Seven Things...

Ok Oliver...I did it...see...

And they're in no particular order...

Seven Things I Plan To Do Before I Die

1. Become a millionaire. I plan this every week. So far no luck. Maybe next week?

2. Build a house with a balcony, darkroom, library, zen room, water garden, preferably near the sea. Big windows. Sliding glass doors. Split level.

3. Travel to Egypt to see the Pyramids and Luxor(Karnak), then go to Jordan to see Petra, and finally on to Japan.

4. Swim with Dolphins - yeah I know that's corny - wait, learn to swim, then swim with Dolphins. Yeah

5. Live in Neuschwanstein Castle. I don't care if Bavaria owns it. I'll invade Germany, set Bavaria up as an independent state (I think they'd like that) and live in Schloss Neuschwanstein.

6. Learn German properly.

7. Learn to drive

Seven things I can do

1. Doss on the Internet for hours.

2. Photography.

3. Stay in contact with people across the planet.

4. Listen attentively.

5. Use my left hand to cut the nails on my right hand with a scissors, even though I'm right-handed.

6. Listen to music for hours and day-dream

7. Go to the cinema or concerts on my own and be perfectly fine with it!

Seven things I can not do

1. Drive

2. Sing

3. Stand in front of a crowd and speak

4. Put on a good pokerface.

5. Program Java properly.

6. Drink wheatgrass or wine.

7. Speak any language fluently - not even English!

Seven things that I find really attractive about the opposite sex

1. Intelligence

2. Sense of humour

3. Smile

4. Calm

5. Creativity

6. Smell

7. Confidence

Seven things I say the most

1. Actually...

2. Cool!

3. Hello?

4. No way!

5. Yay!

6. No, yeah! (Together...I don't know why I do it...)

7. For Fuck's Sake!

Seven books I love

1. Anything by Chuck Palahniuk, particularly Survivor.

2. Anything by Douglas Coupland, particularly Microserfs.

3. JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Ring

4. Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence

5. Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots and Leaves

6. James Cochrane's Between You and I

7. Italo Calvino's if on a winter's night a traveller

Seven people I would like to see take this quiz
Not many of my friends have blogs so there is no point naming them...and since Oliver has done his, then Jen is the only person left, unless I get them to do it on MAL.

The weekend...

It started on friday night with the Refurbishment/Recabling Party (don't ask) in Belfield. Good food and wine (or so I'm told), good band, plenty of people. I left around 10pm.

Then on saturday I was working in the morning with Ronan - it'll be my last saturday working for over a year - and then it was onto a bus and out to Dún Laoghaire for the Festival of World Cultures. I caught Different Drums of Ireland at 2pm, Heartbeat from Singapore at 4pm, and Ojos de Brujo from Spain at 5pm (til 7pm...they were on fire!!!)/

On sunday I barely caught the end of the Flamenco dancing demo on the Harbour Plazza, before grabbing a bite to eat, and then watching Fun'Da'Mental & the Mighty Zulu Nation at 5.30pm. They were mental and so much fun!!! Caught up with Mary and her gang, and then Frank, after the gig finished, before pottering down the 40 Foot bathing area to talk some pictures.

Then I wandered down to Purty Kitchen to catch Mercan Dede & Secret Tribe. They were out of this world. Dervish dancer in tow, East meet West in an exciting fusion of sounds. Breathtaking.

I now have to buy some of his albums!!!

12.30am Nitelink home and I'm wrecked!!! Home at 1am, bed at 2am, after spending all weekend on my feet!

The Devil's Rejects

Senseless violence often annoys me in movies but this was such good fun. Very satisfying SPLAT scene...I won't ruin it for you...and some very funny dialogue. Not many people were laughing...I don't know what they were expecting from this movie. C'mon people...it's Rob Zombie!!! Oh and too many gratuitous shots of Zombie's wife's ass (she plays Baby in the movie, and in House of 1000 Corpses)

Citron

Big farewell to Maeve who's absconding to Richview on monday - we treated her to dinner in the Citron Restaurant, Fitzwilliam Hotel. Gorgeous food, prompt staff, low lighting, good ambience and fantastic company. Great night out!

Imaging Expo

Today I was frolicking around the Hilton Hotel, at a Typetec Expo, focusing on Apple, Adobe CS2, Wakon etc...

Very intense but enjoyable. Unfortunately I didn't win one of the iPod Shuffles or the Wakon tablet. Damnit!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday John.

Shit day in work...should have taken the compassionate leave they offered.

The Burial...

...I was fine until I saw my uncle break down. It pissed rain so I guess you could say the weather was in sympathy with the mood of the mourners (pathetic fallacy).

Got the 4pm bus to Dublin...very tough weekend.

The Land of the Dead...

At around 12.15pm, my maternal Grandmother passed away yesterday. She had fallen into a coma and died peacefully. Funeral is tonight, with mass and burial tomorrow. I just hope all my relatives can behave in a civilised manner, and not kill each other. I'm not sure how I feel. I saw her last saturday for the first time in over 7 years.

xxx

In other news, I'm heading over to Madrid in November for a week. Breffni is going too, and we get a chance to catch up with Isa and Javi and see their new apartment. I can't wait. And flights only cost 83.43 euros, including all taxes! Awesome!!! And, it's with Aer Lingus, so it's a ticketless flight, and we can use the self-service machines to check-in. I love those! 4th holiday this year, and I had to ask permission of my new boss before the flights were booked - even though I haven't started working with my new boss yet. Strange how these things pan out.

The Land of the Living...

Well, what a weekend.

My maternal grandmother is in hospital with pneumonia, diabetes, anaemia and leg ulcers and has almost died a few times over the past few days.

Lena is in a bad way too...she's refusing liquid, and her body functions are shutting down.

My mom is back in a cast in a bid to get her ankle back to the correct angle.

And parental units are supposed to be going on hols in less than 2 weeks time.

They're being pulled in all directions.

Had lunch with the girls on saturday, and it was good fun. Met Derv and Helena later for relaxing drinks too. Aud is an auntie for the second time. Good news.

Took the 4pm bus back on sunday with John, and it only took 2 and ¾ hours. Not bad. But, it cost 12 euros, one way. Damn!

Both my supervisors are off this week...yay. But loads to do anyways. Need to get the office sorted out and soon.

And I'm horrified by the two recent plane crashes. Today it has emerged that a 5 or 6 year old child survived the Cypriot crash, only to be burned alive by the brush fires. It's heart-breaking.

Tumbling down...

This is going to come out all jumbled up and all over the place, but I've a few bits and pieces to divulge.

The Fantastic Four was a brainless but enjoyable flick. SFX were actually pretty decent.

All the stationery ordered have been delivered bar one item. Am pleased this got sorted because...

...I got the job as a digital assistant for the IVRLA Project and I begin on the 19th of September, so I'm running out of time here in ET. Need to get the office sorted out, statistics up to date, invoices are fine, posters need to be taken down off the wall, locker cleaned out...need to do something with the plants too.

Project is for a year initially, so I'll be back to my current job, unless I bugger off and get a real job. Yeah...two chances of that happening - slim, and none! I can't wait to start the project though - I feel like I've been given a new lease of life.

Anyways, this weekend is Tom's 21st birthday - I can't believe my baby brother is so old!!! We're having a family dinner on saturday night, then he can escape and hang out with his friends, who more than likely will get him utterly shit-faced! That's give me an opportunity to catch up with the girls, and hopefully it'll be all three of them, not just two.

In other news, my godfather is back in hospital, very, very ill and in pain, and I hope he gets better soon.

And last weekend Lena turned 86 years old. Bless. She's a fighter. The amount of times this past month that she was supposed to die, according to the nursing home, was unreal. Each time, she pulled through.

And I'm overhauling the website...

Other than all that, there's nothing too strange or exciting.

I am going insane...

...just thought I'd throw that out there. Between waiting for news on my interview, and problems with stationery orders, and my bank account, I am truly and utterly going insane.

Bonkers.

Stark raving mad.

Not functioning as a normal human being.

Loopers.

Bumper Edition...

...well, not really, but I have a few bits and pieces to relate.

1. Interview tomorrow, 4th August, 2005 at 11am GMT.

2. Saturday Work, 6th August

3. Tom's 21st Birthday Dinner, 13th August

4. Iron Maiden / Marilyn Manson, 31st August

5. Dylan Moran, 16th September

Saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - a lot of fun. Johnny Depp reminded me so much of Michael Jackson in his portrayal - the voice, pale skin, facial twitches. Definitely a lot darker, and very enjoyable.

War of the Worlds - eye candy. Too annoying to analyse it properly - Hollywood ending, blah blah! Great special effects, as you'd expect from Mr Spielberg, and the characters were well portrayed, but...I don't know...I won't watch it again! Neh!

I got an iRiver H10 5GB MP3 player. After an initial hitch, with the referencing in the database thanks to strange software, it's now my favourite toy of the moment! 539 songs later, and I'm busily flicking through genre after genre. Oh the fun. Now I need to find a journey that'll take me over 38 hours to complete. Hmm... it must be spring-time in Australia round about now!