Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey... Stuff

It's safe to say that May kind of got away from me. That's okay, though, because once I build my TARDIS I can just go back and write posts closer to the days that I actually think of these topics and you'll all be none the wiser... except then I'll have to erase this post.

Gosh, time travel is so confusing!

Any excuse for a Doctor Who clip

This won't be a coherent post, but I wanted to get a few thoughts down while they were still relatively fresh in my mind. Random? Yes. Important? Probably not. Going to talk about them anyway? Hells ya!

There has been lots going on in my life at the moment. Biggest change? I got a new job. I'm still with the organisation but a new higher-up position. As my brother said when I told him my new title, "you've got 'co-ordinator' in there. Nice!" It's handy when your family are also bureaucrats, they get what titles mean.

Being honest, I love the bathrooms on my new floor!

After my pub board game night with 106 and T, 106 found a Monday night board game meet up here in Victoria. We've been twice and it's awesome! He even bought one of our favourite games from this past Monday and I pretty much had to physically restrain myself from just inviting myself over to play it. It's called Guillotine and it's super simple, super quick, and super hilarious. Also, board games rock. I just wish they weren't so freakin' expensive.

Euro 2012 starts on Friday. That might not mean much to most of you, but it's huge for me. It's the first time in 24 years that Ireland has made it to the Euro. (In fairness, it's only held every four years. It's not like they've missed it 24 years in a row.) The last time Ireland went (which was also the first time, we're a young soccer nation) this happened:

It was kind of a big deal for us. They even wrote songs about it. Never ones to let a moment pass without signing about it, there's an official Ireland song for Euro 2012 as well.

(Snarky me adds a 'unless you score with a handball' at the end.

Yeah, I'm still bitter. Stupid France.)

Speaking of Ireland vs. England, people were chatting in the lunch room today about the Queen's Jubilee when one of them turned to me and seriously asked "you're Irish. Are you excited about the celebrations? Is your family doing anything special?" I was slightly dumbfounded at the question so I just said 'no' and left the room.

I don't have anything against the English, and good on the Queen for sticking in there, but Irish people aren't exactly known for our love of England or the monarchy. In fact, we're kind of known for disliking them. We fought a war of independence over it. The resulting separation of the island of Ireland made a few of the papers. So did the ensuing Troubles. While I don't expect this non-Irish coworker to be able to list names and dates from the last 100 years of Irish history, I would expect that somewhere in her brain would be the understanding that Ireland won't be celebrating this Jubilee. Or any Royal Jubilee.

I'll have to remember to ask her what she's doing for American Independence Day in July.

I have made no secret of my love for Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer. If you love science, you should check out his quote turned into awesome graphics by Zen Pencils. It gives me chills reading it. If you want to get me something nice just because, I'll take a print of that comic. Thanks.

I had a crush on a guy in high school who I always thought was way too cool for me - it was the classic nerd-girl-likes-jock-a-year-older-than-her crush. While I thought I always played it cool, I'm sure he knew. How could he not when I just randomly always seemed to be hanging out in the hall near his locker? Or sitting by the field when he was practicing soccer? He was nicer than some of the crushes I had and politely tolerated me but we had nothing in common. Nothing! Except we both liked 'Ocean Pearl' by 54-40.
While I liked the song, crush-boy loved it. He had all of 54-40's albums, he went to a few of their concerts, and he talked about wanting to meet the band.

This song still gets me dancing.

My crush ended suddenly one day. His friend made fun of him for his geeky hanger-on and his previously tolerant demeanour changed. In front of all his friends, he made me feel about two inches tall. I was devastated.

Skip forward 18 years to this past weekend. My friends, Justin and Ian, played Friday and Saturday night with their recently acquired drummer, Matt Johnson. As in, Matt Johnson of 54-40. It wasn't my first time meeting Matt, but it was the first time we had a conversation between us without Justin or Ian instigating it. Despite friends with him both nights, he made a point of coming over and say 'hello' and asking how I was doing.

As I nursed a hangover of epic proportions on Sunday (more from lack of sleep than the four beers the night before), I thought of that high school crush for the first time in more than a decade. Man, did I ever wish I could tell 14 year old me that some day one of my crush's hero would laugh at my jokes. That would have stopped a few of those tears.

Then Things Got Really Nerdy

So I went to Seattle and this happened. (Not my photo album.) The Emerald City ComiCon was my first ever Nerdapalooza Comic Book Convention. It took all of about an hour milling about waiting for Wil Wheaton's 90-minute Awesome Hour for me to decided to return next year. It took all of an hour and five minutes to decide that I would make a costume for next year.

Yeah, you read that right! Costume. Nothing elaborate just something a bit more fitting of the event.

The whole weekend was fantastic. While I could have made a better use of my time overall (chalk it up to being a convention n00b), I crossed off everything on my 'must do' list. I attended the above mentioned Awesome Hour, the Walking Dead panel, met The Oatmeal and got his autograph (and a personalized drawing of me in which 5'3" me became a giraffe... um, alright then) before this happened:

I met Wil Wheaton! I met Wil Wheaton! I met Wil Wheaton!

He was my first celebrity crush when I was 10 so it was kind of a big deal for me. While waiting in line, I practiced a few short soundbites I could rattle off when I got up there. You made being a geek cool for me as a teen. I hate that you've already read The Bloggess's book, you lucky bastard. I love that you love hockey, but why the Kings? WHY? Can you tell Aaron Douglas that I have a Doug and the Slugs CD for him. (Okay, maybe not that last one. That was a twitter moment between me and Aaron that's best not shared with the world... outside of twitter... and Edward James Olmos who was with Aaron at the time.) I got up to the table, selected the picture, said hello and my name, and then stared at my shoes.

Because I'm cool like that.

The only really bum part of the weekend was remembering how awesome Seattle is and not really getting to see it. We made it down to Pike Place Market for a wander and then dinner on Saturday night, but I didn't really see Seattle. I've decided I need to take a long weekend sometime soon and head back.

You'd think that returning to Victoria was the end of my geeky good times. Scratch that, GGT will never end. You'd think that returning to Victoria was the end of my Wil Wheaton good times, but it wasn't! Last Thursday, Wil tweeted/facebooked/social media'ed a couple of Walking Dead references about "where's Carl? He's not in the house." Shortly after the Carl comments, he turned his attention to the LA Kings game with a comical suggestion of who should have dressed for the line up that night. I responded.

That made my night. In fact, it made my whole damn day. Even better? It happened on my birthday. Wil Wheaton laughed at my joke on my birthday. Happy 32nd year to me!

Big thanks to the folks at ECCC for putting on an awesome weekend. Big thanks to Wil for being just as funny and cool as 10 year old me always thought he was.

And a big 'up yours' to the restaurant in our hotel for completely ignoring us for 15 minutes despite less that 50% capacity. Our food was pretty damn fantastic at the other restaurant anyway so I guess it sort of worked out.

I'm Tired and Cranky. This Is What You Get

I had a couple of book reviews I wanted to write up tonight.

And I wanted to talk about my love of the new show GCB (totally my guilty pleasure).

And how I'm five episodes in to rewatching the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation because that show was such a huge part of my childhood so I've decided to watch an episode a night for the next, oh, eight months or so until I'm done. (Eight months is longer than it should take me at an episode a night, but I'm allowing for nights of going out.)

And how Game of Thrones comes back on Sunday but I won't be able to watch it because I'll be in Seattle ::sadface:: for the Emerald City Comicon ::happyface::

And that if I don't end the weekend with Wil Wheaton phoning security to remove me from his room, I've totally failed in my objectives.

I'm kidding!

I just plan to hang around his table until he gets creeped out and asks security to remove me from the entire convention.

Again, just kidding!

Kinda.

Obviously, I had a lot I wanted to write about, but my computer is being a total twat and just ate my last post before crashing... twice. So instead, you get this:

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Been on my too-read for a long time. Really glad I did. Found it fascinating. Recommend it if you have an interest in science... otherwise it can be a bit dense and dull. I highly recommend getting an annotated edition because he often references other scientists/science papers from that era.

They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children by Romeo Dallaire
Started reading this last year. Got a little emotional so I put it down... for 11 months. So, so good (but I will always recommend Shake Hands with the Devil first). I tip my hat because the man can also craft some good fiction in amongst his fabulous non-fiction.

Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland by Malachy McCourt
Loved it. It was written very much like an oral history. I felt like I was sitting down with Mr. McCourt at a table in a bar as he told me the stories. My dad, who is no big fan of the McCourt brothers (and I'll talk about that in another post with another book review), even loves it. There's a line in the book which sums it up nicely (and I'm paraphrasing because my dad has the book at the moment): You should know by now that in Irish history, whether or not something is true is not as important as whether or not it makes a good story.

Playing With Fire by Theoren Fluery
If you like hockey, read this book. If you are curious of the thought process of someone dealing with being sexual abused as a child, read this book. If you want to better understand the mind frame of an addict, read this book. I'm not going to talk about him being some great writer (because he's not, although he is good), but his honesty and openness about what he went through is incredible. He lays his entire life out for everyone to view and he doesn't sugar coat any of it. Loved this book.

There are more books but these are the only ones I feel like mentioning now that I'm tired, cranky, and hating my computer so why write about the books I wasn't enamoured with? And, because no one wants to end on a downer, I found another craft project online that I want the pattern for:

They even put a bumb on Worf's forehead! *squee!*

Stop the Crochet Hooks!

Most important thing you need to know about today is that I found this Game of Thrones craft online:

As if the Stark family isn't cute enough they come with little direwolves!

And Arya has a tiny Needle!!

*squee!!!*

I WANT!!

At the very least, I want the crochet pattern. I've never crochetted dolls before but I've done beanies so how hard could dolls be? Famous last words.

Februarch

My calendar tells me it's March. I think it's lying to me but my phone tells me the same thing.

*sigh*

Another month down. Granted, it was a short month but it still seemed to fly by. I made the mistake of starting choice to begin a couple of projects in January which, coupled with returning to work, made February a busy, busy month. My fun time was one episode of The Walking Dead a night until I caught up with the series.

My willingness to get over my natural tendency to avoid anything graphic

might have something to do with these two guys.

Love me some Daryl and Rick!

I enjoy zombie movies but I usually enjoy them for the camp-factor. The Walking Dead is anything but camp. In fact, it's disturbingly realistic in its portrayal of decomposing dead (yet ambulatory) bodies. Just debating whether or not to watch the show gave me a horrible nightmare. I woke up three times, once I was crying, and every time I fell right back into the nightmare. I was sweaty by the time I woke up and emotionally distraught over having to shoot a few of my friends in the head. Since I actually started watching the show, I haven't had a single bad dream. Note to self: it's never as bad as you imagine it to be.

February was also the month that I committed to attending the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle at the end of March. Why yes, it is just as nerdy as you think it is. Nerdy and dorky and awesome. I can't wait. Finally, my dream of stalking awkwardly-staring-at-while-waiting-for-his-autograph-because-I-can't-think-of-anything-to-say-meeting Wil Wheaton will come true!

I've read a lot of books lately which I may or may not talk about at a later date, but most recently I started reading Playing with Fire by Theo Fleury. By recently, I mean Sunday. It's good. I can't put it down. For those who are not familiar with Theo Fleury, he's a Canadian hockey player who struggled with various addictions throughout his career. After cleaning up in the mid-2000's, he came forward and spoke out about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his junior hockey coach. While I've never been a huge fan of Theo's (um hello, he played for Calgary! Automatic 37 strikes against him!), I fell a little in love with him when he posted this on his blog during the Penn State abuse scandal back in November 2011. I made a decision then and there to read his book. So glad I did.

I caught a travel show on Switzerland a few days ago. Suddenly, I find myself looking at flights and googling gondola trips up various mountains. You may find a couple of Swiss photos sneaking into future posts along with trips down memory lane about the proper way to prepare a cheese fondue or what it's like to experience an Alpabzug (bringing the cows down from the mountain pastures for winter). Oh Switzerland, I miss you.

I'm hoping to get back to writing on here more often, but I make no promises. Game of Thrones was just released on DVD today...

It Pretty Much Went Like That

And just like that, almost two weeks went by...

I wasn't so overly busy I couldn't post, I was just lacking the motivation to write anything. I think I kind of burned myself out on the Christmas posting and just needed a no-guilt break from posting for a little bit. It was well-worth it. Still, life continued on while all was quiet on here so let's glance back.

1. My goal of listing everything each week is still going well... kind of. I got a little overzealous after my last post and wrote a list which was three pages long. Granted, it was a lot of small (but important) tasks written on pages only 20 lines long, but it was still long. Monday and Tuesday, I attacked that thing like McCarthy attacked suspected communists.

Image from Hyperbole and a Half. Specifically this post.

Full disclosure: I love Ali Brosh with all my heart.

Wednesday I looked at the list and did a few things but just couldn't find the motivation to keep it up for more than an hour (plus there was snow to play in!). Thursday, I woke up feeling achy and unable to concentrate for longer than 5 mins at a time. Friday was full flu-epidemic in my world. Dammit.

Monday and Tuesday had taken the list down to one page so I'm clinging to the idea that had I not been incubating a petri dish in my nasal cavities/head/throat/achy back muscles, I totally could have gotten the list completed. And I totally would have cleaned all the things!

2. It snowed in Victoria. It was beautiful. I don't have pictures because a) I had to return the camera to its rightful owner and b) just like you don't bring a knife to a gun fight, you don't bring electronics to a snowball fight.

But it was really pretty. The temps stayed low enough that it stuck around like proper Alberta snow instead of turning into the slushy, icy, deathtrap snow that it usually is in Victoria. Then one night it started raining and when the city woke up the next morning, the snow was gone. That's the way I wish it would happen every year.

3. Season Four of Merlin has started. Yes, I watch Merlin. Judge me all you want, I like it.

It's cheesy fun times with adorable accents and awesome sets. And seeing as Doctor Who isn't on right now, I need something to watch while I enjoy my Sunday morning coffee. Also, James Callis (aka Gaius Baltar from BSG) has a guest appearance on it this week so my geeky heart is just jumping with excitement. I will defend my love of this cheesy, cheesy show. Now, if you really want to judge me...

4. The Challenge: Battle of the Exes has started on MTV. Strangely enough, I don't actually care for 'The Real World' from which this was born. The Challenge is different. I always make an effort to watch it. Judge me. Please. Goodness knows, I'm judging myself for admitting this. The first episode aired this past Wednesday and I was way more giddy about it than any 30+ year old has any right to be.

5. I'm back to work in the office. I've been put in charge of a new project which is both awesome and intimidating. I'm the only person in my building working on it, while all my contacts either work in the other building or work for a different ministry/business partner. It's strange to go from a position where all my thoughts on a program had to go through my supervisor for approval before being signed off at the ministry to a position where all my thoughts go through me and, within my little sphere of influence, the ministry doesn't have to sign off on it.

Check back in six months for my update about how I ran the program into the ground and brought the entire government to its knees with an excel spreadsheet.

Guess where I borrowed and modified this from.

6. Remember when I said I was working on a vlog? Almost done. Just thought you should know that. You know what else is almost done? My final Ireland post with reviews of places we stay/ate/visited. It turned into a book so I'm going back and editing it down to a more bare-bones, less trying-to-be-funny, review post. Strictly reviews/suggestions for other travellers.

7. More judging: I'm going to Underworld: Awakening tonight. Is it going to be crap? Probably. Will I love every crappy moment of it? Definitely. I have an unhealthy love of that series... even the second really crappy one. For all my 'I read science blogs and non-fiction books', I have crap taste in films and have no right to judge anyone's film preferences... unless it's Twilight.

But not the second one. It barely had a story.

8. I got my DVDs of Firefly back from the person I lent them to. Between lending them to three different friends, I haven't had them in over six months. Obviously, I need to rewatch them. I'm toying with the idea of a 12-week Firefly Friday post series. Just giving you all fair warning that it may get really nerdarific up in here!

I've missed my little corner of the Internets. It feels good to be back.

How to Start a New Year

Realise you've had less than six hours sleep three days in a row so opt to be a good girl and stay in.

Make yourself a hot chocolate and Bailey's and settle in to watch the Doctor Who Series Six DVD you got for Christmas.

Decide that as you're taking things easy, you can stay up until midnight, just head to bed very quickly afterwards.

Be halfway through an episode (Let's Kill Hitler by the way) when the new year arrives. Laugh at your cats doing laps around the apartment every time a firecracker goes off.

Once the episode is over, start trolling the internet and find lots of Doctor Who themed pictures.

 

Yes. Yes, it is.

Well, it's mine at least.

Go to bed at 2AM.

Wake up at 7:30AM and curse the addictive hilariousness of Doctor Who fans.

Watch another Doctor Who episode while you potter about the house.

For the first time in the five years that you've thought about doing it, go to the Government House levée, arriving just in time to be the last person in the receiving line.

Sing 'Auld Lang Syne' with hundreds of other people and the pipe band before making your way to the patio to stare across the Juan de Fuca Straight to the snow capped Olympic Mountains. Remind yourself that you live in a pretty freaking beautiful part of the world.

Laugh as the Lieutenant-Governor 'pays the piper' and then cry while he gives his speech. (In this case, 'pay the piper' means to share a wee dram with the piper who led in the head party.)

Vow to make it to the levée in future years. Next time, drag people with you suggest your friends come along.

Write a couple of thoughts as to goals for 2012. Set them aside so you can sleep on them some more.

Go to your mom's for dinner. Receive an impromptu guitar lesson. Celebrate your older brother getting even older.

Curl up on your couch with your cats and watch another episode of Doctor Who before bed. Decided that this sentence will stay on your 2012 list of goals:

Best advice I've been given in a long time.

I hope you've all had a wonderful first 24 hours to 2012!

Just Your Standard Rambling Post About Nothing

This post was supposed to go up Friday afternoon but my computer decided to be a complete twat. "Oh, you want me to open that link? Let me think about it... computer says no." So I decided that socializing with other humans was a better option than swearing at my computer. Take that, computer!

Then it was supposed to go up yesterday afternoon but my Internet decided to be a complete twat. "Oh, you want me to connect to the World Wide Web? Let me think about it... computer says no." So I went to the apartment Christmas party and unintentionally got drunk instead. Take that, liver!

Note to self: Eat dinner before going to the Christmas party next year because if you have as much fun as you did this year, you're not going to stick to your 30-minutes-chit-chat-back-for-dinner plan.

Part of the problem with not going up on Friday is that I missed the chance to talk about 'Wear Star Wars, Share Star Wars' Day on the actual day. Last September, Katie headed off to school with her Star Wars backpack. She got teased for liking Star Wars because it was just for boys. Her mom blogged about it, it was picked up by Epbot - a wonderful site for all geek girls - and it snowballed into a huge movement. Katie became the hero for legions of nerdy girls who had also been told they shouldn't like something because that's for boys.

'Wear Star Wars, Share Star Wars' is about more than just Star Wars, it's about showing your geek pride regardless of where your geek love lays. It's also to encourage people to donate a sci-fi themed toy to a local charity and make sure to specify that it's for boys and girls. It's about being proud about being a geek.

Just in time for WSTSST 2011, Jen at Epbot shared another story about a GGIT (Geek Girl In Training) getting teased. This time, Bryden dressed up as Spock for Halloween and was made fun of for dressing up as a boy. (Even one of the teachers made a remark about it which angers me to no end. A teacher should know better!) Once again, my heart went out to that little girl. And once again, the internet has proven what a wonderful place of support it can be! Go Geeks!

UPDATE: Um, awesome!
I found this BBC advert online Friday and shared it with facebook and twitter. Figure it's only right to share it here as well.

The natural world is such an amazing place, filled with so much wonder and beauty. It can be so easy, in our day-to-day lives to forget how fantastical the idea of life even is. All these plants and creatures that have evolved over millenia and adapted to their surrounds is no small feat and yet, here we are!* Something about this video must have kicked up all the dust in my apartment because something kept getting in my eye as I watched it.

Of course, I needed to remind myself that despite all that beauty, some people just don't like the world so I watched another episode of An Idiot Abroad. I stumbled across the show a few weeks ago and have been recommending it to anyone who will listen. The hilarity of watching Karl (who hates everything) travel to foreign places is just priceless. To get the most out of it, I'm limiting myself to two episodes a week. I tried to find a clip that summed the show up but ended up deciding instead to just share an advert for Series One. (Yes, they some how convinced him to do a Series Two.)

Christmas is in full swing around here. I've put up my one string of Christmas lights and I've blasted the Bing Crosby. Despite my love for Christmas, I don't do a whole lot in the way of decorations. Because the holidays are still mostly spent at my parents' places and I live on my own, I keep it pretty low key. (Also, we're not allowed real trees in our apartment building and I refuse to buy a fake one so...) At least I'm getting out to enjoy the festive season around me!

And on that note, I have to go shower and get out to enjoy the festive season around me!

*One of my biggest pet peeves about religious people's misunderstanding about those of us who are non-religious is that we can't appreciate God's work as it's all just science to us. It was realising that random happenstance of the interaction of molecular properties which brought us such beauty that helped me see how amazing this world is. When I still thought maybe it was just some guy in the sky, the world never was as amazing as I find it now.

Vlog is Coming!*

I had set a plan for today which included working on a vlog for here (and it had nothing to do with Christmas!) but then this happened:

It's really hard to vlog when you have a video on in the background on continuous loop.

Also, it's really hard to talk when you're drooling in anticipation.

It's times like this I'm really glad I live alone.

If I don't get the vlog done tomorrow, it might have to wait a bit as I have friends visiting from out of town (and they brought a baby for me to play with!!) so that's my Tuesday/Wednesday gone.

And if you haven't seen the first season of Game of Thrones (or read the books) then you have until April to catch up. Stupid, stupid, way-too-long-to-wait April.

I think I'll go watch the trailer once more before I head to bed.

*Winter is Coming

List It Like a Boss!

I'm not feeling very creative with my writing right now so you get a lovely list of things I need to talk about. I make no promise for any sort of coherency in this post. You have been warned.

1. I just realised that I often end things with "you have been warned". Perhaps that should have been the title of my blog.

2. There was supposed to be another Ireland post today but then Al and I finally set a time for swapping photos. There's a certain section of today's post which really needs her photos. Words won't do it justice. Also, hard to believe I only have two more Ireland posts left.

3. Further to #2, I'm looking into the logistics of organizing a trip to Ireland in September 2013. Reasons and details here.

4. Further to #3, if Ciaran McMenamin knows what's good for him, he'll run like hell if he ever sees me coming. I will make him read an entire phone book just to hear his voice.

5. John Scalzi is my excuse for not doing anything last night. On Saturday night, Scalzi live-tweeted The Two Towers and Return of the King. Then, in case you missed it, he blogged his tweets (which you should totally read because he's hilarious and nerdy. Also, check out the Smegol dub-step fish slapping dance in the comments). I decided that I needed to rewatch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So I started that last night. Say good bye to my evenings for the next little while because I'm watching the extended editions.

6. It also means that my friends will have to put up me thinking I'm hysterical for the next few days when really, I'm just really, really nerdy.

7. I have to go get awesome pictures to make the next Ireland post even more awesome so I'm stopping my listing there.

Hello November!

The hard thing about writing about Derry is that the post almost always ends up sounding political. Truthfully, that could just be me reading my own opinions about Northern Ireland into what I wrote. Maybe other people wouldn't read it that way. Or maybe they would. Anyway, I wrote a post, sat on it for two days, rewrote it, sat on it again, reworked it... it's an on going struggle but I will get it up eventually; I think the one I've most recently wrote is probably the version I'll end up with but I want to sit on it and make sure.

In the meantime, it's November! Not only that but it's the fifth of November! When I was young, my dad always had a bonfire for Guy Fawkes day. The property is surrounded by a forest so we'd accumulate a lot of cuttings and underbrush* we had to get rid of. By November 5th, it was damp enough to have a bonfire. Two birds, one bonfire so to speak.

We don't have bonfires anymore because as the development around us grew, firefighter visits became more frequent (this is more a complaint from my dad and brothers. I usually called the fire department... joking!) so permits had to be obtained and that tends to be a pain in the butt. If I had thought far enough ahead to realise that this year it fell on a Saturday, I might have made an effort to get the permits sorted. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to rely on facebook to commemorate the day.

November is Adoption Awareness Month. Now that I've made you aware of that, my work here is done ;-) And I may or may not blog about it later.

I'm being crafty again and will hopefully have something soon to show you. Also, does anyone have any tips for getting spray paint flecks off of a wood patio? These two things are most definitely related.

*Nothing makes me feel better than watching broom burn. Burn motha-frakker, burn!**

**Um, the spell check wanted to change 'motha' to 'mothra'. I always knew my computer was a nerd!

Going Coastal on You!

In our original travel plans, Al and I were going to head to Belfast bright and early so we could have the better part of the day there. We’d arrive by 10:30 and then we could count it as a full day. In our original travel plans, however, we failed to account for the step-aunts wanting to do morning coffee. We finally boarded a bus in Dungannon at 11:45. If you’re keeping track and home, that’s 3.5 hours later than we anticipated. Our day in Belfast turned into an afternoon. And what a wet miserable afternoon it was!

After a wrong turn out of the bus station which almost led to us walking into Falls Rd/Shankill Rd area (which is where a lot of the troubles in Belfast were centred), we found our hostel, ditched our bags and phoned the first Black Taxi cab tour listed in our guide. The voice on the other end of the phone said he’d pick us up in 15 minutes. It was the only thing that went according to schedule that day!

Our guide, Ken Harper, was fabulous. Friendly, knowledgeable and hilarious, he kept us entertained from beginning to end. We got on well with him and our 1 hour tour actually ended up being 1.5 hours as he threw in a quick go around the city centre as well. I wish I had more pictures to share, but the rain was bucketing down on and off throughout our ride meaning a lot of the picture opportunities found Al and I just sitting in the cab because even rolling down the window for a decent shot just wasn’t worth it.

This is the part of the peace line that people sign. Ken offered us a pen; Al and I just laughed.

We could barely see the wall from the car it was raining so hard!

The rain did stop long enough for us to see the hooded gunman mural. The mural has been the centre of a lot of controversy over the years (Really? A hooded man pointing a gun in mural form in an area affected by violence has garnered controversy? No way!), but I was mostly interested in it because the gun apparently follows you as you walk.

Unfortunately when we got back in the car and drove to the other side, the rains had started up again, but I can say that the gun most definitely follows you. It’s very creepy. I know it’s just a painting but dude, it’s a gun and it follows you! There is no way I could walk past that at night!

I have a strange relationship with Belfast; I want to like it, I want to think it’s a great city, I want to believe I should encourage people to go there but I always come away feeling let down. It’s not a friendly city. I know that has a lot to do with its past and that people tend to keep much more to themselves compared to the rest of Ireland (even compared to the rest of the North), but it makes it hard for me to say that Belfast was awesome. It’s definitely worth a visit, I'm just not convinced it's worth a stay.

Still, my cousins who live there seem to love it.

We spent the night hanging out with my aunt and uncle. I chose not to stay with my aunt because she’s never been in great health and she had just had surgery on her cataracts a week before we arrived. I figured she didn’t need the stress of two girls staying with her. Well, I obviously thought wrong because all I got all night was a good old Irish-Catholic guilt trip about not staying with them. “It’s a pity you’re in a hostel when we have all these empty rooms.” “How much money would you have saved by staying with us?” “You come all the way from Canada and you don’t even stay with family.” And the parting shot as we left, “it would have been lovely to have spent more time with you, but I guess we should get you back to the hostel.”

She! Just! Had! Surgery!

Still, she poured the stiffest drink I’ve ever seen. My glass was half rum, half 7-Up! Maybe we should have stayed with her...

The next day was our tour along the Antrim Coast to Bushmills (where we’d jump off the bus and then public transit it to Derry, everyone else got driven back to Belfast). We had booked the tour on a whim the day before. We originally planned to get to Giant’s Causeway on our own but when we saw the tour company across the street from the hostel, we decided to see if it was feasible to only go the one way. Not only was it feasible, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made on the entire trip.

The day looked like it was going to be a washout as the rains started up as we departed Belfast. For our first stop in Carrickfergus, only half of us got off the bus to take pictures. By the time we had left Carrickfergus the sun was out. While the occasional shower would continue to show up during the course of the trip, that was the only really bad rain.

Our guide, a quick-witted Scot named Tom, had us all in stitches with his stories about the area. He had married a local girl and it was clear that he had fallen just as much in love with the country and he had with her. Of course, he still pointed out Scotland across the water every chance he got!

Driving the coast road

Stopping for a break in Carnlough

Of course, the upside to the weather was that we got a lot of rainbows.

Being on the tour meant that we stopped at Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, something we wouldn’t have done on public transit. The 1.5km walk out to the bridge afforded us lovely views out to Rathlin Island.

That's Rathlin Island on the horizon.

Our first view of the bridge.

Once we got to the bridge, I had to pep Al up a bit. She’s not big on heights and what all these pictures fail to show is how incredibly windy it was that day.

Half-way across just before a huge gust of wind.

Al did cross and I can’t begin to explain how happy I was that she did. Even with all my ‘can do’ bravado about the bridge I had a moment of panic halfway across when a huge gust of wind started the bridge swaying. The words ‘I hate you’ may have escaped Al’s lips after we reached the other side.

That's the fishing hut which was the reason the bridge

was first put up between the island and the mainland.

After we walked to the far side of the tiny island and snapped a few pictures, we crossed back. I half expected Al to kiss the ground once we were back across but she managed to refrain herself... probably only until I wasn’t looking.

That v-shaped gap is where the bridge is.

We've crossed the bridge, Al's still smiling and she hasn't killed me.

If our friendship can survive this, it can survive anything!

The next big stop on our trip was Giant’s Causeway. When asked if the Giant's Causeway was worth seeing, Samuel Johnson one quipped, "worth seeing, yes; but not worth going to see." As Tom kindly pointed out, Johnson also travelled three days to see the Causeway so his opinion is to be taken with a grain of salt.

I'm willing to be that Johnson didn't have views of rainbows on his walk to the Causeway.

We opted to walk down to the Causeway and save ourselves the £1 and the views were worth the saved money. (Although we totally paid the £1 to take the bus back up from the Causeway.)

The Ulster Way follows much of this part of the coast.

I can't help but think what a spectacular hike it would be!

Science would have us believe that the Causeway was the result of volcanic activity and the subsequent cooling of the resulting molten basalt millions of years ago. As the basalt cooled unevenly, geometric shapes formed where the cooled areas pushed against each other. This is all a very fascinating explanation but as Tom so kindly pointed out, do you see any volcanoes in the area? No.

Legend has it that Fionn mac Cumhaill (pronounced Finn MacCool), a giant who once roamed the Irish countryside, had a beef with a giant in Scotland. After tossing insults and threats back and forth, Fionn decided enough was enough and it was time to settle the argument. He built the Causeway so the other giant, who couldn’t swim, could cross the water and the two could duke it out. Except when he got his first glimpse of the other giant, the other giant ended up being much bigger than Finn had anticipated and Finn realised he was going to lose the fight.

Fionn ran home to his wife and told her of the problem. Unbeknown to Fionn, she devised a plan. After giving Fionn a potion so he’d fall asleep, she swaddled him up like a baby. She invited the other giant in, explaining that Fionn was off working but should be home soon. When the other giant saw the baby, he figured ‘if that’s the baby, how big is his father?’ and he ran back to Scotland, smashing the Causeway as he went so that Fionn couldn’t follow him.

Doesn’t that sound a lot more plausible than volcanoes in Ireland? ;)

We finished up the day with a quick trip to Bushmills and Dunluce Castle before Tom stopped traffic to flag down our bus to Coleraine. There’s nothing really special about it except that Tom went above and beyond to get us on that bus and because we had to run, we didn’t really get a chance to thank him. Also, he's a huge Game of Thrones fan and when he found out that I was as well, he pointed out all the filming locations that we passed. All in all, he was a great tour guide and if you’re in that neck of the woods and looking for an Antrim Coast tour, I would whole-heartedly, without any hesitation, recommend getting on a tour with Tom who works for Ben Allen Tours. Seriously, the man was incredible. (Ben was a gas as well and I wish we could have chatted longer. He was cracking Al and I up.)

From Coleraine, we hopped the train to Derry. For the most part, we tried to avoid the train as it was usually very expensive unless you book well in advance but the trip from Coleraine to Derry was supposed to be spectacular as it followed the coast of Lough Foyle. It did not disappoint.

Came out of a tunnel to this view. That's Co. Donegal across the Lough.

We pulled into Derry just as the sun was setting. After a bit to eat, a quick pint, and a bit of traditional music, we called it a day and headed off to bed.

Note about the links to businesses in this post: Neither of the businesses I've linked to knew that I would be writing about them and/or linking to them. I've linked to them because I was really happy with the service they provided to a nobody. Please note that I don't even recommend the safari company I went with in Tanzania because it's owned by a friend and I don't feel comfortable sending people to him when I know that my fabulous experience was based on already having a pre-established friendship with the guide, so when I recommend these businesses, I really, really mean it.

Crafting Up Some Sci-Fi

I'm interrupting my Ireland posts for a brief moment to talk about awesome friends, family and crafts.

A few months ago, THR and her boy went to Seattle for a weekend. While there, they attended the BSG exhibit at the EMP. More importantly, she bought me two BSG posters (and a Firefly sticker which I still haven't decided how to display) because she's an awesome friend.

I instantly knew where I wanted to put them in my apartment; the wall in my hallway is decorated with postcard copies of modern art in cheap frames. It's one of those displays that I put up because empty walls bug me but I've wanted to change it for a while.

My stepdad made up square backings because I didn't want to actually frame them and as of yesterday, my hallway now looks like this:

Now the only sci-fi show missing from my walls is Doctor Who. Yeah, I'll get on that soon!

A big thank you to THR for the posters, thank you to my stepdad for making the backings, and a big thank you to me for hanging them BSG for being awesome.

As for those cheap, ugly, gold frames? You might be seeing them in a future craft project.

The First 48 Hours: Dublin Edition

The crappy great part of living on Vancouver Island is that adding a flight from Vancouver to Vancouver is ridiculously expensive so my day of travel started with a ferry ride. As much as I complain about this fact of life, it does mean that my final views of my home always look something like this.

Not too shabby, if you ask me.

 
Roughly 20 hours worth of travel on various modes of transport later and I arrived at my uncle's... where I promptly fell asleep for 16 hours. I'm not kidding. I went for a nap at about 5:00, forgot to set my alarm, woke up at midnight, took a sleeping pill, and woke up again at 8:00am. You know when you sleep too much? Tuesday was a tad more rough than I was expecting! I still managed to drag myself into town and woke myself up with a stroll around St. Stephen's Green.

What you don't see in this picture is the incredibly large coffee I had in my other hand.

There's more than one way to wake up!

I had roughly a week in Dublin on my own before Al joined me for traipsing around the countryside and the weather during that first week was amazing. After a lackluster summer, Dublin was experiencing an Indian Summer. I actually got to wear the shorts I threw in at the last moment. I even put in my contacts just so I could wear my non-prescription sunglasses! It was amazing... and it promptly disappeared the Friday before Al arrived. If I didn't have these pictures, I probably wouldn't have believed it either.

Returning to Dublin is always an odd experience. While I've never officially lived in Dublin, I grew up knowing Dublin better than Victoria. Summers spent walking around its narrow streets while one cousin taught me how to say all the counties in Irish or repeatedly crossing the Liffey while another cousin and I discussed the cute neighbourhood boys left me with a knowledge of the city that you don't get in just a few days. While I waited for Al to arrive, one of my favourite past times was just wandering the streets and rehashing old memories.

And I also saw a bunch of stuff. (I know that's the only reason you're reading this!) I made a point on this trip to be a tourist. For the first time in my life, I actually read a tourist guide and made a list of places I wanted to see. It was surreal to be a tourist in a town I knew so well. Don't worry, I was able to resist the urge to wear a bum bag. Without further ado...

I started the first day with a visit to the GPO An Post Museum and and a wander around O'Connell St. As I didn't take any photos knowing that I'd be back with Al, you'll see those later.

After a stop for lunch, I made my way to St. Audoen's Church. There are actually two St. Audoen's, one Anglican (Church of Ireland) and the other Roman Catholic. They sit side-by-side just down the block from Christchurch Cathedral. I was interested in the Anglican one. I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I love ruined religious buildings and cemeteries. Oldest parish church still in use in Dublin? Whatevs. Three-quarters left to ruin? Interesting. One half is still in ruin? Sign me up! And it's totally free? Um, you can stop selling it, I'm already there.

It boggles my mind when I stop and think about how many years people have been standing on this floor.

How many people with Sunday morning hangovers have said "never again" in this church?

The inside of the church was very lovely and peaceful... until a tour group from a nearby school showed up and I beat a hasty retreat to the ruined part out the back. It was sunny, quiet and beautiful so I took a seat on a bench and just enjoyed a few moments to myself... before I ran around snapping pictures. Although I wouldn't call St. Audoen a 'must see', if you're in the area it's worth popping in for a few minutes.

One street that every visitor to Dublin wanders is Grafton St. It's not just for the over-priced shopping or the fact that it's the quickest thoroughfare between Trinity and St. Stephen's Green, but because there's almost always something happening along its pedestrian-only brickwork. On one of my many strolls, I discovered a group called Mutefish.

The music is catchy and they are excellent musicians. As my bus stop was very close to Grafton St. I made sure to catch them as often as possible. Of course, I bought their CD so part of my repeated viewings may have had something to do with a small crush I developed on one of them. I'll leave you to figure out which one. (HINT: It's not the one with the dreaded dread mullet. That's the second one I've seen in a month; is this a new trend? If it is, then I'm going to bed and someone can wake me up when it's over.)

I started day two with a visit to Marsh's Library. I wish I could have taken pictures inside but that's not allowed so instead... follow this link. The library (you can still read the books if you are a grad student or researcher who has received permission) is hidden in a nondescript brick building behind St. Patrick's Cathedral and I almost walked past it.

The library feels very much like you're stepping back in time. I shared the place with only two other tourists, a couple of readers, and a steady clock beat. The first display was Bibles and the second was Medical Journals. While neither of them were topics I would have chosen (the previous displays of musical manuscripts or maps would have been more up my alley) but were still quite interesting. I especially enjoyed the Bibles in Irish, Malay and Ojibiway.

I headed to the Liffey to wander along its banks. I said hello to the Four Courts. The only time I went inside the Four Courts was to meet a cousin for lunch; I got in trouble for walking into a closed area. I stayed on the other side of the river this time. I learned my lesson!

A little further along, I decided a coffee break was in order. I payed $3.60 for a crap drip coffee. Even good drip coffee isn't worth that much, but I was really paying for the view:

The Ha'penny Bridge. It was the first bridge across the Liffey and was built to replace an old ferry system.

There's claims that it's the most photographed icon in Dublin. Obviously that means I need to take a picture!

After my coffee break, which included writing in my journal and eavesdropping on a group of tourists, I took off for Dublin Castle and the Garda Museum. I am nothing if not a giant nerd. Seriously people, I went to a police museum for fun. I should have known how odd that sounds when I buzzed the locked door to confirm I was in the right place. The voice at the other end said that if I was interested in the history of Ireland's police force I could come in. When I said I was, the voice on the other end of the intercom said "really?" ::pushes up nerd glasses:: Yes, I really am.

On my way to the museum, I got a little lost thanks to the somewhat vague directions at the gate to Dublin Castle ('in the roundtower' doesn't mean much when it doesn't give you what side of the tower) and ended up wandering into the chapel. I don't know if you knew this, but Ireland has a lot of churches.

The thing that always amazes me about European churches (chapels, minsters, cathedrals, etc are included in the use of the word church) is that even the smallest places are often incredibly ornate. Granted, it's Dublin Castle so they wouldn't be going for the plain and simple look but it's still incredible when you think that below is the ceiling of the lower seating area.

I finally found the museum, wandered through, and got an answer to a question I honestly didn't think was going to be answered. I knew I'd be back at the Castle with Al to check out the Chester Beatty Library (more on that later) but I didn't know what the weather would be like so I took a quick turn around the main courtyard.

The castle was originally build in 1204 but it's been added to over the years.

It creates a bit of a patchwork look to the buildings.

I had never actually been to the Castle before. As the castle still serves as a functioning building for the government, it was closed to visitors on the day I was there but I was only really looking to wander around the courtyard anyway. The 26 counties of the Republic have flags flying in the courtyard. I found the only flag that matters and sat about for 15 minutes waiting for the wind to last long enough to get a semi-decent picture.

Monaghan! Best damn county there is (as long as you're not talking GAA).

Feel free to disagree in the comments, I'll probably just delete them ;)

If nothing else, the Garda on duty near the doors to the castle were having a good laugh at my attempts to get this picture, which had me giggling as I headed for the bus back out to Blackrock.