More photos are up!

So I've added still more photos to the Ireland set on Flickr. I just keep adding to the end of the list. Now Cork and Galway are up. Last will be Belfast, but I actually have to finish editing them. (And sadly, I haven't edited most of them anyway. I just pick out the ones I like best.

Here's a few samples. :)

Blarney Castle

Druid's Cave at Blarney Castle Grounds

My feet in the sea at Inishmore

Cross at Corcomroe Abbey

I want more!

I've posted more photos up on flickr. I'm now through Kilkenny which was where we were on the 20th through the 22nd.

Here are a few:

River Nore
Kilkenny Castle

Me!

Panic attack...

So I often say my biggest fear is getting fired or evicted. Those are the ones that swim around in my neurotic head. My tangible fear is insects. This post isn't about insects except to say that is my real fear. I jump around and scream like a girl when I see one in my apartment. I'm fine with them in the wild, but I don't want them on me. I am afraid they will crawl on me whilst I sleep. This fear has a root. When I was a little girl (maybe 8 or 9 or 7) we went to my grandfather's house (must have been under 8 because I think that's how old I was when he died although I could be wrong about that too... I have this vague sense that everything happened when I was 8 but I think I'm wrong about most of those things) Anyway, we went to my grandfather's house and he lived on a farm in middle Florida. (wild. Elton was my father's uncle). So we went to my grandfather's trailer and across the driveway was this family with a bunch of kids who, in retrospect was probably migrant farm workers or something, and one night I spent the night at their trailer. I woke up in the middle of the night to pee and in the kitchen was this hoarde of roaches. So many. Crawling over everything. Since then, terrified of bugs.

(Unrelated, I'm watching this show and they are doing the whole "Oh he has a concussion and so he has to be kept awake" thing. I had a concussion with a loss of consciousness and they didn't do that for me and a simple google search confirms that is not treatment... and it definitely wasn't in 2004 when this show was aired)

So my latest fear - What if I can't get a job. I'm surrounded by all these messages about the terrible economy and how jobs are going away everywhere and what if I can't find a new job? Am I just going to have to keep this crappy ass job as it gets crappier and bend over and take the huge pay cut? Am I going to have to move to Texas? Seriously, even though I've only applied to 4 total jobs in the past 5 days (two of which were weekend days) I might be freaking out a little bit.

We'll take some lovely Photos!

So I've started uploading the photos to Flickr. I could do them here, but that's becoming too much work. Here's the start of them. There'll be more added sooner or later. I've put descriptions with most of them. I'll also probably post a few to Facebook.

Trying new things

This weekend has been a weekend of a few firsts.

Firstly, I went to a concert of the Lake Union Symphony on Friday night. They were good performers, but I did not like the 3rd piece they played. It was a little too discordant for my taste. Afterward went out for some booze with Big R and his boyfriend. I like them both and don't see them too often. Now that Big R knows I may be leaving, he wants to hang out. We'll see how long that lasts.

Today I field tripped to Michaels via the bus. Now this isn't really a first since I've taken bus 150 before. Bus 15o sucks. It is one of the buses that runs through all these little areas and makes you a little bit crazy. But I got a bunch of craft supplies and so the girls and I should be good for our next couple of meetings. I don't know if they'll like what I got for them to do though. They had these wooden bracelets on clearance. I bought a slew of those as well as some ribbon and some wood paint to decorate them. The other thing I picked up were some tin boxes and some rub on transfers. We'll put the transfers on and then modge podge the whole box to make sure they are sealed. I hope the girls like both projects.

Finally I attempted to make something different than I usually would for dinner. I found a recipe online for an Indonesian peanut sauce. It was a pretty simple recipe and somehow I didn't know I didn't have vinegar, but even without the vinegar it was pretty good. The peanut sauce is really peanutty (imagine that) so a little goes a long way. But otherwise it turned out quite nice. :) I now have another chicken recipe to add to my arsenal. I had to come up with something since all the usual recipes I would make seemed to be missing one ingredient. (Apparently I have nothing in my cabinets because it isn't like I was missing one thing. I was missing a whole slew of one things. Grr)

Related to grr... my tv is having issues... well not my tv but my cable. And now I've missed sesveral minutes of this movie. It is illogical because it has only been 2 minutes that have passed. I'm confused.

Like a bra but different

My mother is being rather supportive of my planned job hunt and move. Of course the problem with my mother being supportive is that she tends to go overboard. She's now decided I need to work for the feds. They have great benefits she says. And, in reality, I don't think you ever get fired with them. I'm not against the idea, per se, but I'm not in love with it either. Here's part of the problem... I rarely ask her for help. When I finally do, she gets all excited about it and goes overboard and kind of becomes overbearing. If I were smart, I would ask more frequently for help from her and then not have to deal with this weirdness.

Two and a half more shows bite the dust

You know I love television, right. I mean I LOVE television. I'm okay with that. It entertains me. What else would I be doing on a random weeknight otherwise? (Since I like to just be at home when I get home. I don't really like to go out on the weeknights.) However, I'm finding that more and more TV shows don't do it for me anymore.

Heroes: I've been trying to get into it. I find I don't care. There are too many characters. There are too many weird plot twists that I can't figure out where things are going. I'm over it.

Reaper: I liked this show when it first started. I'm not sure why I lost interest... I think because it has been so long between the seasons. Funnily enough, though, there's nothing else I like on Tuesday nights so it isn't like it is losing to a different show.

Ugly Betty: Might bite the dust. I haven't decided yet. It used to be must see tv time for me, but not anymore. Now I watch it if it is on but don't bother searching it out.

What are you watching these days?

Mixed Bag

Did Taylor Swift start out on American Idol? I must know if I'm allowed to like that Romeo and Juliet song and if she was on that show, I don't know if I can like it or not. :) You know I suffer enough cognative dissonance just liking Kelly Clarkson. Ok. I KNOW David Cook was on Idol (that makes me sad but I think TWOP had a picture of him on their main page when he was in it). Luckily I'm kind of meh about his song. (I'm watching VH1. Did you know they actually show music videos at 7:30 on a Sunday morning?)

Since I've been sick (caught a cold. I blame the Philly Airport) I've been using those breathe right strips at night (in conjunction with real cold medicine). I really think they help. I don't wake up in the middle of the night unable to breathe because of my head being so stuffed up. I got the wrong sized ones (I wasn't paying attention when I grabbed the box. I don't THINK I have a large nose, but maybe I do... :) ) So the ends don't quite stick down the way they are supposed to. Also, taking those things off in the AM SUCKS. I've been trying to soak them to make it easier to get off, but it sometimes doesn't seem to help.

I just finished a fabulous book called The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University. It is about Kevin Roose, a student from Brown who decided that instead of taking a semester abroad, he was going to take a semester and go to Jerry Falwell's university, Liberty University. Roose is an excellent writer for 19 years old. I was completely under his spell and enjoyed his whole book. He really humanized Evangelical Christians on an individual level. You get to know these students he interacted with and get to appreciate them as individuals. He offers an interesting critical view of Liberty (but not painting it with the "Oh it is an Evangelical college so it sucks" brush). He even finds things to praise about Liberty. He talks about how comforting it is to have these large events where all the kids are united (he's not describing a mass protest of an abortion clinic or anything, but their thrice weekly convocations). Through an interesting twist of fate, he was also the last person to do a print interview Jerry Fallwell before he died. He talks about how he feels when Fallwell dies (the day before his last exam) and what it is like to stay at Liberty for the funeral. His article is passed out to the mourners as a rememberance piece of Fallwell. He also talks of his conflicted feelings about their political views vs his. All in all a really excellent book that even had me tearing up over the death of Fallwell.

Best April Fool's Joke Ever

This is honestly without a doubt my absolute favorite post ever. I love to reread it every year. It makes me so happy. :)

So I am re-linking as my gift to you. Happy April Fool's Day! :)