It's over, go home

Today will be the last day I work for Urban Outfitters. Three and a half years is quite some time to work for one place, kinda, I worked in two different stores. I have been lucky enough to have started as a Sales assistant and worked my way to Management.
Some people in work have asked "What am I going to do?" because they see me as a part of Urban Outfitters. Others have asked "how do I feel about my last day?" I have had no idea because it's only happening today. I'm pretty excited.

The reason I am leaving is that I'm moving to Sweden in August and I have a load of stuff to do at home before I head off. I'm driving to Sweden! Getting a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead and then drive down to south England to Harwich, ferry to the Hook of Holland and then drive up to Sweden. Can't wait. That's probably what I'm really excited about today!

In work we sell CDs, and from when I started there was a record shop in store and then Urban Outfitters started selling the CDs themselves. Throughout this time there has been a few CDs on rotation. one of them is PopChop. I did hate this Cd for a very long time but i actually look forward to it these days because inbetween songs there are movie quotes from such gems as Beverly Hills Cop, Ferris Bullers Day Off, RoboCop, Back to the Futres and Jaws. Them and Will Smith "write one verse without a curse!" aah ha, woohoo! awesome. I may miss that CD.

I'll see how today goes. Metal Karaoke tonight!!

Blog Time

I have been far away from this for a long time. I think February was as long as January this year, mainly because I was working for ages, it seemed and then I was in Florida at Disney World and Miami, both of which were amazing. With me on that adventure was my family and my girlfriend. After that holiday I was working and working and more working and then getting practice in between sleeping and driving to and from work.

I haven't been doing anything else, really. I get up, drive for 45/60mins, work for 9hrs with 1 hour lunch included, drive home for 45/60mins. If I'm lucky I get to practice some of the nights during the week. I did end up going out two weekends in a row which hasn't happened since 2007.
One was a birthday event for one of the girls from work, (the one with the red hair)an amazing night was had. I had some cans with ones of the lads from work in his mates apartment, she had to get ready to come out for the festivities, we then headed to the Bernard Shaw and had an amazing time. some random band was playing and it involved me being here:


We then made our way to Crawdaddy which feels like i was there for 20 minutes but was definitily longer than that. The following weekend had the adventure of the the first Prestige gig. Whelans was the place along with Find A Way and The Laundry Shop. Strangest line up for a gig but it was really good, thanks to everyone that came out and said such nice things about us.
After getting rid of the equipment and my car i tried to go drinking with some of the work people that had come out for the show, one was very drunk by the time i got back and then she went home, actually she was very drunk by the time i was leaving! But i got to hang out for a while before closing as well as getting a burger. good times!

Now I have done something drastic in the last couple of days, I have given up smoking. I had been smoking for the last 11 years and I finished the carton of 200 that I had brought back from America on St.Patricks Day. So yeah that's only three days ago but still it's three days!I'm really bored though. I haven't smoked in the house for at least a year or so now but I did really enjoy going outside and having a cigarette. Now I find myself wandering around the rooms in the house. To keep myself occupied recently I have installed Ubuntu Linux onto my old PC which has proved to be very good, I also put it onto a laptop that my friend had that she needed to have wiped and then have it herself. wasn't easy since there was no CD drive of Floppy drive or would boot from usb AND it had a BIOS password which was a pain in the ass and the only way i could bypass it was open the laptop and take out the CMOS battery and put it back in and put the laptop back together. the alternative is to bring to a Toshiba dealer and they'll fixed it for €60!!!
I also having been trying to put a version of Linux onto a really old computer that had Windows 98. So far i have taking the tiny hard drive it has out, plugged it into my other PC and installed Windows XP but the versions of Fedora, Ubuntu and Puppy Linux all failed because of the sheer shitness of this PC. I'm going to try DamnSmallLinux later on. If i can get it working somehow I'll probably give it to my friend that has the laptop and the other PC i might try to use it as an audio workstation. Maybe if I have even more time to kill because of not smoking and more money because of not smoking I might build one as an audiostation for the main reason of I want to see if I can. With that in mind, recording of the Prestige may begin very soon.

I just finshed reading the17 It's one of the funniest books i have read in awhile. It is a diary of the mind of Bill Drummond and how he thinks music as a recorded format is dead and what he/we can do about it. If you can get your hands on this book, it's a great read. Maybe you will be able to put into practice what he is talking about.

I think that will do until I get the urge to smoke/I mean write again. If I see you and I snap, forgive me.

where am i? what am i doing? what have i done?

so.

I was in Sweden 2 weeks ago. Main reason for the visit was to see my girlfriend. She had moved back home at the end of November, which sucked, so in mid December I got flights. The flights were a bit annoying. As she is now living in the south of Sweden in Malmö it turns out it is a little difficult to get flights to and from there during the winter months from Dublin. The same also applies to Copenhagen which is right beside Malmö. But i was able to find flights from Stanstead, ryanair flights ensue followed by easyjet to bring me to Copenhagen and then a train to Sweden. not a bad amount of travel just timing of it all was a bit crap. the ryanair flight out of Dublin was at 7 in the morning and i was in Stanstead by half 8 or something to that effect. My easyjet flight wasn't for another 6 hours! the train i was lucky, I got off the plane, through passport control and got a train ticket and the train arrived. Love good public transport.

So Sweden is awesome, I have been there a good six times by now. The food is tasty, the people are really nice, there is always a house party before you go out! Copenhagen is pretty also. I was there last year when i was at Roskilde, we headed into Copenhagen the day before the festival started. Danish is a strange language but everyone speaks English which is handy but I would feel better if I actually knew some Danish, like enough to show them that I'm trying! all i know is "farvell" which Calrsberg thought me.

When I got back, I flew into Dublin at 7.30am and then was in work for 1pm till 10pm. that was fun! pretty much had to work for six or seven days in a row as we were preparing for Inventory (stock take), a lot of people hate inventory because it is tedious. Personally I don't hate it, I don't love it but it does keep my mind occupied on the fact that i haven't been paid since before Christmas! I get paid Wednesday, January is officially the longest month EVER!!!

In other news, I'm moving out of my house in Dundrum. This makes me sad. I really really love living here. It is a class house and my landlord is amazing! I would love if someone i knew would take the lease over cause i don't want my landlord not have a tenant. At the moment it is just me in the house. since the end of December it was myself and one of the girls I was living with. My girlfriend moved back to Sweden and the girl she moved over here with 4 years ago moved in with her boyfriend in town. Myself and my housemate decided that we should move out since we had one couple interested in the spare room in two months. So I'm moving back home. I haven't lived at home for the last three years, i will also be driving my sorry ass to and from Dundrum for work which is going to suck. I reckon that I'll save some money in regards rent and bills versus petrol and parking. I'll probably move back out when the rents drop with this recession we're having!!

Also I am going to DisneyWorld and Miami next month. It should be awesome as my girlfriend is coming over here for a few days and then we all(my family) are going to Florida. I love traveling but I am slowly developing a hatred for airports.

Today I have some fluy cold thing that one of th lads in work had two days ago. not fun. I hate being/feeling sick! For a good part of today, around lunch time, all i could smell was wet dog. Not good when you are trying to enjoy a cajun chicken panini.

AND... the Prestige is going well, we have a third guitarist and he is awesome! We should play a show. Soon. I hope. Maybe. Record something. Possible. I hope. Maybe.

Later Mang!!

making use of time

I have about 5 mins before I have to go to the bank before going to work. So happy new year and I hope everyones Christmas was amazing. 2008 was really good, 2009 should be better!! My blog is a year old, go me! I'm going to Sweden for the weekend which is going to be class except for the 6 hour stay in Stanstead airport on the way over and back.

Awesome!

christmas

Finish work for the Christmas holidays, delighted. The last two weeks have been very tiring on the body and mind. Christmas is great, i really enjoy it. check out my tree! I can't wait for Christmas this year, although it hasn't felt like Christmas yet, probably will in the morning or something. I still have to get one of my sisters something and get stuff from work then I am done.
I have been invited to go to the Leopardstown Races by a very good friend of mine on St.Stephens day which is going to be a) great, b) messy or c) all of the above. Then some well earned relaxing at home is on the cards.

Roll on the new year. Going to be working New years eve and day, doesn't bother me as i will be able to watch Jools Holland's Hootenanny!
Love it. This has been my tradition for the last five years and every year has been better and better. I really recommend staying in with a few friends and relaxing in front of the tv instead of paying silly amounts of money to get to places, to get into places, to get drinks and to get home.

Last night I was at the Have Heart show last night. Best local show i have ever been to. Best show i have been to in a while. Well done to all the guys that put it on, it was unreal.

On that note i hope everyone has an amazing Christmas and an enjoyable New year.

looking/lurking

I love just watching stuff. I was just outside having a smoke, usually in my house we smoke outside at the back but sometimes we might go to the front. Lately I have been going to the front. So just there a car drove past, I was watching it cause it was similar to a car i used to drive, it pulled into the drive across the road then reversed and pulled up to the opposite path. The driver gets out and lets this kid out. He was in karate gear and legs it to the house two doors up. rings the bell and waits for the door to open. While he's waiting the driver of said car opens and closes the same door he let the kid out of 3 times, he's just waiting for the kid to get into the house, nice of him. Door opens and the kid goes running in saying "I'm came second!" That's cool. finished my smoke and went in.

I have been going out the front lately for two reasons. The ashtray is full at the back and i have no one to smoke with most of the time. With my girlfriend back in Sweden and our other housemate living with her boyfriend in their new apartment, it's myself and my other other housemate. We both work for the same company but in different stores, which also means different schedules. From when the two other girls moved out it was three days before i saw my current housemate for any longer than 5 minutes. The house is quieter. That said i haven't been home for any real length of time. I wake up and go to work, then come home and go to bed. Late shifts suck but they don't make that much difference to me. I only really don't like it when i am on a late shift and then on an early shift the next day.

I have had the laugh for the last week. Had a solid practice on Saturday followed by Prevomania, (which was the most interested i have ever been in my life in sport!) went to see Ceremony on Sunday night, best gig i have ever seen in Dublin. Had a reasonably amount of fun in work with things like walkie talkies!! and staff appreciation starting. It's good. Have to wait a few days before i can spend my hard earned cash. Play the credit card system!

Google and Apple are making my life easier. Got a new phone, nokia 6300. That's a big pic for a phone. Thanks to my last phone i have most of my contacts saved on my computer and because of iSync the all are on the phone with little hassel. I did have to get some code and paste it into the iSync file because this phone is one of the few that dosen't automatically sync with iSync. Thank you Google for this site. I have been using Google Calender for a while now, nice to have my hours written down somewhere and to sort out practice time between four people and 6 to 8 bands. Then with my phone being synced with Address Book, iCal can be synced as well. So my Google calender is now syncing to my iCal which syncs with my phone. Sorted. I'm a nerd, i know.

Then Google Reader is another Google product i would recommend. It has everything posted by the blogs i follow there for me to read. Which is also the reason I am trying to use capitals where nessessary. It does make it more pleasing on the eyes.

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today is not a good day.