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Listening to: Duran Duran - Ordinary World


This is how i stand right now. It's Monday, and i'm already thinking about the stuff i'll have to do this weekend. Swimming in Dublin if you don't already know. Irish grammar schools, and (to me) you can screw all the other galas, this is the one that is important to me. It's the one that can secure a second trip with the Irish School's team, or not. So you can guess on Saturday night, my mood will be one of two extremes. You've been warned for either way it turns out. I'm not nervous yet, just feeling pretty jumpy and whatnot. It's not a bad feeling actually. Maybe some adrenaline, i don't know. But anyways. For once i'm having a sensible week of sensible bedtimes and hardly any swimming training. Whatever happens though, i'm looking forward to this weekend, as all school's trips are good craic, and of course i'll be seeing lots of the mob from down south. Talking to one of them tonight, who pointed out it's been over 6 months. That's the swimming world for you though. You make friends, and see them only that often, but it's all good.

What a weird world it is.

Week in Pics

Yea, i'll have a better one next time.

Ohhhhh

Friday 13th was a good day. It had two highlights; one was Jose coming into big bad Inst and talking in assembly about Exodus. And it was such a good talk. He just got stuck in, and somehow got the attention and interest of all 1000 people in that hall, even though he was in reality talking about a Christian ogranisation....nice one Jose! Second highlight was orchestra, when who else but Nick had a big bag of Haribo, and proceeded to position gummi bears on the edge of my crash cymbal, so that they would get projected nicely up into the air mid-song. So after a few tries, at which point most of the orchestra were interested, i managed to (while playing through a song), hit the cymbal, shoot the gummi bear about 5m into the air, and catch it in my mouth, and keep playing. Mr B. didn't have a clue what the hell all the random cheering was about. But honestly, it was one of the most legendary things ever, and i feel very fulfilled now. Hah.

Saturday 14th was an even better day. Of course, at open day the jazz band was screwed with only two trumpets, but who really gave a crap? Davey Howell sure didn't. From that led onwards to the swimming pool for the Ulster Schools. After 4 hours of sitting about, i finally raced, made the final of my 100 freestyle, then went and did that final. And managed a nice 2nd place, to a guy who i know from Derry. Who goes to tech. Going to tech = all the time in world to do stuff like train for swimming. Point made. Oh yea, and that came along with a personal best, so i was well happy.
That wasn't the awesome bit though. The senior relays are a big one at these things, and the money was on for us vs the Methody boys, and the bets on for a close final in both. So our team spent the next hour preparing for this. Out came the red bull, and down went half a can each before the medley relay final. Add this to the amount of lucozade, water and chocolate i'd had and this was me hitting the roof on sugar. High on it if you so desire. It was good, and the adrenaline was flowing. So we did our race, i went last leg about half a second ahead of the Methody guys in second, and i thought it was going to be a toughie. But we ended up completely trashing them, and breaking the Ulster record by 2 full seconds. It was a slaughterfest, and a right fun one too i must admit. So then there was the freestyle relay final, and again came out the red bull (which i never ever drink!), and that resulted in us borrowing one of those swimming pool dummies, dressing it in an Inst hoodie, swimming cap and goggles, and then me carrying it up to the starting area, where he was placed up alongside the diving boards as our "Unofficial Mascot". If that wasn't taking the piss i don't know what is, but we won that final too, and took another record with it, in what was possibly one of the best days of swimming i've had in quite a while. Good craic like that is the reason i enjoy the schools galas. And also the reason why i sometimes enjoy swimming. But next time i go for training, i will hate it again, so don't worry.....

On the side, One of these days by Pink Floyd is one of my favouritist songs ever. One of many favourite songs ever actually. Nonetheless, it makes Pink Floyd look even more legendary than ever, and makes the thought of going to see The Australian Pink Floyd Show in March pretty awesome. They are highly recommended. Anyways, i'm off to Dublin Feb 3rd

Wow, this steak is red inside

I'm sitting here eating a very rare steak, so hopefully i won't get poisoned. Who cares, it tastes good anyways. Yes people, i'm eating my tea at 11.50pm, but that's how i live my life at times. Also, i eat as much of the steak as my molars can break down. That includes the fat, which is nice. I'm also listening to Rush Hour Disc 1, aka, the Limerick beats. Bringing back the memories.....

2005

So, 2005 then. How shall i do this :S.....month by month?

January: Rolled in the year up in Donegal, probably by having a good game of Monopoly. This was when my swimming times really started going down, and where i started doing things i originally thought pretty impossible for myself, so was all good. I think i also remember the time in January when we were in Scotty's car, with the windows down, blasting out "Fight for your right (to party)" by the Beastie Boys! Apart from that, i spent a lot of time wondering about what on earth i was going to do that summer. I'd never really thought much about going to the USA, but for some reason i just suddenly wanted to go. So when i got offered to go to NC, i went for interview.

February: Kicked it off by starting something great that would last for months. Returned to Limerick for the swimming, and had a very relaxing day followed by one of my most athletic days ever. I remember that weekend incredibly well actually. Going to the local M&S to buy a crate of Lucozade, surprising myself by making an Irish final (was seeded 15th), completely knocking myself backwards by coming 3rd in that final, and being confused as hell when told i'd made some Irish team. Then the late night where one guy like broke his leg, then the legendary journey home in the back seats of a people carrier, revising all my chemistry for my mock. Awesome.
This month also saw one of the best music performance nights ever. Friday 25th, i think it was. Went back to Nick's house (this was when i was starting to hang out with him), then crashed this guy Tim's house, then went to the School's Jazz gig thing at the Cresent Arts. We walked in, and were nicely surprised by the full on smokey jazz bar look. And so we saw all the other schools, who were awesome. Now at this point, we'd had Davey H for 2 weeks, and we were full on under-rehearsed, so you can forgive us for being damn nervous, specially myself. But then we went on there and rocked the show. The crowd carried us and we rode on it. It was great, and it gave me a nice big confidence boost for playing the drums in public, something that became a hell of a lot easier after that night.
Yea, apart from that, February was filled with mocks and stuff like that, but it was awesome. I still haven't forgotten the "February 30th" joke, which kept going for ages! Oh yea, and there was February Fanfare, which was pretty cool. I also got interviewed for NC that month, the day before my ad-maths mock. 1 day of revision and i got a C in my mock, which i was proud of!

March: Let's see, March. March saw Choir of the Year, which sucked & which we got our asses kicked in. There was the Irish School's team trip to Wales. As it was my first time in that country, it strikes me as a really weird place. Specially that language. "Wyrydysky llandyrywr" is kinda how it goes. Anyways, i met a few legends on that trip, which really kind of kicked off my contacts with swimmers round this island. And also, the Irish team were by far the best fun. As always. And all i had to do was swim in a 50m relay! The whole Focus Formal thing was pretty good, and it also confirmed my thoughts that i hated Chinese food.

April: Actually, this bit begins March 31st, but who cares. That was the night where the clocks did something, and i ended up getting up at 4 which was actually 3 to go cook sausages with NC people for the dawn thing in the hills. That was pretty cool. Then i sacrificed my Easter Dinner to go to Donegal. However, that was a great fun trip. The tent outside totally owned, cause Phil, Matty & myself had no rules out there. Vortexing was awesome, as was watching those random movies, messing about on the beach, and watching Mark draw "Weird Phil" and "Maxwell" pictures. Oh yea, nobody can forget the Dave Bell late night discussions, Dr Phil, Martin's song, and the full on slagofest of that talent show. And also, there was that awesome milk drinking contest, followed by sitting on the couch for 3 hours straight, then sitting in the tent til 5.30am. The rest of the holidays just had random days out, and at the end of them, a residential for NC group. We went bouldering, which was fully awesome, just jumping in freezing Mourne waters yelling "It's warm!!". By this point SRO had written some hot stuff, and so got themselves a place in that Battle of the Bands competition. Even without Mark, i think we tore down the house, and should've won! The winners completely sucked: ignored the audience, left out solos & had none of their own stuff. Damn methody people. The rest of that month was taken up with swimming, by which point i'd peaked for the year, and doing a bit of work for the old exams. And our school concert, which owned and saw the last performance of some legends.

May: May began with the marathon water table, which was fully cool and wet. That street artist guy, remember him?! Then there was the weekend where i took off to London for the Bath Cup competiton, that was such a fun weekend. On the last night we went to Planet Hollywood and were still running round Leister Square at 1am. Oh yea, and 3rd overall in one of the relay races rounded off a pretty awesome 5 months of swimming. After that my training kinda went down a bit, and i got off on study leave, a lot of which i spent watching 24 Series 3!

June: Exams, exams. I saw Mark Knopfler live at the Odyssey around May or June too, and basically spent my free time doing some revision, talking to people, or hanging in the park. Or being driven about by Stevie. Or playing Halo actually. Sunday 19th i was supposed to go to Dublin for interprovincial gala, but somebody cancelled the Ulster bus! So we just drove down anyways, and had a right laugh in the pool right beside Dublin airport. Even out of training i wasn't doing too badly. 2 days later i was hanging at the city hall 2 hours before my last exam. So i went and did that physics paper (which was easy) then walked out of school to a 9 1/2 week holiday. First thing i did? Had an all nighter of Halo, from midnight-5.30am, with Stevie & Jamie. I'm sure you're all going "Why the hell did you do that?" but why not?! I had nothing else to do! June 25th i went randomly to Dublin and finally saw the centre of the city which i'd been on the outskirts of about 14 times before. It was a roasting day, and we fully got sunburnt, but who cares! Also had an awesome joint b'day party, then spent the last few days of the month saying cya to the people who i wouldn't see for ages, and generally chilling.

July: Ok, i've already blabbed about it enough. But in a small list: Summer madness - Tre Sheppard, telecommunications device, Scotty breaking health & safety laws, big super soakers, Shane the American, Hanz & Franz's debut, free pizza, Niall's bike, catapulting water bombs, meeting randomers from Sligo, the comedy club, JP giving us an awesome pitch, African drumming afternoon with the crazy guys, the TankTent, lying about for an afternoon, our mess of a tent, the 'peace' evening when the lights got turned out & everybody got the phones out, the music, having a guitar, the cool hang out places, late nights, weird eating times. Was all great fun.
NC - transatlantic flying, Stevie tanksleeping, the psycho in New York, the NY theme tune, the Ricks, SUV's, roasting weather, working on the site, pool parties, drinking water, Dr Pleasants, flying squirrels (dives for anybody who thinks i was harming animals), The Claytons, HP launch party, baseball, getting lost in the country, buying loads of CD's, eating huge pizza, outdoor movies, owning everybody at laser tag, watching American TV, more late nights, the dart plane, sunburn, overnight trip back.
After that i was in Donegal, a welcome break from 3 weeks of non stop activity. I was pretty damn relaxed, as i didn't have to go swimming because of my ear!

August: Just chilled about the place, til the Irish Nationals, which i mostly officiated in. As i said ages ago, i just liked being there, as i got to hang out with people i know from down round Dublin, Cork & Galway. Was good fun. Then i took off to Limerick, which i think i also wrote loads about. So here's another list! Limerick - Bus journey, seeing the place look exactly the same, meeting the new guys, stopping at fuel places in the middle of nowhere, mealtime at the big table, kids club, a bigger & better Xtreme, Hanz & Franz, free afternoons, David's cool jokes, sleeping on the windowsill, DJ Mal, the guy Neil, BBQ's, swimming pools, Saturday out, just generally having a real good time while doing something worthwhile. Then we had Xtreme and all here, and more Hanz & Franz! Everybody was back at this point, so it was all good. Oh, and SRO recorded an EP upstairs in some guy's house on a roasting hot day. Interesting.

September: I guess i was pretty moody most of September, because i was back at school, back at swimming, and not as free to do whatever i wanted. Also i pissed myself off over picking subjects, going to training, and wondering whether no was the right answer and if i should've said yes. Still it was good seeing old friends who you only ever see in school! And jazz band was back...but i made a start back into the old competitive swimming, which should hopefully pay off for me now. It wasn't a bad month, but it wasn't really a great one either. Though i did rediscover Gladiators, and my liking for Ice Hockey grew.

October: October is always good fun. Just worked steadily at the usual things, went out on random nights, until Halloween break came, when i began on my usual week of getting little sleep and maximum fun. I was happy to say i did something every single day, including that weeknd to Downhill, what with the hardcore swims, Mussoden Temple, the stars, the record collection, and Exodus. Also i must mention SRO's trip to Exodus earlier in the month, for a first proper gig, where the crowd seemed to like us!

November: November is kind of a blur (like October & September were). I had the charity concert, which was great fun, and Graham's India concert was very good. And for the first big swimming competition of the season, we cleaned up at the Grammar Schools.

December: I remember most about the latter half of December, unsurprisingly. Although in the 3 weeks of school i had, i had 3 Fridays in a row where i had either 5 or 7 periods free. Since i'd done most of my exams, school was dossy, and we all just had quite a laugh. I had a busy weekend round the 17th what with swimming competitions again, where i set a great time for me (hopefully means i can do something good in Feb), Oasis concerts, a party & 2 Carol Services, and a fun time just forgetting about school and all coming up to Christmas. Christmas Eve was the busking day, and a good day it was. Since then, i just chilled, got very confused in late night convos, went ice skating for the first time (which was awesome), had a committee meeting, eaten loads then not much, and then the wedding. My first wedding was great fun, with playing drums, dancing, partying, and then taking off to my house, and ending up at the Bergins, which was actually 2006. But still.....

So in general, 2005 was a good year for me. Thanks to everybody who helped make it so, who drove me about the place, travelled with me, hung out with me, spent loads of time with me, put up with me annoying them, supported me, and even pissed me off. It was part of the experience, put it that way......so yea, 2006 better be good

2006

So yea, 2K5 was a pretty interesting year. Maybe i'll write more stuff on it later today, but in short i had a good time this year. Had some breakthroughs in swimming & water polo, made a lot of ground with musical stuff, met new people, made new friends, visited new places, had a lot of fun with existing friends, had some awesome days, some crappy ones, but i have loads & loads of memories of this year. In short, i love y'all, and let's make 2006 an awesome year!