Rome is a fabulous city, pulsating with life and history. Having spent the last 6 days, I would move there in an instant. But of course the teenager hates it. It was an 18th/well done for getting this far present. To bring her and the best mate K to Rome for a week. Word of warning, holidays mean
2 completly different things to teenagers. Regardless of location, according to the kid, a holiday means in no particular order: sleep, drink and shopping. No mention of sight-seeing. Of course she and the mate, when they left the bedroom were impressed by what Rome had to offer. When they made the effort. The heat at the start of the holiday had something to do with their mood. It was 34 degrees when we arrived and the kid can’t handle heat at all. Needless to say the moods were all over the place. We tried to old lets go see the sights on the Monday.

We managed to get them to the Colosseum and the trevi fountain but that was about the height of it. There was no point in forcing them to appreciate something they just weren’t interested in. The funniest was the open top bus tour. They were the only 2 sitting there listening to their iPod and snoozing whilst we went past some of the most amazing sights. They never took one picture and as soon as we get off the bus, they are beside themselves with excitement when they see a truimph motorcycle. They weren’t fans of the food either, the pizza wasn’t like the ones they had here. The most they ate was when we brought them to burger King. The kid declared that she loved Ireland and was never leaving it.I reminded her of her dramatic declaration of moving to Holland less then 2 years previous. She told me to shut up. She’s great at winning arguments. Of course, the Italian men loved the girls and their low cut tops. Thank god they wore jeans or long dresses most of the time, or I would have had my work cut out for me.

On the first day, we sat near the Colosseum and had a snack and one of those silly Roman soldier fellows spots the kid’s pink hair and marches over talking loudly in Italian and going on about madonna. He kissed her on the cheek. If he had done anything else, I would he walloped him. Thankfully, he wandered off. There were catcalls from various cars passing , even the police car one time, pulled in and one of the officers whistled out at them. So much for setting an example.

Myself and Mammy2 had a great time though, lots of walking around and relaxing. Thank god we brought the mate K else I don’t think we would have survived the holiday. The kid suffered every ailment under the sun whilst in Rome. The happiest she looked was getting on the plane to fly home. The friday we got back was stressful. Flying is always stressful but this time was more so. Once we got into Dublin, we had to register the kid for her portfolio course and go out to my work place and get my on call stuff. I hated dropping out as I had a feeling I might get caught. Sure enough, the developer wanted to talk about handovers as he’s off on 2 weeks leave. I told him to put it in an email and legged it.

Finally home, unpacked and settled, the kid rings the brother looking for money. She wants to get some stuff done for her DEBS which is on Tuesday and we told her we would only spend so much on it what with spending a lot of money on the holiday she hated. She was talking to him for a minute when she said he wanted to talk to me. As soon as I got on the phone, he started ranting about contact numbers and how he was trying to get through to us. Once I had calmed him down and explained that we didn’t check our emails etc, he seemed okay. Then he dropped the bombshell. Our cousin had commited suicide during the week. His funeral was Friday morning. Absolute shock. I listened to the brother tell me what happended and it was just an unreal feeling. He hung himself in the garden shed of the family home. The youngest ound him. I told the brother I was very sorry and to pass my condolences onto my aunty. The sister K had flown in from Holland for the funeral and she had gotten a wreath from us. After hanging up the phone, I explained to the lads. The kid was
in shock as well, she had grown up with A. Granted we were never very close but he’s still family.

A was a problem child from day 1. He was the middle child and once he hit the teens, he was always in some bother. His family background never gave him any chance to be honest. The mother and father were constantly fighting, abuse on both sides. The 3 kids never really had a supportive family unit. The eldest used to spend a lot of time out with us, as Mam always took in any child looking for love. Of course he’s in bits now with the brother gone as are the entire family. A was 21. He had tried before and didn’t succeed. Obviously it was more then a cry for help. I need to get a mass card and write a letter to the aunty. She was very supportive to us throughout the whole Mam ordeal. The last image I have in my mind of A was at Mam’s anniversary mass. All soverign rings and attitude. Its heart breaking that someone so young would think there is nothing out there for them
that they resort to this.

I hope he’s in a better place right now.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 8:48 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 10:20 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Its a case of me procrastinating again. Its starting to become a habit, the more work I need to do , the more I switch off. This week I have to deliver 2 XML processors written in java, a JSP template for displaying the XML I am storing and I am also on work requests and I have to do an early release tomorrow morning at 7.30. Funnily enough I’m not stressed. I reckon I can get it all done. Here’s hoping. I am on holdiays from Friday onwards, as we all head to Italy. The kid and the mate K are looking forward to it. The mate K is a bit out of sorts at the moment. Her mam is breaking up with her boyfriend, and apparently the other night, he walloped her. Thankfully, with dublin families, there’s is always siblings who can deal with this thing. The mother is the youngest in her family and she went to stay with her sister, the eldest. Once the sister made sure she was okay, she headed down to the house and broke the boyf’s 2 front teeth. Only way to deal with an asshole who raises his fist to a woman. The kid is being in protective mode at the moment. She has moved out of her mood she was in last week. Herself and Mammy2 clashed a fair bit but we had another family meeting on Saturday and thankfully, we seem to have sorted things.

The family meeting came about as a result of me arriving home on Friday evening to the place looking like a tip, and wet clothes all over the place. The washing machine is still on the blink, no thanks to our estate agent who is a complete waste of space. The kid had decided to try her hand at hand washing. All of her clothes. Most of them were on the clothes horse, dripping all over the living room floor, the rest were in a basin dripping all over the kitchen. The takeaway packages were still in the kitchen making the place smell like a chipper. I was not impressed. Once I calmed down, I set to work at the clothes, getting the kid to help. She’d never hand washed before so this was
an expierence for her. We got through most of the clothes, ,mopped up the floor and she brought the rubbish down once I bagged it all. The place looked a lot tidier but I was still peeved. I mean, it doesn’t take much to tidy the place. The kid said Mammy2 was being short with her and in fairness Mammy2 did have a cranky head on her on the Friday. I decided then that we should have a chat about it. Mammy2 had her work leaving do on that evening so there was no point in saying anything until the following day.

The meeting went well, everyone voiced their concerns issues etc, and I think hopefully we can all get along better and keep the place a bit tidier. It was our wedding anniversary, 7 years! As the sister said in her txt, U-haulers! We had nothing planned as I didn’t know what state Mammy2 would be in from her leaving do. I was up early and headed training determined to start back into it 100%. It was a womens only class, which was different but good. As there was an uneven number, I had the joy of partnering the punchbag. Hence the reason I am hobbling around today As Mammy2 was still out for the count as I was leaving, I decided to pick her up brekkie on the way back thinking her hangover might be hungry. Fresh have some really nice sandwiches and stuff so I got her a toastie and a smoothie. We headed out for a meal that evening to Little Italy, we should have shares in that place we’re there so often.
Had a lovely night with Mammy2, with lots of chats and quality time. We got home, to find the lights all out and candles everywhere. The kid was standing with a bottle of wine opened and the table set with a cake in the middle. She had baked a cake for our anniversary and set the place up so it would be romantic. She can be so thoughtful at times. Of course we had to have a glass of chilled red wine! She made a little card as well. She was so sweet.

Yesterday, we won’t talk about as the Dubs were beaten. I was so sure that it was their year, but alas not. Its back to the drawing board for Paul Caffery if he gets another year. The deal was for 3 years and whilst he did bring home 3 leinster titles, they want an All Ireland. I can’t see Kerry being beaten in the final. That’s the Championships for another year, until the League starts back and I can start wearing my Westmeath jersey again

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 10:32 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Yes, instead of studying my XML feeds I am in fact browsing the interweb and I just know next week will be mental and I will most likely have to work late. Pants to that. Because I am going on holiday, they appear to have lost the plot completly and my boss is wondering how I got my holidays approved. Possibly because I put in for them ages ago. Thankfully my boss is not the usual business type men who are complete arseholes. You know the sort. He’s a very nice guy and when he winks at me, I turn into a school girl. He’s gorgues, married and has 3 kids. When he goes out with us for drinks, he talks about his wife and/or his kids. He’s the perfect man, I am convinced of it. As if the halo wasn’t shining enough, he is on the parent’s committee where his son goes to school.

The kid has another interiew next week for a portfolio course. On the same day and an hour before the one she has in Ballyfermot. I think there will be some re-scheduling along the way. I apparently have to ring. I love the responsiblity she has taken on with turning 18. She’s making an appointment to get her hair bleached tomorrow. Don’t ask, I didn’t. I arrived home last night to find her with her lip freshly pierced and a bar through her ear. I asked her what was wrong with her nose. She rolled her eyes at me. We had a small conversation about Rome. We fly out next Sunday and I am already stressing. Yes, strange that. Basically, she wears small outfits. I’m being nice because
she’s my kid. And Italian men are not famed for their lack of touching. I don’t want to spend most of my holiday in an Italian jail cell even if Helga is my room mate. Seriously, I will be pulled off any guy that gets within a 10 yard radius of her. As a compromise I asked her to wear a jumper at all times. She looked at me as if I had crash landed from another planet. Its going to be roasting over there, she claims and she is NOT wearing loads of clothes. I chukcled at the idea of her and loads of clothes. There’s more material in her bra then most of her tops.

Mammy2 finished up on Tuesday from work but her final day is today when she goes out with the work crowd for a meal. Thankfully, some of the newer people who she gets on well with are going so there’s a chance she might enjoy herself. Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. 7 years I think its getting serious. We have nothing planned at the moment, but depending on the weather I think we might head to Dun Laoghaire for the Fesitval of World Culture. The complete opposite of that is Sunday with the GAA. Culture and the Dubs playing do not go hand in hand. All ireland semi -final and they are playing Kerry. Mammy2 thinks they haven’t a chance but I reckon its their year. They’ve come so close the last few years and this is their best chance ever at getting their hands on the sam maguire.

The kid appears to be doing a lot better thank god. I asked her when her therapist was going to get in touch with her, and she said whenever she rang to make an appointment so she’s obviously doing okay. I think she’s going to go see her next week. I suppose we’ll get an update then. She’s heading to some party tonight. The mate’s K’s mate is having a bday party and even though they don’t like the girl, they have to put in an appearence apparently. I guess they’re like the IT girls or so they think.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 24th, 2007 at 1:26 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

We’re just back from the wilds of Horst after 4 very relaxing days with the sister and her boyf in Holland. There’s nothing quite like a holiday. Espeically after the last week that we had. Between the kid going for a late night swim to the leaving cert results to working loads, we needed a break. And over with the sister was great. Catching up on all the news, pottering around the small town she lives in and lots of socialising. I got some cool gifts, the latest mr potato head which I shall post a picture of as soon as I upload the pics. I know you can’t wait to seem the picture I got some really nice gifts from Mammy2’s family including a boxed Garth Brooks set of cds. Lots and lots of country music.

The holiday was great, I was offline for all of it and loved it. Apart from on the first day when my shoulder started complianing about not being used. I think it works the opposite way around. It gives out when I don’t do work. But I didn’t miss it at all. We relaxed, read a book, a whole book I mananged to finish. I was determined. It was a funny one for a change and not about irish history. It came recommended from the sister and we have a very similar sense of humour. Her mates were very nice and chipped in and got me a model Hew Holland. A lot bigger then the ones I have, and they got me a new holland shirt and a stickers as well. I was well chuffed. There’s also a picture of it somewhere and I’ll see if I can find it when I upload the pics.

Its strange as this time last year I was over, but I was no-where near as relaxed. I guess mentally I was in a different place as those therapist people would call it. We caught up with a lot of the sister’s mates, sat out in the sun, went for a lovely Indian meal and lots of chilling We even managed to catch some of the GAA. One of the sister’s mates is from Meath, but we don’t hold that against her and Meath were playing Cork in the first of the All Ireland sem-finals on the Sunday. We got the train to Eindhoven and found an irish pub there. There were about 14 screens in the place and we found one that was showing the GAA. I won’t launch into a rant about our national sport. There’s no need as you already heard it all before

The kid was in grand form thank god. Otherwise, we’d have brought her with us. She stayed with the boyf for the days that we were gone, so at least we knew she would be looked after and when he wasn’t around, his lovely mother was. Just the pampering she needed. We rang her on the Sunday and she was all chat. She’s back tonight I think. She seems to be on the road to recovery thank god. Whilst over in Holland chilling, and with no work to distract me , I get to thinking about all the stuff that’s happened. Work is good for avoidence tactics. I processed a lot of it and am still not fully over it I think. I guess its like there has been one thing after another for the last 4 years, that now when its calm, its strange. But I’ll talk calm any day. Right now the highlight of any week is a Saturday afternoon on the couch with Mammy2 reading the paper. Yes, I am that boring

As a complate aside, if you think I am nuts, then you should be worried about my co-workers. One of them cut out this cartoon this morning for me, with the following saying:

You have to admit - there’s no rule on the books saying a meerkat can’t play rugby.

I need to get it on a t-shirt!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 12:27 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.