WEDDING!!!!

DAMN! What a weekend.

The weekend just gone was fantastic. My friends Charlie and Padraic got married on Saturday and it was an awesome day. As the wedding was in Galway I had to get up there some how. As the weather was so good I decided hitching up on the Friday was the best plan. Walking across the city took the bones of an hour but when I got into a decent position I got a lift in around 20 minutes to Mallow which was a damn fine start. While walking around the last roundabout in Mallow I heard my name being called from a car. One of the locals from back home was going past and was heading to Galway! I was well pleased. Good weather and speedy lifts make for a happy Panda!

Got to Galway and headed to my friend Meg's place as I was staying there for the weekend. Watched some Dr. Who and then headed to pub to go drinking with wedding peeps. There were around 10 or so people there that I knew and much fun was had by all. At one stage in the proceedings the groom may or may not have said "after the proposal my work was done, after that all I had to do was hand over large sums of money for undisclosed reason" (or words to that effect).

Cue Saturday morning, getting up an heading to the church. Wedding started at 1:30ish and Charlie's dress was amazing!! I don't think even the great Charlie Sheen (Warlock) could have done better. The champagne reception followed by epic level food and a best man's speech that included a Rick-Roll was topped off with a decent band that Charlie used to Rick-Roll the best man right back!

Waking up on Sunday thinking all the epic was done and the relaxing was all that was left was a bad assumption. My friend Meg gave me 11 or so books on archaeology and Old Irish. All the winning happened this weekend!!!

Driven

So lately all I have done is study. Exams are drawing closer and I have finally settled into academic life. I know it's a bit late in the year but I finally did it. The slightly surprising thing is that I am enjoying it far more than I expected. If I can maintain this level of motivation in second year it should all go well.

This week also saw character creation for the Discworld game I want to run over the summer. I think it will go well. So far Sadhbh, Dudley and Oisin have characters made and I expect a lot of insanity!

The only sour note of late is that I am single. To be honest it was kindof expected but this doesn't mean I'm happy about it. We are still friends but I'd be lying if I said I was happy with it.

Aside from all of the above there is little else to report.

Changes

Been around a few of my old hang outs lately and was annoyed to find that they have changed. I know that all things change and grow etc, but all the late bars and pubs I used to like have changed or closed. Nancy's is gone, the Slate is always too loud and the Quad is now becoming a clone of the Brog. Freakscene also is shite compared to what it used to be. I miss Purgatory. There was a night out that was always good. Metal, moshing and decent Jager. How I long for those days. To be honest this is one of the hardest changes to adjust to living back in Cork. I have to find brand new places to go out and in a time as financially hard as this it is not easy. Thankfully the Franciscan Well is still good or else I would be completely scuppered.

One of the other problems is that people I know are going away, and not like the used to. Before they might got to America for a summer or Australia for a year for the craic. Now however they are fleeing the country and starting lives in foreign parts. Mostly because they can't find jobs here. Having been on the dole I can understand this but I don't like the fact that a lot of them are gone and are planning on staying there for good. Ireland will come right again (granted not to the same degree) and we will have to import a whole new wave of qualified people to fill jobs. Sometimes money isn't important and having the patience to wait and do things for the greater good is a better plan.

That is enough whinging for now....

Victory

I have been having all of the lazy, for this I apologise. I do intend to update more often but it's rare that I feel inclined to do so. This update however had to happen. Of late hitching has been very slow and bad. I was beginning to think that I had lost my touch. Last Thursday I was hitching to Galway for Convergence and it took me over 7 hours. Considering (see what I did there) in the past I have done it in 3.5 hours this was a very bad day. Also other times I have been hitching lately it has been a similar story. Today however all that changed. I went from my friend Hazel's house in Galway to my house in Cork City, including a stop in Tescos in 4 hours. I WAS FECKING DELIGHTED!!!! I still have it! This gives me all of the happy. It also turns out that I'm fitter than I thought so I think I may do a bit of hiking this summer if I don't find a job. As most of you know I don't tend to travel light but that doesn't seem to slow me down when walking. Just have to figure out somewhere nice to start. Suggestions please!

The reason for my trip to Galway of course was Itzacon which was bi-winning all the way!! If you are into gaming at all I would recommend it. Due to the fact that I was reared on treasure hunts I won a VIP ticket for Gaelcon so I shall be making an appearance there in October. I would like to say thanks to the Itzacon team again cause they were all awesome!! MORE CON NOW PLEASE!!!!

In other life matters I am still doing the college thing. Finally settled in and used to having structure to my days (I think), and getting things done. From this week on I am going to be preparing for my summer exams. Today I had an Archaeology class test and I'm reasonably sure I got over 60 and considering the effort I put (the usual 5 minute cram) in I should be OK If I do some bit of work.

I'm also trying to plan for the summer. Ideally I would have a job but they are few and far between so I am thinking of volunteering with my Dad, wandering around the country visiting people and improving my skills. I'm tempted to take a year off gigs as I'm not quite happy with my Early Irish/Viking fisher man thing and also there is very few gigs so it's a good year to take a break as far as I'm concerned.

I think that is enough rambling for now so I will leave you all to it.

Nearly a New One

So the year is near over and for me it was far better than the year that went before it. I have finally made it back into college. First semester was a bit messy but I think I'm on top of things again. Getting some reading done over the holidays is a good plan.

For the first time in my life I didn't spend Christmas at home. I was at my girlfriend's family place and it was nice. I hadn't gotten to see her since October so there was much to talk about.

As for what is to come in the New Year, I'll still try and post more. I also hope to see a better season of gigs than I had this year.

That is all for now. I know it is a bit terse but the words aren't coming. Maybe there will be more next time....

Making History....for real

So the weekend started fairly normally as a hitching trip up the country. I was heading to County Galway and did rather well by getting a lift from the petrol station across the way from the Blackpool shopping center. Only drawback was that a lot of the road was closed for roadworks which meant epic detour of senicness.
Anyway Saturday found me running up and down a road training horses and in the evening I was at this mans house:{there is meant to be a link here but it doesn't want to work, look up Billy's bronze age beer on youtube} drinking his beer. But no that was not the best part of the weekend. On Sunday I was travelling at 15 miles an hour on this:

Derp Derp Doo

So being back in college is great. The only problem is that I can't seem to force myself into getting a decent sleeping pattern. Tea helps me stay going but I shouldn't be relying on it to keep me awake. It takes away from the enjoyment. Anyone out there have any tips for fixing this.
In other news I have started to get involved in the art soc and they want me to model in kit for one of their classes. They seem like a sound bunch of people and at their first meeting there was free pizza!!!

Also as it turns out Med&Ren have a committee position opening up and people are say that I should go for it. Do I really want to get involved? I don't want people thinking that now that I'm back in the college I want to subvert the society or something. I know this can be a view when someone comes back after a few years away and has memories of how it was "back in the day" (TM). But I wonder would it be possible for me to contribute to the society by being equips? I have a feeling that one of my house mates and his SO may try and nominate me for the position. I suppose if that happens I'll think about it.
And on that note. Derp