The 10 Second Irish Summer

The sun is shining! The birds are singing! And even better.... The essay is in!!!

One down, two to go.

But what I dont understand is, what idiot decided that the school/college year would end just as the weather is at its finest? It is taken as a given that the minute the pressure is on to finish that essay, or study for that exam, the sun starts splitting the rocks, and the one chance that us Irish have to top up our severely diminished levels of Vitamin D is lost to books and computer screens.

But I must say, the Irish in the sunshine is a comedy that never grows old. Due to its rarety in this emerald isle, there resides within the psyche of the Irish mind the deep need to make the most of the sunshine when it decides to make a rare appearence. The minute we wake up and look outside to see the sun gleaming, the shorts/skirts/skimpy item of clothing discarded to the back of  the wardrobe after the one day of sunshine last year are donned, and despite the fact that it realistically 12 degrees out, the deck chairs are placed in the garden and the BBQ is lit.

The result of all this? A really bad cold and €20 worth of good meat gone to waste at the hands of an overenthusiastic father with parafin oil in one hand and skewers in the other.

See advert below for more details :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsJynLpoT0U

Do I Look Like I Care About Kate Middleton's Knickers?

Just a short note.

I have literally just finished reading Kay Burley's blog on the Sky News website (see here), and her riveting topic for today, in the midst of near war in Libya and horror stories of tragic deaths throughout the world (in typical sky news style), was .... wait for it ..... a critical judgement of royal-to-be Kate Middleton and her £3.90 thong that she bought in a high street shop....

Now correct me if I am wrong, but who gives a flying fart in space?!?!?

So what if the girl bought a skimpy thong? Last time I checked she was a young woman about to get married to the most sought after man in Britain, and is no doubt in need of a skimpy thong. Is it really cause for outcry?

Poor Kate, this is the start of it. She wont be able to sneeze without every person in Britain knowing the contents of her tissue. My opinion? She should keep buying £3.90 thongs, wave them about on the street if she wants to. Doing everything by the book (or by Kay Burley's 1950's attitude) is just plain boring.

'Savages, Savages, Barely even human'.....

I must warn all readers, this is a slight rant ....

I was going through a rarely opened drawer recently, and I came across my favourite movie as a child, Pocahontas. Of course, me being me, I found myself singing the songs of the movie. The first one that came into my head was 'Savages'. I could proceed into an indepth psychoanalysis of the reasons for this song popping into my head, but thats just boring. Very simply, 1. Its a REALLY catchy song, and 2. I am currently finding myself plagued by an imperialistic essay which is consuming most of my time, and this song makes refernce to that plague.

The song mentioned above consists of the words 'savages, savages, barely even human, savages, savages, killers at the core.... I wonder if they even bleed'. It is shocking to me, that after 600 years of colonial invasion, and thousands of people dead on all sides, that we as humans still hold the idea that one culture is superior to the other. From Britains's colonisation of the native Americans and Indians, to Spain's colonies throughout the world, one must come to the conclusion that it appears that as humans we incapable of fully accepting the routines and life choices of others. That, along with the inate need within humans to improve their personal status with the help of material goods, despite the cruelty to other humans that is required in order to acquire these material goods, is completely detrimental to one's faith in humanity.

Yet, I found when reading E.M Forester's 'A Passage To India', that there was a knowledge present within the imperialist settlers that what they were doing was not only immoral, but completely non-beneficial to their lives or the lives of the people they were forcing out of their homelands. Forester constantly makes reference to the suppressed knowledge within both communities that they were, in many ways, similar. Also he makes it clear to the reader that the placement of the young men within the colonised society was not what they desired, and was based on a mixture of social expectations of the brave male, and a inbred feeling of duty to ones country. In simple terms, the English in India didnt particularly want to be there, and the Indians certainly did not want the English there, yet the situation remained. Why?

Towards the end of the novel, as the Indians were declaring their lack of need for the English within their society, Forester points out that the Indian people were sort of morphing into English, and they were adapting the idea of the 'nation', which is originally and English idea. In other words, the British colonialism, as with all colonialism, takes away the essential essences of a culture, and replaces them with colonised ideals, and essentially eradicates the individual chatacteristics of a culture, making cultures similar. The shocking thing is, that the culture being ripped apart always appears to be oblivious to their adoption of the other culture's ways, along with their self made dependence upon the invading culture, and they continue to insist that they are completely seperate in all ways from the invading culture.

The outcome of all this? In the future, we will find the differences between cultures will slip away, and characteristics of one main culture (most probably the 'American' culture of Macdonalds and Apple Inc.) will be present in every major country and culture in the world. The world will be left looking like either a miniture or larger version of New York City.

And all because someone, somewhere, held the small belief that their daily routine worked better than that of others across the ocean. That idea grew, and everything else died.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When a girlfriend suggested that the two of us, accompanied by our 3 other girlfriends, take a trip down memory lane, I was completely up for it. That was until I discovered that her intent was for us all to go to the Westlife concert. I said yes immediatly, but must admit I had some concerns later on. I mean, Westlife? Isn't exactly the epitomy of cool. My taste in music lies more along the lines of Adele and Newton Faulkner these days, something with a nice simple acoustic guitar. Far from the image of matching suits and step routines that a Westlife concert produces.

But, despite my inhibitions, we purchased the tickets, and off we went last night. It was glorious day, weather wise, and a nice cold bottle of Bulmers was the perfect way to start off the girly evening out. A short (if not extremely giggly and teen-like) train ride later, and we found ourself in the bustling city, wandering around, not quite sure if we were at the right Luas stop, or walking in the right direction .... I hate to admit it, but I think the city-girl aspect of my personality is starting to dwindle, too much time spent smelling cow dung from the yard next door methinks.

Anyhoo, we finally made it to the O2 arena .... ah memories from the days we used to call it the Point depot, and it vaguely smelled of dry ice, mouldy carpets and popcorn .... We had standing tickets, which worked out perfectly as the standing area was pretty small, so you were guaranteed a pretty good view no matter where you stood. Of course it was full to the brim with 7 year olds, accompanied with fathers looking like they wished to be at home with a beer and the match. But, none the less, the atmosphere was electric,and everyone was in great form.

Donning our €5 pink flashy hats bought outside the arena (the height of fashion, dont you know), the concert started, and we found ourselves thrown back to being 10 years old. The stage was full of colourful balloons, equally coloutful backdrops, and Yes, there was matching outfits and dance routines. And guess what. It Was BRILLIANT!! The 4 lads were full of energy, were pitch and key perfect, and put on a great performance. Us girlies sang every song together, bopped every minute away, and had a complete blast. I must admit, there were tears shed by some over enthusiastic girls, and we didnt exactly go that far. It was topped off with a trip on Dublin City's attempted version of the London Eye, pretty impressive I have to say. The city never looks better than at 11 on a bustling Friday night, high on life. In a nutsell it was an amazing girls night out.

Isn't it funny how going to a concert and singing songs from your childhood brings back memories that you had completely forgotten, and at the same time creates a night that is impossible to forget.

Pictures

I have realised lately that I have been chatting about my hens and ducks, and about Roy our rooster, and the cats and dogs, and I haven't provided any images to go with them. So here is a rare look into the life that I bore you all with. Enjoy :-)

 Here is our lil kitten Jasper (5 months old), sitting in the little basket my mom collects the eggs in every morning. I swear he got in by himself! Cheeky bugger.

This is the oldest animal in the house, Speckles (age 7). Has major OCD  issues regarding daily routine and the constant watch of my Mom and the ducks. Strange dude.

This is my sister's dog Bradley (aged 2). has no concept of discipline, and thinks he can take on the world. Should have been named Scrappy Doo.

Here is the man himself, Roy. Fancies himself as a lady's man ( woos all 12 ladies that surround him daily), and has a pretty bad God complex.

Here is the coop my parents spend aaagggeeessss making. We are plannin to extend soon to include the maternity wing. Should be fun .....

Lazy Day Gone Wrong

Isnt it typical that when you finally get what you have spent soooo long waiting for, you wish you didnt have it, and you want something else? I was always the type of person that looked forward to, for example, my birthday party, and needless to say, come the day of the party, it came nowhere near the high expectations that I set for it. I had a disgusting flashback of those sorts of disappointing days of childhood yesterday.

As I am heading off to spend next Friday night screaming and shouting ridiculously at 4 grown men in matching outfits on the O2 stage in Dublin (Westlife ... I know, sorta sad.... but you know the songs are catchy, dont try and deny it ;-) ), anyway I took the Saturday after off. My boss kindly gave me the Sunday before (ie yesterday) off too as part of my week's holidays which I am due. I was sooooo excited to have a Sunday off, a chance to lie in and do nothing for the day, the first chance I had gotten to do this since Christmas.

So I got up, my lovely Dad made a fry, we gave the Mother her green house for mother's day, and as I sat down in front of the TV in my pjs a terrible realisation occured. Everybody else had things to do that day. Conclusion ; I was left alone for the day. I took a positive attitude to this, and duely lazed on the couch watching Star Trek (yes I'm a sorta trekkie) which I never get to watch when the sis is around, and I played the piano (which turned itself off after 10 minutes and then refused to turn back on, typical), and then I sang as I did the dishes as nobody was around to hear me. After the half hour it took to do all this, I found myself .... How do I say this in a very gripping and Enlglish-student-type way? ..... BORED!!!! So bloody bored!!! I was that bad I wished I was in work, I even contemplated starting Ulysses!!

Typical isnt it, the minture you get what you want, all you want it what you left behind. Moral of the story children ..... Dont let yourself get busy, that way you will never get stuck with that problem of not knowing what to do with free time ;-)

Visions Of The Future

I recently attended the NUI Maynooth Clubs and Societies awards, recently being last Tuesday night. It was myt second year attending, and it is a guaranteed fantastic night out. This night proved just that. I could never put my finger on exactly what made this particular night so amazing, but something special lives in that night. Only this year I realised what that was.

I always assumed it was the friendly atmosphere, where everyone knew everyone else and if you didnt know them an introduction was all you needed and you had another friend. Then i thought maybe it was the smiles and happinedd that came along with winning a trophy for your club or society (even though you have to give it back at the end of the night), because nothing is better than working so hard at something and then to have that hard work recognised by those you consider superior to you. There was also the part aspect of things, with the awards followed by a night of the Macarena and Rock the Boat in the hotel's nightclub (not extremely suitable for us with restricting outfits and heels, but we do our best).

But it wasnt until the current president of the Students Union, Aengus O Maolain, took to the podium that I realised why this night was special. I guarantee you, it is not possible to find a better speaker than this guy, and he made everything so clear for me. He told us to look around, see the person sitting beside you, across for you, and realise that this person is the future. This person, who gives up their time and effort with nothing more than a sense of satisfaction of a job well done at the end of it all, this person is what the future needs. And as I did look around, I saw so many people with so much to give, and with such hope for what they can do in the future. To them, they have the ability to make the R word meaningless. They showed from their numerous standing ovations for those who won their trophies, even if that person had been in 'competition' with them, that they had the utmost respect for each other, and they were such a support for each other. There was no sense of rivalry or greed, just positivity and respect. It was overwhelming at times.

Looking at all of this, for the first time in about 2 years, I thought maybe Ireland will be ok and I wont have to leave to find some better life in some unkown country, because if people like those that surrounded me on Tuesday night have anything to do with it, we might have a bit more hope for our future than that brought by crossing your fingers.