!) paragraphs all it said was I'm slow because it's taken me 6 weeks to realise that living in a house where I have no one to sit down with of an evening, and drink tea and watch tv with, and possibly play charades (though, then again, I may have used up my life quota last night ;) ) is really really really horrible and annoying and lonely.

If I were any good this would inspire me to write a novel or save some marmots but unfortunately this is not the case!

But despite my slowness, at least I've finally figured out what's going on.

So all I have to do is make sure that whoever takes the place of the couple of doom (who bought a house and are moving out in 2 months....)(no comment!) is fun and frolicsome :) Anyhew, I figure that then I shall own BOTH living rooms so clearly that's an improvement ;)!!

Also I love books - even though every one of the three I bought last weekend turned out to be about death and tragedy...ok admittedly with that epiphany at the end where it became apparent that hope lives on etc etc etc but I had to get through all the tragedy first so who're they trying to kid?!! ;)

And in other news I now start work at 8.30 a.m. after getting the bus at 8.00. All those who know me should recoil in terror at this personal choice of mine....! In my defence, flexitime means early in=early out :)(Also,...this new life choice has thus far lasted 3 days...ermm...we'll see...!)

Alanis-y goodness

2005-08-15T20:29:00.000Z

I think it's pretty ironic that I wasnt going to take this job unless they agreed that I could freelance at the same time, and yet right now the last thing I want to do is more translation work...
I think that's ironic but tbh I'm never quite sure!!

Almost at the end of the project from pseudohell that resulted in the weeks of death right before the prejob sunday insanity - in that it's going back tomorrow - and while I'm really looking forward to it being finished, the fact that I still have another hour or two of final stuff to go is filling me with ick :)

As for the weekend I had possibly the best party ever, even though there were a few important faces missing...!!It was relaxed and nice and good and singy and happy :) Course as I was leaving on sunday I suddenly twigged that my baby bro was actually running away to forn parts but managed to hide my sudden snuffliness - and then got to be druv home (that's a verb) by Mike so it was very yay - bar the intense sleepiness.

I really really want a weekend where I have nothing to do and I can just sleep a lot...cos even though you can't call the vast majority of my recent weekends busy there was interviews or contracts or plans or stuffandthings kinda... hanging there...all the time - that and the hacking cough of lung expulsion (which is greatly improved ;) )

So roll on Tuesday but not too fast cos I would like some sleep at some point :)

And yay random familial gifts of Milka chocolate!

wow

2005-08-11T18:44:00.000Z

I'm so sleepy and I still have trasnlation stuff to do so I should really do that now...but wow and really wow - as always I have kinda landed on my feet.

I work with a crowd of people who are genuinely nice and helpful and who actually talk to me!!Tonight we're all meeting up in monroes for pizza and pints.

I'm feeling more drained than trained by this week - but I also kinda feel like I'll get there :)

I also have a fabulously nice manager.

And i got to hang with a Sarah last night which was pretty amazing!

ANd i go home this weekend for eating and drinking and having funn..ing...:)

Hence - week 1 gets a definite thumbs up :)

Why I shouldn't be allowed..

2005-08-04T21:45:00.000Z

..(stay home sick with a scissors and a toilet roll)

Ah

2005-08-04T15:16:00.000Z

I just figured out I must be full of mission goo...suddenly it all becomes clear..

Germing

2005-08-04T11:37:00.000Z

I am overdramatic - which is a far more plausible beginning than 'I am falling inexorably into a pit of despair caused my the sheer cloggedupness of my head and my lungs and my fallingouty(metaphorically) eyes'.

Hate being ill when I have loads to do - specially when it just crept up on me with no warning whatsoever! Though then again being ill while on holidays and ostensibly having nothing to do is also very annoying..clearly I'm never happy!

Theres a new guy in my house who's a Polish goldsmith apparently - I say apparently because I havent actually met him...in fact I dont think he's met any of us yet, which considering that he must know there are 5 other people living in the house must seem a bit strange..!

As there is nothing else to report I think I'll just continue coughing my way through the silence..;)

tuesday

2005-08-02T13:30:00.000Z

(You'd really have to hear Seamie or Mr. B say Tuesday to really appreciate the sheer filthiness of that word...)

But it is a Tuesday and all is kinda well-except I think I caught a cold...or a frog in my throat...which is exactly the moment I choose to look round for that spider who was crawling all over my ceiling last night in an effort to upset me and I discover that he's gone...damn his throatcrawling ways...:(
But I digress:

I have 4 more 'working' days before starting work and I choose to celebrate this by a)not getting up in the morning and b) spending all afternoon and evening finishing off freelancing stuff...I'm not quite sure I'm so good at this youthful exuberance thing :) Though I did manage to get out dancing on Sunday night which was about time tbh!!

Also, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory rules ;) I laughed I cried I wondered why our rows were the only ones in the cinema who understood the beauty of it all *sniff*!
No really - go see it!

And now I work! :)

Story butters?

2005-07-29T12:15:00.000Z

It has been an odd week :)

I got to have vague mental breakdowns and get rained on and go to Kilkenny and play with CTFY in Callan and go to Dublin and Carlow and train it all the way back and be way behind in my own freelancing schedule and vaguely start catching up with myself and accept that job finally finally so I am starting on the 8th and see Madagascar which was in fact worth it for the penguins and work in the garden and get sunburnted and midgebitten and plan Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cinema goings at the weekend and bond with my other housemates and make tea for Seamie even more than when he lived here and read Neverwhere which is great and dream that I'd got sunburnt in stripes by sitting on a deckchair or some such thing and just discovered that seamies room is up on daft.ie so perhaps I'll have a new and very less fun housemate soon and seeing as how its friday and I still have a lot of work to do and also a lot of food to buy cos I am foodless bar milk which is ostensibly a foodstuff but a tad too liquidy for me to be convinced, I'd better do something vaguely constructive now so that I can have a fun weekend =)

My NEW new favourite game...

2005-07-21T20:35:00.000Z

...is Silence of the Chicks.

You are a sheep...

You eat chicks.

That is all.

Procrastination works!

2005-07-20T17:55:00.000Z

It is the oddest thing to spend Tuesday procrastinating and then finish everything long before predicted on a Wednesday. Which leaves me rather at a loose end!!
Perhaps it's just as well I'm going to sign up to a corporate giant who can steal my soul in a succubus type way (in an incubus type way? I should probably google(TM) for it but that seems like effort) as now I'm pondering whether I should start on extra work tonight...maybe instead I should drink tea - and then tomorrow I will buy tea...hopefully some kind souls will put some teabags in the post for me and save me the trouble ;)

In other plans I think I'm gonna go to Kilkenny next week to hang with CTFY in my 2nd last week of freedom. I'm a lot confused as to how my time has disappeared so effectively but then I have a feeling that not working from my bedroom is going to be almost novel so I'll manage!!(for a week...then I'll complain about having to get up..and work to other people's schedules ...and etc ;) )

And my new favourite game is Chuzzles - they are fluffy colourdy balls with eyes - you line them up in colours - they go POOF ...funnily enough no one else seems to find them exciting...except for seamie...but he had been drinking vodka at the time...;) !!!!

Hot caffeinated beveragewards I go :)

(crap)

2005-07-19T11:00:00.000Z

Its funny how things go from being crap to being great to being crap again. Maybe its even worse when things aren't actually crap...then you just start wondering why you've convinced yourself that things are crap and get to feel guilty about that too.

It's probably just navelgazingy to think that too though...I mean, clearly, while being able to wallow in the crapness of things being actually crap has its good points, in that case they're actually crap. Which is a bad thing. Considering how crap pseudocrapness can be.

And there are far too many actually crap things going on for this time on a Tuesday morning. But then I knew I didnt want to get up this morning.

Maybe I'll get up tomorrow morning instead.

confusion

2005-07-17T23:30:00.000Z

indeed! For how is it another week over?! Oxegen was managed (oh yes managed indeed)with hard boiled eggs and cereal bars and was a sunfilled sunburn fest for the whole wide world =) Except us cos we were clever and old and brought sun cream and actually used it....!
Many high points including the sawdoctors (yay) and Greenday (who did an EXcellent show) and Rodrigo y Gabriella (I take back any doubting comments I ever made) and Bjorn Again..oh no...I mean not them...but the OTHER girlies liked bjorn again...yes...!

Oh also Jimmy Eat World (wooo) and the part of Mundys gig that was July and Josh Ritters set of adorable niceness and The Frames ooh and Turn also and Suzanne Vega...
Actually I did manage to see quite a few people - who knew?!

The low point has to be the ravioli from the sky...but the perpetrators apologised with cookies and toilet paper so I suppose they should be forgiven...perhaps then, the low point was lugging beer and tents and a bag with only one strap from the carpark to the campsite on the friday...which means my lowpoints were at the very start and the very end...how ermm...palindromic of me ;)

Made it home at any rate with the showers and the clean clothes yumyumyummy and then on Wed went to Trim to see the other M s new school =) which is an ex factory and cool!! So it was weird to see where she'll actually be working with the kiddies but weird in a very YAY kind of way!

There is no truth to any rumour that I was in Limerick from Wed night til sat morning btw-unless you met me in which case it may be true! Still being all freelancey and things so i was in fact busy - oh and also almost have a real job ;) Starting on the 8th methinks but we shall see!!

And finally today was the Galway Arts Festival Macnas Crazy People in Masks Parade which was very and highly amusing - even enjoyed by grumpy people :)
Along with visits from Mwia and other M and it was indeed a busy time-so now I must away and finish the work due back tomorrow ;)

oh fun!

SIIIGH

2005-07-05T17:44:00.000Z

First I complain about not having work..then I decide I don't really like having work...let's be honest I just like sleep ;)
Had a brill weekend thanks to many MANY people - some of whom know who they are - others of whom used to know who they were but are probably still in an alcohol befuddled state and thus are no longer sure...
(in an aside since I'm writing this while watching tv - the nicorette ads with the humansize cigarettes kinda scare me...just plain odd they are)
And now I have lots to do and really must do it 'specially when oxegen is this weekend - I have tents and everything! - which may be why I got off a bus in Galway today and a nice man offered me a brochure for a hostel...and I thought I was finally beginning to be local! (mmm local)
Proofreadings just so damn fascinating..maybe I'll have orange juice and watch the simpsons instead...yes
;)

YAY!

2005-06-30T15:00:00.000Z

Today is a Thursday

Translation woman sent me work.

Lecturer man gave me his translation memory so I'll nd up getting paid for about twice as much work as I actually do ;)

Also there are translation jobs coming up in the Uni.

It might be good weekness after all!

And now I must go work so i can be all finished before oxegen cos otherwise I'll be in a spot of bother ;)

Also limerick this weekend to catch up with peoples!
Bouncybouncy!

HUZZAH!

Ho hum!

2005-06-28T18:25:00.000Z

I hate coming back from holidays...and yes yes everyone who was vaguely paying attention and knows I've been back since last wed/thursday I AM aware of that...but I got to have galway holidays until saturday ..which were different from galway non-holidays in recent times only in that I didnt have to feel guilty about being a shiftless bum ;)
And then i was in Limerick busybusybusy having to buy a suit for an interview today...and also managing to fit in another Indian meal and enjoy it...quite honestly I didnt think that that was possible!!(Bradford=best Indian in the world..I think my blood has been replaced by madras sauce mmmm)
So today I did the interview-and actually enjoyed the practical bit YAY!-but have decided that they wont hire me cos they're stupid.
And now I'm discovering that I'm bored...and I dont like it! So I really really have to start looking for things to do in a useful and productive manner.
I did mail my translation contact woman telling her to employ me lots but who knows how busy they are?! And tomorrow I'll be good and mail lots more people mmmhmm.
Other than that weekdays are stupid and weekends are clearly better-which upsets me cos I'm SURE that I liked being idle every day of the week when I was wee...but maybe thats good-I'm clearly old and will die soon and thus not be bored any more huzzah!!

There's always something to cheer you up-you just have to look ;)

And if that didnt work try this:

YAY!

YAY!

2005-06-16T22:40:00.000Z

A title all in capitals out of sheer excitement!!

Tomorrow I get to go on holidays which should be nice and amusing!
Some might say that I've already been on holidays for the last...ermm...some many weeks-and to those people I say-kind of..! But it's not the same as actually getting to leave and go and fly to another place where (theoretically) they'll have tiny shampoos...huzzah for the sheer minimalist shampooness of it all!!!

Which reminds me of moby...which made me lose the game..!
(If YOU'd been watching cribs today the word 'minimalist' would make you think of moby too..clearly you have a job and thus avoided it... ;) )

So tomorrow I get to go flying which is probably one of the funnest things in the world even with Ryanair! I love the taking offness and the flyingness and the landingness of it all quite a lot - and this time my plan is to arrive for the plane vaguely on time and not get distracted by pints...yes...!

In other news I have mostly been reading Salman Rushdie and Neil Gaiman and am a happy reading girlie - I missed actually reading actual books..
I'll join a library the second I can figure out how to give those books back to the one in Spiddal without having to a) talk to anyone or b) pay them a crazy fine...I mean..they're only...8 months overdue?!
You'd think I had something else to DO when I was in Spiddal...one of life's great mysteries I spose ;)

Yay Thursdays =)

For Froodie

2005-06-14T11:22:00.000Z

It's a radio...yet it's fluffy and pink and squshy...

I do tend to collect the oddest of things!

Lo, said she, for the dream has become reality...

2005-06-14T02:01:00.000Z

For some time past a question has plagued both myself and other disciples of his comedicness Bill Bailey as to whether it is possible to make just a little piece of happiness for ourselves in a world gone tragically wrong?

I have dedicated myself (when I remembered) to seeing if this ambition was within the grasp of the human race - and now, I can show you the light!

For I say to you:
The experiment works...

Figure 1: Here we see a basic egg - a tinfoil wrapped harbinger of the death of childhood as, inside, one only finds pain, misery, disappointment and one of those codes for the Kinder website that no one ever uses...EVER... (oh there's a plastic toy too)

Figure 2: The egg released!A hollow and empty thing, breathing its lifelessness on all who pass! Which seems to be at the very least a mixed metaphor what with the breathing lifelessness but at least it's suitably melodramatic...oh yes....

Figure 3: What's this?? Can it be true?! Can such a hybrid, a melange, a mish mash, a hodge podge be created with impunity? Or will punity be the inevitable conclusion to this tale of twisted fantasy...?

Figure 4: I think this speaks for itself really ;)

Figure 5: And lo the egg was closed.

And what was created was neither Kinder nor Creme...but the ultimate expression of confectionary eggness.

And mostly, that's what I did this weekend :)

Things

2005-06-07T23:36:00.000Z

Even in Traditional Tacky Jumper and Tourist Junk Shops they don't stock Aran thongs.
Which, to be quite honest, is something of a relief.

It is possible to increase the number of pint glasses in one's home quite considerably over a small number of days...not being good at theft I can claim very little credit for this, but having had 4 pint glasses we now have 12, including a guinness, a carlsberg and a franziskaner one. Each of them truly hold a special place in my cupboard...well...in the cupboard in the kitchen anyway, and hopefully I will no longer be admonished by my housemate for 'hoarding' them in my room when I have...two....maybe I am a kind of criminal after all....

Also pizza and beer is a very very good idea...the perfect quantity of beer has yet to be determined but I think due to sheer enthusiasm for the experiment i may have overshot the mark on Sunday...but who am I to argue with a hangover free monday? indeed life is good ;)

Then, today, I discovered that reading 4 days worth of papers in a day leaves roughly enough ink on my face to print a small pamphlet...and that's not even counting the fingerprints I may (or may not) have managed to leave on every white painted door in this house...of course, proving that they were mine would be...ermm...never mind..

Also, I should leave the house more than just when I go to collect Indian takeaway (which I had to have because I had a spare naan in my fridge...this is the kind of logic that will, eventually, make me queen). It was kind of worrying that I walked in, stood at the counter and the guy knew my name.
Actually, that was particularly worrying because I'd only been there once before and that was three houses ago...
He gave some random explanation about mine being the only order due for collection...but I'd said nothing!NOTHING! Truly, eastern mysticism has rubbed off on the...French employees...yes..

And that is all =)

Rainy meh

2005-06-01T21:55:00.000Z

There's a theory which I have always ascribed to, that if one spends a certain amount of time out in the rain, one will eventually reach saturation point-that remarkable point beyond which you can't get any wetter anyway so why worry?

The difficulty (I have discovered) is ascertaining exactly when that point is - because tonight, standing in the rain, waiting for a bus, I thought I had reached this nirvanic state a number of times...only to discover that not only were my jeans capable of retaining more water, but also that my jacket would eventually soak through and wet elbows would become a hideous reality.
I maintain it ruined my blissful state of yogic peacefulness (otherwise known as exhaustion)

However it does make you appreciate the little things-like electric showers...and electric kettles...and...electric laptops....yes....

And duvetts mmmm

If there were electric duvetts I think I'd leave my room even less than I do ;)

aHA!

2005-06-01T12:22:00.000Z

I have just decided to write a novel which begins with the line:

'He stood there, like a simile.'

I imagine this is gonna save me a lot of creative effort.

2005-05-24T19:24:00.000Z

It occurs to me that I'm not using this facility to its fullest extent-I mean as a pseudo unemployed person i should write vast epics about the general state of existence and then get discovered and then hollywood can give me money for no apparent reason and then i will never work again except to write in my blog because i won't forget the little people!

And so now that I'm potentially about to start living the dream I must think of something epic(al) to say-and I cant!

Once more I haven't attended my office-but today that was NOT MY FAULT! hey if my colleagues are gonna miss the bus and call me and say 'let's not bother going in and have coffee instead' who am i to argue?! And anyway theres so little actual work left to be done that 2 hours on a bus seems a bit much really....stupid far away office space-tbh its v lucky i didnt have broadband 5 months ago cos i'd never have made it in most probably!

So therefore my day so far went-get up have breakfast go to get bus didnt get bus go for tea go to my house for tea go for lunch buy newspaper write Irish CV talk to girl on msn i havent seen in 4 years (yay) watch tv and any minute now go for coffee....

Which is neither particularly constructive nor fascinating...

And lying seems like too much effort!

So tomorrow i also will not go to the office cos I'm going to Doolin because I can

And thats that =)

2005-05-06T12:00:00.000Z

Today I go to London for the weekend-which clearly explains why I'm sitting at home in my pseudo pyjamas waiting for the dryer to dry some clothes-I am indeed that organised!!

well in a WAY it is actual organisation cos I knew that I'd have time to wash and dry everything before my flight but then it is arguable that I should have done somethin similar over the last week....but meh! I have been sick!!(on even more levels than usual oh yes!)I (for some odd reason) have been reduced to eating one meal a day and that not even a big one!!!-though I can only justify going from a diet of orange juice and water to one of black pudding on toast by saying 'it was theeere!!' Sometimes I love home!
This morning I am mostly drinking tea cos I figure i might still not be hungry but at least that will sustain me til I'm eating in some kinda restaurant (which is the plan tonight apparently!)(Far be it from me to turn down meals from parents of a flatmate of my friends....yes...!All sounds a bit dodge really but apparently I have been talked up so much that I have a lot to live up to!(if i never return I've clearly been sold into Irish slavery)

In other news, if anyone has a job I would like one =) Things have finally got sorted out, not in the way I would have chosen a month ago, but to be honest at this point all I want to do is sleep! I think I might just decide to have my midlife crisis at 24 (as I was assured by my youngest brother, if I get run over by a stampeding rhino(can one rhino stampeded by itself I wonder??) when I'm roughly 50, I have, in fact, already reached middle age...he inspires me, oh yes!!)
So we'll work til the end of May and June will be tying up the final loose ends and then I'll see what I'll see =)
Today I'm in an ok mood about all this, yesterday I was sad and then happy, tomorrow I'll be in London-which is my codeword for thank god I booked that months ago!! It's kinda scary but I don't think I'm gonna starve tbh! Don't want to leave Galway really but then like everything else real jobs seem to be in Dublin (so the tale goes-I have been unsuccessfully internet trawling! Imho the Irish language community doesn't advertise enough on the net ;) )

And that's kinda it!Least it all seems to be ending amicably which is great, and I have a couple of things to look into!

And it's been a hell of a year =)

x
m

PS I also sent off for my provisional driver's licence-so 6 years later than advertised, I'll be ploughing through small animals on a road probably vaguely near some of you..!Hurrah!! ;)

2005-05-03T00:23:00.000Z

At least it looks suitably skeptical

And has very messy hair =)

2005-04-22T11:37:00.000Z

This will make very little sense-just accept first that I'm an idiot(which shouldn't be too hard!)
Now-move on...:

Today I have resolved nothing except things within my own head. I should really mention to my colleagues that I have resolved issues and that i will not be so stupid in future-but it seems undoable!Was all fired up this morning and then through ppl not being in etc i never got to give my speech!
And i was sick and headachey and scared and stuff
And then..it was like...seeing as how what I've realised is that a lot of issues were created by me in my own head...it all got better.
I got work back that wasn't crap
And had nice conversations
and am currently sitting alone in my office pondering walking to the shop to buy a yummy roll =) even though the weather's crap and grey.

So I'll still need to have a meeting-but then we all need to have a meeting-so it's not all pressured and weird so much!

It's really nice not to have your head hurt (much!)

And i'm thinking coming into work on Monday will be ok!

And I'll no longer have to dream the dream I had this morning where i woke up 12 hours late!!! which was nice =)

And not only that, I'm going home this weekend
And I'm gonna sleep past 6.45 which is when I've been waking the last 2 weeks...actually I'm amazed I haven't accused someone of trying to kill me!sleep deprivation DOES TOO cause paranoia!

hrmm shall I go for food? i think maybe!

x
m=)

2005-04-12T20:28:00.000Z

This is true (and don't be offended).

This is getting updated for one reason and one reason only.

It's half 9 and I'm in NUIG and I have to go home and do another million (/5 or so) hours of work and I'm desperately trying to find valid ways of avoiding doing so....kinda like the way you wake up in the morning and try to convince yourself that that IS a pain you have in your stomach and your head really DOES hurt and you're NOT inventing it and, therefore, not getting up at all would not only be a valid action but would also be SENsible-it might be contagious for god's sake!!!
You know that simile seemed simile-ishly(simile-ly? similaicly??(ooh I like that one ;) )) valid when I began on it but I'm not sure any more. But just take it from me that I'm not in happy bunny camp and pretty much wanna run away from home...which is pretty doable seeing as how there's very little food there at the mo (clearly, one couldn't run away from a well stocked larder...that's just crazy talk!)

Work is crazy...or I'm crazy or my company's crazy or something...I'm trying to figure it out at the moment...

It's like this..there are 4 of us and we divide down into 2 groups of 2-now in my group I end up picking up extra work because I'm faster-which is fine for the most part-except it means that the project that I thought would be done last wednesday was done...ooh...by Monday evening? and if I hadn't been a million miles ahead of schedule on the one due on Fridaythere'd be no way in HELL it would get done....and as it is, I still have acres to cover because I know that if I don't do it, it just won't get done in time....

But you see that's only part of it...because generally I don't work evenings or weekends-i feel I'm pretty entitled to that tbh ;) but as for the OTHER group of two-it's really difficult to tell how my output compares to theirs becasue they SEEM to work weekends and evenings and all sorts...

So on one hand I feel like I'm working crazily-and on the other hand I feel like I'm not working enough!!My tiny brain (1/3 the size of a man's...that's science you know..!) was not made for such contradictory input!!

MY GOD they all told me that blogs were tremendous ways of bitching at the world but who knew it was so true =)!!!!

And all in all I think that's where I am at the moment. All the holidays are over for a while, I still don't have summer hols organised in the slightest, there's not much to look forward to til the endish of the month which seems very far away for some reason-oh and also if at least one client doesn't get a wriggle on, I won't get paid this friday.

And you know the worst bit? none of this would bother me unless I was so damn tired-and so what do I do instead of going home and working so I can get to sleep earlier??!I write here!

IN OTHER NEWS (this is the fluffy section about penguins who rescue flying monkey babies from bullying gazelles...ors)

I passed my driver theory test-a test indeed AIMED at monkeys!! I'm ashamed that I in fact harboured doubts as to whether I'd pass it...questions like: If the red light is showing you a) Stop b) Plough down pedestrians while talking on your mobile phone c) Use branches to camouflage your car and hide it in a schoolyard were not that taxing...

There's another person miving into my house at the weekend who hopefully is nice-there's actually another 3 ppl to move in yet so chances are at least one of them will be even more of an idiot than I am...the house will burn down...oh yes it will....
Actually it occurs that I have no logical reason to think they'll be more idiotic than me...perhaps I'll retain my crown =)

ermmm OH yes I taught my last uni class today so I did...so thats me done with job no.2-which you'd think would make it easier but I dunno...I have enjoyed getting up an hour later once a week....am pondering working from home more often =)

yes that's it! too tired to think of any anecdotes-wouldn't know what they were if one bit me

Know what piranhas are though-there's two on the mantlepiece at home...and a strange statue called 'Glorph' apparently....housemates do make one wonder...oh yes...!!

Running!!
x

2005-01-28T13:39:00.000Z

heya!

After the same two ppl who always complain to me for not updating this complained again I figured maybe it was time to do a bit of an update.
So here I am out in the west working away....well except today when I mostly found out why smartie lids have letters on them =)

Basically what can i say except life is good...and it is =) I am continually amused by it!!!

Since september things have gone from good to better to better even when other things aren't quite so good and rather than my general air of depression(which I think we can all safely say is self evident from my previous entries) I'm wandering around being happy (-ier??!) and for some reason I haven't even got the magical button going 'if it's this good it's only a matter of time before the rocks fall on my head and crush me into oblivion'.
well...ok..sometimes!

Which is why I should be doing useful marketing things instead of writing in this!!

But blogs are funny things anyway-this one was only written cos the goup mails started becoming too crazy and certain people started complaining and tbh I don't think anything of the remoteliest exciting kind (and I use exciting very advisedly here...more acuurately-anything at all) happens to me that I don't tell everybody I meet the second I meet them anyway...I was gonna try and learn how to be enigmatic but it seems to fail me completely!!

So basically in the last 4 months I've learned that uni teachings ok, night classes are tiring, working for yourself is great 99% of the time, living in Spiddal is quiet quiet quiet, Christmas is fab, New Year's party's one doesn't have to organise oneself are like god's gift (thanks Dan) small blonde people enjoy crap movies where Tom Hank's is every single bloody character, orgainising taxes is far easier when you're related to an accountant(or so the theory goes...maybe I haven't quite learned that one yet but here's hoping!!) and it's really hard to feel poor on a relatively crap salary when it's more than you earned any other time...!!;)

And other than that there's other stuff like i need to learn to listen better to everyone - but then that relates to so many different things as well as to so many different people that I dont think there's much of a point trying to explain it anyway!!

And it's funny cos despite being happy I'm almost in a sombre mood posting this cos I just don't really feel like it - so I think it may be another many months before I bother-of course now I've jinxed myself and something sufficeiently earthshattering for me to want to blog it while not being important enough to reamain unblogged or indeed to keep me away from a computer is sure to happen v soon!!

Oh I forgot to mention-i also re-learned that boy rules =)

So that's it and I'll see you guys in person soon!

x

m=)

2004-09-14T16:17:00.000Z

yes
yes i'm even worse than usual

This is what happens when one pretends to be busy!
So far this week I haven't written chapter 4 of my thesis which is whats supposed to be done...by...tomorrow..uh oh(I think I have 100 words done out of...about...5000....this could be a slight issue!!)
I have however, applied late for a translation contract, started teaching in the university(2 hours a week) got another teaching job on top of that in december/january (4 hours a week for 4 weeks), turned down my dream job(which I was KINDA offered on the phone yesterday moringin...out of the blue)because I have a business starting up in October but I think maybe convinced them that they want me freelancing from october onwards(NB my dream job being subtitling-at this current moment anyway)

so it's been a highly productive unproductive couple of days...

Other than that, a friend of mine (who for the record is 13 1/2 months OLDER than me) pointed out today that I, in actual fact am older than him...and I fear it's true.....i feel old...i want to buy a house(in 2097 after the great apocalypse (rather than the minor one) causes house prices to fall dramatically, of course). I keep thinking about how best to go about sorting out a pension(any advice gratefully accepted!!!). I have the terrible need to go and buy clothes that look like people in offices would wear them (thankfully due to current cashflow issues i've been unable to fulfil this dire fantasy..but it's only a matter of time..). I WORK FOR MYSELF!!! no one cares whether I'm even wearing clothes....(well...actually the girls might prefer I wore SOMEthing but its the principle of the thing!)

In fairness I was never overly good at the crazy teenage/college student/person under 30 thing....but come on now we're getting ridiculous!But then again at least I'm not getting MARRIED like everyone else seem sto be doing...grrr and grrr and fie upon the lot of them!

And to be honest that's about it-i've had a few months of waiting aroud for things to get sorted betwen offices and work and theses and a few weeks of travelling home and back up like a crazy lunatic and now i only have 2 weeks left in a masters that I'm so convinced WILL GET DONE that I have absolutely no motivation to actually do the damn thing...

and people wonder why this gets updated!!!(where are you procrastination man???)

sigh and etc
;)
m=)

2004-07-27T18:00:00.000Z

its another tuesday hurrah(i like tuesdays for no reason other than that they are!)

Let me think-it's been a crazy week...(so crazy in fact that I can't stop saying the word crazy...worrying to say the least...I blame Simon and Garfunkel!)
In fact lets start at S&G...wow double wow triple quadruple amazingly amazing wow...they ALmost made me cry but I'm a strong and balanced character and so was blatantly not sucked into the vortex of hero worship adoration and joy...no no NO not me...erm...but I digress!they did a proper Old Friends all our greatest hits hanging out on stage making people cheer brilliant gig....i'll admit that my phone's photos don't exactly capture the spirit of the occasion-but III know what the teeny tiny red dot is(...it's paul simon...duh..!) so that's ok!
Fell asleep on the way home(ended up going all th way back to Limerick 'stead of staying up-don;t look a girft-lift in the mounth I say!Fell asleep on the way home for the first time in lliving memory-apparently 6 hours of standing will do that to you!was a bit bad though seeing as how that left our driver all alone in waking land-thankfully made it home with no death so all was good!
Was supposed to go back up to Galway on Monday and do some work NO said I and kidnapped the UL computer facilities(well..a very small proportion of them...) and worked from there begging the question:does one ever truly graduate??..answered by the letter I received the next day asking me as a graduate to give the money...hrmm...I wonder what my answer was...!!!
Proceeded to go see spiderman 2 which was a SCARY movie not fro small children...welll..except the 8 year old we went with who loved it....maybe it's just me!
Npothing else really excotong happened-went to galway for about 8 hours on wed, sotrted out my thesis so gonna start on thta...any minute now....came home hung out with my sarah went to fun goign away to Friday night(frolicking frolics) ended up slodging...except I was too sovber to call it slodging so it must just have been lodging, convinced my mate DAve to come down for a party on Sat night, kidnapped molc's birthday through use of chemical experiments, to whit:
a)placing jelly babies in Miller beer causes an extreme explosion of fizzingness which is quite amusing but can land on sandwiches if people aren't careful
b)chewing up tiny packets of refreshers and taking a mouthful of miller causes an internal mouth fizzing up reaction which is even funnier when people start laughing during said fizziness-hurrah for sinks!
c) people will pay me to play twister.....this one I still don't understand but at least I've found a career option for if this translation thing falls through (by the time I collected my money it was at e1.50 but I'm told it was closer to 2.50 at one point....I'll find out who stole my hard earned cash...!!!!)
d)it's impossible to put left foot on red when all the reds are behind you and you've spent the rest of the evening experimenting with Miller and various sugary products..

And after we finally left the scene of partying(sorry guys-we're crap-KICK US OUT PROPERLY next time....I blame sarah though....safety in distance is great =( ) we dropped baby sarah home and there were hugs and good luck calling =)

So on sunday I went to galway to have dinner and go out in Cuba* cos another of my adopted ppls was heading to Nepal to teach English to buddhist monks(YAY!!) I've been promised a yak-it had better be delivered in September on said adoptees return ;)
and so betwixt today and yesterday I've done about 70000 hours of relaxing and 3 hours work!

Ooh ooh ooh-and happiness is drinking hot chocolate through a rocky bar while tucked up in bed readining romantic teenage fiction but ONLY cos the heroine likes star wars and buffy and is therefore actually cool...ok?!;)
NB beware the ensuing sugar high(though admittedly the Kendal Mint cake didn't help)

and now i'm off to buy cinema tickets =)

2004-07-16T14:01:00.000Z

Oh and mental note-ALWAYS invite other people's birthday parties back to your house-it is many funs!

2004-07-16T13:33:00.000Z

THis has possibly been the best week ever!

No really!

Last weekend I went to Oxegen with my boyz and it was mighty! MAd about them I am(despite the fact that blatantly my expression of ownership is highly inaccurate to say the least!) There was camping and putting up tents(which I NEVER did before cos I have a sensible family that think things like "Lets go on holiday to some place warm and comfortable"!) and I'll admit right here and now that my tent was only put up due to the aid of some aforementioned boys cos I was kinda crap....but tp skip to Monday morning, my tent taking downing was a joy to behold!!!

Arrived Friday nighyt in the mental campsite of madness...it was so weird cos there were people everywhere and tentrs everywhere and everybody trying to stake out their own little piece of territory before the ravening hordes(of other campers obviously....) stole them all (bwa ha ha ha ha!) But the feeling on the site was just crazy-people would start cheering at one end of it and then this cheer would just travel all the way through the site and then go back again...I'm sure if I were poetic there'd be something here about waves of sound but thankfully for everyone, I have no such illsions!

And then saturday was all bands all day....let me think-the chalets were really good, snow patrol were AMAZING, franz ferdinand really good(lot better than I'd expected) the strokes did a cool set, massive attack looked great but left really early to see the cure who were a bit of a disappointment cos they played a real gig instead of a festival gig so I knew about 1% of their stuff!!Oh loads and loads of gigs The Divine Comedy AMAZING(I like that word!)-sunday the sawdoctors and hothouse flowers and erin mckeown and AMAZING Ash followed by EVEN AMAZINGER UNBELIEVABLY BRILLIANT Muse(who were who I actually went up for so I was well happy!) etc etc etc lotsa fun, baby wipe showers, 6 a.m. morning call on Monday, random encountering of Northern guy who'd been mugged, had lost his tent and kept accusing me of burning it down(only in a NICE way though..!)
So let's be honest here-it was a pretty perfect weeekend even wth the rain and the fast food and the ridiculously expensive fairground rides(I HAD to go on the big spinny thing though...it's like a LAW!!!)
AND THEN went into work(where I work for myself HURRAH!) on Tuesday and had another 3 hour lunch break and then went in to have a chat with my head honcho guy about vague business propositions for our company cos the stuff they were offering us was crap and we wanted to say so...which I did at length(in a VERY polite way-I have to write a masters for this man yet!) only to find out that it had all been sorted all along and there went another 20 minutes of my life that I'm never gonna get back!!!!So business stuff looks good to go from the 1st of October fingers crossed.
AND THEN on Wednesday I managed to knock over a chair which I was half falling asleep on...but only for the amusement of my lecturer...I swear!!
Yesterday did about 2 hours work and ran ALL OVER THE PLACE and eventually managed to buy me a happy smiley motorola-y camera phone that I am MOST amused by-and kept meeting ppl in the street, which was nice-specially when they said "You must be thrilled!"...and I'm going,"....ermm....why?" and they're going, "Becuase the Irish government is gonna try and get irish recognised as a working language in the EU!" I realise this means very little to anyone else but to me that means guarantee of future employment!...So I was kinda amazingly happy. And then I had a meeting about my thesis which seemed to go ok so hopefully I can start that next week and get the stupid thying out of the way!!
ANd then I got a call saying lets go to Simon and Garfunkel on Saturday-to which I said HURRAH!!!!!!!!!With MANY exclamation marks!!
So I started thinking, where will I stay in Dublin-at which point I got a randoiom call off my best LIv, whoi not only lives in Leixlip, but turns out to be goign to the gig too so I can stay at hers no bother...

Can you SAY jammy dodger???!!!

So obviously I went for drinks with some of my babies and a swede and got plastered on ONE pint-drank 3 more and made my merry way home in a very merry fashion.
And today I finished off all my proofreading and am taking another half day...because I can!!

I seem to remember other people having bits on their blogs and live journals and things saying what mood they're in.....
I think mine goes without saying =)

And going home next weekend for a big party which is cool..but because my Sarah is leaving me...which seems to be the only depressing thing in the world of me!(bar the guy who thinks he has whiplash and doesn't)

Potato potato potato

m=)

2004-06-02T11:42:00.000Z

It's been so long since I made an entry(just under the 2 month barrier-go me!)that they've changed round everything on this site...v. strange!
So in the last 2 months I finished my (2nd) college course bar 6 weeks work experience which I'm currently on, moved house, and did some more freelance translation with the aid of the intrepid trio(or,more likely, they did it with my aid...as wonderful as I am, there are 3 of them and they thusly did 3/4 of the work..!)
But from all my experiences in the last 2 months there ARE some things I have learned(no really...really really...and you people thought I couldn't...learn my way out of a paper bag...or something...!)

I have learned that translation for government departments is annoying because they keep changing their minds...and yet lucrative...os they keep changing their minds...something to keep on file for the future I think..!
I have learned that it IS possible to play poker all night(or at least until about 5) and only lose 5e....apparently it's also possible to win money...but as I haven;t exactly experienced that I'm not going to comment....)
I have learned that subtitlers have the best job in the world(if they're subtitlers in Spiddal during the summer...)no stress, beautiful location, arrive at 9.10, leave at 4.45, have 1 hour lunch, 2 coffee breaks and spend as much time as you need on the beach =)Admittedly, when they actually have work to DO it's slightly more stressful-but seeing as how work involves watching tv...it's kinda ok!Well...I love it actually and am seriously considering killing s new found colleague or two to create a place for me among them. Except for the fact that they think I'm a sad scary loner freak who can only speak when spoken to, I think my campaign of lulling them into a false sense of security is working admirably....
I have learned(see, thematic!) that Galway is really and truly the most beautiful city in Ireland and also that couples think when it's sunny they can do just about anything on the grass by the canal-we are not in Italy I say(which may sound like a weird comment but if you;d seen the things III saw in Italy, you;d understand...!!)STOP IT...or at least find me a vaguely significant other so that I no longer care/notice.
And I've learned that data entry for university translation programmes is actually ok so long as you bring your entire cd collection!(that would be my Thurs and Fri job cos they don't pay me for the other...not that I've seen any money from it yet...I may have to query them tomorrow and tell them I'm starving and homeless or something...!)

And I'm FULL sure that I learned something else but blatantly it didn;t exactly stick!!

And the new Harry Potter movie is quite cool, John Banvillle is an amazing author (cf. The Book of Evidence) and lunch in the sunshine is highly amusing and I recommend it...

So I guess that's what I'll do just about now!

PS Have neither flooded nor set my new house on fire yet, but have been there for only 2 weeks so there's time yet....

2004-04-03T14:14:00.000Z

It's the 3rd of April and thus just over a month since I wrote.
Now I'm not saying that my life has been incredibly boring since then...because that would be an utter lie!!!No in fact it;s vbeen so busy and exciting and amazing that I simply haven't had time to write....and that;s the story I'm sticking to.

Since I wrote I have been involved in the great sink robbery of 2004, a slightly mad maneouvre which involved birthday clubbing(not mine quite obviously...I'm still young, I swear...!) house renovations and side of road pilfering...
OK it was nothing to do with me really...I'm too old and uncool...but I was there and helped hide it from the taxi drivers who, it was maintained, would want to take it from us....
Now I'm NOT saying that some people may have been being overdramatic....but if I did, I might be right!

And other than that there's mostly been a lot of work...contract translation work and college project work and an essay which is now 6 weeks overdue and which I should be editing but I hate so I'm typing this instead....(it's okkkkk tha nice lecturer let us have an extra 6 weeks...the love I have for that man..!!)

Erm the only real news is that as of yesterday, I have no more uni classes ever...like...EVER...which is kinda weird if only ecause it doesn't feel as weird as you'd think that it should...but then theres another 3 weekd befroe exams and another 2 weeks of them and then 6 weeks of work exp stuff so I suppose it ain;t quite over yet!

and for my 6 weeks I get to be a subtitling maniac....maniac as in trapped in Spiddal and not getting paid....

But then the job that I DID FINALLY manage to resign from just gave me holiday pay so I'm thinking of heading off to the Bahamas for a while with my new found wealth....
(for that read Cuba* nightclub........SLIGHTLY more within my price range, specially since we get free in there every sunday due to judicious pub choosing...!!)

Oh and I'm thinking of starting a translation business....

(I am getting old...)

Thats about it...gonna actually go and do some work now and see where it gets me...back to Limerick on Tuesday I'm hoping...though thousands wouldn't (...hope to go to Limerick that is...it apparently has some kind of bad reputation!)

ah well c'est la vie c'est ca agus sin sin

m=)

2004-03-02T17:48:00.000Z

What's to say? After repeated cajoling by the scottish contingent I have decided to try and get my life back in order and actually not let you all forget about me(6 months in Galway and the paranoia slowly creeps in......hmmm)

Basically not a lotb has happened in the last three weeks...bar that now I only have another 4 1/2 weeks to go in my course and thus am contemplating a masters in French...I could do that....and I could stay in uni for EVer..or at least for another year which is practically the same thing! However, this is all a side issue! Let's not dwell on the future! let's dwell upon the past as is the wont of all truly Irish folk.....

Anyway since I last wrote, we got oil which is pretty damn great seeing as how the last couple of weeks have been the coldest in living memory(oh come on-it's a BLATant exaggeration...arguing with me about its accuracy belittles both you AND myself....)... there was snow though...for a whole morning! And there's still lots of frosty bits around and sometimes the wind blows lots and I can't feel my nose(except with my hands escept when they've gone numb too). But all in all it's been a pretty run of the mill february.

I survive my 27c week by discovering anothe 14c which brought me up to 41c..and then sitting staring at it late at night hoping that it would miraculously increase in value without detriment to our economy and the eocnomies of others...this didn't happen unfortunately but as I'm writing this it's pretty obvious that I survived...as one does =)

Since then I ahve no idea what's happened...I went to see the NUIG production of "Alice in Wonderland - The musical" which was a marvellous mix of sheer awfulness and unbelievable hilarity...I do love amateur theatrics. the high points of the show(if you;ll bear with me for one moment) were the arrival of the "Ace" team (cos it was the queen of Hearts garden so they were cards...ok...maybe you had to be there!!), the Bosco references(if you;re not Irish ignore) and of course the bearded lecturer who took part in the dance scenes despite not knowing the dances....I decided I wanted him lecturing me he was THAT cool...but unfortunately I missed what subject it was that he teaches so I guess I'll just have to do without!

In other news I now subtitle which may in fact be the most fun EVER!....or might not be but it's pretty close though occasionally headwrecking. How people manage to do it really fast is beyond me though...or maybe I'm just a sad slowbo....oh well!!!But I get to watch cartoons as an actual part of the class so let's be honest here...I DO do the best course in the world ever!

What else? Oh I have decided to leave my humble weekend employment a weekend earlier than forecast just cos I want sleep in once JUST ONCE when it doens't involve actually missing classes....!ONCE I tell you(what I actually mean is "all the time" but the lies that make me seem díograiseach...erm...diligent that would be...are the ones I like the most =) )I therefore have 9 days left!!!!Hurrah!!!!

And I just had an unbelievably fantastically brilliant weekend by going out two nights in a row and seeing comedian JJ Whitehead (as in paying to see him...not like going "ooh there's a comedian whom I've never heard of before walking down the street") who was really rather quite very funny which was nice...and then I almost fell over him in the club...oops =)
(note to self: getting up at 7a.m. on a Monday morning to do a project is POSSIBLE but NOT the best idea in the world ever!)

And other than that all i can think of is that I had a pancake Monday AND a pancake Tuesday - two different houses, two different recipes, two different chefs.....who will win???neither of them actually(I have to say that...they;re both on the mailing list...!) Pancake no. 1 was the traditional pancake that I remember fondly from my youth, pancake no. 2 was a thicker more americanised pancake.....I figure put lemon and sugar and strawberries and cream on anything and who cares =)=)=)
MMMMMMMMMMMM i enjoyed myself so I did!

And that's about it!

Didn't even get to mention aeroplanes this week...how tragic!
x
m=)

2004-02-10T16:02:00.000Z

As usual the fact that anyone complained to me for not updating the general (or not quite so general) public on my general doings generally amazed and astounded me...
Of course anyONE would be the operative word, which succeeded in proving to me only that some people have even less to do with their lives than I do(you know who you are...;) )I'd like to make my pity known...

However and anyway here I am on a Tuesday trying to remember of anything even vaguely riveting(possibly with those small-hard-to-see-with-the-naked-eye rivets) happened to me lately..but no..

Yet will I finish here???

Also no....

Come on-it is me...;)

AND SO:
5 weeks back at uni and it's flown...no really...and I'd like to state here and now, in as public a forum as I'm allowed to address cos of the restraining order, that I object most completely and totally to the way time has sped up-here I am with only 7 1/2 weks to go in a course and suddenly the possibility of having to seek genuine employment is becoming scarily real....THankfully, I'm completely certain that I have a continuing employment opportunity in the St. Bernard empire so at least I won't be completely skint for the rest of my life...just suicidal and...mostly skint...!

Speaking of money, (wasn't that the best sequiteur I've ever achieved-it wasn't even an unintelligible tangent!)I have decided to learn from Des Bishop and his work experience specifically so that I can tell the young people how harsh the universe is...and so I have 27c to last me until Friday...
Admittedly this state of affairs was achieved through judicious spending of money that wasn't mine over Christmas, and actually paying rent, but still I feel that it's...emmm...
well actually I don't know how I feel-I think 27c is too little money to feel anything...can't even buy a pack of chewing gum-I CAN however buy 2 boxes of matches if I so wish-an after that the possibilities are endless...(endless meaning "incredibly finite"...obviously...)

But SPEAKING of matches(I AM on a roll today) they would be useful for the tiny fraction of warmth they might bring to my cold cold house...I mean, one morning last week I was in bed listening to the soothing hum of our central heating(which...though somewhat soothing...erm...sounds far more like an aeroplane taking off to be honest...)(probably a 747)(cos thats the only plane I know) when all at once(cos that's how things happen in stories) there came a huge thud-clatter-bang which shook the house...
I, in my wisdom, assumed that a digger had fallen over in the building site across the road...the fact that this didnt alarm me sufficiently that I felt I should get up is worrying in itself...but however...
NO!
It was our boiler exploding

oops

Apparently a combination of airlock and external gales had resulted in something something something etc. boom....or at least thats how it was explained to me...
Thankfully it was promptly fixed...with putty...so we all feel really safe nd secure....though lets be honest there's no oil so its not a huge issue at the moment....=)

IN other news I am now officially old because I went to a 21st party of someone from work and suddenly realised that everyone I know turned 21 last year at the very latest...bar my baby brother...who's 21 this year...shoot me...(metaphorically only please)...this was compounded by the realisation that the people I went with were 18 and 19-thank god everyone will be thirty soon and then I won't care cos no one will admit to their age any more YAY!
Or maybe I'll just start lying...

Speaking of lying, myself Sarah and Seamie met Hector off the telly on Sunday night...there were also naked people in Eyre square and I saw a flying dolphin....not that some of this might not potentially be true mind you, but it's none of it as true as the stained glass window in Galway Cathedral that has Jesus bringing Joseph a cup of tea as he carpenters(it's a verb =p) and Mary sitting down knitting...mostly cos that IS true!!Who knew?!

And finally, Big Fish ROOLZ ok?(as in, is that ok?) and I have sawed it TWO times and lets pretend I didn't cry for the last half an hour both times cos that would just be worrying....but hey!
Oh and Cuba* on Sunday nights is the best club in the world =)

And I think that is all =)

m=)

P.S. I also know the SR71 Blackbird...but my heating doesn't sound like that...well....maybe a bit....;)

2004-01-12T16:44:00.000Z

Dearest all

It has apparently been a long long time since I have written-disturbing in that it's been over a month and feels like about a week and a half...or 2...or possibly 3 1/2 weeks but let's be honest here...that's pushing it!
So in the interim what have I done?!
Lets see....

I finished my exams YAY!!!
Worked a 12 hour shift in Dunnes on a Sunday BOO!YAY!(yay for time and a half!!)
Went home and slept lots!EXcellent!
MAnaged to fit in 3 roast turkey dinners in 8 days....good going methinks!
Had the most fantastic party organiser in the world come to my house and make everything perfect-look if you weren't there you should have been...mostly cos I'm still finishing off the pixie sticks...mmmmmmm...sugar...mmmm....
fluorescent food..mmmmm......perhaps I should continue...

Gráinnes new years party will always be remembered for the couples on the stairs(ha ha), the vast group of people who spent hours playing Timberrr (tm) and watching a spinning top(not (tm)...though I will admit to spending part of Jan 1st playing with one of those beyblade things and was most impressed by the flashy lightness of it all...!!), the attempts to retrieve refreshers from down someones top(the photos are round somewhere...!!)and the state of my carpet....;) (which before anyone has a panic attack is perfect once more!!)
The french, scottish and english contingent were a pleasure to behold(except the english contingent, obviously =p)and hopefully the craic was indeed mighty as our fair island is renowned for it...or so the tourist brochures tell me....
Familyness was manic and fun and THIS year we actually managed to open our presents on teh 29th of December!!!(no...that's better than last year not worse...we're a bit crap...!!)
Basically I ate drank and was merry for quite a lot of the time-and seeing as how I was asleep for the rest of the time I think this can be considered a successful holiday....
Well except for the bit where I thought I'd lost my credit card and it was upstairs ALL the time.....oops!!!

And now after much further ado I am back in my Galway place which is full of hailstones and work an cinema going attempts thwarted by the fact that no one in Galway has a life...I mean it was SAturday night...why weren't they all down the pub instead of buying up all MY cinema tickets...the young people today....(I am somewhat cheered with the knowledge that the cinema in Limerick was also sold out...NO one has a life)
Of course it did lead to a scrabble(equally tm) game that I won cos I'm great so perhaps I won't complain too much....

Hmm other news?
IN my vague attempts to further the cause of science which may or may not have led to an earlier kitchen flooding incident...I may or may not have left the grill on last night after finishing cooking scrumptious steak and thus filled the house with smokey smoke of evil....
THe worrying part III feel(in order to divert attention from me) is that there were four of us in the living room wondering why our eyes were watering as we watched Frasier and yet it occurred to no one that this may be the case....
...
maybe its cos we'd just watched an E.R. episode where a woman set herself on fire...I KNEW that show was bad for my health...

And that as they say, is that!(Blatantly it's not but lets be honest here-my life isnt that interesting...!)

Finally thanks to those I went to dinner with(yippee), I went to breakfast with(also yippee) I went for pints with (hurrah hooray) and who took me to dinner( very yay)-and also the guy in the scholars who gave me cajun chicken and chips fo 2.50...I think I might just love him...!

x
m=)

2003-12-10T15:34:00.000Z

Wednesday
Ah wednesday
Not much to recommend them really is there-bar being in the middle of weeks generally.....
Yes indeed for I have reached the pivotal point of my second last week of semester, 3 exams done, 4 more to go and all feeling just a little bit relaxed...
Ok that's a lie-not relaxed...tired...I ahd to leave the study room cos I was in danger of falling asleep on the desk-and seeing as how I was surrounded by proper masters students I thought I'd better not...they might find out that I'm not quite as cool as they are....oh the fear of retribution from the studying masses....
Of course let's be honest here, coming to hang out on computers is not quite such a good idea as...perhaps...going home and having a nap-but they don't not call me sensible Maeve for nothing....(yes the double negative was intentional....my linguistic abilities today are astounding no?!)
Have spent a good part of this week trying to get into contact with the two siblings who are still living in the ancient homestead in a vague effort to find out what people want for Christmas and whether I can give someone money to make my obvious lack of gifts disappear...no such luck...for some reason they were expecting ME to come up with suitable parental gifts...like I don't have enough to do humph!(in other words this is turning out to be a Christmas like every other where vaguely good intentions of getting proper gifts get reduced on the 24th to a feeble voucher buying attempt and a slight feeling of guilt...quickly assuaged by the 17 turkleys apiece we consume over the holiday period of course....)
OH
I've suddenly realised that I can do my dance of jammy bitchness....for did a naughty thing(which no one is allowed to tell my eminent employers)
I MAY(or may not) have invented a "project" I had to do over Christmas which would necessitate a prolonged absence from Cathair na Gaillimhe(Galway city for my foreign contingent)...and thus, on offering to give in my notice again as a result of my sheer crapness of presence(meaning "my not being there"...my turns of phrase get more unpredictable by the second OH the excitement)I was told..."no no" "it's ok" "when are you back" "fine..."
I proceeded to do a dance at which my co-workers marvelled(due to my sheer talent...obviously) But any despite slight guilt(oops) I have thus appropriated 3 weeks of holidays AND a paying job to come back to(...well...I CALL it paying.....!)and thus have no need to scab money off the parentals leaving me free to do so next year when I'm actively unemployed(meaning looking for a real job)(!)
Had a funny oul weekend-Spin the Bottle was kinda amusing actually...not laugh a second funny...but funny in an intensely irish way - no way could anyone from any other country understand it all....I felt very cultural so I did....!!!my quiet night in on Saturday turned into a quietish night out which despite my initial reluctance having worked a 10 hour day was atually kinda fun!Of course, discovering that my employers like opening at ten o clock on Sunday mornings in the run up to Christmas was somewhat disconcerting...and having to crawl out of bed at eight o clock was what we like to define as "sheer hell"...but such is the price we pay for earning time and a half....!!!(was not impressed by the woman who came into me at half ten and complained about al the other shops being closed until TWELVE on a SUNDAY so soon before CHRISTMAS-TERRIBLE she said...I was kinda not agreeing with her and she kept looking really confused...!!)
Oh it's raining...how depressing...specially since my house jsut ran out of oil....oh well-I have my 'lectric blanket so I'll manage!
Anyway didn't get out of work til half seven on Sunday so not much to be done really!!Went home went bed got up did exam ibid. tues and wed and here I am!
Did have a most disturbing conversation at lunch with my class mates where I discovered that they're stalking one of our lecturers and were using a coca cola hand puppet to play his part so they could show how much they loved him...I have no idea if I've made it sound more or less sordid than it was...!!!Maybe you had to be there...!!!
Anyway thats about it-gonna go read a book and go for coffee and go home to beddy byes as no exam til Friday miracle of miracles!!
Sorry this was so long but I'm so damn fascinating!!
c u all soon!(YAY!)
*hugs*
m=)

2003-12-05T20:32:00.000Z

Hurrah
It's friday I have no study done, no presents bought no christmas holidays from work sorted out(not that that matters cos I just won't be there) no dinner eaten no money no time...and yet here I am writing to you lot...
proiorities priorities....!!!!

Yup I think I have them about right!!!

Anyhew as a continuation of my previous epistle:
Love Actually ruled actually...oh the laughter the frolics the fun the romance the sheer loveliness of it all with the occasional dose of reality just to make me believe that the rest of it could be true too.....swoon etc.....

Mundy...Mundy was an exercise in interesting gigness.....
Last time I saw him was in Cuba*(ha ha ha no the nightclub...though he did interestingly enough go on holidays to Cuba so that was within the bounds of possibility....)and that was a pretty rocking all standing jumping dancing gig-and well good with it!
But this one was in the theatre up here in Galway all seated etc etc - and what I discovered that what that kind of setting does is it makes all the good bits even better but draws attention to the weaker parts...like interminable melodic ostinatos...siigh siigh siigh!
So basically he had moments of extreme rockingness with his band who were totally cool together etc and their melodic bits at the end of tunes were really good..but occasionally I felt he lacked conviction..!!!
And on a lighter note me and selle were the only two people in the front row and we could actually smell the guitars...(well ok III could...I never asked her...!!But you know that smell of wood and strings and things thats very guitarry???...that!!)

Oops I skipped the weekend completely...what was I thinking...?!
Went out Saturday and Sunday night had an utterly splendiferous time as Mike(i.e. a mate of mine) was back from Germany for a bit and there was much talking and laughing and playing with spongebob squarepants and dancing and tequila and guinness(acually only one tequila)(c I'm a good girl =) ) and then clubbing and dancing and woke up on Sunday morning to go to work in possiby the best mood ever and was incredibly happy all day at work and all was fantabulously well!!
And then on Sunday despite my good intentions we went out again hurrah and there was a live band and taking and singing along and carlsberg ad clubbing and more dancing and ..things....ahem....ahem ahem...and thats all I'm gonna say about that! Suffice it to say a) that I had a really good night and b) that I need to find more men cos I'm running out of them at a rate of...admittedly relatively slow...knots....
So I have spent this last week sleeping and not stressing about study (oops)and getting paid and realising that I worked 30 hours last week...THIRTY what IS going on and being glad that I'm not doing that any more and staying single and checking e-mails and generally drinking a lot of coffee and getting slagged by my entire peer group...except you....YAY!!!!
And now I'm off to watch Spin the Bottle which will hopefully be good for a laugh and I'll be home in two weeks about so let the countdown begin!!!(yeah right!!)
*hugging loves*
m=)

2003-11-27T12:55:00.000Z

So hurrah
For /me has her skychat back thus this mail is somewhat obsolete for I can talk to the vast majority of you at weird hours of the day and night...or at least up til ten o clock cos after that NUIG kick us all out...
I mean really-whats that all about?I had many problems with UL(mostly involving the fact that they made me do exams while listening to piledrivers...oh the bitterness...)but no 24 hour computer labs????I am suffering severe withdrawal symptoms by virtue of the fact that I now go home at a reasonable hour...NO I say and once more NO!!I will not stand for such treatment(excpet that obviously I will....)
THough in fairness they do have wireless hub internet thingys here but seeing as how my laptop is somewhat...hmmm...ancient and battery free...that isn't much of an option!!!
Oh the truly exciting news of the week is that I ME IIII got paid 40e for interpreting at that fascinating conference which meant that I got money for expeeerience which is nice...!!!
And also that I gave a truly kick ass presentation yesterday(No i'm actually proud of myself!!) and so all is well...bar those other three projects...which I should really be doing now!
Am no longer keyless(as though you cared) as I got a new one cut, am going to see Mr Mundy play next wednesday, cinema this friday to see the fillum of the month(that would be the highly Christmassy love actually...I know it's Christmassy cos all the ads for it have green and red and tinselly like things)(Oh and I heard on the radio that the Wham song Last Christmas I gave you my heart was originally entitled last SUMMER I gave you my heart but they changed it in order to get and immediate audience...I feel betrayed...!!)and next week shall be mostly studying for my exams...ostensibly!!
So finally big congrats to English buddy who has aquired herself a job HURRAH! more money to come visit me!!! And also good luck to those who are looking =)
Much love
m=)

2003-11-21T15:33:00.000Z

so..

without further ado....

Am I the only person that tries to hand in their notice…as in actually DOES hand in their notice…but gets refused…I mean-what’s that all about?I may in fact be the best D Stores employee ever…my future is secure…!!
No but seriously that was my Monday-total madness…they said that I could work out my two weeks and that after that “we’ll see…”
I mean the woman(i.e. may manager) kept on saying things like, “But is there ANY time you could work for us…I mean ANY time??” and when I said weekends only and strictly and totally only still seemed quite happy…in fact she muttered something about “suiting my schedule”….my confusion knows no bounds..
So anyway that was unexpected but it appears I still have a job to come back to after Christmas-and if I don’t cos I point out to her how I’m disappearing totally for two weeks over the actual Christmas period..who cares?!!
Other than that I have discovered one of my callings…I…am a natural eater…! Oh no I knew that one already….mmm two dinners a day..!!But no III am a happy little interpreter!! No really! Last night was our (that being my vast class of 5..!)big debut as Irish to English interpreters – and it was kinda fun…despite the fact that the actual speakers got bottled water and we had to make do with stuff out of jugs(ok…I’ll admit that being as severely lower class as I am I kinda prefer tap water but let’s not let that interfere with a good gripe!!!!
No all in all it was a good expeeerience as our main lecturer guy kept saying to us… though obviously he said “beidh sé mar taithí iiiontach daoibh” cos he only speaks to us in Irish but as a translator I shall avow that my English version accurately reflected the meaning…! We had the headphones and everything and there was much talking and no coughing cos apparently that’s a bad thing to do, remotely coughing into people’s ears as you interpret for them..And lovely people came up and thanked us at the end….The sheer wondering amusement of it all…
What else what else? Oh I’v completely totally and utterly lost my house keys…no really…just as well I’m living with one of my best mates who only works across the road from the house or I’d be spending a lot of time standing outside in the cold and damp waiting for someone to get home…in fact I do that anyway but at least this way I have the option of walking across the road to get them…!!(anyone who chooses this moment to point out that more keys can be cut, should take a moment to reflect on their wisdom and realise that I KNOW that-I just don’t have time…no, I don’t have time to write this either but at this point German translations of Irish poetry are coming out my ears so I need a slight break…..!!)
College wise I am slowly dying a painful death! They gave us some lovely projects to do which I don’t have time to do anyway…and then added another one on top of that which is due in 2 days after the due date of another 2 and sigh and moan and etc. However! All shall be well as in a month’s time I’ll be finished my first semester and have the exams and all done and will be able to come home and sleep for a week or two-that genuinely being my current plan…. Anyone with any other suggestions please tell me in a moth’s time-I don’t think I could deal with the stress of anticipation…!

Okay so that’s it – will talk to you all next week =)
*hugs*

PS volo meam anaticulam cumminosam

2003-11-17T15:07:00.000Z

Okay here's a note strictly for those who objected to group e-mails and yet questioned my alive status when they didn't receive one...=p
All the posts are in the wrong order but I think I got the dates right mostly-anyhew, you've read them all so hey!
Have fun ;)
*hugs*

2003-11-17T12:36:00.000Z

WELL....

In a strange twist of fate I never did get as far as a computer last week so I
have discovered that the only person who cares whether por not I'm dead is in
fact:

ELLA!!

Once more I am subsumed with a feeling of love for my ginger friend and so
have decided to leave her all my possessions except the ones i need...so let's
be honest here...she's not gona do very well out of this deal (sorry honey!)

But on to more important things like me...
Since I last wrote I have had two fun weekends and two funnish
weeks!Apparently so amazing in fact that I can't actually remember anything
about them....

Ah yes...the friday night of the weekend before last, I was visited by two
angels who came to me as though in a dream...or in a haze of alcohol
anyway...we shall not discuss in this place the activities of the ginger one(a
clue to whose identity could potentially be garnered from the first paragraph
of this mail...!!)nor how attempts were made to besmirch my good
reputation...all in all it was much fun and the laughter flowed like wine(if
that's possible...)

And then my parents came to visit-and in the way of students everywhere I
insisted on receiving vast quantities of free food in the forom of restaurant
fare-and thus it was a good weekend!
Also(playing the role of the impoverished student in tragic circunmstances to
its fullest extent)I explained the extreme and painful cold that had reduced
me to shivering in my darkened bedroom alone with naught but two duvets to
reduce my suffering...and so, I was presented with my very own electric
blanket......
and a smoke alarm.....

Sometimes I think that people don't trust me...!!

So after a splendiferous weekend of cheapness AND food(usually not a viable
combo!)I spent my Monday working and then(dan dan DAAAAN) it was write a
dictionary day!

The day started with me writing a dictionary. Then they gave me the Nobel
prize for Peace and Literature and we had tea and sandwiches...

Some of that's almost true...!!
No but it was a three day course and I haqve to admit, actually kind of
interesting!!!(and we did get tea and sanwiches ALL THREE DAYS...FOR FREE I
might add in capital letters to point out once more how great NUIG are =) )
And we spent three days attempting to write a bilingual dictionary entry for
the verb "to command" and still weren't finished(and there are too a lot more
translations and/or meanings for that verb than you'd think so HA!)
So that was three days of tiring fun, and also disturbance as the English guy
with perfect Irish, the American guy with perfect Irish (both lecturers IN
Irish)and the Australian girl...who's an official Irish translator...kinda
freaked me out with their brilliance...
I knew there was a reason I didn't like foreigners....grrrr!!

And thus was I set up for another weekend of the craic being mightywith the
arrival of the other Maeve(who for the purposes of this mail shall be know as
"the other Maeve")And we did indeed have mighty craic(the full story shall be
supplied to those who pay a subscription only...=p)
In other words my weekend involved a lot of hiding from icky couples =p!(am
currently on a feverish hunt for someone with whom to be an icky couple...I'm
so left out and alone sigh sigh siiigh...though my pain is belayed somewhat by
the fact that I don't wnat to have to buy anyone Christmas presents........=)
)

And so Saturday night was clubbing and Sunday night was pubbing and Monday
night was cinema (intolerable cruelty...and it was....intolerable...!(look
I'll admit that I laughed many lots...but despite the fantastic set pieces
over all it was..well.....see above)(though obvisouly it wasn't ACTually
intolerable cos I was able to watch it....so let's just go with awful,
k?!!)and more pubbing with visiting Kerry/Americanites who we will call Maria
and Brad...to avoid confusion...

All in all it has been a good times!!!

Wie immer many apologies for boring you all
but hugs also

x
m=)

And that was it

2003-11-13T21:05:00.000Z

1) I'm not dead...just asleep.....!

2) I did not...I repeat NOT flood my kitchen...
Rumours abound indeed but I wouldn't class a slight accident with a running
tap and cutlery drawers full of water and cupboards under the drawers with
saucepans full of water and a slightly "damp" floor as a flood..more
an...innovative house cleaning method...!
And that's the story I'm sticking to...just hope no one looks for any
newspapers in the house cos I may have slightly used them all!

And other than that nothing to report! I had a lovely weekend with a Sunday
off and a staying in bedness but that feels SO LONG AGO now...!!

Oh and anyone who wants to give me a job I'm gonna be unemployed in 2 to 3
weeks cos I'm a lazy bum =) HURRAH!

So basically I'll be around LImerick at Christmas...and more importantlyat New
Years-so i shall expect to see at least many of you at the party of
the....31st...I was gonna say of the century and then I said-why put pressure
on myself?I don't care....I'LL have fun anyway and as we all know, that's all
that matters!

And now I'm away to translate some poetry and eat some lunch =)

*hugs*
m=)

P.S. word(s) of the week is "bradmharcach/bradmharcaigh" (pron
brad-var-kuc/brad-var-kig) meaning joyrider/s

Now there's a useful one! And to add to your amuseent oh computery folk, a
"luamhán stiúrtha" is a joystick =)!

god the fun never stops

=)

2003-11-05T12:53:00.000Z

WELL....

In a strange twist of fate I never did get as far as a computer last week so I
have discovered that the only person who cares whether or not I'm dead is in
fact:

ELLA!!

Once more I am subsumed with a feeling of love for my ginger friend and so
have decided to leave her all my possessions except the ones i need...so let's
be honest here...she's not gonna do very well out of this deal (sorry honey!)

But on to more important things like me...
Since I last wrote I have had two fun weekends and two funnish
weeks!Apparently so amazing in fact that I can't actually remember anything
about them....

Ah yes...the friday night of the weekend before last, I was visited by two
angels who came to me as though in a dream...or in a haze of alcohol
anyway...we shall not discuss in this place the activities of the ginger one(a
clue to whose identity could potentially be garnered from the first paragraph
of this mail...!!)nor how attempts were made to besmirch my good
reputation...all in all it was much fun and the laughter flowed like wine(if
that's possible...)

And then my parents came to visit-and in the way of students everywhere I
insisted on receiving vast quantities of free food in the forum of restaurant
fare-and thus it was a good weekend!
Also(playing the role of the impoverished student in tragic circumstances to
its fullest extent)I explained the extreme and painful cold that had reduced
me to shivering in my darkened bedroom alone with naught but two duvets to
reduce my suffering...and so, I was presented with my very own electric
blanket......
and a smoke alarm.....

Sometimes I think that people don't trust me...!!

So after a splendiferous weekend of cheapness AND food(usually not a viable
combo!)I spent my Monday working and then(dan dan DAAAAN) it was write a
dictionary day!

The day started with me writing a dictionary. Then they gave me the Nobel
prize for Peace and Literature and we had tea and sandwiches...

Some of that's almost true...!!
No but it was a three day course and I have to admit, actually kind of
interesting!!!(and we did get tea and sandwiches ALL THREE DAYS...FOR FREE I
might add in capital letters to point out once more how great NUIG are =) )
And we spent three days attempting to write a bilingual dictionary entry for
the verb "to command" and still weren't finished(and there are too a lot more
translations and/or meanings for that verb than you'd think so HA!)
So that was three days of tiring fun, and also disturbance as the English guy
with perfect Irish, the American guy with perfect Irish (both lecturers IN
Irish)and the Australian girl...who's an official Irish translator...kinda
freaked me out with their brilliance...
I knew there was a reason I didn't like foreigners....grrrr!!

And thus was I set up for another weekend of the craic being mightywith the
arrival of the other Maeve(who for the purposes of this mail shall be know as
"the other Maeve")And we did indeed have mighty craic(the full story shall be
supplied to those who pay a subscription only...=p)
In other words my weekend involved a lot of hiding from icky couples =p!(am
currently on a feverish hunt for someone with whom to be an icky couple...I'm
so left out and alone sigh sigh siiigh...though my pain is belayed somewhat by
the fact that I don't want to have to buy anyone Christmas presents........=)
)

And so Saturday night was clubbing and Sunday night was pubbing and Monday
night was cinema (intolerable cruelty...and it was....intolerable...!(look
I'll admit that I laughed many lots...but despite the fantastic set pieces
over all it was..well.....see above)(though obviously it wasn't ACTually
intolerable cos I was able to watch it....so let's just go with awful,
k?!!)and more pubbing with visiting Kerry/Americanites who we will call Maria
and Brad...to avoid confusion...

All in all it has been a good times!!!

Wie immer many apologies for boring you all
but hugs also

x
m=)

And that was it

2003-10-21T17:50:00.000Z

Hello again and welcome all to what has become a weekly event though I was
almost tempted not to send one just to see if anyone noticed and rang me up
frantically wanting to know if I was dead...and then I said NO for I feel
relatively popular and I don't want my illusions shattered...!

But I digress(and people said that that wasn't possible within the first
sentence...!)

Today indeed is Tuesday and in a nice change I have an extra hour off...mostly
cos we did that class yesterday instead of today...they have this whole
"timetable" thing going on, and apparently if we miss a class, we have to make
it up some place else.....all sounds far too organised to me...=)
So now let me just consider whether I have any news that would warrant writing
an e-mail of any sort...hmmm...
The last week has been remarkably boring...nothing of note happened at
all....I mean, I didn't even get to the cinema....

I suppose I could start by saying on Thursday we went to a marvellous pub to
celebrate a birthday(that of Gar for those who care!).(No...the OTHER Gar...)A
lovely pub indeed and all was fun until they decided to bring us to a
houseparty involving 7 people none of whom I knew....discretion being the
better part of valour our exits were quickly made, and I hastened to be in
quite a fast fashion(hastening implying a certain amount of speed)(NO..the
OTHER speed....what do you people think of me...=) )

THen Friday was a Friday-a college day, a working day...but it was worth
working-oh indeed it was...for during my sojourn in Dunnes which(as always)
was highly riveting, I met a lady who I would imagine was in her late
twenties...she was travelling around Ireland and seemed to be friendly and
chatty and happy-hurrah I thought!And so we had a bit of an oul talk, and she
said how she had expected to find the energy she was looking for in Galway,
and hadn't been disappointed
Cue Maeve:"Oh yeah energy yeah young people yeah great yeah Galway cool yeah"
Cue the woman"Yes...the fairy energy is very strong here..."

hmmmm

that was unexpected.....

And when she went on to ask me if I'd noticed how there were so many tall
people around I decided that serving the next customer was my only option...!!
(Note to foreigners(mostly K...=p)Fairies are tall and stately-leprechauns
are short and dumpy sho-makers with beards.....I'm not quite sure what their
relationship is except that possibly the leprechauns get the fairies' cast off
clothing.....)

On Friday I also got to help an old lady accross the road....I'm adding this
in just to prove that I COULD have been a girl scout if I'd wanted to be...I
just didn't want to-so ha =p!

I SUPPOSE i could mention that it being the "class reps" weekend for the U.L.
babies a vast horde of U.L. (mainly)first years with vague interests in
promoting the demands of their classes descended upon my beautiful city, and
thusly on Friday night I had to go out and have coffee and beer and fat frogs
with extra vodka(which if someone didn't know that a fat frog is a cocktail
could be quite confusing....!) All was good and I cleverly escaped before the
nichtclub which was just as well seeing as I was working at 9 the next
morning...*shudder*

But in a beautiful twist I had visitors on Saturday night who respectively
cooked me dinner and bought me shoes
THus it was a happy day and a happy night out except for the hour in the
middle where I prettty much fell asleep(I maintain the music was rubbish!),
but got home at 4 and was in work for 12 in an almost sane mood so that was
nice =)

And note how I haven't enven metioned the fact that we met Luke and Josh and
Tim the Australians and Sarah stuck post it notes on their headds and while
speaking Irish in a bar I was accosted by a man telling me that Ocean Colour
Scene are playing Galway in a month....only to find out through our
conversation that he's lecturing me next semester....this country is a wee bit
too small methinks...!!!!

And that's about it for the week of Maeve...
I feel like I should write a coming next week piece:
Hera about the mundy gig the whole world's been talking about(well...they
haven't but I'm going for an advertisingy type tone so hey...)
See the amazing antics of Me and the visiting horde of ginger Limerick
ruffians and people who say E.T.A. and VTOL and SR 71 Blackbird (and no I
didn't just google to make sure that was right...but http://www.habu.org/ is
the online blackbird museum apparently...emmm...yeah...)(E and R for
those who were confused..)

AND an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my other M (*hugs*) and a late one to P
who never told me so it's his own fault HA!

x
m=)

2003-10-13T19:38:00.000Z

The MNA na Gaillimhe Theaaaaatre Revue

Oh my children
Today is a Monday....

That is all

Well ok it's not really but let's be honest that's about the height of it!!!I
mean after stating that it's a Monday there's nowhere else to go is there?
Just think of the amount of connotations connected with that one simple
word.....

depressed yet?
Good (heeheehee)

So what wild and wacky things have I been up to over the last 6 days???
Very few to be honest with you...wild and wacky seem to have become lost in a
sea of old and pathetic(that old coment was a particularly pointed one and
directed at a certain CCO hahahahahaha....but enough of my cunning and suBtle
asides...!)Let me think...some days I worked...some days I didn't....once I
was in a pub and drank coke....I eat sandwiches for lunch...my left foot
hurts...well not right now but in a general sense.....

And now for the theatre review section cos I'm after putting it in the subject
line so I have to do one!!
"bouncers" ruled utterly!!!there were 4 guys who played 3000 parts most of
which I have been at one time or another cos I occasionally go out and
drink....my favourite may have been "plain Elaine who left school at 15 with a
Junior Cert in metalwork"yeah mmm set and stuff...mmm costuming and yadda
yadda yadda....do you ever feel like perhaps your future doesn't lie in a
certain sphere???....
but to continue: we laughed til we cried as in actually...go see it if you
can!it was also cool cos it was totally adapted for cork so everyone had
beautifully melodious accents...mmmm....

I think I mayhave flogged that one to death so onwards and upwards! ooh I
could do a cinema review too!!!On Saturday we wented to see Finding
Nemo...Nemo was a fish...he was lost...we laughed(not at that bit though
obviously....how cruel do you think I am?!that bit was sad and touching and
things!)Felt quite sad and pathetic going to a "kiddies" movie til we arrived
in on Saturday night and the cinema was full of people our age and
older.....see...I'm cool!I'm hip!....or maybe galways full of sad pathetic
people but then that would explain why I like it so much =)!

Now let me attempt to thrill you with the planned exploits for this week!!!!
(far more thrilling I assure you!)(though I made quite a good fist of almost
managing to pretend that I actually have a life HURRAH!)
Ho hum-on wednesday night the plan is to go for a drinking with the French
society in an attempt to redeem my failing frenchness with aid of alcohol and
native speakers...or students speaking really terrible french who I'd probably
feel far more at ease with! But I am assured by my linguistic cohort Niall
Flynn(named in full for the benefit of those who know him...those who
don't...well...don't......so there you go =) ) that the craic could
potentially be mighty and as he attended last week and gave one of the final
year lecturers stubble burn as a form of fond farewell and they STILL asked
him to come back....well...it bodes...if not well and least not completely
ill...!!(he maintains that he didn't realise that the poor woman was a
lecturer...I have my doubts.....!!)

Oh yes and THursday night shall be improved by the attendance(should tickets
be aquired)of a Mr. Josh Ritter gig also in the Town Hall theaaaatre(soon they
will start recognising me and I shall call myself official luvvie no. 1...live
the dream!)Josh is of course ALSO named in full for thos of you who know
him-for those who don't, he has big hair and sings songs of a tuneful and
poetic nature....
(it suddenly occurs to me that Thursday night is a bit of a stupid
phrase-henceforth such a phrase shall becom Thursnight thus reducing any
confusion about what time of day things are occurring....I may also have to
invent things like Thursevening, Thursmorning and Thursafternoon....but I
might leave that til later on this week....maybe on Frifternoon before
work....!)
Oh and finally in the week of craic though I am working this weekend(sigh ho
hum) as it is Gar's birthday(not named in full cos I no longer care) from
Wednesmorn right thru to Wednesnight the weekend may be livened up by a foray
to one of the more exotic clubs of Galway(...i.e.....Cuba....kinda sounds
foreign though...!!)And as it looks like I may have visiting visitors(that
would be visitors who visit and thus are visiting)it looks like another
weekend where I won't read those 7 books I have at home....
Did I mention before how cool being a postgrad is just for the 10 books out
from the library for a month policy???!yeah baby yeah!

Ok I think that's more than enough...let's be honest here I was just using you
all as a timefiller before lunch....
So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sarbaby
HELLO (that would be an amusing way of writing "a big hello"...tee hee
hee!!!....mmm...yes....) to the two people who actually ASKed to be put on
this mailing list(...life's getting weirder by the minute!!)
And hugs to everyone up to and including peoples small children and those out
foreign in places like Cork and Canada!
Talk to lots of you properly soon I hope!
take care of yourselves (and eachother....)(Jerry Springer speech writer here
I come!)
Oh and the word of the week is "baothánta" (bway-hawn-ta)meaning "fatuous" cos
it's a fun word that amuses me and I intend to use it regularly to describe
all my correspondance!!!!
Lots of love
x
m=)

PS it was meant to be a lot shorter....oops...;)

2003-10-07T19:39:00.000Z

Hello all!
As usual am hangin about in the hallowed halls of NUIG trying to decide what
to have for dinner or some such..!! treated ourselves to Mexican for lunch
which was nice and also about twenty minutes ago so the fact that I'm thinking
about food again is more than a little disturbing! But such is life!!And I
have no food at home(by my family's standards at any rate...in reality I
probably do...!)so I'm trying to decide what to buy on the way home....
Have been busy spending all my money on theatre tickets(DAHlings mwah mwah!)
for "Bouncers" on thursday night, which the reviews all assure me is going to
be great...the fact that these reviews were written on the brochure intended
to entice me into attending(now wasn't that a good sentence!) does not
dissuade me in the slightest...I tend to believe everything I read
really.....!!!So the Maeve(dhbh) theaaatre review shall be winging its way to
you lucky folks at some point in the future maybe perhaps...!
In other news Penneys is being depressing by having its Christmas tree
up-likewise in LImerick I'm sure siiiigh! The fact that people keep buying
Christmas presents off me at work is also a disturbing trend...I mean...come
on!!!Hallowe'en isn't even over yet...grump grump grump(oh and btw I can
recommend the "Screaming Doormats" on sale in the shops of St. Bernard at
present...most effective whoever thought of them........yes....)
Work at the weekend was riveting and interesting only in that the 11 hour
shift on Saturday was fine and the 7 hour one on Sunday was killer.....oh the
boredom.....it's as though they didn't employ me in order to amuse
me....highly upset I am...oh and also they turned on the heating so I now work
in an evil tropical heatwave type thing...but enough of this!
Good news!!!!We got our heating at home working so now I no longer need to
wear 4 layers of clothing in order to be able to feel my toes....(III know
what I meant...)
Other than that....sheer boringness! Much college stuff(ooh now they want us
to do a 3 day seminar on how to write a dictionary......apparently as we all
know they're in the process of writing a new English irish one as we
speak....now if all of you knew that and I didn't I'm really going to start
getting worried...but I think I can be pretty safe that you were as clueless
as I was til the very second at which you read what I wrote about
it....!!HURRAH!)Anyway sounds riveting and stuff so thats my 27th to 29th of
October =)! Oh and I have an exam tomorrow on something to do with nouns....I
should probably go study!
And thus I leave you children another week wiser as the the variety and depth
of my exploits....which were admittedly sorely lacking in both variety and
exploit-ness but hey!

For Ruth

Mikados

City living isn't for me...

Things I have discovered since Christmas

Today I ate a Wispa...

Froodie's secret identity

Seamie and I decided...

Stuffs :)

i wonder

zz z

1 year :)

My Holiday ;)

BEST .... TOAST .... EVER !!!

Yay!

yay

Trained ducks

stranger every day :)

New Favourite Sport

bad weeks and good weeks

Science

my new favourite graffiti

Too Cool :)

Fridays

:D

bleurgh

2006...

pretend you missed me?!!

I feel..

Scientific Research

la la la la la

*yawn*

:)

thing

Alanis-y goodness

wow

Why I shouldn't be allowed..

Ah

Germing

tuesday

Story butters?

My NEW new favourite game...

Procrastination works!

(crap)

confusion

SIIIGH

YAY!

Ho hum!

YAY!

For Froodie

Lo, said she, for the dream has become reality...

Things

Rainy meh

aHA!

yawn