July is October

Happy Halloween All,

Strangely Halloween here bears a striking resemblance to the 4th of July... This is the weekend of fireworks...people have been setting them off all weekend. It's kind of cozy, sitting in my warm house while it's rainy and dark and the fireworks give the impression of a thunder storm out there. The laws pertaining to fireworks must be really different here cuz these are the real thing, put away your bottle rockets. I've been watching explosions outside that more closely resemble the displays on the esplanade than a back yard barbecue. Very pretty (but it is amazing that nothing gets burned down!)

Other than the firworks, it's been a quiet halloween although I got a couple of my neighbor's kids trick or treating and did manage to carve myself a jack-o-lantern yesterday. I guess the days of turnip carving may be coming to an end! Imported pumpkins have appeared in the supermarkets here in the last few years (although they come with instructions for how to make a, "lantern"!) Even though I'm halfway across the world, it still smells like Halloween here and the night has that cold, dark quality to tells you that winter is on its way (although here the dark is much more pronounced than the cold.) When I woke up this morning, I couldn't tell whether it was 4am or 11am...it's just that dark. I could definitely hibernate.

night,night.

To all the Wankers who keep Posting Adverts disguised as blog comments

Lloyd Dobbler said it best:

"I've thought about this quite a bit sir and I would have to say considering what's waiting out there for me, I don't want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything. I dont want to sell anything bought or processed or buy anything sold or processed or repair anything sold, bought or processed. I dont want to do that..."

Or how 'bout just, "Feck off, I ain't buying." Less eloquent but gets the point across just as well... Take yer biz elsewhere.

Cuttin' edge in Carlingford

Carlingford Disco
Originally uploaded by di_juice.

Ye olde Town Diso...haha

fashionistas in da house (and I was there too...)

Hi All,

I apologize for my blog neglect over the past two weeks. It's been crazy busy. Was running the spoiltchild by meself (the company I work for is Spoiltchild Design in case some of you are wondering of which spoiltchild I speak...) and have started my Italian class and continued on with my yoga class.... but things seem to be quieting down now, work is back to normal and I'm awol from yoga tonight as all this hot/cold/sunny/rainy/windy/still weather seems to have given me a cold (what a surprise huh?)

Last weekend I went up to Carlingford again sans Tommy for a ladies weekend with Helen and her friends. Was a little nervous before hand about being thrown into a captive situation with a lot of strangers but Helen's friends were all very sweet. I met up with the lot of them on Saturday in Newry (land of shopping and a canal and not too much else) and wandered around the shops with them and then back to Helen's house for a take-out chinese and some cocktails (whiskey for me). It's funny being around a group of people who have been friends for years and years. It gave me the first inkling of what it must be a like to be a newbie around my group of frenz... the Belfast ladies all know eachother so well and have so much history that they can just dive into stories with no context or recall funny/awkward/fabulous/horrible moments in the past together. Telling stories that everyone already knows but want to hear anyway seems to be a universal trait...those stories that start with remember when....? At the same time, Helen and co. are also very different from me and come from a really different world which was interesting for me to witness. Catholicism and it's resulting social guidelines play a much bigger part in their lives than anything I've ever experienced. Things seem to be done more, "by the book," here. A much more conservative and structured ethos exists around dating...sleeping in the same bed with yer mate unless you're married is a fairly big no-no particularly under your parents roof (It is done regularly of course, but is on the DL). Virginity still matters even if only in theory. The wedding rituals abound...bended knee, engagement parties, hen parties, big weddings etc... Made it a bit awkward to explain my wedding situation. The, "let's see the rock conversation," or "how did he ask you," conversations just don't apply. Gender roles also seem to apply a bit more than I'm used to as well. Cuz Damn, these ladies look good. Helen is an absolute fashion wonderwoman and her friends were equally well put together...perfect make-up for breakfast, diesel jeans, pointed toe boots, higlighted hair, celebrity gab-mags, Mariah Carey. Girls are just well, more girls around here. I'm not sure where I fit in that equasion being one who likes make-up and clothes and certainly harbors a generous amount of feminine vanity but who generally just can't be arsed to make that much of an effort. It's easy to forget how much people's lifestyles really do vary when I'm home in the people's republic of Cambridge with my friends and our joined histories and memories. Like being a social anthropologist in a way...haha.

We went out to the "Disco," in Carlingford which Helen warned us beforehand was way more kitsch than cool. It was in the small hotel in Carlingford and kind of reminded me of a wedding reception venue in 1985...absolutely hilarious...farmer boys and dinky disco lights and old skool poppy-dance music..."another night, another dream but always you..." Was good fun really. Helen's friend Rita straightened my hair with these super expensive (and effective) hair straighteners (if you don't mind the smell of your own hair burning...haha) Was actually quite fun to have bone straight hair to toss around for the evening...even if I didn't have the pointy toes to match.

The next day was spent just chilling out, talking and eating potato bread and eggs and tidying the house. Had a nice chat with Helen about growing up in Belfast and friends and how all of these people I've been meeting fit together and the like. Was nice. Overall it was good to get out of the house and to be around other people...specially after my two weeks of enforced solitude.

Am off to drink tea and lie on the couch and otherwise nurse my sore throat and runny nose...mmmmm...

Better late than Never

The Real Pub Grub
Originally uploaded by di_juice.

More Pics from Sligo and Donegal for your viewing pleasure...

Friends of the Friendless

Hola mi Amigos,

Well, Tommy boy is off in Barcelona, the lucky bastard, so I am once again, left to my own devices. Most of the people I would normally hang out with here are also away from Dublin this weekend so it looks like I'm going to have a very clean house and a well used DVD player. In some ways, I'm looking forward to the down time but I'm sure by Saturday afternoon, I'll be asking the mail man to go for a pint... :) Maybe I can go into the local Spar and see what time the cashiers get off...haha. Coincidentally, I'm alone in the office this week as well as Alan is on his holidays. I may actually forget how to interact with other humans by the time I meet any again... I'll have to start grunting and pantomiming to commmunicate...

On other fronts, I started my Italian class this week and I think it's going to be really good. There are three students including myself, an Englishwoman, a woman from Cork and me. Our teacher is a young Italian woman from Naples who seems really nice and lives in my neighborhood (which means I have someone to commute home with post-class.) Yoga is also going well. I'm enjoying getting the stretching in. Really helps after a week of sitting in front of the computer. My neighbor is good company and it's been nice to get to know her (although the other people in the class don't really talk to us.) Dubs are notoriously cliquey though, so whaddya expect. My yoga teacher is way weeds and seeds. She's a homeopath and accupunctarist and is always giving us health and lifestyle advice and telling anecdotes about this, that and the other thing. Good stuff and a good thing I have these classes to go to or I might actually become a hermit. Hello, anyone out there?????

Weather has been beautiful the last couple days. I'm hoping it will hold so I can take myself down to the farmers market on Saturday and get some treats... maybe some Oysters and Guinness if I can work up the courage to sit at one of the tables by myself. I really am shockingly shy when on my own. Have visions of just heading out to my local for a pint and see if maybe the bartender will talk to me...haha...but am probably too introverted for such things. we'll see.

Hope you're all well.

Dido
official member, friends of friendless local chapter

So Much for National Health Care

After nearly eight months of living here, I have finally had to delve into the mysterious world of Irish healthcare. After 2 weeks of that yeasty feeling, 3 seemingly ineffective OTC treatments and a whole ocean of plain yoghurt, I gave up and made an appointment at the local clinic. After sitting in a typical office waiting room full of people with the most wet, phlegm ridden coughs I've ever heard, I went in to see the Doc. He was a youngish and nice guy but strangely, he didn't examine me, just took my word for it that I've got a yeasty... huh...wonder what he would do if I requested a months worth of oxycontin... He was very nice and did take his time talking to me and doing a few doctorly things like taking my blood pressure and doing that fun p.h. test on a little jar of pee...mmmm. Twenty minutes later though, the fun was over and I was off to the counter to pay for my visit (which is when the true heart attack set in.) €45 yoyos for my little jaunt to the clinic and another €30 for the prescription... Jaysus, Mary and Joseph that's a fat chunk of change for a trip to the MD. It's enough to make me want to drink Echinacea by the gallon and bathe in anti-bacterial soap. Rip-off Dublin rears its ugly head once again...

There Really are rainbows.

The end of the Road
Originally uploaded by di_juice. Just had to stop and get a picture of this... 'bout two seconds after I took the pic, the rainbow disappeared.

Fresh Meat?

Fresh Meat?
Originally uploaded by di_juice. One of many photos taken during our trip to Donegal...this one was a bright morning in scenic Killybegs... ;) Fresh Meat anyone?

Chicken wit' me head cut off

Hi All,

As you can probably tell by my lack of postings, it's been a busy two weeks. Had some more lovely American visitors (Miss Ilana and Sir Rich.) We did a ridiculous amount of everything during the week that they were here. Went to see a play in a tiny theatre down an alley in Dublin (as part of Dublin Fringe.) It was kind of a Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Jacques meets Broadway type venture with the three characters being: Kitty, Miss Pussy and Queenie (and yes, he was a queen.) Good stuff. The next night, our very cultured selves went to an Art opening in Temple bar showcasing a Korean Master Woodblock printer (with lots of free wine...yahooo) and Tom purchased his first piece of art (don't ask how much it cost, best not to think about it.) An Indian feast and several glasses of wine later (at the Odeon) and my hangover was guaranteed.

The next day we headed up to Co. Sligo and Donegal which were stunningly beautiful...rocky coastlines, steep cliffs, sky-blue water and miles and miles of orange-tinged coutryside. Will post pics soon. We spent the weekend eating seafood, drinking, hiking, shopping for crafty-type things, exploring castles and driving around the scariest, narrowest, windiest roads ever in our Volkswagon Polo. Ate the most tremendous oysters at a whole in the wall in a tiny town. I am becoming an oyster addict... I have yet to have a bad oyster in this country... one of the benefits of living on an island, I suppose. Love those slimy little feckers... it's a pure salt high. yum. The weather was pure Irish with intermittent rain (meaning it comes on like a train wreck, pours for five minutes and then moves on and becomes sunny (ish) again. Great weather for rainbows of which we saw many and waterfalls (of which we saw one.) Everytime I think I've seen the most beautiful parts of the country, I find some new loveliness to explore. If only it was a bit warmer in these parts, it would be brilliant... a nation of beaches and mountains.

This week has been absolutely mad. The yeast-beast is back to haunting me which puts me in bad form and work has been very busy. Not to mention, the cold I've been avoiding and a debacle regarding an Italian class that I'm taking (not worth going into details.) Despite all this, I went to a comedy club event last night. (Should have stayed in and gone to sleep early but we got the tickets weeks ago.) It was actually really good craic (as they say). Six Irish comedians and one extremely funny MC and it was all televised for RTE. Almost ended up being part of the show when the MC asked if there were any Americans in the audience and all the people we were with started pointing in my direction as I was apparently the only American in the place. Luckily he moved on quickly when I hid under the table...haha (just kidding.) I was able to cop on to most of the Irish humor but there were definitely a few times when I had to turn to Tom for an explanation of exactly why a joke was supposed to be funny. Huh?

Looking forward to a weekend of rest. Strangely, I'm going to watch the Red sox game on Friday night (as Brice and Michelle have sky sports and get all the baseball and every other sport imaginable.) Will have to bust out my Red sox cap and represent.

The Devil came to Belfast

IMG_6585
Originally uploaded by di_juice.