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! :)

Happy Happy Joy Joy

My luggage has been found! I was about to post a whole diatribe about how I was starting to get a bit worried when my cell phone rang. It died immediately because the battery was low but I went online and my luggage has appeared. Yay! Now I have to go get it. I think I'll flexcar it. :)

Book 4

I'm on book 4 of the Twilight Series. I ended up finishing book 1 and 2 while in Ireland. I originally wasn't going to, but I ran out of things to read. While in Philly, I downloaded book 3 and 4. I originally only downloaded book 3 but then I realized I wanted to know how the whole series ended so I got book 4 too. I read the last chapter or so first. Just so you know. :)

Book 1 - Started out very slow. I really do not like the character of Bella and I can't fathom why anyone likes her. I could be clouded in judgement by both my dislike of the actress I saw in the previews of the movies and what I think about the author. I still do not think the author is a good writer. Without the movies I would have no mental image of any of the characters (and in reality, I only have a mental image of Bella and Edward because they were so heavily featured in the previews). I forget when it finally got decent, but I still wouldn't go so far as to call it good.

Book 2 - I liked parts of book 2. I'll admit that. :) I like the character of Jacob. I still don't like Bella and kind of hope she dies. Obviously she doesn't or else there wouldn't be a book 3 or 4. :) I have a huge issue with this love story though and what it teaches girls. Perhaps it is because I'm not especially romantic but in reality I wouldn't want someone to "love" me the way Edward and Bella "love" each other. Edward's also a bit of a drama queen.

Book 3 - I liked book 3. Still hate Bella, mostly dislike Edward but I did enjoy Jacob and the rest of that storyline. I also liked the struggle and how things were resolved.

Book 4 - I'm part way through (33%, thanks Kindle for letting me know that) and still hate Bella, think Edward is a fool.

All in all, the writing gets vaguely better as she goes along. I'm not a fiction writer, should I really judge? Sure, why not. I don't think she's anywhere near as good as JK Rowling, though. While there are definitely times where Harry is kind of a whiney baby, he's nowhere near annoying as Bella. Are they worth reading? Probably. If you're not me. :)

I have a whopping 10 min left. :)

So today we were in Northern Ireland which is its own separate country. (Well it is part of the UK or something I don't really get it and honestly at this moment I don't care enough to look up exactly how the relationship works but they do use pounds just like England does). We crossed over yesterday on the train and when we got off the train we couldn't find anyone to stamp our passports (did I already talk about this? I feel like I might have). I asked the guy at the ticket window and he said we didn't need to. I double checked and said I was from the US but nope didn't need to. Weird that.

Today we took another tour. Unlike Matty's and my fateful tour a way back when, this tour was not populated entirely with old people with a vendetta. Today we went up to the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick a Rede Rope bridge. The wind was blowing too much for us to go on to the bridge. I have a photo. I'll post it when I get back. It will illustrate the level of the wind. Otherwise the Carrick a Rede area was pretty. The Giant's Causeway, though, AMAZING. Seriously. Honestly. I have photos. I'll post them. :) But really, do yourself a favor if you ever come up here, visit the Giant's Causeway. It took me a day to figure out why Northern Irelander's accents are so different than Ireland accents... Scottish. There is definitely a Scottish bit to the accent. Also they use wee a lot which Ireland does not do. However if you watched the amazingly quality filum (films are always 2 syllables and pronounced fil-um) Charlies Angels #2 which had the hot Irish guy who was trying to kill Drew Barrymore... he had a Northern accent. Whilst in the Aran Islands we discovered the movie Leap Year is being filumed there sometime in the semi-near future. I'll have to check that out when it comes out.

We had crappy dinner tonight of hotel food because after climbing up hill and down dale we were wiped out. Tomorrow we head back to Dublin where we will shop a wee bit and then fly home on Sunday. Something fun to cause a bit of trouble on Sunday... daylight savings time. They start it Sat night/ Sunday am. I wouldn't have known if the tour driver today hadn't mentioned it. Glad he did... would've sucked to get to the airport an hour late.

4 min 33 seconds to post...

We're in Belfast today and until Saturday when we return to Dublin and fly out Sunday morning. It was weird travelling into Belfast, they didn't stamp our passport when entering. Apparently they don't need to. I'm not sure what'll happen when we leave to go back to Ireland. They only stamped our passport until 3/25 (whoops we were there until 3/26) because I told him we'd be travelling into Northern Ireland and then returning on the 28th. He said we'd get it stamped coming back. I dunno. There didn't seem to be a customs place in the train station. Maybe they do it on the train.



While I'm having a great time, I'm kind of getting ready to come home. I'm sick of spending money (and oh how I have spent!). I'm tired of living in a suit case and travelling every couple of days. I want to sleep in MY Bed on MY sheets and by myself. :) Two weeks is a LONG vacation. I'm not sure I could do it again.



(Also if I paid 2£ for this internet connection, I should be able to see the screen full screen instead of mostly covered in ads.)

I have 5 min and 22 seconds...

So here's my latest addiction... logging into my work email. I'm on vacay. Why do I keep doing it? why can't I stop it?

We're heading to the Aran Island of Insh Mor (I'm fairly certain I've misspelled that) today. Should be a fun all day adventure. We're going by ferry, which my coworker says can flip upside down! Eek! Oh crap it is 8:30. gotta run anyway.

I have less than 4 minutes to post this

Today we're in Galway. It is really pretty here. We went on another tour around the Burren, Cliffs of Moher and into Aillwee caves. Very cool all of it. I'll be sad to leave. Tomorrow we're heading to the Aran Islands via ferry. Whee! Hard to believe only about 4 more days here. :( I have filled up 2 gigs worth of card on my camear. That's a lot of photos. I should probably weed out the unfocused ones before I even try to upload to my home computer.

Phew... finished with 2 min 23 seconds left on my 2 euro computer use. :)

today I'm in Kilkenny

We were in Dublin for a few days. We're moving on to Cork tomorrow and then galway a day later. We'll be there for 2ish days and then on to belfast. Whee! So far it has been a pretty fun trip. I got lost once on a tour. We're not going on a tour here in Kilkenny, just walking around. In cork we will just walk around and in Galway we will take a tour. I've taken like a billion pictures and fallen in love with the accent. Hopefully in galway I'll meet a nice Irish lad and be swept off my feet. The odds are good there 3:1. Hopefully it won't replicate the Alaskan odds, which means the goods are odd.

It's a great adventure!

I know what y'all are thinking... Yeah yeah you're going on vacation whatever it is a great adventure. But, aha, that's not what I'm thinking is the great adventure. Apparently my getting to Philadelphia is the great adventure. What's in Philly? Is there gold in the streets? Are all the raindrops lemondrops and gumdrops? Should I stand outside with my mouth open wide going ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah?

My sister both called and emailed me today about my flight out of Seattle to Philly. It is not only full but over full by 2 people. I have to hope beyond hope two people don't show up and between now and 8:45 tomorrow 10 more people don't decide to go to Philly. Otherwise there are a few other flights that take me through Las Vegas or Phoenix and to Philly. Worst comes to worst she'll buy me a ticket on Delta. Hopefully we don't have to go that route. Think lazy thoughts tomorrow between 7:00 - 8:45 AM. :)

Otherwise I'm off! Don't miss me too much. Also hopefully I'll have awesome pictures when I get back! :)

I'm on fiyah!

So I've been experimenting with cooking Thai curry you know? I bought a new type of Thai curry paste tonight. I followed the instructions which required 3.5 tablespoons of the Thai curry. The other recipe on the other kind of paste requires .5 to 1 tablespoon. That one is always too bland. Even when I add more of the paste (although I don't know that I've ever added 3.5 tablespoons) it is bland. This time... too spicy. However it is really pretty good. I also am pleased that I managed to make a one pot meal out of this dish by adding more water and the rice directly into the curry. I am quite pleased with the results. :) I also like the fact that the left overs give me lunch for the rest of the week.

I'm having a bit of a hard time believing that in less than a week I'll be on vacay. I still have some planning to finish up. I want to figure out transportation to and around Ireland and have some options in mind already. Since I'm leaving my laptop at home I won't be able to access the bus/train schedules online. (We are travelling by both. :) ) It just seems so surreal.

(Totally unrelated to anything but I'm watching this commercial where a monster truck drives up a ramp and over a bunch of maytag washers and dryers with the "Do not attempt" label across the bottom. Who in the hell would buy that many of the fancy new maytag washers and dryers and try to drive a monster truck over them? Really? This is a concern?!)

Bo-Ring

So while I love the new Kindle I've run into something that isn't working out for me. I can't skip to the last chapter. Or at least I haven't yet figured out how to do it. Usually if I am having trouble getting into a book I skip to either the last chapter or some place in the middle to see if it is getting better. If it isn't, I stop reading. There are too many books for me to read out there to waste my time on something that is crap.

Do you know what is crap? Twilight. According to Kindle, I'm 24% of the way through the book. I am so bored by this book. I don't like Bella at all. I don't like the writing. And after reading the story that explains the wolves vs vampire thing, I pretty much lost all interest in the whole thing. I downloaded a new book while heading to pick up take out.

Good news & bad news

The good news is that my storage unit in my building has been cleaned out and I got rid of a bunch of stuff that I didn't need to be storing anymore. The bad news is two fold. One the reason I did that was because apparently the ceiling above my storage unit has a leak and water has been dripping into my storage unit for who knows how long. I discovered it today when I went to put some GS cookies into my unit until Sunday's site sale. I heard something dripping and I reached up for my sleeping bag and it was wet. As I was moving everything out I discovered this had been going on for awhile since my cast iron dutch oven had rust and there were many boxes ruined by water damage. Now for the most part, that was no big deal. As I am a pack rat, a lot of those boxes were acutally empty, or if they weren't, the contents weren't damaged. However there was one box that was mostly unsalvagable and unfortunately that's the box with the most sentimental attachment to me. It was a box of all the letters I've received over the past 27 years or so. There were letters back to when I was a little girl and I went to NY for a summer and my best friend, Junna, wrote to me. There were letters sent from friends while I was in college. Obviously if they were this valuable I should have done something else with them. All my photo albums are here in the apartment, but I am a little sad at the loss of those letters. Even the few love notes I've received in my day were in there. Maybe it is better, though, break with the past. But, on the bright side, there's a lot of freed up storage space. That's what I'll concentrate on. The fact that I can stack more crap in there now.