Okay, I know I’m Irish and as such should not be surprised at the change or sudden change in the weather but this latest spree has got to be taking the piss. Par example, I like to walk home from work some evenings so I need to bring a change of top etc. Also when looking out at the grey forboding skies of a morning I think jacket. Most mornings I end up leaving the apartment looking like I am heading off on a 2 week holiday in the Costa Del Sol where it rains the odd time. Its like a fashion show, well a really low key marks and spencers type fashion show, less of the fancy more of the practical.

“And as Shelly sashays past the Old Chancery, here we see the latest in trouser and top matching essemble complete ,with hat , scarf and gloves. Onwards to the Ormonde Hotel and my goodness how quickly did she change from that into, those can’t be shorts (horrifed tone) can they? Oh good lord, well there is really no need for, oh wait. she’s wearing..it looks like but perhaps because the hailstones are coming at such an angle I can’t really tell but from where I am it appears to be wellies? Green wellies with some sort of picture on them, I think I recognise that woman, the blond presenter what’s her name.. oh wait, another change and its back to just the top and trousers, no jacket, but there’s a hat. No, its not a hat its a meerkat. So as we see Shelly hitting O’Connell Street literally she is modelling the latest in designer meerkats who sport small umbrellas that look suspiciously like cocktails umbrellas.”

Something like that…Despite the weather forcing you to sweat upon picking up a pen, I did drag my ass to training and was partnered with someone slightly more expierenced. What she perceived to be a supportive partner holding her hands in the right position for an axe kick, I was actually in prayer position. Thankfully she was more about technique then power so I was fine. The instructor told us
all we were great for training on such a humid monday so crawling out of there didn’t feel quite so bad. I spent the rest of the evening laying out the photobook for the mate’s bday next week. I have to say I was impressed with it, it looks deadky. It was great that all of her mates contributed to it which makes it more special.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 8:14 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Its arrived and its fabulous! Rounded up all the girlfriends on Saturday and after food and cocktails, we all headed to the Savoy for the movie. Its as brilliant as I had thought. The kid was very funny. Having been reluctantly having her arm twisted to come along and the ticket bought for her, the minute the girl starts singing at the start she turns to me and goes
“You have GOT to be f****g kidding me, its a f****g musical?!!”
I had honestly assumed she would have gathered this piece of information from all the posters, advertisements and trailers that have been saturating the media for the past 2 weeks. Obviously not. But she got into it and towards the end was actually singing along. As were some of the rest of our party and some people behind us. It was such a feelgood show and Mammy2 managed to get through it okay. Especially when you consider the previous night she had sat through Muriel’s Wedding and nearly 3 hours of Abba on the Magic Channel.

She thinks she should be in contention for some sort of humanatarian award. I had rounded up a few of the work mates on the Friday and dragged them to the local pub for some abba related quiz goodness and music. I’m not sure if the two are related, but we got to our 15th abba song on the jukebox when from nowhere a dj appears and the jukebox no longer works. Of course when Abba was requested, we were told they had no Abba on their playlist. What Dj worth their salt wouldn’t have Abba eh? Nevertheless it didn’t stop me. After the Abba lyrics quiz I moved onto asking which member of Abba would they shag. By the time we had gone around the table, D the workmate said he’d have to do the brunette as he didn’t know what the blonde would be carrying after sleeping with us lot. Nice. Mammy2 arrived in just in the midst of conversation so I finished my pint and headed off, leaving the workmates to ponder Abba facts without me.

The weekend wasn’t too mad thank god, apart from the Saturday filled with Abba goodness. I feel sorry for the Kid, she’s going through a really hard time at the moment. Between the hotel not sending her P45 out, so she can’t get the rest of her paperwork together and as a result she had her claim closed which means no back pay. She’s really down in the dumps so I think we might have sister’s night soon , nothing like a good horror to lift the mood and the hair. Although there’s not much out there with regards new hair style inducing. Which is crap, I might do some horror research. I am supposed to be doing research for a potential new project, it looked very big and sure enough it is very big but the sticking point is not the design or templates, but the setup and servers. Technically this is not my area but I appear to have been giving it to take care. Its also an ecommerce website which I haven’t done before so I guess it would be good from an expierence point of view.

Mammy2 got a new job! She’s delighted with herself. Its working for Symantec and its a geeky job. The slagging she is going to get from me But on the plus side its a real job, with stuff like holidays, a pension, a decent pay packet and most importantly HR. Hopefully she’ll like it and it will be challening enough for her. She finishes up in her current place on the 31st of July and then its about a week and half to when she starts her new job so she has some time off. I think she could do with the break, we could both do with a holiday. Financially though as well as holidays wise everything is on hold until we see what the clinic are going to do. Its frustrating but sure there’s nothing we can do. She’s got a meeting with her old work crew on the Wed. She wouldn’t be going only for C’s boyf is going along. I don’t think its a good idea so soon after C’s funeral and espeically with J there as it will only re-enforce the fact that she’s gone but its up to her.

We have a ‘hen’ tomorrow. Not a regular ‘Hen’ but the mate D is getting married in 2 weeks and as a lot of his friends in Dublin were girls, we are having a hen. Which involves getting him hammered and letting him pass out on our couch. Should be fun!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 12:05 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Sisters are doing it for themselves..

If sisters were free to express how they really feel, parents would hear this: “Give me all the attention and all the toys and send Rebecca to live with Grandma.” ~Linda Sunshine

Just had a fab weekend with the skin and blister from Holland, herself and her lovely man were over
from Friday to Sunday. The weekend went far too fast but it was good to catch up. Also, hard as it is
to believe I feel catching up and talking things made the titch bond stronger. I guess there are some things that I have issues with, me being the drama queen that I am. Family stuff that bugs the crap out of me. I think I may have mentioned it before you perhaps you should skip a paragraph or 2 whilst I go on a rant. Basically, with mam there was never a favourite. Even though I obviously was Kidding, she made sure that each and everyone one of us were treated equally when it came to love and just as equally when it came to punishment, of course I was never bold so never needed to be punished. However the rest of the family , extended, could do with taking a leaf out of her book. I know aunties have their favourites, but does it have to be every aunty and do they have to be so in your bloody face about it? I could say its the fact that I am a lesbian, but sadly their K worshipping started well before that. There is always something exotic about having someone within the family travel wheather it be they are living out some long lost dream of theirs or they just like the postcards.

But the moral of the story is K can do no wrong in their eyes which is a pain in the giblets for me and for poor K who has done nothing to warrent their attention and is very peeved at them for the constant ‘K for president’ and ‘thank feck K is not a laserbeam’ to ‘isn’t her straight manly boyf lovely, where can I get on’ stuff. We joke about it a lot and thankfully our relationship is stronger then that crap. But I guess sometimes I am only human and it can get to me. At mam’s mass this year for example, I thought we would be saved from it because K wasn’t there. The aunties just skipped me and headed straight for the kid. “Aren’t you looking amazing? Isn’t she? And how’s that lovely boyf of yours” The phrase Desparate Housewives sum up my aunties, mad for the straight young attractive blokes. We only see them once a year under duress and thankfully that’s the only time we have to deal with their ‘issues’. But things have changed slightly and I reckon they may well up the ante and I may well kill them. Its hard not to want to kill them when they are admiring the way K’s ears sit either side of her head. That sort of stupid praise.

I’ve had rollercoaster of a weekend emotions wise but thankfully I have come out of it with a smile on my face and like I said an even stronger bond with the sister as a result. We talked about things honestly and I think we came to a clearer understanding. I am notorious for not talking , espeically when it comes to feelings. What do you mean humour as a defence mechanism? I have no idea what you are talking about. If I am being crpytic its intentional. Even though I have no idea how to be So I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and that there is something to look forward to on so many levels. For now that’s all the info you need. I’ll keep you posted.

In stark contrast to that, I log on to my website on Sunday to find all hell breaking lose and some wildcat stirring up shite left right and centre. I hate, and I mean hate confrontation. It brings me back to those horrible GCN Forum days where there were ‘demands’ for this and ‘demands’ for that. On my website I try to avoid the politics and the BS and just make sure everything has a good time. Other people are sometimes not of that opinion. Thankfully I have a fab team of well capable people behind me who when I get scared and take a step back, they circle the wagons. It looks like things are under control but I still hate that some people, loyal members felt threatened or that they couldn’t post. In my mind that should never happen. Some people need to get a life. And get to hell off my website taking their ‘baggage’ with them.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

The ad is annoying as hell but I love the song. Stands to reason then it would be a kids song. Pfft. But its happy song so it shall have to be purchased. Preferably not the one used on Barney. I have some self respect. Just back from meeting the kid. I love the relationship we have now. Its less co-depedent, more money dependent. She was to meet the social welfare inspector in our place between 2 and 6 so she had to drop by my work place for keys. Of course she was amazed I was allowed to just leave the office for 15 minutes and wait with her for the bus. She thinks my work place is the best. Not least because of what I am paid. Did you ever have one of those moments where you completly regret saying how much you earn? She asked me ages ago and ordinarily I do not entertain any discussions about how much I earn. Its my business and no-one elses. But I thought what the hell. Of course to someone who’s surviving on nothing or less then nothing apart from what her boyf gets it might appear
like a lot. I’m not saying I don’t earn a decent amount, as Eddie Izzard would put it I’m comfortable But I think as a result she thinks I have money all of the time and its my job to give it to her. Silly kid.

I’ve been feeling out of sorts lately. Perhaps some of the fall out of last week or just not getting to spend much time with Mammy2 in the last while. She’s been out of it and then there was birthday dinners and taking care of her sister after the breakup. The responsibilities of familes. I guess I kinda miss just hanging with her. Yesterday I had a website meeting straight after work with one of my charities. They think I’m fab and I’ve done nothing except suggest stuff. They seem very nice and they do a lot of good work. Straight home, dinner cooked and then it was off to the cinema to see Wanted. This mention is purely an excuse for a pic.
The woman is a godess. I wonder where one could
apply for the job of drawing those tatoos on her body. Lordy. Word of advice, at a certain time of the month avoid all Angelina Jolie films. I’m serious! I could pratically see the Herald’s headline. Lesbian inseminated by Angelina Jolie at Cineworld or something slightly more salacious. Let’s face it, its the Herald. My brain was still running at full speed during the film. I was presented with a problem yesterday with regards something that made no sense and I love problem solving, hence the whole liking computers and logic thing I guess. I ran through various different scenarios in my head and none of them made sense. Lots and lots of debugging before I finally found what I think is the solution was. That said it might not be, knowing code the way I do. And it was only today that it dawned on me. This of course didn’t help last nights thoughts as to what the issue was or the early morning starring at the screen asking it what was wrong. I always find if you ask the computer what’s up, it usually
doesn’t reply.

I am hoping training tonight might sort out my mood. As a Leo I hate being moody, it ruins my ability to be centre stage. Whoever heard of a pouty person being the centre of attention? The sis is home on Friday which I am looking foward to. It will be good to catch up. I have a bit of work to get through before then though as I met with another one of my charity sites this morning before work and I have to get that work started for them. I need to get design sorted and signed off before I start on the functionality. They seem fairly happy with everyone so far which is always good. Work with the day job has slowed down a bit which has allowed me to focus on problem solving. Keeps the brain active, although sometimes fanfic bulldozes its way through. Sure everyone needs a break

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 1:41 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Thank god last week is over with and a new week starts. Mammy2 is doing okay. Avoidence of the issue through denial. Hey it works for me. The weekend was a distraction. We headed to the sister-in-law’s on Friday, she’s still dealing with being dumped. Some days its okay, others not so much. Takeout and the dixie chicks dvd provided a welcome distraction for her and Mammy2 who was shattered. A great nights sleep on Saturday and we were both sorted. The week was just exhausting. The funeral was horrific as funerals tend to be. I’m not a big fan, not that I think that anyone out there really likes them but its just to upsetting. Every song, every word spoke about the person brings
on a fresh set of years. The church was packed, with people of all ages and from all walks of like. C worked with St Vincent De Paul, was a lifeguard for the local swimming pool and involved in so many things, the large crowd was understandable. The ceremony started off with High by the Lighthouse family. I can’t say I’m a fan of using well known songs at a funeral, you can never listen to them again without being pulled back to that moment. There was the presentation of gifts, a graduation picture, a shawl she had during her illness and her favourite flower. The boyf got up and spoke for 10 minutes about her, her illness, but mostly her life and her bountiful energy. The affect she had on everyone she met. It was all so sad. Mammy2 hasn’t really spoken about it, we chatted about her on the Thursday when we had lunch but I guess everything is still so raw.

Distractions came in the form of the kid’s 19th birthday and the gaa game. The leinster semi final between Westmeath and Dublin. The kid’s birthday was on the Thursday but as she wanted the mates to come along we celebrated it with dinner on the Saturday. We got her a hair voucher and some money to buy clothes so she was very happy about her birthday. The birthday dinner was in the Hard Rock Cafe and party animals that herself and Mammy2 were they stayed up until nearly 2 chatting and drinking with the mates S and J. The heads on both of them the following day when we had to get early enough to head up town and meet J and L who were also heading to the game with us. I had managed to persuade L to support Westmeath, she arrived in a giant’s jersey, the actual jersey worn by Alan Mangan I think it was in the 2004 Leinster final. It was actually stitched together at the front. J commented on her frankenstein look. The game wasn’t great, it was neck and neck until we kicked some woeful wides. The kid was very funny having never been to Croker or a gaa game of any kind. She sound fitted right in, with every second phrase involving an expletitive. We had rehearsed the Westmeath chant but as soon as the hill started belting out Come on Ye Boys in Blue, she was suddenly hiding under her zippy. Dublin progress and for Westmeath its down to Tipperary for Round 1 of the qualifiers.

I had to go to phsyio again last week with a tight hamstring. Its really affecting my kicks and stretching for splits etc. The guy who checked it out was quite good, gave me some excercises to do and it has been improving. Its really limiting the stretching which as a result is affecting the height of my kicks. Someone recommended yoga which I had been thinking about. But with training 3 times a week now I’m not sure where I could find the time. Unless I did it in the morning before heading to work. The kid thinks I’m nuts and claims we are not related at all because I actually like excercise and would get up in the morning before work and train because I want to. I also think we’re not related but for different reasons then she’s listed.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 1:24 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.