Wednesday, February 27, 2008

A Sample of a Customer Care Call with the Kid

The Kid: Hi, Random Pharmacy Number 32 helpline How may we help you today? Hold on, OHMYGOD, its K replying to my message from yesterday about
B who slept with J after C telling her he was an F. What is she like...

Random Punter: Hello, is this the helpline for Pharmacy Number 32? I have an

The Kid: Yeah hold on a sec would ya, jeez, my friend is having a crises here. What's your problem again?

Random Punter: Well its kinda of..

The Kid: Hold the line, I've another call, Hello Random Pharmacy Number 32, hello? OHMYGOD, how did you get this number? I know its totally weird like, me on a customer care line, hilarious, so you're not pregnant?? Really? What about that time? NOFRIGGINWAY? REALLY. And she said that? Did you? Yeah, I would have. Stupid cow, who does she? Really, no way, like? WHAT? Totally, he said what? To her MOTHER? About her sister? What an idiot! Yeah
I always said she looked a like hooker.

Random Punter: Hi, can I speak

The Kid: Hold on, I gotta speak to some customer, I know, I know, its like this is a REAL JOB, GOD! Hi, sorry for holding there, what's your problem again?

Random Punter: Well, I...

The Kid: Hold I need a minute I have another call AND the frigging internet is down again, how am I supposed to access my Bebo/MySpace/YourSpace/Fleebo/Facebook account now, god...this is ridiculous, I can't work in this environment.

Random Punter: Hello, can I speak to a customer care person please?

The Kid: HELLO! You're speaking to her, god, some people. What's your problem? It can't be any worse then mine, stupid fecking internet.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Clingfilm and mothers

When ask they ask what was it that drove me over the edge, you can tell them it was the clingfilm. I have convinced even people who are the calmest individuals on the planet would be driven to the brink of madness and back from clingfilm. This week its not the PMT, its not the constant need for shops to remind us of mother's day, its on Sunday by the way for those of living in a cave for the last month , its not even the toliet roll that refuses to release anyother other then a postage sized stamp size of tissue, nope its the clingfilm. I think back to those days when I had to wrestle with it every morning. This morning it refused to cut. On the 'handy' serated edge provided. When it did cut, I had enough to cover a postage stamp. I think the people who make clingfilm also make toliet roll. I will do some research once I calm down. The loo roll is ridiculous though because you have to squeeze your hand into some sort of shape to get it up into the oh so protected loo house for want of a better word. Then this tiny bits of tissue float down towards you. The sort that would keep the Sylvanian families warm for weeks but other then that you see now use for it. Of course on the way back up from the contorted position you got yourself into to keep the Sylvanian families warm, you burst your kness off the toliet bowl. Now that's the way to start a day. It can only get better :)

Yesterday I was in great humour until I was confronted with 2 things. The kid in a foul form and Eason's paying homage to Mothers. Everywhere. One would like to think if one avoided certain areas of Eason's such as the card and gift section, then one would be safe. But no, newsflash, mothers like to read. About things they would like to do with their daughters like skipping and jumping the hilly brush. The diaries of mothers and daughters. 10 things to do with your mother when she's not in a urn. I made the last one up, I'm bitter, sue me! And i really hope mothers are fan of the colour pink, because the pastel assault on my eyes was something else yesterday. And look at this, just what EVERY mother wants. A fecking pink yankee candle. I know where that would end up if I gave to that to Mam were she still around.


I had to meet a guy to sell him our Tegan and Sara tickets. If we are lucky enough to get pregnant, I shall regale small and bald with stories of all the sacrifices we made so that they could come into existence. Oh yes, the child will be straight from the cradle to the therapists couch.

I am supposed to be up to my neck in work with my webservice and was so up until a few minutes when code which worked fine yesterday stopped working this morning. So it can't be my fault. At least I hope not. I emailed off our web service provider and am waiting for a response. I'm hoping to get most of the project boxed off today and tomorrow so in the event of me not feeling well enough to come on Friday after they send a camera crew up me on Thursday,
then I won't feel too guilty. We are on target to deliver and go live on Monday but I reckon I might jinx it if I go on too much.

The kid was out of sorts yesterday, so much so she refused to even have a bite to eat, I was paying. This was highly unusual, I think she's PMTing and also she says her depression is acting up. Although usually its around PMT time that they feel worse so perhaps its just that. I was convinced she wasn't going to go into her course this morning and started having flashbacks to those school days. Perhaps that was also brought on by the clingfilm, who knows. But,
and this has to be the funniest. They are studying customer care. Now if you were to ask what jobs do I reckon the kid should avoid like the plague purely based on her personality, I would say a kindergarten teacher and someone in customer care. I wait to be proven wrong. She's just after txting me:

U blow dogs for pennies.

Charming as ever. I have no idea what that means, nor do I want to. Teenagers, a law onto themselves. On the plus side, she sounds in better form. I am trying to convince her to hang with me on Sunday evening. She said she'd check her diary. Is this what it comes to? Hoping your kid has nothing better to do of a Sunday then hang with you? I'm pathetic!

Monday, February 25, 2008

I couldn't have said it better myself...

The sister in response to a comment I made about mother's day and I quote:

Oh and f**k Mother's day is all I have to say, you can't go onto any website without that shite jumping out at you, make you sick the lot of them!

:) This is why we are related! Classic! The weekend was all about rugby and the eurovision. People are in a real flap over Dustin winning Eurosong and going on to represent us in Serbia. I mean, there are bigger issues out there? I think it can do no harm. I wasn't able to watch it to see what the other contestents were like as we had a rugby saturday. But I got updates from various mates who felt the need to tell me how our feathered friend was doing.
After Ireland giving Scotland a good walloping, we stayed on to watch England beat France. We got asked a number of times why we were cheering for England. People were confused. Thankfully the obnoxious guys behind us
left for that match. I mean, just because we're a bunch of women watching the rugby, you automatically think its for the looks. Whilst yes, I admit having a fondness for their shoulders, I also appreciate the sport. So when Paul O'Connell was lining up to come on, our table went mad! He's an excellent player and its been sad to see him on the sidelines. Of course macgobsite behind us, when the girls had calmed down shouted "Oh Paul, you're only gorgeus" 7 angry heads turned and glared at him. Not that he cared. So when he started shouting and cheering for Wallace, one of our gang turned and shouted to him "Isn't he only gorgeus". It was a great day though. Caught up with a good few peeps we hadn't seen in a while.

Mammy2 decided to go to the gym yesterday as she had been putting if off and so hobbled to meet me in Fresh to do the shopping. The poor thing was in bits. Not too much in bits though to finally make it to Gamestop where she was chatted up by some lesbian who worked there. Some women eh? I mean she was wearing a wedding ring. Anyhew, eventually Mammy2 replied something along the lines of the wii taking over her life and her partner not being too impressed so yer wan backed down. I tried my best not to look like the green eyed monster whilst I listened to her re-telling her story and my voice reaching a pitch only the dogs could hear. She wondered why my head was slanted at such an angle and there was steam coming from my nostrils. Jealous? Me? As if.

This week will be mostly work, and more work. I had to sell my tickets to Tegan and Sara, I think the body would be more appreciative of an early night on Wed before the hycosy rather then head banging and dancing the night away with a bunch of laserbeams. So it will be possibly training and a bath and bed. The sister and her man are arriving home on Friday for the weekend. Its excellent timing as mother's day is on the Sunday. I must ring the kid and see will she come and have lunch with us. Then we can spend the evening together. I was chatting about how I expected her to buy me dinner, after all I was her surrogate mother/big sister and one of the girls out on Sat night to watch the rugby told a story of her mother and food. She's a big sporty head and her mother came to one of the matches and as she was running past the mother on the pitch, the mother roared at her:
"Ah would you run faster, sure what do I be feeding you for?" She said she didn't talk food with her mother after that.

Speaking of the kid, no news from her. Apart from a txt asking us to collect her pills. I wonder when this will stop? When she's 64. Today is the first day of her course, the first proper non induction day so I hope she gets on okay. And doesn't start feeling 'sick' I've never known someone with so many illnesses. That I've never heard of.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Found this on a fellow spudlet's profile

Her Journey's Just Begun

Don't think of her as gone away-
her journey has just begun
life holds many facets
the Earth is only one

Just think of her as resting
from the sorrows and the tears
in a place of warmth and comfort
where there are no days and years

Think how she must be wishing
that we could know today
how nothing but our sadness
can really pass away

And think of her as living
In the hearts of those she touched
For nothing loved is ever lost-
And she was loved so much.

- Ellen Brenneman


Thursday, February 21, 2008

A week of ups and downs

I can't even blame the B12. I can blame semantics. Lack of the word permanent when it comes to my contract means the bank won't approve a loan. On Tuesday I was fit to be killed. Back and forth with payroll and apparently there's nothing they can do. So its back to the drawing board regards moula. On a plus side the clinic rang to say they can still go ahead with the hycosy next week, so on Thursday we have to travel down. I have to fast from 12 at night so chances are I'll be starvin marvin. Although I may ber nervous so I won't get hungry until afterwards. Thankfully the procedure is not costing as much as we ancipated. No word from the Ethics committee so far. How long does it take to assess a couple I wonder? Do they run background checks? Ring the irish version of the CIA and see if we have any outstanding convictions? Perhaps if they hear about my Miriam obession they might not be too happy. Hmmm..

I was in bad form yesterday, no particular reason, work was getting on top of me. Its really interesting stuff I am
doing with web services and java, its just the deadline is fast approaching and I've only start coding the application
so I reckon I may be in here over the weekend. Although the code is portable and I don't need access to the servers
so I could bring it home with me. I'll see how I get on this evening and tonight and then decide from there. I was
late in this morning as I had my second last injection of B12 thank feck and also the doc had to run another blood test.
Needles ahoy.

Mother's day is approaching and you'd never know it from the lack of stuff going on in shops. Ahem. Most times I can deal with it. Its just when its so in your face, its disconcerting and just makes things re-appear that you thought you had buried. So I was in 2 minds about going training, but I know its a great workout, and Wed's class is usually more full on then Monday's, so I was shattered afterwards but in a good way.

Shuffle on itunes or the ipod can be the devil. This is why I am creating playlists from now on. The kid may have moved out but there will always be tracks of her everywhere. There I was chilling out to some classical music, when suddenly what can only be described as aural sodomoy began. It sounded like Ramstein or any other one of those death metal bands she used to listen to and couldn't make out a word! Lets just say it fairly roused me from relaxing. The same thing happens the next day. Heading into work, I am chilling out the Dixie Chicks when all of a sudden Cannibal Corpse starts screaming about how they want to F*** me with a knife. Charming. You can guess I am a big Cannibal Corpse fan. I honestly do not know how these things get onto my ipod but I shall be removing them pretty quickly. Although perhaps it served as a reminder to check on the kid. I txted her and in fairness it was early in the morning and she replied! She was up early for the first day of her course. Spoke to her last night and it sounds like she is enjoying it. And she made a mate. Its all looking good at the moment.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Currently Listening to...

Soundtrack to Juno: Feelgood music and this song is just , brings a smile to my face anytime I hear it:
Barry Louis Polisar - All I want is You

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.


Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Waiting......

It seems at the moment I'm spending an age waiting for stuff. The clinic hasn't gotten back to me, they are waiting for the ethics committee. It appears the ethics committee take their time thinking things over.We waited for ages to get the forms for the bank loan, and now it appears they still haven't received the documentation that is needed to finalise details. The loan is in the event the clinic say yes. Everything else is on hold, including buying a property. It was never top of our list anyways. The B12 has turned me into a monster. Mammy2 is looking for a suppor group for partners of people who are taking B12. Thankfully I trained on Saturday and took most of my mood out on the punchbag. I was late for class as well because the photographer who wanted to take our pic took his time taking different shots. We found the whole thing humorous moreso because the apartment block is being painted and of course the painters in their mini cranes wanted to know why we were sitting on a fountain with cheesy smiles while yer man hid behind a bush to take some more pictures. I could see the headline now:
Lesbians frolic in fountain whilst painter plummets to his death.

Obviously another reason why we shouldn't be allowed marry. We cause people to die by merely being in their presence and being openly affectionate. The article looks like it was dropped anyways. I had the horrible task of actually purchasing the Sun the last 2 mornings and there was no sign of it. What a shocking paper it is
though! So perhaps our story wasn't heart wrenching enough. Who k
nows!

My moods appear to have settled, just in time for my next injection and the madness to continue. Mammy2 did some research and supposedly, it increase your oestrogen levels and we all know that fecker sits in the driving seat of your hormones. Enough said.

The weekend was a comination of work, work and catching up with the college mate who got married last year. We went out for dinner with her and the hubby. They are a lovely coup
le. I still find it bizzare that we have both come so far in the friendship. Before I met Mammy2 and perhaps one of the reasons we got together was I was very upset over a falling out I had with the mate R. I don't remember the exact details of what happened except that she said she didn't want to see me again and that I had changed and wasn't the person she knew. When you consider I had spent the best part of 4 years living with this girl in college, for 2 of those we weren't apart at all as we spent the summer together in Wales, I didn't know what was happening. When you are so close to someone for so long and then suddenly they're not around , its strange. I did what she asked and didn't make any contact. Eventually though, about 6 months of no contact whatsoever, I had enough of wondering what if and should I get back in touch. I missed her too much and the friendship. I would try one last time, ask to meet up and see what happens. It was awkard at first, but we both made the effort and now thankfully we get along fine, better then before. The gay thing was a bit difficult for her, why I don't know. Perhaps because we were so close and she thought this was something I kept from her. Who knows. We could analyse it until the cows come home but we're all good now.

Speaking of mates, C rang yesterday. I nearly fell over. Himself and the gf are back from the wilds of Australia and Bali where they headed for a month. We're to catch up next week before he returns to work. I didn't realise how much I missed chatting and hanging with him. So hopefully we can meet up and I have to tell him all the news about the clinic. Or the lack of news from the clinic. Its hard waiting.

In other news, I have a found a fellow eurovision fan in work! She is as into it as I am, knowing the names of some of the classics such as Bobbysocks and Bucks Fizz as well as remembering Celine Dion's turn for Switzerland. Classic stuff. So now at least she'll be into the eurovision poll and I won't look like the only eejit who gos on about it. Although it is a talent I have to say. The ability to talk to myself about it :)

Its that time of the year when these trees start to bloom. I LOVE them. They are so colourful and for me always represent spring on the way.


Friday, February 15, 2008

Mood Swings

Mammy2 is convinced they're from Vitamin B12 injections, whatever they are from, I wish they'd feck back off to wherever they came from. After yesterday's jab, my moods were so bad. Its like the worst case of PMT you've ever had. Mini panic attacks and I've never had panic attacks so it was a lovely pleasent expierence. I was fit to kill, to cry and to dance all in a matter of minutes yesterday. Mammy2 was cooking dinner so my job was the wine. I had not anticipated the frenzy that would be the shops. When I wasn't getting my eye poked out my single red roses, I was getting pushed in the back as the stampede moved to the chocolate sections. With my mood being in the state it was, I rang Mammy2 and asked her politely if she wouldn't mind picking up the wine as well. I was fit to go postal. I calmed myself down by counting how many embaressed people there were with flowers. A lot less then last year. Perhaps its going out of fashion.

No-one in work got them. My workmates have 2 vastly different stories. One of them asked where her card was, the husband said it was in work and he would give it to her in the evening. When she went to get into the car, there was a bouquet of flowers, a card and a bottle of champagne. He had also booked dinner. Very romantic. The other workmate asked where her card was. Obvious that he had forgotten it, he mentioned it was in work. She was not impressed understandably. So whilst on gchat to him, she pretended a bouquet of flowers had been delivered to her. He rang her straight away. A cruel but genius move :)

The meeting went well, we should be ready to start development next week. The design is fab and only one thing came up as a result. There were javascript flyouts for the menu which I said was a no go. As far as I know Javascript still has some accessiblity issues, espeically with navigation so its not a good idea. Thankfully, there was no designer tantrums. Thankfully, I've never worked with a designer who threw tantrums! I need to work most of the weekend to get the rest of the my websites up and running so I can concentrate on this one. Its going to get a lot of exposure so I need to make sure its perfect.

The weekend isn't going to be a busy one thankfully. With the workload I have, it would be a headache. The photographer is coming to take our pic for the article. I think its going to be in Monday's issue, to conicide with the launch of Marriage Equality. The interview was grand, I let Mammy2 do most of the talking, she's a lot more articulate then I am. Hopefully it won't be too cheesy. I'd say the kid will have a good laugh at it. I met up with her yesterday after the doctors to give her the form she needs to get stamped. Thankfully this time she got it stamped so all going well she will start the course next week and start getting some money.

Mammy2 is looking for another job, Stepford as I like to call her workplace is really starting to get to her. Its soul destroying for her. Thankfully there is a fair few editoral jobs out there as well as the accounts stuff which is if she's really stuck. So by Easter she'll be in a new job. That's the plan anyways.

We are catching up with my college mate R and her husband P for dinner tomorrow night. I haven't seen them since they got married so I'll look forward to the wedding pics. Other then that the weekend should be quiet enough, me and the PC hanging out. Fun! Once that's done, I should be able to relax for at least 5 mins. Once the vitamin B12 stops coursing through my body.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Valentines Day

Some cute pictures to get the day started.


Its impossible to describe the weather at the moment. I got up this morning and I couldn't see out the windows the fog was so dense. I LOVE these mornings, they remind me of home. Down the country. Freezing fog, quiet countryside and nothing else. Of course Dublin is far removed from quiet countryside, but out where I work, in the park, sometimes you can pretend you're back down the country as its quiet and near the sea. Not quite a lake but it will do. The last few mornings I have skipped Luas/little bus for the walk, its a great way to start the day. Of course
I'm feeling a lot more energectic these days. Not sure if its to do with the vitamin B12 injections or I've been training more. I had a really great class on Monday. The mate J came along, and its always good fun as well as a good workout when she goes. The class flies by and I look less like Billy No mates, left with my hand up waiting for a partner. It was also good to catch up with her, although its kinda difficult to chat to he when she's trying to perfect her roundhouse kick. We're meeting up tonight sans gloves and focus mitts for some chats over bravas. Looking
forward to it.

We have an interview this evening with the Sun. The things we do for the commununity. On Monday Feb 18th, Marriage Equality is launching and its campaigning for same-sex relationships to have recognition and the same rights as hetrosexual couples. Its one of the biggest drives I've seen campaign wise and also all of the various organisations are on board from NLGFF to GLEN. Its unusual for everyone to be on the same page so I have a feeling it might make a difference. As a result of this, they have been looking for couples to represent us in the media and covering everything from parenting to immigration etc. We got the parenting side of things. Not what we are doing at
the moment with the clinic and everything, that's private. Moreso about when we had the kid and how Mammy2 had no rights etc. Apparently our contact at Marriage Equality thinks its a great story. Lucky she didn't have to live through it. So they are interviewing us and taking our pic. I said to Mammy2 knowing the Sun, it would be a picture of me beside Mam's pic and a hanky whilst Mammy2 stands in the background clutching the kid's birth cert. Not sure when its out, Saturday apparently. Also not sure who within our circle would see it. I guess this will test out the theory of who reads the Sun :)

Mammy2 is starting to look elsewhere for a job. I didn't think she'd last long where she is and the latest serious of incidents proves how bad a place it is. You're not allowed talk at all it appears. I mean, you spend the best part of your day with these people and you can't talk to them or laugh? The only sound acceptable is the keyboard. And the buzz of the generator required to keep all the drones working. Sheesh. Anyhew, she's had a look around the there are a few journalism/media type jobs but she's also checking out accounts as well. At this stage, we need 2 wages coming in until we get sorted with regards the clinic and costs.

The kid got accepted for her FAS course in Pharmacy no less. She has to get a form filled out by the social welfare and considering the heartbreak and tantrums her trying to sign on caused , I am hoping this is a bit more straightforward. One can only hope. And hopefully she likes the course, I think it would be great for her in terms of doing something during the day and getting some money. I don't know how she's survived so far. Well there is her long running tab with us :) That's what parents are for apparently. The sister K thinks she applied for Pharmacy so she can get discounts on baby wipes. You know, she might be right!

We're not celebrating Valetine's day. Its no biggie for us and its way over commercialised. We get each other cards and that's about it. Mammy2 is cooking a dinner as I have a meeting to talk about my latest project. As one of the guys I am meeting said, lovely way to spend Valentines :)

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Gazebos and the L Word

I'm hooked on the latest season of the L word, I know I know, its a tv show. What am I like. etc. But its fun and the whole Bette/Tina storyline is really taking off. To give you an example of how sad I am, the latest episode, ep 4 of Season 5, had them share a kiss. Now, before that you had threesomes and god only knows how many other sex scenes but for me the kiss they shared was much sexier and erotic then any threesomes involving Shane or any shenaigans Jenny got up to. Ever. Its something about the characters of Bette and Tina, who have been through so much, and the actresses who play them. They bring something extra to the role. So I await the next few episodes in
hope that they get back together. They are meant for each other! I'll stop now, I'm scaring myself. Anyhew, some pics form that episode and one of Shane looking very cute :) If only she had a body to go along with the attitude.







I may have mentioned its Mammy2's parents 40th this year and as a present, the family are thinking of getting them a gazebo. Did you ever have a moment where you are brought right back in time to a similar conversation. Its weird. Mammy2 was worried about telling me, but I guess I can understand. Our big plan for Mam was as soon as she was out , we were buying a gazebo for her and putting in the back yard. She fell in love with the one in Powerscourt Gardens. It was just so lovely, we sat in the sun, Mam had a smoke and chatted about how lovely it would be to have one of those. Of course, we immediately thought deadly, once she gets out of hospital and comes home we can have this waiting for her. She can sit in it all day. Here's hoping she has one where she is now.


No word from the kid, I am assuming this is due to lack of phone. I made an agreement with her to give her mine whilst I upgrade my granny phone as people keep calling it. Just because it doesn't have pictures, or a camera or a radio and has the smallest screen ever with the largest txt does not make it a granny phone. Sheesh. Anyhew, she's coming over next week and we are having sister's night. I want to go and see Cloverfield and Mammy2 is against it. For various reasons which include the motion sickness and the horror element. Strange woman. She is all excited about getting her Wii. I don't think I'll see her at all once she gets that. We skipped gym and training last night and had a lovely meal in Desi Curry, the food is amazing and then headed home to chill out, catch up on some Cashmere Mafia and have a glass of wine. Tonight Mammy2 has her induction in the gym so I can either work, which I should really be doing or train and then get an early night. Which I should also be doing.

I got the first of my B12 injections this morning so hopefully I won't be as tired. Poor Mammy2 said she wouldn't be able to handle me if I got any more energectic. The training is helping with the tiredness but I still feel out of shape. I asked Mammy2 to ask about swimming lessons in her new fancy gym. Most times when we go away the hotel or whereever we stay has access to a pool/jacuzzi and I reckon at this stage its about time I learnt so I'm not leaving herself all by herself! Its meant to be not that hard and its always something I thought about doing. So perhaps I should give it a go. Add it to my list of things to do. Which is getting longer by the minute. Surprisingly enough.

I think I need a holiday! I was reading in Diva about the top european destinations and looking at all the pics, I really want to be away somewhere sunny for a while. Although with the whole baby thing, I reckon everything is on hold. Typical, in the same year as we have a 40th wedding anniversay, a 40th bday bash of a good friend and 2 weddings. Not to mention the ploughing chamionships and the Rose of Tralee. I want to attend both but realistically I don't know. We shall have to see. In other news I have subscribed to the Eurovision news letter so at least I am up to date with all the goings on there. Such a relief :)

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Pictures worth the work and stress

So yesterday I came close to throwing the pc out the window. And I am not usually one of those people. I know that its a logical machine, it does exactly what you tell it and the idea that it was doing something to piss me off would have been comical were I not working off 12 hours sleep after the weekend and very little patience. I was trying to upload the carnival pics, convert some movies and burn the latest l word to disc. Overworked ? Nah, I wanted it to do all of the above and of course it was having issues. After trying every dvd in the pack, I came to the conclusion that the dvds were fauulty because the same software burned images fine to cds. After nearly 2 hours of working on it, I gave up before I threw it anywhere. Mammy2 hide behind the couch and luckily didn't ask were we going to be able to watch anything last night. I was beyond stressed with it. And after relaxing when I got home, I had a lovely shower, cooked dinner and was nicely chilled before the bits and bytes started to antagonise me any more. Bed at 10 and I was asleep in minutes. Determined not to let the pc get one over on me, because of course it was keeping score,
I got up early, uploaded the pics onto Jeff2 and headed straight into work. Got most of them uploaded and captioned so I'm happy! Its the little things really.

Today is pancake tuesday, people are all talk about 2 things, pancakes and what are you giving up for Lent. I feel the whole Lent thing is similar to the New Year resolution thing, ie everyone feels like its a good idea and no-one follows through on it. I could be wrong though. Perhaps it is a good idea to reflect on things and try to be a better person etc. I'm also not a fan of pancakes. Thankfully neither is mammy2. She's working late tonight as its production so I might make her a salad or something light to keep her going. And hopefully I shall purchase some dvds on the way home and stupid things will work. So we can catch up on the l word. I have to say I am enjoying it, I am hearing mixed reviews from people. I think people expect from it then it is. Its a tv show with fictional characters. That's it. Its a bit of switch on and enjoy. Its not here to make a politcal statement, its not here to tell us what to label people. I sometimes don't get how people get so het up about things. No pun intended :)

Still no word from the kid, I am of the belief no news is good news, but I am trying to reach her to ensure she txts one of the aunties. She was supposed to txt her at christmas when the aunty sent money to her, but of course she didn't. We also sent a christmas card back to this aunty but it appears she didn't get it and passed a message on via the brother to say that she hadn't heard from us at all. So I will send her a paddies day card and hope it gets there. Sometimes I don't know where the post disappears to. She has her FAS interview today, so fingers crossed she gets accepted onto the course AND actually wants to attend. This is a bigger issue. Chances are the bubonic plague may make its first appearence since the 19th century. You never can tell with her.

The evenings are starting to get that much brighter and I am already more motivated to go out and about. When its not pitch dark on your way to work and on your way home you do feel a lot better. The ipod has made a lazurus like recovery from certain death and is ready to go as well, so by next week I shall be skipping to work. Provided I get
headphones for the poor fellow. The minute the kid is around, its a case of what's mine is yours. And so everything disappears with her. Headphones included. We also need to get a new cd/ hifi as the other one appears to be on the way out and sometimes its not worth the hassle powering up the pc to listen to some music. I have been eyeing up
dvd recorders as well, but they are a tad pricey. Perhaps when all the baby stuff is finished with.

Pics from Carnival :)


Venlo all decked out


Snow!


Footprints


Mushrooms


The parade in Horst kicks off


Lots of colourful costumes


A float


A Tractor!


Another tractor


Aw, the bride and groom


It must be christmas, its another tractor


Its Nuns on the run


And suddenly there was none (Geddit) TMK :)

Monday, February 04, 2008

Nuns, fair trade 'cocaine' and policewomen

Trying to come up a summary to describe the weekend is difficult. There were so many moments! We headed to Holland for the first time ever to celebrate Carnival and boy did we. My voice is slowly returning and if the flashbacks aren't enough, there at least 3 digital camara's worth of pics not forgetting the brother's cam corder. Lord. I had the Friday off giving me enough time to panic about the flight. Even though its only 40 minutes. We got to Dusseldorf airport on time and from there it was fun and games as we tried to understand the German Public Transport system. Efficient doesn't being to cover it. We got the train from the airport into the city and from there myself and the sister K went in search of tickets to Venlo where we could get the bus. Time flies when you are pottering around not really being aware of it. As it turns out, our train was the last one out of Dusseldorf that night. At 9.48 we are legging it up the stairs with the rest of the gang in tow and we literally got in the door, sat down the and train pulled out. When they say 9.48 they mean it. We got to Venlo for 11ish where everyone was in carnival mode already. Bizzare
costumes, balloons and lots of people singing. It was so cold in Venlo, we had to huddle to keep one of the group A warm. She's a cold creature. We got home to Horst at around 12.15 and there were introductions, impressing the gang with the boyf showing off his big screen and putting on The Simpson's Movie.

This was one way of ensuring I stayed in the kitchen catching up with the sister K. I HATE the simpsons. The mate A was very funny, at various stages over the weekend she would say "I've never". It was to be a weekend of firsts. She'd never watched The Simpsons. She'd never really drank beer or had crisps. This all went out the window. Everyone eventually hit the sack and myself and K stayed up chatting until nearly 4.30. Yes we are good talkers. At one stage, she went outside to the garage to get a beer and it was pelting snow. It was really impressive, proper snow not like the 3 flakes we get here. Saturday was to be the big day, there was an Ireland rugby game followed by costumes and music and dancing. A muted win by Ireland, an excellent win by Scotland and we were in party mode. On with the costumes, up with the music and we were in full carnival mode. The nuns costumes were quite good and the brother had the easiest one of all. He had a black shirt, black trousers and a white collar which came with
the shirt. Little or no effort. The sister had her Charleston outfit and it looked cool. The boyf was unsure what he wanted to wear, and as the beers had been flowing during the ruggers, he settled for the extra nuns outfit. He fitted right in with us. We headed to town around 8 and got some food. From our seats we got to see the Prince and his cortege. He has the largest feather and I mean that in an innocent way. No-one seems to be sure of the origins of the Prince and his minions as they are called. But he travels from pub to pub with his crowd of fellows. We headed to the first pub where he was and the place was hopping. We managed to get our picture taken with him before we decided a bit of dancing, irish dancing to be exact was going to happen. We formed a straight line, 7 nuns and one priest and did our best to crucify irish dancing. Onto another pub, and more dancing.

When the YMCA came on, we killed people to get to the 'stage' aka pool table with a board on top, and suddenly the place was being entertained by 5 sisters. Some of the others were relucant to get on the 'stage. I'm not surprised. However, putting on the costume seesm to get rid of any inhibitions you have. This is the only way I can explain why myself and the sister's man were swinging each other around the stage to Waterscooter, a great carnival song whilst the others looked on in bemusement. That said the brother's gf was holding her own on stage swinging her skirts up around her knees. She was living up to her sisterly title of Sister Slut :) Enroute home, the village of Horst was treated to The Fields of Athery, Waterloo and any other song we cared to remember whilst we headed to the house and more partying. Sunday, there were a lot of sore heads but I was on for seeing the parade. The party only really gets going on Sunday according to the sister K so next year if we can get a gang again we can stay longer. The parade was good fun, but it was so cold. Thankfully the boyf J's sister let us hang at the hair salooon owned by the father. So we could step in and out to keep warm. I got slagged because I was more excited about the tractors the the floats.

The only drama for the rest of the weekend was the mate J getting stopped for beeping going through the security and then having to open her suitcase whilst we all stood on and looked. Lets just say the security guards don't seem too bothered about personal space. Belt unbuckled, shoes off, they were well into it. The funniest was when the other guard who was going through the bag opened up what looked like a packet of some sort of drugs. He looked at all of us and then spent ages unwrapping it to find it was a bar of fair trade soap. He took a sniff, looked at us again and gave a sort of embaressed smile. At least they had a sense of humour about the whole thing.

The costume thing is amazing though. Everyone and I mean everyone is dressed up. When we went to the supermarket, everyone was in costume. You can only imagine my delight when we were shopping on the Saturday for supplies and there was one of the staff dressed as a policewoman?! The costume was very impressive :) Overall it was a great weekend and the gang we had with us all got on as well, thank god! I shall pop some pics up as soon as I upload them to the pc.

This week we have nothing planned. Tonight, its dinner and the couch. I rang the doc and arranged for my B12 injections so we can get the ball rolling on that. Other then that, we are going to be that boring couple :) With a rugby weekend planned, we need to save our energy. The kid has an interview with FAS tomorrow so fingers crossed it goes well and she gets something from it. We didn't hear from all weekend except when the brother txted her the pic of myself and Mammy2 as nuns. You can imagine her response.