A good giggle..

With thanks to reddevilmeuk @ oldnrubbish.co.uk

Migraines

Well today I suffered my first ever Migraine, and what a bitch they are!

I do suffer with headaches but this really was the worst one I have ever encountered, I know the pain killers have softened it a bit and I am sure it shall return.

So please don't shout at me, well for today anyhow!

27 dresses....part 2

Today has been a big day....made a lot of big decisions, terrified yet know they have to be done! No turning back....

I'll keep you posted out there....

Are you looking at me?

If easily made queasy by ugly people please keep moving. Thank you.

Let me start by saying I am 47 years old, I have some grey hair and wrinkles and I am fat..yes I said it I am old and fat. So what!

What bring this up , is in many chat groups I belong to is yet another celeb has lost weight and become an acceptable human being again, so much so at my age she is on the cover of a magazine in a bikini. I am happy for her, this was her goal and she met it head on. Now she is reaping the benefits.

I do not want to hear 47 is the new 37, what does that even mean? I do not want to age backwards, I do not want to look like a teenager, I do not wish to wear bikinis in public.

I know there has to a middle ground between neglecting or abusing ones self and only focusing on yourself. Everyday I see people that all they go on and on about is looking better ,looking younger...I don't get it, is it really all that horrible to be who you are? Is it really healthy to focus so much on your looks?

Now don't get me wrong,. Healthy is a good thing. I understand that we all should take good care of ourselves, but to concentrate so hard on fighting nature, is it really the healthiest way to live our lives? Is this the example we want to leave to future generations? How about remembering to lives ourlives with out being so obsessive about how we look while living it?

Maybe I am just rambling again and have no idea what I am talking about.

Knowing me Knowing you

Years ago I hung round with people who were into religion, spirituality and deep and meaningful conversations and relationships. There was a snobbishness to it and there was a sense that if you weren't spilling your heart and soul out with someone, you didn't really know them.

Nowadays I spend a lot of time in the virtual realm where life revolves round 140 characters but I still get a lot of people who would say that you only know people who you're very close to.

It's something I've always disputed because I think anything you do gives off something about your personality, even just your image tells something about you. It mightn't be all of you or "the real" you but it's still you nonetheless. Take someone like C. Ronaldo. I have a real sense of what he's like as a person for years even though I've never heard him speak. There are lots of people I interact with regularly on Twitter, Facebook and blogs who I've never met but I have a sense of what they're like just from their avatars and short humourous comments. Even the very false people are giving out something of themselves.

I don't know if I'm arguing into nothing here but just thought I'd make the point.

Twitter TV

Hey guys, it's been a little bit since I've been here but those of you on twitter will have seen me duckin' and divin'. I know I talked before about how celebs are all over twitter now and for whatever reason I wasn't following any...............until now. I came across Puff Daddy, Puffy, P Diddy whatever he calls himself now, which as it turns out is 'I am Diddy'. Ingenious. I am The HI, whatever. Not my point here.
I started following him, more so out of curiosity and you know what he's actually ok. What I like the most is that he created his own online channel called, wait for it.................................P Twitty. That's actually good. The guy's bursting with energy and is actually quite keyed in to the whole social network scene (or his ooddles of people are).
He throws up tweets when he's about to go on live so being the consummate researcher I am, I took a gander. What I was witnessing was himself, Iddy Biddy, telling us how great his brand of vodka is and then started playing the new album of some artist of his. Who cares? What really kept me watching was when tweeters started asking him to dance. Huh? He's usually pretty shy and reserved (eh, not really) but up he got and started shaking his bits. Fuck me, it was a train wreck and you know what they say about that.

I wanted to get in on the act. His dancing actually reminded me of @davidgregory (twitter talk) who's a 6'5 white guy known for dancing to any musical acts when on the Today Show. He now is the White House correspondent. Nuff said.
Anyway I tweeted him. All the tweets were appearing on the screen so I asked if he stole his dance moves from David Gregory form NBC? I thought it was funny and I guess he (or whoever was reading them) did 'cause they Re-tweeted it so everybody could see it. You see sometimes it pays off being a smart arse.
Maybe I should change my name to Duff Paddy. Whatcha think?

A proposal

In honour of it being H.I's birthday today I propose that we all meet up at 5.30 GMT and have a pint to celebrate this momentous occasion!

Ok this may not actually be possible, but many happy returns H.I hope you have a wonderful day stateside!

11 years in Ireland

This month I celebrate 11 years in Ireland. What a huge change it has been. It was such life change that resulted in me having to move here in the first place, but I'd always wanted to live in Ireland anyway. My family are all Irish and nearly all of them live in Ireland. Even though I had a very happy and comfortable life in South Africa, I was looking forward to one day living in Ireland.

When you are "Irish" and grow up somewhere else, and seeing how popular and loved Irish culture is, it makes you almost "miss" it. Irish people who grew up in Ireland think it's kind of funny, almost corny. I can understand that too - but there's a natural longing to belong, to be a part of that culture when you grow up outside it. I don't know what other countries have such a strong, widespread identity with a such a global affinity. People with even the most tenuous links to Ireland tend to be the most vocal about being a member of this family.

Living here of course is an entirely different matter. When you're taken as Irish, the sense of humour is possibly the hardest part of being Irish and having to live with Irish people if you're not used to it. Gobshite and "you useless fucker" are terms of endearment. Someone accidentally breaks something, walks into something, knocks something - we offer words of consolement like "what are ya like Patrick, you toothless eejit".

Walking down the street, poor Niamh trips over a badly laid flagstone, "Christ Sarah" says her dad to her mother, "Are you sure she's ours? Didn't I tell you to take her back and get a test done?" With a smile of course.

The only Irish word I knew when I moved was Slainte. Being in pubs anywhere, Slainte is a great way to say cheers. One day soon after I moved to Limerick, an ambulance went flying past me. It said "Bord Slainte" on the side. I thought, "Jesus, alcohol ambulances. Jesus they must take it really seriously". Forgot completely that it mean "health".....

Just another statistic..

Well finally the recession has come knocking on my door. In a months time I will find myself as one of the nameless masses who have been unfortunate enough to lose their jobs due to the economic crisis in Ireland at the moment.

Nasty, nasty stuff. My boss who shall remain nameless did not have the decency to call and let me know which is what hurts the most. Having stayed in this job to help him through these bad times this is a real kick in the teeth. I understand the decision from a business perspective and whilst I may not agree with the principle I can see how it has happened. It is not the answer to save this retailer but too much listening to accountants over the past 8 months is what has left us in the position we are in right now. No cashflow due to no stock etc etc....

I dont want this to be a doom and gloom post because it does not need to be. I have a fantastic family who will help if nesseccary, a beautiful supportive girlfriend and friends a plenty. Maybe it will provide me with new and interesting prospects? Maybe it will push me into another area? who knows!! So whilst it is a bit of a shock right now it is not the end of the world.

YOLO!! you only live once, enjoy it :)

27 Dresses

well not quite 27 but 2 anyway!

There I was last night watching 27 Dresses, a friend had recommended I watch it. Now I'm not really into girlie flicks but said hey I've nothing else on tonight so I'll give it a gander.

Dear god...was I shocked....it was me!!!!!! OK it's a girlie movie but the story line really got me and how close it felt to home (OK so amn't in love with my boss but all else was very close to the bone). Am always running after everyone else looking after them and keeping them happy yet here I am the singleton with two bridesmaids dresses to my credit and no "Kevin" in sight.

It really knocked me for six watching it, little did I think I'd be so affected by a movie but it really has me thinking about my life and the way I am....and wanting to find "Kevin".......

Will keep you posted!

A great day for Ireland

Happy Mothers Day folks, But to hell with that crap what a day for Ireland yesterday.

Now I know many of you dont give a shit about a sport called rugby but here in Ireland rugby has a huge following and in this years 6 nations championship Ireland ended up getting the grand slam, Championship and Triple Crown by just about beating Wales in a very exciting game. Then last night to top it all off Bernard Dunne went and won a world championship belt in boxing.

So on the week we celebrated Saint Patricks Day yesterday was a great day to be an Irishman.

Mother's Day

Like all the rest Mothers Day is a first for me.

The first mothers day

The first Birthday

The first Christmas 

Without my mom

And yet the Crocus's are coming out, the sun is shining, the laughter is on my children's faces 

And I finally realise that life does indeed go on 

Celeb Watching

Had such a fantastic day in London on Monday with my best mate Debs. I had to have a filling re done in the morning, which I wasn’t looking forward to but my dentist is such a gentle soul I had no problems at all.

So off to London Debs and I go, with me trying not to dribble too much and Debs taking the piss out of me and how my mouth goes at funny angles due to the injection I had. First call was Covent Garden for a mooch around the shops and stalls and have lunch. Thank goodness the numbness in my mouth has stopped by then or I might have needed a bib. The weather was gorgeous and the street artists were out in full.

Then we had a hot date with a very good friend of mine who was able to get us in to see the filming of a regular TV show. We were whisked past the waiting queues feeling like celebs ourselves, and taken behind the scenes of lots of studios and then to the Green Room. Here we were settled with refreshments, and spotted a few celebes, one was the gorgeous Myleen Klass and her lovely daughter. Debs then nearly swooned at seeing Enrique Iglesias, who was such a smouldering hunk in the flesh and he sang live with Gabriella Chilem. It was such fun to see behind the scenes and to watch the show being filmed. Thank you M for organising it and looking after us so well x x

Then off we scoot to Soho where a friend of mine was showcasing a comedy sketch he had written at a club there. Im a great fan of Casualty and outside the club we saw ‘Abs’ who used to be in it. Another gorgeous young man. We got in the lift and he joined us. I was very cool and asked which floor, and my mate Debs turned into a right celeb stalker by nearly drooling over him lol. He was very sweet and very nice and it was such a shame I couldn’t fit him into my handbag. The show went really well, and there were a few celebs there too, as well as friends who we caught up with in the bar afterwards.

Number of celebs seen = 11

Nearly fell asleep on the train home, and when I crawled into bed in the early hours of the morning, I certainly had a smile on my face. What a day!

x x x

The Male Psyche

There's a particular element of the male psyche I've been trying to come to grips with this long time and it came back into my head 2 days ago (cue idea for a first post).

I've come across this loads over the years and it's where a man effectively hides that he has a partner. It may not even be a conscious thing. It may just be part of the whole compartmentalisation thing (i.e. keeping all aspects of life separate). Or it may be keeping options open. I don't know. This is the question I have for the men.

To clarify I give you two scenarios:

Scenario 1
I got to know a male friend a few years ago, would meet him regularly, I knew he was seeing someone but the first time he mentioned her was when they got engaged a few years later. And when something's not mentioned it becomes kind of a taboo so I never said anything back. Now there wasn't any big sparks going on or anything that would warrant him hiding the mrs so I never understood it.

Scenario 2
Two friends of mine, male and female. We had suspicions that he was doing a line but again he said nothing. Then one day someone asked him out straight in front of all did he have a girlfriend and he went purple and admitted he did. He never mentioned her again and then one day we're all in the pub and this random woman comes over to the table. We think she's selling charity raffle tickets and it turns out it's the mrs. Awkward embarrassment ensued as we're trying to pretend that we knew all about her. Himself goes purple again.

I could give you 20 other examples.

So what's it all about?

In Honour of the Day that Is

Why are there only 239 beans in an Irish Bean soup? If there were one more it would be two farty

Baby on Board

A wee bit of humour for Monday:

A woman gets on a bus with her baby. As she pays for her ticket, the bus driver says: "That's the ugliest baby I've ever seen. Ugh!"
The woman sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: "The driver just insulted me!"

The man says: "You shouldn't take that. You tell him off – go ahead,

I'll hold your monkey."

Forgive me father for I have sinned

It been a long time since my last blog post, I am sorry. I notice though no posts worrying about quiet I have been or is Shan still alive or anything, nice to know I aint missed.

So what has kept me away, well for starters work has gone all mad on me. I have suddenly found myself not as sound engineer but as web 2.0 guru for the company and have been busy setting up blogs, facebook things, youtube pages and promoting it out there to our clients. My neck is on the line if this does not work though, which is a bit of a pain in the arse. Also people are expecting instant results from it and I am trying my best to explain that these things take time.

Its hard but at the same time I have enjoyed the challenge.

In other news I got a new camera! It is also my first costly purchase online and to be frank with the worrying I did probably my last aswell. A site called http://simplyelectronics.net was recommended to me by a friend on twitter, unfortunately none of my other photographic buddies knew of them, but the price of the camera was €400 cheaper then Irish camera shops, so the deal was to good to let go!

So after a day of pondering weather to order it or not, I finally made the decision and ordered it on the 3rd of March. I also paid for express delivery which was for 2-4 days delivery time.

Job done.

Then on google chat a mate of mine asked me who I had ordered from, I told him and he wrote back "bollox"

My heart sank, I asked him why and was told that he had ordered a camera before christmas and it had not arrived after 4 weeks so he canceled the order and demanded a refund and to that date this had not come through, all I could think of was the worst.

The following morning I awoke to see the payment had gone through on Google Checkout, great I thought, hopefully today I should see the google receipt go from not shipped to shipped. 3 days passed and it still said not shipped! I was shitting it at this stage and did the worst thing possible did a google search on the company which brought up one forum of 23 pages complaining about simply electronics!

I decided that when I got home I would cancel the order and get the money back, but sods law, I arrived home to see it had shipped, typical.

then on Tuesday this week I received the package and carefully opened the sealed box to check if the camera was new, a refurb or simply a counterfeit. Well I am glad to say that it is the genuine article and is now registered with canon uk, so it aint even a grey import.

Would I recommend them? well to be honest I would probably order from them again due to their prices but I would definitely use a CREDIT CARD and order EXPRESS DELIVERY for sure.

Who's a turnip?

Who knew rutabagas (turnips to us Irish) would provide so much entertainment? I can't help but wonder, why the kilt and who dropped the ball?

Hanging Around

From what was a very sad start to the weekend, it turned out to be a lovely one with family and friends. It was the 5th anniversary of my Mums death on Friday. Just cant believe its been 5 years. It hit me quite hard this year, being the second one without Dad. My brother and I continue the tradition we started with Dad, going up to the Cemetery and lay some lilies and then go for a drink and bite to eat together. We could’nt do this on the Friday, as my brother had a funeral to go to. So we did this on Saturday. The Cemetery where my parents are is lovely, its a memorial garden, so no headstones, just brass plaques in the ground and lots of flowers around. Its right next to some fields, so its very peaceful. Often when I visit its just me and the rabbits. We shed a few tears, shared a few smiles and hugs and then went for a lovely Thai meal at my brothers local pub. Met up with my niece and nephew, more hugs, which was lovely.

Then on Sunday I went for lunch to some good friends of mine. They are very much into BDSM and its fascinating to hear what they have been up to. They had a new toy to show me. My friends have a lovely barn extension on their cottage in the middle of nowhere. They have huge beams, from which various hooks and brackets are attached. Their new toy had been made for them, a contraption with a manual hoist, which when your ankles are attached to it by stirrups you can be pulled up off the ground and hang upside down! Well I just had to try this as Ive never hung upside down, and it had to be done before dinner too. It was quite weird being hauled up and hanging by your feet. It took me a few minutes to be brave enough to take my hands off the ground, but I did it!. I was about two foot from the floor , with a cushion underneath me just in case ! I managed about six minutes before I got a bit dizzy and asked to be taken down. I imagine it would be great for those with bad backs, Im sure I was a bit tallker when I was released lol.

x x x

TW'ELEBS

I'm not sure how all the writers here on 49 met but I'm thinking the common denominator was Twitter. Those of us who are t'heads got on there to either meet new people, network with peeps in or out of their industry or find a bride from Thailand. Whatever floats your boat, right? For me I wanted to use it as a network tool but as it happens met some cool people from all over both in and out of my field.
I came across this article in the LA Times last week about actors who use twitter to 'talk' to their fans. I know there are a bunch of celeb twitterers out there and this was confirmed to me when my missus was reading one of her celeb rag mags last night and they had an article about some of these peeps. Ashton and Demi, John Mayer, Lance Armstrong, Jimmy Fallon, whoever else. I couldn't be bothered getting up and getting the mag now but you get my drift.
Now, I wouldn't be caught dead reading one of these mags because I have soooo much more important shit to be doing BUT for research purposes I 'glanced' through it. It took longer than I thought. Lots o' pictures though!
Anyway, these folks have 10, 20, 30 thousand followers so I guess for them it keeps them in touch with their fanbase and it is free market research to see how their latest movie or album is being received. As for the followers it makes them fell like the celebs are talking to them when they tweet and makes them feel accessible, I guess.
Here in LA, in particular celebs are so revered and idolised that they become more like untouchable gods so with Twitter, I think it makes them more human and 'normal'. If they tweet that they're stuck in traffic on the 405 (freeway) people can relate to that especially if they're also stuck on the 405. For me I love the interaction with new (interesting) people. I'm not looking to be one of 43,684 followers whereby you'll never have a direct conversation with them. I could care less really. Not putting anybody down but for me, I want some interaction.
I thought it was interesting to see quickly Twitter is hitting the mainstream. Apparently, Twitter had 2.6 million users in Jan. up from 178,000 last year. Pretty remarkable. I'm sure George Clooney having 1.3 mil followers has helped!
BTW, APPARENTLY Britney's new tour is going to be "off the hook" and John and Jen are celebrating their 1st anniversary, ahh!

Reunions/dinners/gatherings in general/help!

Ok who goes to high school reunions and why?? I mean really, If I wanted to have contact with those people I would. Thanks to the internet, you can track down darn near anyone you want to. In Oct. I will be dragged possibly kicking and screaming to my husbands 30 year reunion. I should add I went to the same school and did indeed hang around with some people from his class. Those people most likely won't be there. We cut so much class time to go "play" during school ,why would we go back for this?

Maybe marrying a social butterfly was not a wise choice for anti-social me. No not the serial killer type of anti-social, just the not so fond of people type.Worse part is I know about it enough in advance I am going to whine about it for the next 7 months and get myself all worked up, it won't be as bad as I think, but bad enough.

It does make me wonder, do other people just love these sort of things? They do seem to be tradition, is it for traditions sake, or are there people who look forward every 5 years to these get togethers?

I have a low tolerence for bragging and it seems these things just turn into brag fests. Thank heavens for alcohol, which makes any gathering tolerable!

Tonight I will be dragged to a dinner put on by my husbands work, I am beyond thrilled to go to this thing :o(

Tonight will be the first time I have had to truely do the social thing in about 14 years, so whatever tiny bit of social skills I may have once had are long gone or at least very rusty.

Time to figure out what to wear, appears p.j's are not proper attire, time to drag out my grown up clothes.

Any tips and tricks not to lose my mind tonight and next fall will be greatly appreciated.

Sorry sorry sorry!!

have been missing in action for a few weeks....Feb is our busiest times and end up with no time to myself! Anyway sorry boss for no posts, promise normal service shall resume.

So the big question for me is what do I do...end of ski season is near and do I come home to the ol sod and see what work I can get or do I stay out here for a while longer, reading the web is siding me in one direction!!! I can't believe how bad it all is, I feel lucky I have a job and am in a good position. It seems so surreal really all this....hmmmmm decisions!

Miss you Mum

Friday 6th March, 2009 is the 5th anniversary of my Mum dying. This year it has hit me really hard. I miss her so much. We didn't always see eye to eye and there were times when although I loved her dearly I didn't like her. But she was my mum.

Mum suffered from depression through her life, she had problems from her childhood and not an easy life. So sometimes it wasn't easy living with her. In October 2003 she had a hysterectomy, as the doctors had found a few abnormal cells. She recovered well from that operation and had more tests, only to be told that the cancer had travelled. She started Radiotherapy and then Chemotherapy and had visits to the Royal Marsden. Then just before Christmas she was informed that her condition was in fact terminal, the cancer had travelled to her liver, bones and brain.

I was there that day, with dad, waiting for her to return home from the Marsden in her hospital transport car. As soon as she walked through the door I knew that something was wrong, she was crying and couldn't face us. We went out to the hallway and brought her into the kitchen. Once she had calmed down a bit she was able to tell us what the consultants had told her. That her cancer had spread and it was terminal and she only had a couple of months to live.
We just huddled together and cried and held each other. I promised my mum that I would do everything in my power to make sure she was comfortable and pain free. Unfortunately i wasn't able to do that when she went into hospital for what proved to be the last time. Stupid doctors didn't prescribe her the pain killers she needed until I was very cross with them.

I left my parents to come to terms with the news and to give them some privacy. I then had to go and tell my brother, not an easy thing to do.

It was 11 short weeks from that day to the day she died in a local hospice.

I then took up caring for my dad as he was disabled and it was my mum that did everything, looking after him and running their home. I didn't really have a proper chance to miss mum, although I did most of my grieving in those short 11 weeks before she died. I used to cry all the way down the M23 to home.

Then dad died in July 2007 and that left a huge hole in my life. Its only been this past six months that I have missed both my parents equally. As when dad first died I missed him more. Does that make sense?

So this years anniversary feels very different from the others. Its the second one without dad, and my emotions are feeling quite raw.

Going to the cemetery with my brother on Saturday to lay down some Lillie's, one from each of us remaining, myself, my brother and his three children. Then we are going for something to eat and spend a bit of time together. We did this when dad was alive, and it feels right to continue.

What do I miss about my mum? Her laughter and wacky sense of humour. Her cooking and hospitality, she was a great cook. Her hugs when I was feeling down, and when I was poorly and living away from home the provisions she would pop in to keep me going and not being over fussy. Watching her potter around in her garden, her pride and joy. There are many things I miss about my mum, but most of all I miss just having her here.

x x x

Freedom

So this is my first week of freedom no more work.

Monday woke up feeling a little sad but thought I'm going to take it easy so realistically I did very little .

Tuesday was spent very much the same as monday except I had to look for my birth cert and a bill in my name and passport. Took a while but managed that and thought this is'nt too bad I can get used to this.

Wednesday was a different story got up and went into town to go to the social welfare office , got in there and took a ticket I was no 33 I looked up at the counters , only two in use a number of staff laughing behind in the back and it was only at number 3 my heart sank . So i found a space to sit down and wait ,after about an hour there was this awful banging and shouting , the man beside me said someone must be locked in somewhere but no , the next thing in walked two policemen there was a drunk in one of the cubicles and he would'nt leave so he was manhandled out.

I was there for two and a half hours and hav'nt enough credit's to get any money as I only worked part time so now i just go in to sign so i can get my pension. As I sat there I thought about the other's with me mostly men some having great crack , like it's a meeting place there was laughter, conversation in many different languages and I thought so many of us all different in the same boat.

How cool is this

Not to rub it in too much but while I was out for a stroll on Sunday I noticed this view. Pretty cool I think.
**Click on photo to enlarge**

Echo, Echo Echo

Well after two solid years of nagging , begging withdrawing ironing and cooked dinners I have a dog!

Echo arrived this afternoon to us after spending the first 15 months of her life in a concrete freezing damp outside kennel, as I write this she is lying on my sofa sound asleep next to the radiator it seems she is quite adaptable lol

Echo is the most gentle loveliest  natured Cocker spaniel you would ever want to meet, she is pitch black and colour co-ordinates perfectly with me( I always wear black)

she in a matter of hours is both loved and settled with children and adults alike.

I hope and I think we have chosen wisely.

Civil servants told to stop using Wikipedia for asylum claims

This popped out in the Sunday Tribune today the 2 bodies who have the power in the asylum process the Refugee Applications Commissioner and Refugee Appeals Tribunal have been using Wikipedia to gather their information when making decisions of a person application for refugee status.

As the article states and not surprisingly 'Concerns have been raised that entries on Wikipedia are changed for political reasons to reflect better human rights practices in some countries. A number of embassies in Ireland have repeatedly claimed there is no female genital mutilation in their country, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.'-

What idiots -will an investigation/audit be carried out to see how information referenced from Wikipedia lead to refugee status being rejected?