Minotaurs Playing Polo

In the final weeks here in Dublin, there seems to be a natural tendency for things to wrap themselves up like they know we're leaving.














On Wednesday, we said goodbye to the Northeastern kids, who are now done, and home, in America. No more 80s nights at Q-bar with Kate, Pete and Mo, sadly, but I'm glad it became tradition. Wednesday was also the first night of Passover, which, unfortunately, I could not really celebrate. Matzoh is pretty hard to come by in a country that doesn't include Jews in their national census.













Thursday was a big emplyee night out for The Helix. 20 of us went to the Shelbourne Greyhound Racetrack (dogs, not busses), and we bet on some dogs. I won 9 Euro, but I don't really know how or why. The night got much much better though. In true Remix-to-Ignition fashion, the after party continued at the Ocean Bar, and then on to the hotel lobby...just kidding, the 3rd stop was someone's apartment.














The numbers dwindled gradually. About 15 of us went to the bar, but only 6 made it to the apartment. My boss, Rachel, included. She's awesome. It's interesting what you find when you take the work people out of the work environment (you can take the boy outta Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey outta the boy).

Friday, Karen and I met up with her friend from home, Joanna, and Joanna's boyfriend Justin, who is studying in Limerick for the semester, or as he calls it, Stab-City. We took the train out to Malahide for a few hours, to see the sea, the castle, and the minotaurs. Everything was there except the minotaurs, but we found a fantastic Peacock in their place.



























I don't know what this statue is, but your lucky I didn't do what the little kids who were there wanted me to do to it.














Malahide is a quaint little beach town, with a very main-street feel to it. But the center piece of it all is Malahide Castle, complete with enchanted forest, peacock-filled gardens, and 7 very small people, each with their own name/defining characteristic.














We made dinner back at my apartment, then headed to our friend Christina's 21st Birthday Party. I got a nice surprise to find my friends Tay (short for Tay) and Alison there, who were in Madrid for the semester, but came for Christina's Birthday. I also met a girl from Freehold. Weird. Most of the night was pretty tame, but this is what happens when a birthday girl hears 'Vogue' and has all eyes on her.



























Saturday, Karen and I went to Croke Park, the 80,000 capacity Gaelic Games stadium, and the site of the first Bloody Sunday in 1920. The tour was really interesting, but look in the picture at the contraption sprawled across the field. Since the sun is so rare in Ireland, this guy rolls down the field very slowly casting artificial UV rays onto the grass (which itself costs 2 Million Euro). Great way to get a tan. No one was allowed to go near the grass, but luckily, for 6.50, you can grow your own!














On Easter Sunday, we went to the Easter Parade. But it's not how you picture. It's fascinating how different countries feel towards holidays, so here's a quick breakdown. In Ireland, St Patty's Day is like July 4th. It has nothing to do with independance, but it's BBQ, beer, fireworks, celebration all day, etc. Good Friday is like our Easter. Very religious, families all get together for church and a nice meal. Bars and liquor stores have to stay closed, no alcohol can legally be sold on this day.














Easter, however, is like Patriot's Day, because it is, in fact, the anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916, the climax (or the kick-off, however you want to look at it) of the Irish war for Independence. No bunnies, in other words. This year was the 90 year anniversary of the Rising, so the parade was extra special, with all units of the military marching, fighter planes overhead, a speech from the President, and guns and tubas everywhere.















I have off work tomorrow, for a national holiday, which I find incredibly ironic, because if I was in Boston, I would also have off, for Marathon Monday. And while there will be no marathon here tomorrow, I'm sure we'll find something to keep us occupied. So long for now, and by the way, there's still time to donate to the amazing cause that is my brother's 600 mile ride for charity in the Aids Life Cycle. www.aidslifecycle.org/6611

Peace.

Stop Messin With That Pirate Head Gear

The last week flew by, while at the same time being filled to the brim with things that just kept flying at me. It's always that way though, isn't it?

Monday night, a few of us from media class went to a taping of a late-night questions and answers style news show in Ireland called, strangely enough, 'Questions and Answers'. The scary part was that, before you go into the studio, the producers ask you to write down questions you would like to ask the panelists, and it's a room full of students and other young people, dressed the way young people dress. THEN, right before the show starts, 5 old guys in suits enter the audience, and just guess who gets to ask the pre-decided questions. For a show that's supposed to allow the people to be heard, the people get seriously jipped.














Tuesday night was opening night of The Walworth Farce at the theatre I intern at. All our work had been leading up to it, and my name (+ 1) was on the guest list, so I brought Kathleen.














The show was phenominal, and I'm so glad I got to see it, because I read the script a few weeks ago and it made no sense, but visually it all comes together. It's a shame it will probably never get to America, because it was a great piece of drama, but an excellent learning tool for acting, since it's a story within a story, and the actors kept switching back and forth at speeds you can't even fathom.














My job for the night was to mingle with all the invited guests/celebrities, but I didn't know who any of them were, since they're all Irish. So of course I was introduced to the one reviewer from the NY Times and we talk about home.

Wednesday and Thursday I spent most of the days/nights working on my internship project, which involved a comparison and analysis of marketing the arts VS marketing in general, and a case study of The Walworth Farce.

ALL THIS, while also finding a few nice internships for the summer, but more on that later, when it's a tad more set in stone.

Friday night, some of us went to the Market Bar, which was one of the best bars I've been to in Dublin. Market Bar is inside a huge old warehouse, so it's got high ceilings and lots of places to echo. If every bar has a gimmick, Market Bar's is that it plays no music. But when it's full, and everyone's voice is bouncing off all the walls, it creates this amazing sound. We saw some cool drummers in an alley too, that's always nice.















We saw a wedding on Saturday. I liked the car a lot. No cans on the back though.














I also found out this week that I HAVE TO fill out the Irish 5-year census, even though I leave the country 2 days later. If I don't, there's supposedly a 50 zillion euro fine, but I think I mess things up more by filling it out. Because of our apartment style living, I would be the head of my household, with Sara, my wife, and our two children, Diane and Graham. We make a combined annual income of 16 college credits (in Euros, of course, so it's more like 13.2), we don't have a home telephone line, and my son is older than me. If they actually counted it that way, which they will, we would be eligible for food stamps and child services would come for my 21 year old Asian children.

Here's some more fun facts about the Irish census. There are 3 ethnicity choices: White, Black, Asian. Also, 'Jewish' is NOT listed under choices for religion.

Sunday I scheduled classes for September in Boston. 5 months out. Crazy. Sunday night, some of us went to a pub around the corner, and just because, I decided that day to wear a grey bandana. Anyone who lived with me in Warren knows I occasionally just put it on, because I want to, and wear it around wherever. On our way to the pub, I joked that I hoped no one shanked me...talk about knowing your surroundings. Inside the pub, an older man yelled at me for being a pirate, and for bringing my pirate head gear into his pub, and for not knowing what it was like in Ireland in the time of the pirates. I swear, some people are so lucky I don't know how to throw a punch.

Yesterday, I called Beth on the phone and surprised her, because I missed the sound of her voice. Here's a nice one of us for old time's sake.















Everything wrapped up nicely today, when I snagged up a sweet pair of tickets to see Madonna in Atlantic City with Britt (I sound calm now, but I was shaking and sweating for most of the day in anticipation of the "NOT ON SALE" turning into "FIND TICKETS" with every Refresh of the page). Ticketmaster blows, by the way.














Tonight I got to hear Jane's band for a third time, with the added bonus of hearing Emma's band as well....The Worthwhile Experience....and oh was it ever! Emma's band is a full on big-band, mixing ska with rock and jazz and a nice serving of James Brown Funk. She was fantastic. But her lead singer is an Elton John wannabe, a total ham. Big personality, big costumes. Lot's of fun.




























I like Emma's style of singing...mic in one hand, beer in the other. That's the sweet life. I'll leave it there for now. Back in a few.

Karengate

We left off with bagels, I believe. So we'll begin with yogurt. I'm having some right now with granola and it's fantastic. That's all.

This week started out quite promising for everyone involved, the weather was lovely, work was smooth, and everyone was pretty cheery. Some things quickly turned south.

On Wednesday, I had to go downtown after work for a meeting that defined the word pointless: it took an hour to get there, lasted 3 minutes, and could have been done over the phone. The annoyance quickly passed, as Karen and I had plans to go back and see Jane play at a bar called Sine. This is Jane, the singer/songwriter who I saw last week (for those of you who read regularly). It was at this time that Karen informed me she had lost her wallet. I think everyone can relate to the humongous burden of losing a wallet (even if you never have (knock on wood, evan)), but Karen seemed as ok as you can be about it. There wasn't much cash lost, you get a new credit card, you get a new lisence, and it's done. Jane was great, as usual, and I'm looking forward to hearing her play with Emma at the Sugar Club next week.














On Thursday, the usual Q-bar group was not feeling an out night, but Karen and Steve and a few other people were, so I tagged along. It's funny, going there without McKee and Mo and all them, it just felt so wrong. I knew somethig would go awry.

The first blow came when Karen's purse was stolen. Hi, insult? Meet injury.

The rest of the night pretty much sucked after that, as one person we had come with went home (totally belligerent mind you) without any money, keys, or phone, and without telling any of us. So while we walked around Dublin looking for her, calling everyone we knew, and just having a general panic party, she somehow got home and went to bed. THANKS!














Looking to get past that hell of a night, I decided to relax on Friday. Steve and I went to a movie in the afternoon, and then went downtown to meet Kara, Pete, Megan, and Kate. We switched things up with some Baileys for most of the night. It was a nice change of pace from the night before. And the music was great, as demonstrated by Megan and Kate's superb karaoke skills:














I just love dancing with McKee. So any night when that happens is a good night. Saturday, me, Lauren, and Steve went to the Comet and I started my collection of glasses to bring back home. Zing.














There are 4 weeks left. I'm trying to get in one more trip before leaving, but I still have a lot to do here in Dublin. Some exciting functions are coming up at The Helix, where I get to be a VIP (my favorite 3 letters). And all that's left of "work" is the internship project and my media class research paper. I've been on Craigslist a lot sending out resumes for summer employment. And the summer concert news is starting to roll in. What an exciting time.

Finally, thank you to those of you who have donated to my brother's charity cycle. You're very kind. The rest of you still have time (2 months actually) to help out. www.aidslifecycle.org/6611 Check it out.

(See) you soon.