Alcoholism is alive and well and living in Ireland

Well hello all,

Hope everyone had a happy-scrappy holiday season. (Mine is still in full swing.) Love that vacation time.

Christmas in Ireland was as good as it possibly could be (given that I'm away from home and my peeps.) I made Christmas eve dinner (Lasagne of the vegetarian variety, stuffed mushrooms, salad, brownies) and nothing was burnt or frozen or otherwise debacled. Food was delicious if I do say so myself and Tom's family (+ Christopher and Danny) seemed to like it. It was nice to give a little back considering how often I'm fed and watered by Tom's parents.

Christmas itself was fairly mellow, pressies, tasty dinner, plenty of wine and various relatives and friends "calling 'round," to say hello and have a drink or a snack and a bit a craic. I got some lovely presents including a day at a spa in Dublin from Tommy...mmmmm Think I'll avoid the facials though ;)

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day nights were all, proper, "piss ups," translation - nights out on the drink - although I make no attempt at this point to keep up with either the drinks or the late nights and took myself home in a taxi on Christmas night around 1am. Didn't want to turn into a pumpkin or anyt'ing... Boxing night was the best night out by far as a good 20 of Tom's friends all congregated at the Spring and Air Brake (strange name for a club eh?) and there were kickass DJs (one being a lady DJ amd good as shit.) It was nice to see all of Tommy's peeps as I think I've met them all by now and can be a bit more relaxed hanging out. have really enjoyed seeing Christopher (who used to live in Boston) and Gavin (who we visited in London) and some of Tom's other friends who I've become kinda fond of.

The down side of all this Christmas revelry is exactly that. Everyone uses the holiday as an excuse to get absolutely blocked. I am by no means a teetotaler (sp?) but it's a little excessive even for me. It's also strange to see the older generation off their heads...I have seen so many of Tom's friends parents in full drunken merriment which is just, well, odd. Or maybe what's really strange to me is how normal that is to everyone else. I realized the other day that I have never seen my own parents or their friends (with a few notable exceptions) really, properly, speech slurring, staggeringly drunk. No doubt, I have seen them indulge in a few too many glasses of wine and get a little bleary-eyed and talkative but this shit is on a whole other level. That said, it is pretty amazing, the honesty you get from people when they've been on the drink all day. It does give me a bit of insight into this culture and this world and some of the people in it. And it can't be said that Belfast don't know how to party. The craic is present and accounted for. It is a world where your most lively night on the piss would be undistinguishable from its landscape and notable only for the hangover (and maybe not even for that.) And it's on those days, that I feel most keenly, that the way I see and experience this country, is through the eyes of a foreigner. That I am different somehow and experiencing things from an entirely different angle from those around me. It does sharpen the senses (except when it dulls them...another shot maybe???) I can't say it's not interesting.

FYI, went out to one of the locals last night and did pub quiz with Tom and friends and one of the questions asked was, "In what US city does the drama Ali McBeal take place?" A question made for yours truly. It takes place in a wicked pissa city dude. I'll leave it to you to figyah out which one. All in all, we came in Second Place and won ourselves ten quid (which was quickly spent on you'll never guess what.) Have to say that I have become a big fan of pub quiz...might have to start being a pub quiz geek...haha. Just don't ask me any questions about East Enders or Manchester United. Kylie who?

Hope you're all enjoying this winter break and have yerselves a happy new year. Oh and of course, Happy Birthday Megs as today is yer day. Hope it's great.