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......