Roll Call

-ÓMhaoldomhnaigh, L.
-Anseo.

So, what have you been up to these days? Loada mickey, really. I fucked up the college thing and, in general, can't do it. Well, that's if you look at one way. In a different way, you could say I have suppressed emotions until they've found other outlets, from which to pour. These outlets would involve bad concentration, low self-esteem among others. Depending on what sort of person you are and your way of viewing things, you'll follow either, not both, of the preceding explanations.

Either way, I didn't complete/do any given assignments or exams and therefore didn't do semester two of year one. I now have an extenuating circumstances form and all that. Still not out of the dark yet though.

So, apart from that, what's been going on? Not very much, I have to say. But, maybe there has and I'm just too blind or cynical to see it. We had Simone over from Tortona for just over a week. 'Twas grand time we had. Highlight of the visit: getting chips in Burdock's up opposite Christchurch, trying to get to St. Pat's Cathedral, getting lost in Dublin 8 and ending up in a pub on Patrick's street with Simone talking to the Italian barmaid. Maybe watching the snooker in the Millennium (Peacock's Steakhouse) that first Sunday he was here could be a contender too. That night we went out to Donabate was good too. I mentioned that in a previous post, I'm almost sure. So, good times had in all fairness.

Any good nights out anywhere? Few. It was Tim's birthday recently and he had a bash in Whelan's. I presumably had nothing else to do so I fecked over that far. Had few scoops as you do. Unfortunately the big-ass speakers were a little much for me. Not quite the fave thing in an establishment. Oh well, live and let live. Always someone to talk to on the Nitelink (mickey spelling, bleedin' DB). Two young ones. I mentioned to one of them that we'd seen Dr. Garret Fitzgerald on Grafton Street eating ice-cream (an amazing image!) and it turned out that her family is a big Fine Gael hub with great respect for Fitzie and all former FG Taoisigh. True story.

We were up Cock there on Saturday for a drink. Grand craic. Dropped into Lamb for a bit too. There was a group of people in the corner and a few of them were having Erdinger. So, I thought I'd try one. Something I won't be repeating. Apart from being a bit expensive, it's a bit like Carlsberg and quite fizzy. Oh well. These things must be tried once.

I was up in Eamon Doran's on Monday night. The Groove were playing (fair dues to the lads). Bit of support, you know the way. A whole €3.50 in for the night. Rip-off Ireland they say. Anyway, speaking of tasting different beers, Monday was another such night. Firstly, I had a Fosters which was okay. It was cheaper and tasted cheaper. For some reason it had the mild taste of popcorn. Next, I had a bad pint of Miller. On an earlier occasion (another previous night in Cock) I found that Miller tastes like M&Ms and whiskey. Finally, I tried a Becks. This, we agreed, tasted like Green and Blacks milk chocolate. What is it with beers tasting like chocolate?! Good times, good times.

This evening we (myself and my parents) were up in The Helix. For my Da's birthday we bought him three (hmmm, who will you bring?) tickets to Sebastian Barry's "The Pride of Parnell Street". An amazing idea for a present, tickets to a play that I was probably going to go to anyway. I've read Barry's novels "The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty" (1998), "Annie Dunne" (2002) and "A Long Long Way" (2005). Haven't gone near his poetry, though. Not my sphere I think. The play was, at one stage, being staged in The Tivoli on Francis Street (the street I went down, instead of Patrick Street, which led to us getting lost that day) but I missed it that time. So, when I saw that it was going to be in a The Helix I thought nice one. Janet and Joe tell their side of their broken marriage and their own experiences in interwoven monologues that are both hilarious and heart-breaking in their simplicity and also in their complexity. Enjoyable evening of theatre, an hour and a half of unbroken Dubliners telling their story. Nice one, I will say again.

The hell-hound adventure that is the Leaving Certificate will painfully inflict itself upon sixth-year students across the Republic of Ireland (and that other weird place that does it too, wherever it is) very soon. I'll have a little memory time now. Nothing about the actual exams obviously; mainly because I can't really remember much about them. But I can remember the morning of the results. Finn, Dave and I had been drinking in Finn's house the night before which was good fun. Got home about three in the morning or something. In the morning, myself and Dave went down to the school at a ridiculous hour. We weren't first there, but we were maybe third and fourth. After receiving a handshake from the principal and a good gawk at our nice bit of paper, we headed up for Miller's of Main Street! We bought the day's papers (The Irish Times and Irish Independent) to look at all the nice statistics and all that while we had a lovely bit of breakfast in Miller's. So, that was a grand time. I didn't feel too amazing about my own results but it was grand that morning. We went back up to my house then and probably had more coffee and a chat and the like. Then of course all the bloody text messages from people started to flow... So, good luck to all you unfortunate people that have to pass temporarily though the fourth layer of hell and endure the exams. Nothing will make you feel any better about it. Unless you actually feel confident in yourself. If you are like this, you're either a complete prick or the child of the top dog in the Examinations Commission.

Now that I have time on my hands for recreational purposes, I've been reading. Wow. Sweeping statement. Over the last while I've read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" and "Annie Dunne". At the moment, I'm almost finished "Falling Sideways" by Tom Holt. A bit confusing, but I suppose these comic fantasy novels are meant to be so. I bought in Hodges Figgis for €4.50 just because the blurb sounded about bonkers. It's not something that I'd usually read but there's nothing wrong with a bit of a change. I bought Flann O'Brien's "At Swim-Two-Birds" in Eason on O'Connell Street there two weeks ago because they had 25% off Penguin Classics. So, I might read that next. Well done to books. I also have a Patrick Kavanagh book that I may read too. If I like "Swim-Two-Birds", I'll try some more Flann O'Brien, maybe "The Third Policeman".

I had a listen to Robben Ford & the Blue Line earlier. I bought the album, "Handful Of Blues", in London a few years ago in Virgin, I think. For a while I didn't want to listen to it because I had listened to it when I was sick at one stage. So, it was connected to sickness. It's a good album though. Must put it somewhere that I'll notice it a bit more often. I've always managed to buy several CDs whenever I'm somewhere that uses the pound sterling. Most times that I've been in Northern Ireland, I've bought CDs. The same goes for being in London staying with Mary or being on holiday in Scotland. When we were in Edinburgh I bought six CDs, as far as I remember. Whatever it is about bits of paper with Lizzy on them and my desire to trade them for compact discs containing music.

"I ofen looked up at the sky an' assed meself the question - what is the moon, what is the stars?"

And with those words of wisdom I shall feck off for now. Ah, a darlin' night, a daaaarlin' night.