Girlie Trip

Edinburgh was fantastic. Again! I love that city. The girls had either not been there or not been there for a long time so we did all the touristy stuff again. Which isn't a bad thing, nothing felt boring or repetitive to me. We did do some things I hadn't done before, which was also great.

A new thing for me was the Ghost Tour, which I would recommend to anyone going. One of the girls said she is delighted she went on it, but would never go on one again. I loved it. I always thought I didn't like horror, but the gorey blood and guts type of horror, turns out that the traditional ghost story freaks me out too, when told properly anyway. Our guide was a proper scotsman, by the name of Euan, who knew dates and placenames and surnames for each story. The particular tour we took had us travel beneath the city into the vaults which once housed wine cellars, gambling halls, illegal taverns and occassionally bodies that had been snatched from nearby graveyards. And when I closed my eyes in bed that night all I could see was the old stone walls of the vaults. It kinda freaked me out. But thoroughly enjoyable.

Music & fear

First things first, the gig last night was fantastic. The set was a clever mix of new and old, including some so old that none of us knew them. {However the four guys in front of us knew every word.} It was just Amy & Emily and a dozen or so guitars. I pity their sound guy. His job was to bring on the right guitars for each song, removing the guitars from the previous song, and tuning the guitars for the next song while they played. Not an easy task I'd say. They played for an hour and a half straight and I loved every minute. Two very talented musicians. I think thats one of the reasons I like them. There's no jazz or drama about them, they just play good music and sing great lyrics. Their albums are usually recorded with a band, but any time we've seen them play its just been them and their guitars, and its always an amazing gig. I'd recommend them to anyone.

Change of topic. Walking home from work this evening I ended up behind a group of 'youths'. I counted and there were 16 of them, all darkly dressed and all about 14 or 15 I'd say. And I felt intimidated. Not entirely sure why. Could have been the time of year, or that it was after 8:30 and pretty damn dark out. Or that there were so many of them and just one of me. Or that they were discussing playing pranks like knock a dolly. {Not the term they used, but same idea.} Either way, I could feel me feet slowing down while they blocked the way ahead, and then speeding up once I knew I could pass them; my heart starting to race as I overtook them, hoping they kept ignoring me. At the time I felt a little silly and I still do for reacting that way to a bunch of teenagers. But at the same time, I think I'm right to be a bit nervous.

For as long as I've been going out in Tramore I have never had a problem with walking home alone after a night out. But in the last few months when I've been out, I've tried to avoid it. I shouldn't have to be nervous about walking home through my estate - that's the bit that bothers me as it's quite dark - but I am. Is it a sign of the times, or am I just getting old and a bit more sensible? Or sensitive?

Exciting stuff...

...For a change!! It's been a busy week, and not with work based things, which is fantastic. Spent Monday with my sister, her husband and their two boys. We went to the Reptile Village outside Kilkenny and had an absolute blast! Well, the adults did. Not so sure about the kids. I however was in my element. I came home and realised I had picked up lots of tit-bits of information about the animals. More of those useless things that will stay lodged in my head for eternity, taking up space that could be used on more important things. But instead, I will forever know that if a spider is dropped from a height the abdomen can burst, causing the spider to die. However, sometimes if the spider is preparing to shed her skin (I say her cause I'm sexist with spiders, blame E.B.White) she has already started healing herself from the inside out, so she could possibly survive the drop. Why do I know this? Cause I heard it from the handler at the Village. How long will I remember this? Longer than I'll remember my conversational Irish phrases probably.

Yesterday and today were work filled. But tomorrow is concert filled! After work I am clambering into my sisters car to go to Dublin to see the Indigo Girls in concert. There's four of us going - hopefully, one is currently on the brink of being out of action - and it should be a really good night out. I haven't seen them since I was in Secondary School, which is quite a while ago. And I don't even know the last time the four of us did something together, so very excited now.

And then, and THEN, it's Hallowe'en!! I am spending the day of Hallowe'en in the Indoor Market facepainting, all dressed up in my gothic fairy costume!! Then hopefully I get to wear the costume out and about on Saturday night.

And then! It gets better! I get to go back to Edinburgh on Monday!!! So excited about that one. I haven't been in two years. Its such a fantastic place. I'm going with two friends, one of whom has never been before. I hope she likes it as much as I do. After all, I'm the one that suggested it!

Progress Report Part 2

A friend of mine has bought a house. One of the guys I was friends with in school, less than a year older than me, has bought a house. Well, the offer was accepted, he's waiting on an engineers report and the like, but he's bought a house. I can barely afford to buy new clothes and he has bought a house. About 200 yards away from his parents house, but it will be his own place. A place he can retire to and enjoy and call his own.

This bothers me a bit. I'm freaking out a little about having spent what I consider to be a small fortune on clothes in the last two weeks, but it was mostly required. I doubt my employers would be keen on my coming to work in clothes with inappropriate holes in them.

A house! I mean, I'm delighted for him, he deserves it, the jammy sod, but he does. He worked hard to get where he is. One of the few people who has managed to land a permanent job doing what he was trained to do in the current awful job situation. So good for him. But it makes me wonder what am I doing wrong? And if I was given the chance, would I change anything?

Progress Report

I've been thinking about writing here for a while. Not entirely sure what about but I need an outlet. Without being too emo-y I've been down and cranky and just a general b**** for the previous few days - my apologies to all who incurred my wrath - and I need somewhere to talk about it. And since I'm not so good at the one to one honesty thing, this is gonna be it me thinks. Though I do say that a lot don't I? That I intend to write here more often? It hasn't been as regular as I had once hoped, but I guess I didn't have a lot to say. And all my problems seem to just repeat themselves.

I realised today that I have been working in my current job for exactly a year. I started there at the end of September 2008. Its now the end of September 2009 and I am still exactly where I started. The only difference is I now work more hours and have more of my loan paid off than I did a year ago. Thats it. The only obvious progression in my life in the last year is the dent in my student loan.

And its not that big a dent.

Quiet night in.

Wasn't supposed to be. I was actually kinda looking forward to going out tonight, which is unusual for me. But I've been bailed on, sort of. The girl I was supposed to go out with went to a friends house to have a couple of drinks first, and she's still there. I've been invited, but there's a reason I don't really hang out with people I went to school with so I declined. She did say she'd tell me when they head out, and that it'll be in the next hour. That was 40 minutes ago. I wouldn't mind so much if I hadn't gone to the trouble of getting ready. So I am sat here, all dressed up and no place to go. Another reason to move back to the Uk. Even with the number of friends I have there dwindling with people moving home after graduation or whatever, I'd still be able to go out on a Saturday night if I wanted to. There'd be someone to call if something like this happened. I went through my phone here to see who there was I could call, see if they were out already and I could join them. I came up with 2. Neither of whom are available.

I know I could go out and would probably meet someone I knew in the bar, but its not the same. I can't just latch onto another group, that's not my way. I'd feel out of place if I did that. I'm not the greatest at integrating well. It takes me time.

On a brighter note, I'm hopefully going to Edinburgh for a few days towards the end of October with one of the girls. I'm starting to really look forward to it and we haven't even booked anything yet!! I keep telling her it'll be freezing there at that time of year but her response is just that she'll wrap up well! My kinda girl!

Long awaited return

Or is it?

Been a while since I've visited here. I've actually been kinda busy, for a change. Works been keeping me mental, as one of the girls got a grown up job and left, leaving me by myself to do all the monkey work, and they didn't get around to replacing her until a few weeks ago. Then with the other women I work with taking holidays I was covering other shifts left right and center. Not complaining, I need the money, but man I was tired. So Batman and I planned a few weeks together. He came to visit the homestead for the first time, and then I went back to the Uk with him for two weeks. It was so nice to be away from everything for a while. And nice to be together to celebrate our 1 year. Imagine! I got to a year in a relationship - with the same guy the whole time! I'm more surprised that he still wants to be here than anything else. I figured he'd have run a mile by now, but apparently not.

I did start freaking out a bit though. Its been a year for feck sake. I don't do this. And admittedly now I'm worried more about whats ahead than I was before. I have no plans. I thought I had, but nothing has worked so far. The teaching thing fell through, seems no one wanted me. And this current job is fine, but man its driving me crazy. I've been back from the Uk for two days and have avoided contacting them. I figure they'll ring me when they need me to come in. They know I'm back. I know I need to go, I need the money {sensing a pattern?} but I just don't want to do it anymore. I am sick of the small minded gossipy nature of the shop, and the internal politics and bitching. I am actually reconsidering an idea I had when I was 18, to become a mechanic. I hate working with women, so an almost all male environment would be ideal. I can actually deal with the sexist stuff easier than the gossipy crap.

Enough venting, and onto my favourite topic. Books!!

I went to see the movie of Neil Gaiman's Coraline recently, and it was good but, it's got to be said, the book is better. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, and as a kids movie its pretty creepy and very detailed and the art is beautiful, but I enjoyed the book that bit more.

I've moved onto a new author this month. Melissa Marr. As Batman and I were going through Dublin airport, we stopped in a bookshop, as is the norm for us. And a book called Wicked Lovely caught his attention. The tag on the cover said "So compelling it will give Twilight a run for its money." Now I haven't read the Twilight series {yet} but if this book could claim that on the cover, I figured it was worth the €8.99. And man was it. I loved it. Could hardly bare to put it down some nights. Its the story of a girl called Aisling who can see faeries, as could her mother and grandmother, and how one faery in particular seems to have taken a liking to her. Drama unfolds! Its aimed at teenage girls, like the Twilight series, but I gotta admit, I loved it so much I went and purchased part 2 and 3 a mere week and a half after picking up the first one. I started the third one this afternoon! They are a little addictive. But better addicted to books than, well, an awful lot else.

I think I may have a slight obsessive nature. Just an ickle one.