Belfast goes Boom

My point of this post is that i like Halloween, and our kick ass week long school holiday which all the Unis don't get. It's now 17.17, and it is almost fully dark. I am predicting that i will see a firework go off within the next 10 mins. I'm also predicting that as i'm walking down a Belfast street tonight; loads of random fireworks will shoot up and go boom.

Can somebody tell me, are fireworks here illegal or not? I don't really care whether they are or not, but from what i know it's damn easy to get your hands on them. When used properly, they are great fun, but stay safe everybody! It's Halloween night, and i always find it amusing that in a place where fireworks are illegal, about 10 go off every second, turning this city into a fireworks boombox. Awesome (:

Hallo

Wowee. It's October already. And it's roasting. On the radio today they were talking about how it's abnormally hot right now, so instead of talking about why it is so weirdly warm, they decided to talk about how this warmth would affect the planting of gardeners' tulips. I was miffed.

So anyways, i'm leaving myself very little time to pack for going up north. Even less time than usual. In otherwards, if i don't pack right now before going to bed, i won't get a chance to, coz (unlike some), school looms tomorrow. Ah well. Have a good weekend

15th - 30th August

I'm predicting that this post will be much shorter than the others, as i actually spent the last 2 weeks of August at home (well, close to home), doing whatever i felt like! Here goes.....

The week after Limerick i was left at home with Gav, as the rest of the family decided to pack off to England for a week, as they hadn't really been away. So i had a full free week to do some totally random stuff. In that week a lot of the Limerick team just went out to ramble in random places. I visited Pirate Golf for the first time, and it was way way above my expectations, and great fun. And i was dressed half like a pirate.

Since there was pretty much nobody to cook for me, i spent a lot of time either eating out or scrounging food off other people. Come to think of it, i now remember what i did on the Monday. There was free pizza & bowling for the Five Alive at the Odyssey again! So i got stuck into the pizza, and then sucked bigtime at bowling, which has gone downhill lately. Maybe the Aussie name of 'Mrs Mangle' was to blame! Tuesday i must've played footie or something, then SRO came round and rocked out all night, until like midnight. Mark & Jack left their stuff, went home, came back, and then we had a jam session which Mark videoed, including crazy drum & guitar solos. Then they made the weirdest snack i've ever seen (or tasted), ketchup & mayonnaise mixed together! On top of bread! I hate both, but the mix wasn't that bad, but this sort of thing is typical of those guys, and it's good!

Of course, my nights were bigtime late around this time, with many bedtimes well into the early hours, but for some reason i always kept getting up pretty early! Well ok, on the Wednesday i slept a lot, but chilled at night. Thursday we just all went and hung at the park, then had a Summer Scheme meeting. Oh yea, and Bethany randomly turned up in Belfast, so it was cool to see her again like 4 days after Limerick. I'd spent the last 3 days making my own tea (mainly on the BBQ), so this was the first of i think 3 nights that i ended up at the Bergin's house and scrounged some good grub. Also Graham, Matty, Phil & i launched our plans for a takeover of their attic, which may someday be one of the swazziest apartments in Belfast!

So Friday, Saturday & Sunday was the Summer Scheme in B'fast. However, the numbers were tiny! Ah well, it gave me ample time to just sit and play the guitar for hours on end, which i did do :) Sunday we all piled out to the zoo, and it rained all day, and we got nicely soaked! And also, with great pleasure i discovered that the one and only Gary Hamilton sponsers 'Al' the Zebra!
So that ended a totally weird week of wreckedness, fun, and surprises, some of which still have me thinking to this day. Onwards with Xtreme week....

Xtreme week i rekon was a success. The crowds were nice, the sketches were good, and Hanz und Franz rocked the show. But before that, on the Monday, SRO headed to a random studio and pulled off recording a 5 track EP in a boiling hot studio, on a roasting day. 8 hours, 5 tracks, not bad. Dave Bell's singing screw up remains one of the funniest things of the summer. As for the EP, i've heard it to bits now, but there are quite a few bits where i screw up (in the middle of Track 5 is most notable), but we didn't have time to re-record. Recording drum tracks is a weird thing to do, you see. But i'm ready for next time. Standing Room played at Xtreme, and as that hall cannot take our mighty sound, we were just a wall of sound!

Anyways, that week was a fun one, apart from getting exam results & going to Xtreme and generally kicking about i didn't do that much, and i ended up at Jimbo's on the Friday for a big BBQ....

Stevie: You do not need lighter fluid to light a BBQ!

Everybody Else: You've been lighting the BBQ for an hour, put some damn lighter fluid on it!

Yea, with the absence of Gav & Scotty, Stevie was in charge of the BBQ. Inexperience (:

So on that Friday we spent the afternoon just chilling, and then we ate loads. I went to Jamie's house and stayed the night, as the rest of my household had gone to Donegal. So the next day Rick left me to the Europa bus station, where they wouldn't accept my student card! So it cost me £8 single to Derry! That is what you call a rip and a half. But anyways, i made it up to Derry where i got a lift to Dunfanaghy, where i spent the weekend with everybody & Scotty & co. The best bit of this was when one night we decided to play Monopoly at like midnight. Now, Scotty is the ultimate master at these type of games. In Risk he can take over the world in 5 mins flat. However, 2 hours later i had beaten him!! Haha!!

So after that i came home, and got my lengthy hair chopped off, and went into school which was a waste of time. Actually, that's my summer story pretty much over.

I seem to remember that in June i made some sort of list of things i wanted to do over the summer, stuff like to meet new people, to make the most of what i did, and to keep friendly with people i already know. (I lost the list, but if i find it ill mention it again). I'm pretty sure i've done those, and it was a fun & weird time i had. Thanks everybody! For now it's back to my normal/pointless blogging.

Hope you liked my effort at the summer, even though it took like a month to do! I've missed loads out, and there ain't really much way i can do it proper justice. Ah well. Anyways. After all, you all did say "yay" when i asked......

6th -14th August

6th August i got up, finished packing, then went down and threw my stuff into the bus which we'd be bustling about in for the next week. What'd we all do on the way down??? I just remember sitting in the 2nd row of seats on the left (beside the seat with awesome legroom), and getting a Stone Roses CD going through my big headphones.

Like 5 hours later we pulled into Limerick, which looks no different to when i was last there in February (that's no bad thing), we pulled up our bus, unloaded it and chucked all our stuff inside. All the Limerickans were there waiting for us, and so we met all of them (Sam, David, Paul, Mark, Bethany & Jon), who turned out to be pretty big legends. We played some incredibley random games, and got to know each other, and told jokes (yes, the pea on a fork is a good joke). So we just spent the night laying down the ground rules and eating raw chicken at one point. The first night i spent on my good old windowsill, only to wake up at like 4am to find me pretty much falling off it, so i resorted to the floor for the rest of the time.

Sunday we got up, had breakfast at the big long tables which are still there, and went to the morning service, which was pretty cool. There seemed to be a few more about than last year anyways. Sunday afternoon we got the place "rigged up", and bascially messed about.

Monday we kicked the kids club off, and we got a nice little number, including quite a few of the kids from last year. Theme was Pirates this year (LandLubbers), and i have to say Mal & Niall made two damn good pirates as they had their antics through the week. As did the drama team, lead by Jamie, and backed up by the king's man Phil Emerson, who wandered on stage once every few days, and gave one of his trademark PE performances. So the kids club was all well and good, and we just spend Monday afternoon hanging, playing Mashed, and doing stupid things. Oh yea, we also set out to send fliers about and had some good times, seeing the places which hadn't changed at all. Extreme was launched on Monday night, and we got more than last year, which was great. So all the usual went on, but the highlights had to be DJ Mal and his DJ Set, and the triumphant return of Hanz und Franz, in the bodysuits and all. And of course, we got the Limerick beats going full pelt again, and all piled out onto the street after and did our usual antics.

And about those antics, one thing which i will always remember will be the fact that Irish truckers are always up for a laugh. I spent a large portion of the bus trips in America trying to get the Yankees to pull the horn, and none of them did. However, the truckers going down the main street of Limerick seemed happy to, and we kicked ass at getting them to do it. I'll also remember the trucker from up here, who we tried to get to beep his horn, but he couldn't because it was bust! At least he tried. But yea, we got them to beep their horns, then we all went nuts as the passers by wondered what on earth was going on!

The next few days were Landlubbers & Xtreme again, and of course all the stuff in the middle. The hair dye had made it's way out again, and you can only guess what colour my hair made it to :). As for the afternoons, on Tuesday we just went out & about, giving out more fliers. Niall was by far the best at it, and he is able to walk up to any randomer and give them one, even if they look as if they are about to stab you! We also discovered this cool sign on the hotel building site. It was basically a "No Entry" sign, but with an outline of this guy mouthing "Stop!" and putting a HUGE hand out to show that going in was a big no no. It was so quality that a picture was taken of it.

Wednesday was only Landlubbers, and our numbers had increased to an all time high, so we got on with the job and did it well. I must mention Phil T, as he did a quality job as the Guy in Charge of Games. "I will shout out a characteristic!" "Let's diverisfy people!" You are a quality games guy, whether you like it or not. The way he addressed the kids was awesome! Unforunately Jon left, becuase of a family bereavement, which sucked, as it was only Wednesday. While he was there was great though.
In the afternoon we took off in our minibus to the full on Limerick pool, and i went up and tanked it in the gym, then went swimming. This was all while Graham & Phil T got refused for entry becuase they had no I.D at all!! We then went off to a Dutch guys house in the country, and had a good BBQ while chillaxing nicely. I was peeved, because i fell asleep on the bus, which i hate doing! Nevertheless, the bus journey back was a full on party, as David & Paul joined in our singalongs and slagging of the English football team. Quality. Then we ended up at Xtreme Bowling in Limerick, except it was even better than last year! The neons were on the rip, the music was pumping, and we all were having a good time. Neil, who was the temporary youth worker at the church, was always coming about with us, and he was a great guy when he got going, and quite a crazy one at times too. He's from Newcastle (our Newcastle, thankfully). Also, he is one awesome ten pin bowler, the only one i know like him is the J man, but anyways, Neil just rolled in the strikes like it was A B C. So that was all good, then we went back to our "living quarters", discussed how to improve what we were doing, and tried to go to bed, except our nights were getting later!
Mr Grumpy originated around this time. For anyone who doesn't know, Mr Grumpy is Niall's friend. Niall told Phil Emerson to shut up or Mr Grumpy would come out, and in true Phil style, Phil made plenty of noise, and so Mr Grumpy came out and proceeded to try and eat Phil. Mr Grumpy was then put to bed by the almighty Jimbo, who had been awoken!

I was only getting out of my "bed" at the very last minute in the mornings, but some people like Jamie Graham & Phil kept getting up at 6am for no reason. Why?!?! Anyways, the last 2 days of the schemes were great fun, and we put ample effort into them. It was all a success in the end, and i'm pretty sure we helped some people have a good time, as well as teaching them stuff. Hanz und Franz was a complete riot, especially when they made me & Graham drink a concoption of tobasco, cat food, coconut milk and sardines. If you ever want to try something horrible, try that! On the Friday night we all piled down to Abrakababra, Jimbo & Stevie in the Hanz und Franz muscle suits!! Now that was funny, all the looks we got!

Saturday we went off to Kilkee again, and got that cool boat again, played pool in the same Irish pub, and went to the same swimming pool and had a right old laugh and great craic. We actually ended up in bed quite early! And i missed the damn 4am "reunion on the stairs" because my alarm didn't even wake me up. Weird. This post is getting huge so i'm just going to go over some of the best bits (actually writing about this is incredibely hard to do 2 months after it happened, and i won't be able to do it justice!)

Neil was such a great youth worker, and what he taught me was amazing, and i haven't forgotten that. His food also improved! And the nachos ruled!

David & Paul were the brothers & musicians, and David was a legend at the old piano, and both a real laugh to be with.

Sam will be a leader someday, as he is just the guy for it. Always up for everything!!

Jon, although he left early, was a great guy to have about, and got on with everybody.

Mark is such a laugh, does anybody remember when him me & Sam went into the perfume shop & just sprayed everything and anything on us. Yes we did. And we smelt awesome afterwards.

Bethany nearly didn't talk that much, but when she did it was great! i'm pretty sure she had a good time, and she looked older than 13. Everybody knows that.


Also i will list the rest:

Stevies "sexy" costumes....
Mint choc chip ice cream!
Mal's car trip (throwing chocolate bars at Neil's car)
Mashed
That afternoon we all just lay on the floor so randomly!
Danger Danger High Voltage
That shop round the corner that sold the lovely sandwiches
Scoobies!

And the bus trip home, which was generally just a laugh and a mix of scoobies (rope thingys for those who don't know).

Well that's the best i can do on Limerick. It was great fun, but i can't really explain it that well!! If i've left anything out, chuck it in my comments box!

21st July - 5th August

So i came home from America, and proceeded not to go to bed for the next 30 odd hours. Me and Jamie had a few hours at home before we were to go up to Donegal, so i just chillaxed at home and got familiar with my surroundings again. I was damn tired, but on the way up we had a meal at a hotel in Letterkenny which woke me up! I stayed in Donegal for the next 4 days, and i can't actually remember what i did. I talked about my previous 2 weeks, slept, and went out to the beach. Oh yea, on the Saturday we met up with Helen & Rach and their 2 Americans who were over, and just pottered about the beach the whole afternoon. It was helping me get back to the familiar way of life for me. So i just chilled in Donegal for 4 days, doing not much, which was quite nice after a few non stop weeks. Actually, come to think of it, i was on the go pretty much non stop from the 1st til the 21st July, with a smaller amount of sleep inbetween.

Anyways, i got home, and again did nothing much. Met up with people i hadn't seen for a while, all that sort of thing, hung about in town, played some rough footie and played some pirate golf, which i went to dressed in my pirate shorts & bandana, all that sort of fun. I'm almost sure i went to some sort of party around the 30th, but i can't remember!

On the 1st August, i made my way up to Lisburn for the Irish Nationals. As you all probably know, i was due to swim but had to pull out becuase my right eardrum didn't exist, because of, well we'll leave that one there, that story has probably been heard enough. You're forgiven, as it is (almost) better. The advantages to not swimming were that i didn't have to go training at 6am in the morning, and i had totally no pressure on me or nerves or anything. I originally went just to watch for one day, but i got recruited to help out as an official, which i wasn't looking forward to at first - but it turned out to be one of the best things i spent that week doing. Also on the plus side, i got to see & talk to many of the Ulster & Irish swimmers who i've met over the past year, many of whom are from down south. So the gala went ahead, i timekeeped, turn judged, and got people in their races and whatnot, while having a laugh throughout, and meeting even more people. For some reason i just kept wanting to go back every day, as i felt pretty relaxed and happy up there, just watching the swimmers do their stuff. Come to think of it, i probably would've wasted all those days away without the Nationals. Course, at times it was annoying to watch races that i should've been in, but overall i enjoyed it loads, and even missed being there on the Saturday!

Yea, i came home from the evening session of the Nationals on the Friday night, threw some stuff in a bag, and got ready for heading to Limerick.

6th - 20th July

Right, since the last post was ginormous, i'm going to tackle the rest of this is a relatively small nutshell...

So i left SM at about 1am on the final night, went home, slept, got up, went into town to get some stuff, ran into guys from school, got wet in the rain. It didn't really seem that in less that 24 hours i'd be cruising to NYC at 500mph, but there you go. That night i must've hit the pit at about 12 midnight, and got up at 4.30am. Of course at this time it was pretty much light, so i grabbed my stuff, hopped in the car, then picked up Jamie & Stevie and went to the international airport, where we got our lovely green T-shirts. So we dossed about from 6am til about 9, when we got on the plane, which then got delayed for at least an hour as the check in PC's crashed. Lovely. As for the flight, well i'd never been on long haul before, and i'd predicted that i'd be bored out of the sky by about 3 hours in. Funnily enough i wasn't, and the flight was pretty good. I remember Stevie, who had decided not to go to bed the night before, sleeping like a full on tank literally the whole way there.

Since our plane had been late, we missed our connection from New York to Raleigh. So we had a few hours in the airport, where i paid $2 for a giant slice of pizza. It was great. So then we got on the plane, went to Raleigh. It was about 8.30pm when we arrived, and we were smacked in the face by the 30C heat and 90% humidity as we walked out of the airport. Myself, Jamie & Reuben ended up with a host family called the Ricks, who took us home and offered us mountains of food.

Next day we went to the NC government buildings, and the Capitol building. We got to watch the politicians debate on whether they raise the limit to alcohol content in NC beer from 6% to 15%, which they couldn't decide, but it was funny anyways. Emmm elsewhere that day, we went to Matrin Lancasters big rich house for lunch (he's something like the 6th highest earner in NC), though his house lacked a nice ginormous TV! That day we also got told about all that things in NC that could kill us, then we had a movie + pizza night with the Americans. Oh yea, there was also an awesome thunderstorm that night, which we drove home in (:.

The next few days consisted of hanging about in pools, malls, eating pizza & seeing movies with some of the Americans. The guy who we were staying with, Hunter, is one hell of a funny guy, who would love it over here i rekon. He's only 17, but he keeps a full on shotgun in his room! Over those few days we also went hiking up Stone Mountain in the west of the state, the views were awesome at the least. On the Sunday we gave a talk to everybody about our homeland, which for some reason i loved doing. Keeping with the Irish theme, the Ricks took us to an Irish pub for lunch. I haven't said much about them yet - The Ricks were my first family, and they were some of the nicest people i've met. There were only 3 of them - Hunter, who was always up for a complete laugh, Susan & Walter. Whoever heard Susan will obviously remember her awesome southern accent. And whoever saw Walter at night will obviously remember him sitting in the same armchair, watching war movies, with an open can of Budweiser at his side!

So during the next week we starting helping to build the house, 9am-2.30pm, in the 35C heat. Doesn't sound like it, but it was great fun, and every day Becky Everett brought us a big tasty lunch (and giant coolers with ice, which i stuck my head in many times). Hard work, but all good fun and laughs. I remember well the time when Jimbo saved my life, because Lynn let go of my stepladder! Remember that one all who went?!

For the rest of the time when we weren't working, we just had pool parties, shopping & meet ups with the americans. Unfortunately Hunter was away in West Virginia so me and Jamie couldn't go do stuff late into the night! But anyways, half way through the trip we changed families, and i ended up staying another week (with Jamie again >:(.....) with some people called the Claytons. Now, how can i describe them? The dad, Jack, is head of some American bank and is rich, the mom, Mary, is just a really nice person, and the 3 kids are just crazy. One of them (Zach) had got himself stuck in Italy when we were there, so it was just John & Will, who were 18 & 16. The thing with these guys was, they could both drive, they were always up for a laugh no matter what time of day, and they seemed to survive every night on 4 hours sleep. Oh yea, the Claytons also had a huge house and a 60" TV. Of course, i was shocked to the full when i first saw that one.

So, as our "working week" drew to a close (on the Friday), we did such things as go see a play in the middle of nowhere (getting lost in the process!) and chilled & all. Friday night, however, was probably my best night of the whole trip. We went to a minor league baseball game, in a really nice stadium. For anyone who things baseball is boring: it is not. Go to a game! You just cheer, play games, and eat bigtime. In a baseball park, for every 100m you walk, there would be 4 food stalls :) They also had fireworks at that game, and then all the Irish & Yanks sped off back home and went to....the Harry Potter launch party!! Others will say differently, but it was a right laugh! What with costumes, loads of people, and the Go Harry Go! chants....
We must've been the last to leave at about 12.45, but we weren't going home yet. That's the thing with Will & John Clayton. We all agreed to go on a mission to change their friend's liscense plates on his new "truck" to John Deere ones. So we got a spanner, sneaked into his front yard in the dead of night, did the deeds, got into the car and drove for it. Haha, doesn't sound funny, but it was good fun, just typical of those guys!

Over that weekend we went to see the various universities with Mary & Jack, and on the Saturday i discovered two gems. 1 is Cold Stone Creamary. Great Ice cream and singing staff! What more would you want? Number 2 is SchoolKids Records USA, which is the best record store i've ever been to. This is a proper record store, only located in 3 places in America (& the World). At this point i still had a lot of cash, so over the next few days i went cerazy, spending $235 on CD's, and $115 in SchoolKids in one go (i had many visits!). Oh, i ended up with about 20 CD's, because everything over there is like half the price of this ripoffland, so i took good advantage of it. Anyways, on the Saturday night around 30 people (half Irish and half Yanks) went to Battlezone. It was like Laser Quest except better, and we shot at each other for 2 full hours. Oh yea, i don't usually boast or anything, but in our Free for All game, i kicked everybodys ass well and good. My trigger finger destroyed everybody and made me win by over 3000 points :). I tell you, i celebrated, in fact i still am......

Over our last few days Hunter came back home and chilled/messed about as usual. Our bedtimes were getting later & later (for me anyways) as i decide to make the best of the time we had left. That was all no problem as John & Will never hesitated to sit up well into the early hours of the morning. We visited a predominantly black church, which had a cool preacher. Oh yea, some of us went to see Joesph again, but it wasn't as good as the Belfast one! On our last full day everybody took off to the beach on the East Coast. In the 4 hours that we were there, we all got fried well and good (i used suncream and still got fried), but nobody really cared (til the next day!). The bus journey home was one of the best ever, with lots & lots of singalongs, especially by The J-Man, who was in an incredibely funny mood. He is damn funny. Later that night we all got a leaving service, where Walter turned up from out of nowhere! (him & Susan had been on holiday) He's such a legend, and a typical American in many cases. That night we hit the road with the Clayton kids again, and ended up at the Everetts house (becuase they have a pool table). We stayed for ages, played stupid games (Fluffy Bunny!), then we picked up a gallon of vinegar from the supermarket, and i went and had a bath in it! We were told it helped sunburn!

By the next morning though, vinegar hadn't really helped. I guess i got off lucky, as certain people.....were lobsters! We all said our goodbyes ,unforunately, and sped off to the airport. We ended up sitting about Newark airport for hours, and left for Belfast at around 9pm (late again!). I'm very proud of the fact that i was only one of three who stayed up the whole way home overnight!! Score! I saw the sun set & rise and all that. I had to sit beside Stevie..again! Except he slept like a tank again apart from when i brushed his sunburn, when he let out a yelp which shook the plane :P. I didn't want to leave, i could've gotten plenty more outta the two weeks, but i just chillaxed the whole way home.

So, that was my trip to America. Sitting here now i know i've done it no justice - i've missed out so many bits, so many funny things, all the things i saw, all the things i did, it's hard to tell it all. But i had great fun, i met new people, and i'd defs go back, and i hope they all home over here! I do get asked from time to time if i'd life there. To that (at the minute) i say no. Because 1. it wouldn't make visiting it as cool, and 2. i already live on a kick ass island...

So there we go! By the way, one of my ambitions is to drive across the states, from West to East. Let's see if i do that one.....

On with the blog holiday!