I'm a Twit...er...ing?

Since getting my iPhone it has given me easier access to socializing within the digital realm.  Facebook has become a standard, I am sad to say.  Not to the extent that some people I know use it...but an interesting place to keep in touch with friends around the world (my social network has become international since moving to Ireland), making it much more difficult to keep track of people, especially for someone not very good at keeping track of people.

My new social networking discovery, however, is a service called Twitter.  Facebook doesn't offer much in the way of accessibility for people who haven't sold their souls into the system (otherwise known as setting up an account).  Twitter, on the other hand, is not unlike this blog.  A micro version.  They actually call it micro-blogging, in fact.  The intent is to summarize what you are doing at the moment in 140 characters or less.  Some people are more than willing to let everyone know what's in their burrito or what time they have to get up in the morning, the boring fragments of what they are doing right then.  I tend to lean more towards what I think about what I'm doing right then, which is hopefully a bit more interesting.

The nice thing is, you don't have to sign up for anything to look at it. So, for those of you who just aren't satisfied by the frequency with which I post here on the blog, you can head over to my twitter page and see what's happening with me in between.

Be warned:  These short snippets tumbling from my brain that may or may not (more often) be charged with bountiful wisdom, may or may not be edited for the family reader.  So, if you are more concerned about being personally offended than seeing what movie I am currently watching, you may prefer to steer clear.

Having A XXX Christmas!

Mariah and I spent a lot of time this Christmas doing...nothing...  Yeah, I know where your mind was going there...  I mean look at the title of this blog post!  It was inevitable!  More on that later.  Wait...no, not THAT...oh...jayzus...

Both of our respective employers closed up shop (as is fairly common for a lot of industries) between Christmas and New Years.  To be more precise, our last day of work before Christmas was the 23rd of December and we didn't return to work until the 5th of January (you're jealous, I know...it's ok...).  This is a nice big chunk of time where we had next to nothing on our plates.  You might be asking "Why the holly...didn't you come on home for Christmas?"  Well, we had planned to, but with the weakening economy and the cost of flights at Christmas time, we thought it would be smarter to save that money...just in case.  

Nothing is open or really happening in Dublin around this time, so we tend to just sit around and enjoy shows or movies, engage in hobbies, and generally just take the time to recharge our batteries.  For Christmas Mariah made up some good eats (sized correctly for only the two of us...for a few days...) and we enjoyed each other's company.

We didn't, however, want to waste all of that precious time off sitting around at home, so we picked a place on the map for a winter holiday.

Amsterdam!

It turns out that we weren't the only ones who had this particular idea.  Bruno and his girlfriend Marta had also planned on a trip to Amsterdam after Christmas and once we found that out we made it a joint venture and met them there.  This made the holiday all the more fun, as we hadn't seen them since September when we were in Portugal.

Amsterdam was beautiful and colder than...well, it was cold.  We had expected cold, as it was December, but we hadn't really ever traveled in the cold.  Our mental preparation was not nearly as fortified as it needed to be.  Despite bringing reasonable warm weather attire, we were shivering the whole time.  Where travel for us is usually a slow wander through the streets of any city, this trip was a fast stride from one warm place to the next.  We ventured into a good few more museums than we normally would have and I was much less inclined to pull my hands from warm pockets to take a picture, though I made the sacrifice often enough.

Amsterdam is a city framed by a series of canals shaped like a "C" describing the center of the city.  Now, in this regard, I was dissapointed in Amsterdam.  In expecting a city of canals my mind was set on Venice or Bruge, cities we had seen where the canals made the city devastatingly picturesque.  Though beautiful, the canals of Amsterdam felt much more functional than romantic.  Most were about as wide as the River Liffey here in Dublin, which is to say not that big, but big enough to fit a few the larger boat busses through them at once.  It was the scale that made them more utilitarian.

The days, despite being cold, were beautiful.  Clear skies and sun (for the short hours that the sun was in the sky), burning brightly and lighting up the very tops of the buildings...  The sun never got high enough to hit the ground (or us) over the buildings, which added to the effects of the chill.  We got no rain, or snow, or even clouds, so as winter weather goes we couldn't have asked for much better.

The Anne Frank House was one of the first museums we hit and it was impressive to revisit her story in such close quarters.  We saw the Van Gogh Museum and Amsterdam's offering of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, which was good for a few laughs.

We had some good food (especially compared to what you can find in Dublin), but there is not really any local cuisine for Holland, so our eats instead ranged from Argentinean to Italian to Malaysian.  

Amsterdam, however, is not known for it's food, or museums, or even canals, but for it's vice.  If you examine the city's coat of arms and flag, it almost seems a pre-disposed outcome, with three X's stamped down the center of it's crest.  Of course XXX had no relationship to sex when the cities heraldry was created.  Europeans probably don't take any note of it either, being that the rating system for movies in Europe is completely different than the US standard and the X, or exaggerated XXX, ratings don't apply.  I, however, found it incredibly ironic that Amsterdam has this triplicate of letters in its flag and you can see it highlighted in signs and T-Shirts all over the city.

The main draw of Amsterdam for tourists lies in the infamous Red-Light District.  This is a section of Amsterdam notorious for it's legalized prostitution and hash bars, known as "coffee shops," and a place where you can find pretty much any vice that suits you.  I happen to be sans vice (aside from the iPhone App addiction, or obsessive DVD collection), so we didn't spend a lot of time frequenting any of the establishments or services on offer.

We did walk through a good few times, however, and the environment was purely surreal.  Drug dealers can be found in just about any city if you know where to go, but it seemed every ten paces or so we walked past a man whispering "ecstasy, cocaine, speed".  Weed was, of course, not offered as it was readily available in one of many canabis coffee shops throughout the district.  These shops look pretty much like any standard bar, despite the thick plume of blue smoke hanging in the air.

The sex trade was the most surreal part.  The neighborhood was lined primarily with old row-type houses and in the first and sometimes second story windows of those houses stood or sat scantily clad women putting themselves on offer.  Red neon lights lined the inside of each room Most women wore bikinis or similar lingerie, but some were clad in a style more fetish oriented.  Beauty ranged from handsome to gorgeous and I'm sure the cost would reflect the "product", though we didn't poll for pricing.  The tranys had a street too, and one for heavier set women.  We didn't head down every street but there seemed to be plenty of variety available.  One street tapered down to what must have been less than three feet, pressing you up against the window glass as you tried to squeeze by people walking the other direction.  

Seeing women standing in those windows was unbelievably bizarre.  I can't really describe it, other than to say that it struck me as totally legitimate and totally wrong at the same time.

Nestled between the hash bars and prostitutes you could find theaters advertising "live sex shows"  and an infinite variety of sex video and paraphernalia shops.  Throw in hotels, grocers, churches, and houses (yes, people live in this part of town) and you have a wildly diverse slice of city living.

Despite what it sounds like, the area didn't feel particularly unsafe.  This isn't to say I was flashing around my expensive gear and walking down lonely, dark alleys, but most of this is legitimate business, the prostitutes are well protected, and this leads to a fair equilibrium for safety.  I don't have any pictures of the Red-Light to better relay the experience.  Bruno warned that people in that area don't take kindly to cameras, though there were no signs posted suggesting restriction.  I can see why the girls wouldn't want people taking pictures though.

For us this part of the city was just shock and awe, but there were lots of tourists flowing in that planned on taking part in everything Amsterdam had to offer.  This became all the more evident the closer to New Years Eve we got.  Bruno and Marta flew out on the 30th.  We flew out the 31st.  For that time approaching the 1st, the number of people in the streets of Amsterdam seemed to double each day.  

New Years Eve is all about vice.  Amsterdam has plenty to offer.  It's a perfect marriage and people from all over seemed to have made that connection.

We left what looked to be an explosive throng building up in the city and arrived home mid day on New Years Eve.  We barely noticed when midnight rolled around (we probably would have missed it if people in the streets hadn't started making noise).  The rest of our days off were taken up by a few chores accompanied by ample laziness.

Going back to work was bitter sweet (the sweet part solely residing in the fact that we could do it at all).

Beauty And The (Wet) Beast

At the end of October (yeah...) we spent a long weekend in Copenhagen.  Arriving in the evening we took the train from the airport and easily made our way to the hotel.  

To Mariah's credit she has learned to streamline the traveling part of these trips to help reduce my stress level - if I know we have accommodations and know exactly how to get to them from the airport I am a much happier camper.  Once I get settled in I am generally golden, but time-lines and traveling bits have a tendency to prompt unsolicited and somewhat irrational levels of anxiety in my brain.  Though the prolific nature of our travels have somewhat desensitized me, I have found the best coping mechanism has been to just not think about it until absolutely necessary.

In any case, we arrived at the hotel around 10:00pm and got settled in, then hustled around the corner to a pizza restaurant we had passed by earlier and were pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  Now, I realize pizza originates from Italy, but there is just something about American style pizza that is just...better...  Some Italian is likely to slap me on the street for this statement, but it's really hard to beat a thicker crust, a proper sauce and piled on toppings (can you tell I miss Papa Murphy's?).  The pizza in this restaurant was closer to the American vein and really excellent.  Walking blind into a restaurant (which often happens to tired, hungry travelers who don't care any more and just want to eat) can yield some horrifyingly mediocre meals (some downright "meh"), especially in tourist locations, so this was a very pleasant and welcome surprise.  We rolled back to the hotel with full bellies and slept hard for the early morning.

We walked.

The day was gorgeous!  Fairly cold, but the sun burned in a clear sky and made everything shiny.  The light was a bit pale, but decent for pictures.

We walked.  We walked and walked and walked and walked and ate and walked and walked.

Pictures were taken along the way.  The rumor was that our next (and final) day in Copenhagen was not going to be nearly as nice, so we took advantage and saw EVERYTHING.  Well...within reason.  It was a beautiful city, but I didn't find anything about it that really struck me, other than it was very comfortable.  Though not particularly exciting, it seemed like it would be a wonderful place to live (no, we don't have plans) - a slow pace and quite.

One thing that didn't help was that the Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world and a main attraction for Copen

hagen, was closed (one month out of the year to prep for Christmas and we happen to land on it).  I doubt this would have blown me away, but missing one of the main attractions of a city was a bit unfortunate.

We did however happen upon the BODIES exhibition, a controversial educational exhibit where real human corpses have been pulled apart and preserved in such a way that you can see what everything looks like on the inside (sort of like an exploded gadget or building diagram...but with humans...).  This was an excellent exhibit and a lucky find.

Something that did blow me away was everyone's American accent.  Everyone we interacted with (mostly shop clerks and waitresses, but s

till) spoke amazing English with a flawless American accent.  I kept having to ask Mariah if they were actually American.  Generally we have found that, if you are in big/tourist cities, everyone that you need to deal with speaks English, but this was impressive.

The day was brilliant and by the end we were about as exhausted as we could get...and we walk a lot at home...

For our second day, The Beast.  The big, buckets and frogs, if-you-can't-swim-in-your-socks-I'm-not-doing-something-right, wet beast.  It rained.  A lot.

One interesting thing about Copenhagen is that it sits on a river that defines the border between Denmark and Sweden.  We found out you can actually take a train from Copenhagen over to Malmö (in Sweden).  Since we had seen the whole of Copenhagen the day before (fortunately), we decided to get more country for our money and got on a train bound for Sweden.

The train ride was about thirty minutes.  Talk about foreign relations.  The rain was wet.  The poor weather didn't exactly paint the prettiest picture (I took no pictures, sorry).  Malmö is supposed to be full of parks and green spaces, but after about ten minutes walking in the rain...we didn't give a sh*t...  We found our way to a castle and thought that would be worth a look as we hadn't been into any castles in Denmark.

Walking into this castle was like walking into a surrealist painting.  It seemed normal enough at first, though there were lots of small children running around the lobby, screaming in preparation for some kind of class walk through.  As we began our journey, however, the surreality began to reveal itself.  First stop was an art exhibit filled with some of the most bizarre modern art (sculptures made of junk, video projections, pre-recorded moans - I don't really know how to define it) that we had seen in a while.  A guy (possibly the artist, maybe a caretaker) was standing within the exhibit staring at people as they passed by.  He looked intent on answering questions, but that intent and intensity (while surrounded with all of these bizarre artifacts), had that "I'm fixin' to drag you inter mah truck and saw yer legs off," kind of vibe to it.

The rest of the castle was just chocked full of random, incomprehensible junk.  My brain felt like a bumper car as I wandered through, bouncing off one car only to spin around and bang into the next.  Some of the elements were historical/educational exhibits, but small facts about how a prince's cat died or how his uncle had really bad gas.  Some rooms were just filled with random objects like stuffed gorillas and old shoes, bronze cats and peacock feathers.  Objects were interspersed among the "historical" exhibits.  It was like OMSI + castle + fun-house + asylum.

Towards the top there was actually a room of just the castle, the king's bed chamber, but by that time I was fighting back an aneurysm (or maybe a seizure) and had to get out of there as fast as possible.  We walked quickly through town as the rain sank into us and decided we needed to get out of Sweden.  Back on the train and into the hotel to desaturate (my wool jacket was still wet for the plane ride the following day).  

I'm guessing Malmö, under better conditions (and less strange), would have been a wonderful experience.  For now, however, my recommendation is: stick with Copenhagen.

Go here to see all of the pictures.

Scottish Delights

Edinburgh was the next stop in the Kiersey tour. What, have them come all this way and just see one country, NO! My dad has to see more of Europe then just Dublin, Mammie is the big traveler! On one of my parent's Mexican trips, they met the Lindsay's; Margaret and Homer. They kept in touch over the years, and with JoAnn and Bruce coming all the way over, what is another little skip over the Irish Sea to Scotland. After picking up the car at the Edinburgh we had shoddy directions to city centre, and with all the construction going on, we got truly lost. With mom giving out random facts from the back seat, she is lucky she did not end up in the boot with all the stressful driving conditions currently being met.

Left sided driving: Check.
Overcrowded streets: Check.
Detours and road construction: Check.
No street signage: Check.
Cannot find yourself on a map: Check.
Driving with In-laws: Check.
Random facts spewing from the back seat driver: Priceless.

Margaret had us set up in a super nice hotel right on the canals just out of Edinburgh city centre. While extremely lost we just happened to pull over and find ourselves finally on a map, and lo and behold, we were only a street over from where we should be. We piled out of the car, dropped off our things in our beautiful two bedroom apartment and started walking toward the city. We walked up to the old castle at the Royal Mile and toured around all the various museums. It was bitterly cold, with the wind just biting through our jackets, but we were troopers; we were going to see it all! No kilts were to be found, but it was a cold day for it especially since nothing is worn underneath them. We stopped for some Scottish whiskey at a pub named 'End of the World' pub since in olde times it was the last pub before exiting the city walls, outside their world. Edinburgh has to be one of the most spectacular and authentic medieval cities that we have seen to date. You have a sense of something ancient and interesting and time passing by with a city living and breathing with life.

The best tourist attraction was Mary King's Close. Deep under the current streets was the old city depicting the history of what life was like in the old city. It is hard to believe that multiple families would live in a 3m by 3m room with the hearth in the door way, excrement rolling down the street into the loch, 'Garde a'leau' being shouted from upper windows before chamber pots are thrown out down below, people walking barefoot and even children drinking the beer since it was cleaner then the water. No wonder everyone was sick and died so young. This is a definite must see for anyone going to Edinburgh. (In France the practice was preceded by "garde a l'eau!" ("watch out for the water!"). In England, this phrase was Anglicised, first to "gardy-loo!", then just "loo", and eventually came to mean the toilet/lavatory itself. The American word for toilet, "john", is called after the John Harington who designed Elizabeth I first toilet).

The next day we headed to Livingston where the Lindsay's live. They are just the nicest people you will ever meet! No wonder my mother has kept in contact with them. The had the cutest two little dogs that made me realise how much I miss animals. I need to go to a zoo, STAT! But I digress..... We had a great meal at an Indian place that made me miss super spicy flavourful food that is hard to find in Dublin. We came back to the house to sit in the hot tub. Now that was even more of a pleasant surprise.

The following morning we headed out early for Inverness to have lunch with their daughter and her family. After a great home cooked meal, it was off to Lock Ness and the Culloden Battle field. No Nessie sightings for us, but we did make it to her museum. It was a long day of driving but great countryside, rainbows and decent weather made it all OK when we headed to the chipper and could keep the evil demon from popping out of my head and speaking for me.

Our last day in Scotland we were off to St. Andrews. We stopped for a doggie walk in Pitlochry around the dam and over a swaying suspension bridge. Autumn is my favourite time of year, crunching footsteps in the leaves, crisp clean air and the smell of fallen leaves. When we arrived at St. Andrews we headed straight for the course. Since it was Sunday we walk on the old course where some of the greatest golfers of all times have played. Not that I am into golfing, but if you are going to see a course, you might as well see where it was born. Before the trip back home, a stop at the ice-cream shoppe was in order! Back at the Lindsay's Homer and to catch a flight for work and was not able to have supper with us, but Margaret made a fabulous meal and got the potroast out of the oven just before the oven decided to unceremoniously died leaving the main course of attraction, Yorkshire Pudding, unrisen rendering it inedible. Too bad. After full bellies, some sad goodbyes it was back to the airport to head home.

Kiersey Arrival to Ireland

My parents came for a two week visit and to help bring in my third decade on this planet. First Ireland and then Scotland. We had much to catch up on and I had much to show them of my new found homeland. With the folks fresh off the plane, the first stop for this Kiersey clan was the Jameson Distillery. Might as well start the day out with some whiskey! The first cold snap of autumn came though so whiskey is the way to warm up those frozen hands from dragging the suitcase so far. They had brought us a few goodies from back home. I knew to volunteer in the beginning for some whiskey tasting, and got my dad to do it as well. We slept through most of the history video and had an informative tour of how Jameson is made, and at the end you get a wee dram of whiskey. For being a volunteer we got to try American, Irish and Scottish whiskey. Out of the 12 people, only 2 liked the Jack Daniels more then the Jameson or Johnny Walker Black, and of course they were Americans. These Americans prefer the Irish though! After the tour we went to the bar to sample some various different whiskeys, and the best was the Midleton (150 Euro a bottle; good stuff). The cute Italian girl was recommending all sorts of kinds for us to try and my dad of course chatted her up, while my mom found an auld fella and the end of the bar for her to chat with. A few months later when I went back with a friend, the little Italian girl remember me and certainly remember my father, he does make an impression.

After sampling now 6 different kinds, we were ready for some more walking along the River Liffey to Ireland's oldest pub, Brazen Head. We tucked into a dark corner with our carvery lunches and a pint of the black stuff. What better way to spend a weekday! With our energy up we walked all over St Patrick's Cathedral grounds (it is under renovation) and Christ Church Cathedral. I shared my ghost stories of the original steps of Dublin at St Aedeons before heading to Dublin Castle. We did the tour there and the jet lag started kicking in for them, they nearly fell asleep on their feet! After checking out the original underground ruins our last stop of the day was the Book of Kells at Trinity College. By this point I think I have done all the touristy things Dublin has to offer. Check those off my list! The Book of Kells was interesting enough hidden away in the darkened room with the intricate text written on calf skin, but what was really cool was going into the old library above it. There is nothing more comforting then the smell of old leather and parchment, the peace and quiet and just the dim light that libraries always have. The old books lining every wall shot straight up to the barrel vaulted ceiling. By this time they were ready for their cat nap before Ben came home for supper because they had been up for nearly 36 hours. A glass of wine with dinner and they were ready to sleep like logs for days snoring away.

Early the next morning we took them to Hobarts, the most awesomest breakfast place, for a full irish breakfast. Nothing like starting your day with a heart attack on a plate. They even liked the white and black pudding. Afterwards we walked over to our old place, talked to Snowy our little neighbourhood kitty and picked up the hired the car. First stop was the Waterford. Mom really wanted to go to the crystal factory which happened to be giving tours, so we took the next one. Glass blowing has always fascinated me. What they can do with sand at high temperatures is truly art. Since we were not expecting to get a tour, or shop for so long, we did not get to see much of Waterford, which is a bit of a hole, and headed to Wexford to our castle.. We stayed the night in Killiane Castle in Drinagh just outside Wexford town, which was built back in the 13th century. What Ireland trip is complete without a good tour in a castle. We had an early night with a bottle of wine in front of the crackling fire just catching up since it was nearly 18 months to the day since I had seen my folks. The next morning we took the coastal route back to Dublin so we could enjoy the scenic route.

Back in Dublin we did the quick tour of my office so they can see where I work and then it was into town for a pub crawl. They had to get a flavour for the non-touristy pubs.
Three Brother 'Ogan: Brogans, Grogans and Hogans.
I had Sean and Franchesca meet us in Brogans for some of the best Guinness in Dublin. Next stop was Grogans where Colin and Karen meet up with us after his birthday dinner. A few scoops later we were off to Hogans. We were some of the last out, but go figure, midnight on a Sunday is not exactly early, but the folks had to get up at 5 to head out west. It was important for my folks to met my abroad 'family' since it is them we spend our holidays with.

Their last few days in Dublin (after returning from Scotland - see other post), I had to work, but I kept them busy with bus tours and a full itinerary. Good dinners , great drinks and even better company helped me bring in my 30th birthday. The day of my birthday was the day they flew out so they were the first to give me my birthday wishes. It was nice to spend such a momentous birthday with family there to share it with!

Wicklow Weekend

Catherine (Dolly) is from a small little town in Co. Wicklow and since she thinks I should get out of Dublin and see more of Ireland she invited Karen, Ben and myself to go with her and Andrew to see a back road tour of Ireland. It helps that she had a car to help make this dream happen. We met at Karen’s and headed south, first scenic pass through Rathdrum to Aughrim and then to the glen of imall, sliabh na mbo (hill of the cows), Fear Breag (the scarecrow), Knockanucragh, Knockannana and then into Tinahely (her little village). This route is all mountain country and since it was a crisp clear day we got great views. She had the three of us stay in a little cabin in the woods, it was quaint quiet and picturesque countryside rolling out in front of us. I thought some of the little black sheep were running quite fast in the meadow just out our window, but really it was the dog... I need to get my eyes checked at my advanced age...

Catherine and her brother Paul gave us the grand tour of Tinahely, all 4 pubs, 2 chippers, and 1 dodgy nightclub of it! There were a few little shops where we picked up food to make for dinner, Spaghetti! We got to meet her family and the little puppy we had heard so much about. Karen is deathly afraid of dogs, so I was her body guard.

After our meal we head out to the smallest little pub, The Dying Cow in Stratnakelly. We got quite lost trying to find it, but it was well worth it. The pub was packed full of the locals, maybe 25 of us in total, where we piled into a corner and just sat back and enjoyed our pints. A bunch of auld ones were playing bridge in the corner and every once in a while, when the mood struck them, a fiddle and a guitarist would strike up a tune, and then go back to their pints. The old stone structure was no bigger then an old one room house. I felt almost intrusive, but never unwelcome. It was a great little pub with good ceol agus craic. The little bird nest above the loo that was partially exterior was just the topping on the cake. You do not get more authentic of an Irish Pub. Since Catherine was driving and wanted to have a good night herself, we drove into town and headed to the new nightclub. It was massive, but was nowhere near half full. The girls took to the dance floor and we had Andrew to protect us from anyone trying to rub up on us since he looks like someone you do not want to cross. We shut the place down and headed back to our cabin. I slept so soundly being in the country with no noise and no light shining into our windows.

After a fryup the next morning we checked out and went for a walk in town while Catherine got her chores done at home and washed the dog. Ben, Karen and I walked along the road snapping pictures, oogaling over the motorcycle boys driving by, fancy cars and tractors. As we neared the school we could hear music playing at lo and behold there was a car/tractor show going on. We checked out all the cars that were sparkling in the sunshine. It was a beautiful day out and ice cream was in order. We enjoyed our ice cream until we came to a little bench. The three of us became the Tinahely welcoming committee. With the one finger wave, you just lift your index finger slightly and give a little nod. The drivers thought we were silly and we were!

Once we had a spot of lunch we took off into the countryside through winding roads, peat carved hills and through ‘forests’ of pine trees. Pines are not native to Ireland, but they tried to have a timber industry so the ‘forests’ are square since the owners planted as many trees as the could on a square acre and then harvest them when the time comes. Karen fell asleep on my shoulder as we cruised through the rolling country. We stopped every now and again so Ben could photograph the vistas. We passed through Laragh and stopped in Hollywood at some old ruins where Karen and I dangled our feet off the bridge over looking the valley and roaring river. Eventually we ended up back in Dublin. A good weekend away was what we all needed to recharge the batteries.

Strange Anomaly #27

Milkmen still deliver milk to businesses and leave it on the front steps. Even bread loaves are delivered and tucked into the security grills on windows so that in the morning, they can get their fresh loaf of Brennan's bread.

Comic Book Drama Geeks

Dublin Fringe Fest was apparently putting on a play about superheroes gathering in a room the night before the world meets its end. Now if there’s one medium this sort of genre probably won’t work in, theatre is it, but Colin had peaked our interest. Since we had been writing our own superhero stories Karen, Colin, Sean and myself were to go. On the eve of the event, Sean was sick so Ben happily took his place, how could we pass up a superhero story, 'The Darkroom'.

Here is what we first read, and based our interest on:

"DC and Marvel superheroes and supervillains face extinction. The Anarchic Invincibility Deficiency Syndrome unmasks masked idols and Supermen fade to grey. When the world falls darker than Joker's soul, something sharper than Wolverine's claws will save us. Heroic Couplets, comic book duality and a touch of La Ronde from award-winning writer Neil Watkins. Directed by Karl Shiels."

We met up for a few drinks before hand and headed over to the Players Theater in Trinity College. The Fringe Fest is usually artistic mediums that are on the fringe of the accepted norm, this was my first time experiencing the festival and was happy to have free tickets! We filed into the small room which maybe fit 40 people, that was barely lit, scooted up the aisle and tucked all the way in, this would prove to be one of the more difficult aspects of the play. The lights go down, the smoke machine is up....

Scene 1: Out steps the first 'hero', and he is singing a song about the Pope and incest to the theme song 'Under the Sea'. Not sure how that was superhero like, but I am patient.

Scene 2: Then comes the Junkie Male Prostitute giving the cheating husband HIV. Again, superhero qualities?! Well maybe Villain but where are the heroes, but I will stick with it.
Check our tickets, yes, we are at the right place......

Scene 3: Another strange poetry reading throwing the cards down on the floor being as vulgar and immature as possible.

Scene 4: (Thirty minutes in) A woman dances naked behind a screen with just a light to create her shadow, a strange scraping and moaning sound in the other corner, women moaning and another poetry guy stands up there. The light goes up in the corner and there is a gimp that is removing stainless steel balls from his bowels thus cracking the toilet.

At this point Karen says 'Right so, I am outta here'. We all get up and leave mid play this is where it gets difficult trying to get out in a smoke filled room full of people. Lots of toes were stepped on. I have never done that before but apparently is acceptable during the Fringe.

With that strangeness behind us, we find a quiet pub in an old library and end the night with a few hot toddies. I mean how to you recover from something like that? Whiskey washed away all those thoughts and we had a good laugh over it. We rechecked our tickets and Ben checked the write up on the Internet and yes we were at the right place.

What we found later:
Out in the wilder regions of experimentation are two productions whose investigations are as much in the staging as in the language. In Neil Watkins's The Darkroom from Gentle Giant Theatre Company, our greatest superheroes take centre-stage. And slug it out in duels. To the death. It's an ingenious premise. To reflect further that Neil turns to heroic couplets and iambic pentameters to investigate the shadows that keep company with us all, and in particular the shadow of HIV, and that director Karl Shiels and designer Sarah Jane Shiels mean to keep it very dark, is to feel something very exciting in the making. Peter Dunne's Before Colour from Wicked Angels investigates language as untruth, setting one young woman's denials against the incontrovertible evidence of her two sisters' self-harm. A staging with the fluidity of the colour spectrum is keeping pace here with the quicksilver changes in the dialogue.

But no, that is still misleading and still sounds superhero-y!

This is better:
"After my first play's success, I managed to raise my profile, and the Fringe seemed a more viable option for me because I had a developed an audience for my work through Dublin's gay scene, and Alternative Miss Ireland and things, but I could tap in to the resources of the Fringe as well. My work isn't really mainstream [The Dark Room is about superheroes battling the villain of HIV] and it is frustrating trying to find support when there isn't really a place for it in Irish theatre, when theatres just want to do their Shakespeares and their Oscar Wildes. But the Fringe is happy to support the more edgy, non-conservative work that might not be seen in other contexts. The support that the Fringe gives you is practical too: even just being in the brochure cuts your PR cost immediately. Plus you're pretty much guaranteed at least one review in a national newspaper, and that's another vital thing. The reviews help you to sell your show if they are positive, but even if they are negative at least that's feedback, which you don't really get as a new company at any other time of the year."

Fair enough, he just wanted to get us in there. If it had been a more realistic write up, I still may have gone to it and just had a different level of disappointment, but wow, that was something! Can't wait to see what next year holds!

Strange Anomaly #26

'Guinness is good for you' adds had to be pulled since some mothers were giving their children Guinness. It is good stuff though, but not that good for you. It is full of iron though, so after you give blood they will give you a pint. No wonder I have not been as anemic when I moved here.

Kerry Vs Cork in All Ireland Semi-Finals

As I have said before Karen is one of the soundest people I have ever met, and since she is Captain Amazing she treated me to a Gaelic Football match with herself and her Da. She has been following Kerry (Chiarraí in Irish pronounced like Kiersey but with no 's' in it) since she is from Scartaglin in Co. Kerry. We followed the throng of people flocking to the stadium. We finally found our way to our seats only to find out we were nearly at the half mark only two rows back from the pitch, best seats in the house!

The Minors (18 and under) were playing first at Croake Park and it happen to by Kerry vs Mayo. Karen's Da, Dave, had played as a youngster so he filled me in with all the rules and what not. You can only take three steps before you can; 'dribble' it once, pass, or kick it back into your hands. The last one being the most difficult and it a feat to be seeing doing it at a sprint. With nearly 38,000 people filling Croake Park and the fans intermixed, it was quite a game. Kerry minors had a near upset, but ended it a tie. That is one thing about GAA that I found interesting that when you tie you just play a rematch at another time.

Sort of anti-climatic for my first match, but with the sun shining down, waving my Kerry flag furiously and an ice cream in hand I was ready for the men to come out and play in their short little tight shorts! It was Cork and Kerry. Those counties are right next to each other and quite the rivals. If you kick the ball over the uprights like in American football it is worth 1 point, but you kick it in the goal like in soccer it is worth three. I whooped and cheered and hollered with the best of them. 'Up the Kingdom!', 'Go the Kingdom', 'Go on ye lads!' I was hoarse! And I made Karen's da proud with my cheering skills. Kerry was ahead for most of the match, but in the last 6 minutes with Kerry up by 7, Cork rallies and comes back to tie it up. People had been leaving the stadium thinking Kerry had it in the bag. The game ends with yet another tie. I do not make it to the other games, but Kerry does beat out Cork to go on to the finals but eventually loses to Tyrone. Next year lads!

After the match we headed to Temple Bar Pub where we had a few scoops of Guinness and listened to some live music. The musician played Karen some Kerry songs since she saw her jersey and my flag. Ben came down to meet with us. They even payed a few songs I knew, and Karen taught me some of the naughty versions to be sung with then as well. Cheeky wee monkey. It was just a good ending to a good day. Little sunburned, good company and great craic!

Sports Day OlyMPics 2008

Hot on the heels of the Beijing Olympics, we had our own OlyMPics once again that was a Team versus Team Olimpiada! Our fingers were crossed all week for no rain, and sure enough, we had sunshine. We headed out back a little early to enjoy a few frosty beverages before boarding the Magical White Mysery Bus to the Terenure Rugby club where we did the Rugby all summer. The Sport and Social committee, moi and 5 others, split everyone into five team of six representing each of our own office directors. The six of us on the committee were to fill in the gaps where needed on each team. I was hoping to get out of competing, since I am so ridiculously competitive at times.

The teams competed in death defying matches testing speed, strength, stamina, coordination, balance, and endurance abilities. First up was the Egg and Spoon Dash. Sean headed up our team (The Hussey Hustlers) in this match and came in an impressive second. Next was the boot toss with Michael coming in second. Karen in the sack race (the bouncy hoppers did not come on time so the sack race was the recycle bags) got another impressive second. At this time we headed indoors for the rest of the events. One of the other girls in the office got our team a third in the hoola hooping, and Ruth got another second in the Barbell Endurance Hold. There was a complicated point system going and Team Hussey ended up as one of the top three contenders. Since Ross dropped out at the last minute, and Ania would not do the event, I did step in for my team to do Twister!

Now rewind to the day before where Karen and I gathered bottle of Malibu Rum and Vodka to make Jello-shots. For each of the colours of Twister; yellow, green, blue and red, we made a corresponding shot. Jello here is not a little powder, no, it is some strange rubbery gel mass that you have to melt in boiling water. Now back to the main event....

With the box full of jelly shots (as they are called here) we were ready to begin. Claire represented O'Callaghan Contendors, I was Hussey Hustlers and Catherine (Skinney) was for the Smith Smiters. When Niall spun the Twister arrow, if it landed on green we had to take a green jelly shot, if it landed on red, it ws a red jelly shot and so on. Needless to say, we got quite hammered but I kept my head and as Clarie fell over, Skinney celebrated brining her hand off the mat, thus I won out as victorious. Team Hussey won gold in the OlyMPics! I tried to be imparsial, but I do like to win. All of the winners got their jelly shots as well.

As we dug into our burgers, the sun began to set and the session started to turn a bit mental. With impending layoffs coming, we knew this was a sort of last Hurrah. As the night at the Rugby Club came to a close we all grabbed hands and had a sing song along with Hey Jude. Marcella and I warmed up the dance floor with our boggie moves and got ready to head into town. Niall and I did our own sing song as we closed down the place to Queen - Bohemian Raphsody. I think he was singing much better then I was. We grabbed out taxi's headed into town for more dancign at RiRa. Pierce, Kathrin and I were the last standing as the place shut down, not bad for one last shin dig! I was happy to go home with the gold as well!

Strange Anomaly #25

It is mid December and there are still flowers blooming away! Pansies, violets, bleeding hearts, Hydrangas, Queen Anne's Lace, and other pretty stuff. Just cannot believe that things are still growing and it is winter!