My name is Geraldine and I'm your social worker

It is amazing the difference seeing a band live can make to your opinion of them. An obvious statement yes. Bu glasvegas really impressed me last week at slane. In an aside. It was probably the strongest line up for a long long time. From start to finish the bands all worked together.
Returning to glasvegas and the obvious statement. Well I heard an read the hype. I am too old to buy into Nme anymore so I successfully ignored it. But their down fall came in the shape of the lead singers appearance on never mind the buzzcocks. He took himself way too seriously. I was adamant that I would not take the time to listen to their album. All that changed or saturday in Meath. Went out first thing Monday morning and picked up a copy. It had rapidly replaced the horrors second album in my fav listen.
Speaking of the horrors. I seen them in Dublin as part of an nme shockwaves tour. I thought they were absolute rubbish. Did not take to them at all. Them they release primary colours and I was hooked.
Al in all it is a great year for albums. Either that or I have been very lucky in not buying poor product.
That is all!

Mobile blogging

So I'm writing this from the passanger seat of a car on the way to Dublin. Was down in Wexford for the sunny bank holiday weekend.
As so e may know I've an iPhone and it never stops to amaze me. I got the notion to compose an entry for the oft forgotten journal, so I went on to the app store searched for an app, downloaded it and hey presto. Here I am writing as the fields of Wicklow wiz by. Amazing reiely amazing

Please stand clear of the doors

"Please stand clear of the doors" or so says the London Underground. Maybe the DART also says that. But the New York subway does not for sure. I had the pleasure to ride the Subway last week. It was an experience. My first encounter involved a large man and a small latino lady having a blazing row in the queue for the tickets about who was next in line. I did not want to point out that it was in fact ME. They both skipped me. The Large black man, jumped the queue first, but i let him do so, as he was in a hurry to go home. The latino lady however, came out of nowhere at the last minute and so it kicked off. Contrary to the normal reaction, I loved this. I said to myself "I have landed, this is the big apple" Alas, the rest of my subway experience was very uneventful. I was told to try and watch out for rats, as they don't make them like that anywhere else. I seen one, who looked more like a mouse.
The subway was jut one of the many new experiences I want to share with the world. I had an amazing time, and my week in NY has ignited a desire to more my life to such a place. While I did the tourist things such as gawk 'open mouthed' at the size of the buildings, get dizzy at the top of the empire state building, pay my respects at the WTC site, and eat a ht dog off a grubby street vendor. I also like to think I lived the life of a New Yorker. I ate in the places the locals eat. I went to the local places, and steered clear of the tourist trap restaurants, bars, and sites such as madam tausads.
I did however, do a lot of photography, there really is some great shots to be taken there. I am torn about whether this is a touristy thing or not. I view it as artistic, however, the shots may not be up to that standard.
All in all the whole Big Apple experience was amazing, so much so that I can not settle back down into Irish PhD life.

Till next time

The cycle continues

Well the monthly cycle of blog posting continues. Today being the 17th of the month, my previous venture into the blogging world was the 18th September. This incidentally is my first blog post as a 28 year old. I do not feel any older. I think the feeling of age and the meaning of birthdays disappears once you hit 25, only to hit you on the head like an acme anvil from the cartoons when you hit 40. So I can safely say I am enjoying my wilderness years, and will worry about the readily advance years and my eventual demise when I hit 40.
Wow, that is a grime statement to make, and an area I do not wish to procrastinate upon. I do have a horrendous fear of death and of running toward the light (what ever that means).
Musically, I am very disappointed with the new Oasis album, it is frankly a pile of shit. They are also playing Slane this year. Not too sure how good that trip to the Meath countryside will be. I would like to say however, I am a massive Oasis fan, and I always have been. I had hoped for a whole lot more from "Dig out your soul'. Alas, it was not to be.
I have the pleasure to announce I am the proud owner of an iPhone. I caved to the hype. Having said that, it is the most amazing piece of equipment I have ever used. In the few short days it has revolutionised my life. Not to be over dramatic.
Soon I can see myself reinventing this blog as I become more comfortable with expressing my views and opinions. I feel that I am beginning to find my 'voice'. I am quite ashamed to make that statement, and I realise that the earlier blog posts have focused extensively on how I struggle to express my views. This issue of lost voices came up this week. In my role as a tutor for psychology, one final year course is on life-span development, and it covers the topic of female development and how through the enforcement of patrirchial views, females are forced to silence their voices and conform to the society. Despite the blatent sexism that the theory is based in, equally sexist as masoginistic theories of male superiority, it is a good example of how I struggle with writing to this blog.

Singing off for now

The cycle of blog

What the fluck?

It seems I have some sort of menstrual like cycle. i felt like I aught to write in this here blog, and have noticed a pattern. I write to it once a month around this time each time. I don't know what it says about me or even my life. Also are we allowed to use foul language on these blogs?

If so I shall delete a certain L in the opening statement.

Life is good, I have taken on a lot of teaching in College, and for the most part enjoying it. It will be a fun semester. 

Music wise. i have no gigs on the horizon and have not purchased much in the line of new stuff.  Looking for any suggestions that may be up my street.

Anyway, this is a rather random and rambling stream of consciousness post. Not much of a central theme in sight. As i end each blog, I hope to be writing more on it.

Where has all the time gone?

I look at my blog page, and I notice it is roughly every 2 months that I write on it. It scares me to think that the last time I wrote was June, what scares me is I remember writing the post like it was only last week. None the less, I have been a busy bunny, writing up my research. In this time I have also done some pretty cool things; it was not all work.

My highlight of the 2 months since I last posted up, was my Tom Waits voyage of discovery. Prior to July 14th, a time known as BT (Before Tom), i was a fair weathered fan. I had the typical amazon.com best seller Tom Waits albums, the must haves. Any fair weathered fan will tell you these are Closing time, Rain dogs, and possibly swordfishtrombones. I did not care for the last two much, but appreciated Closing Time. So my girlfriend was a big TW fan, and was unable to go to the Dublin gigs, as she was away. We planned a trip to Barcelona as we had wanted to see the city anyway, and got some tickets for his show there. This takes us to AT (After Tom). 

  

So the gig was spectacular. Recognised maybe 10 of the 25 songs, but loved the 15 I did not know. The ten songs I recognised sounded better up on that stage than on the CDs. I was converted and stuck the cds on as soon as I got back to Dublin. I hunted down the set list, and went about getting the missing albums. My collection now boasts a further 7 albums, and the collection is still growing.

Fast forward two weeks, to the Dublin gigs in the Rat Cellar Theatre in the Phoenix Park. I am working the bar for the Wednesday and Friday gig, leaving me free on the Thursday. I managed to get one of the resale tickets and was set to see him a second time. In the meantime, I also managed to hear the majority of the set from Wednesday. I really wish I had a seat to experience it properly. The thursday night comes along and I find my seat is amazing, right in front of the stage dead centre. Once again an amazing experience. Needless to say I also experienced the Friday show from the wings and heard the majority of it.

There is no doubt but I am a convert. I did not realise the depth to his lyrics or the power of the songs, the band he had with him were really on form. Now I do take on board the critics view that his voice is shot, that the sound in Dublin was poor at times, that he did not play Martha or what ever song you first made out to, but it truly was an experience that will be tough to match.

If I may come back to the Barcelona trip, I can safely say it is my favorite city. The weather, the night life, the sights, the tastes, everything about the place is a dream. The place is so good, stay tuned for a full blog dedicated to it and the experience. I hope this will appear within the next few days.

Signing off for now.

I enclose a photo of my trip above

I'm an ebay Seller, with a bill for their services (An update)

I've been a busy man. I have not updated the blog for a while, but I don't feel too bad. I have not done much for a while. Well not much outside of write my ass off for PhD submissions and the like. 

I thought i would update all none of you who read this blog on how is life in a post 'I'm an ebay seller' world. Well a few weeks after my successful sale on ebay, I got a bill for 8 pounds sterling for their services. I never realised it was that expensive to use the service. I guess i never thought of how they made their money. I can now sympatise with those power sellers on ebay that won't deal through paypal, or is that for different reasons? 

Anyway, I'm still proud to be an ebay seller minus selling fees. I guess it is not all profit in this game.