Snap Happy #10

I apologise for the lack of blogs.

Now i am fully aware that starting a post with such a statement is unofficially blog post death, as it shows you have nothing creative to say.

Well, i want it to actually be an apology.


My itch is rather annoying and doing anything more than sit still is unbearable as i am very irritable and antsy and so on.


I have actually just watched loads of dvds and things on the internet to pass my time.

When i should probably be studying the road theory test and handing in a CV for part time work in the local Change-of-management Londis.



But there is hope. I had intended for a Lisbon Treaty post over the weekend. This didn't happen, but it will this week, as time is slowly running out etc etc.


I also developed another analytical blog post idea. Bromance and Chivalry on Television and how its running away from Hollywood and ignoring the need for strong male role models. Or some shorter snappier title.

There's a lot in that one and it may require a lot of name checking etc, which could require actual blogging work, but it's something more to do. After all catching up on shows, wearing out my small DVD collection and making Train Networks in OpenTTD aren't the best ways to use my time. A good well written blog may be however.

So look forward to that, tomorrow, or later this evening considering the time.



For now Say hello to some stolen photos:




Hubble is now producing far more Pretty than before, GO TEAM!






This is also Pretty, its a water melon:



However, this is pwitty Kitty Awesome!



This is also:






Some Black and White Wonders:




















It's SO obvious, damn i never realised!




This sample of an artist is amazing, not just for the blood sucking red head, but for house too!



Dedication+ 9 Oil Drums x A Dream= Home Made Submarine!




Be Careful Dreaming in this bed!



Zombie Peanuts!!!!






And a nice little GIF of a crazy but brilliant goal:






Until Next time, Be good to each other.

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My itch, that i just can't scratch.

Now as some of my readers and people who know me may be aware i have a bit of a rash, and have had all summer.

Over the past few days it has flared up and has been rather unbearable.

Today i decided to go to the doctor to see if i could get this all sorted. This meant cancling on DS and our plan to see The Hurt Locker before he returned to Scotland. Which i felt rather bad about canceling last night but it had to be done.




This morning i woke up.

9 am or so, mothers voice, she was going out shopping.

The kind of conversation in the hall where my parents bump into each other and discuss everything openly with a back and forth.

Despite the acoustics in this house allowing for my music to remain in my room, my parents conversations be left in their room when the door is closed, or the tv to be unheard, again if the doors are closed.


The Kitchen and the dogs can be heard however if the tv room door is open, like it frequently can be if no one is in there such as the day time.


The corridor, all 10 or so metre's or more, is free reign however.


So parents natter back and forth,

"Oh "such and such" has to go to the doctor with his rash" Says the dad.

"oh right yeah, he usually see's "Female doctor whatserface".

"Yeah i think so, i have to call them this morning and make an appointment"


Here's me half asleep still trying to understand digital numbers telling me time on the phone when i hear a voice in my head.

"I've seen all the doctors, and i only remember the name of your one, i saw him last, make it him."

Alas i did not say this, i weant back to sleep.



10 am woken by The Dad and told i have an appointment with  "Female doctor whatserface" at ....11....


So i get up.

I give my disheveled self a look over, ooo no rash, no spots, ah but it's a tricky little prick like that, granted in two hours i'll be a poke-a-dot dress of spots.


So slap on minimalist "i'm sick, and at home" cloths and saunter down to the kitchen.

The doors are open, instantly in my dazed and groggy state i interject to The Dad that "so the dogs are out?"

"Yeah".

Not a why, not they shat all over the shop, not they were bold, not the floor is covered in spongy stuffing fluff (which it was), no just a "Yeah".



Breakfast. 4 slice's of toast and orange juice, fuck porridge, i'm groggy grumpy and grouch-like, too much effort.


The Dad re-enters and says: "there was also an appointment for 1030 but i didn;t think you'd be...(ready/up) in time."


"Right so" i said or thought. Slightly scoffing at the idea i couldn't get up in a hurry. Which i can, but couldn't be arsed to do right now.

A look at the faced clock, a few seconds and chews later i "clock" what the time is and it says 10.13 or so.


Pat Kenny had just started and they were blabbering on about the Lisbon treaty, and BANAMA legislation, all going woosh while at the same time stealing tid bits of whats said to strike one sided discussion's with The Dad (his sided, no real side but he'll talk about it at length anyway).


Right now, walk to the pantry, gingerly pull out some underwear from the growing pile of washing, all mine, and off to shower.


Shower.


Dry oneself, safe in the fact that the idea of my time of appointment is 11.30. (see earlier)


While drying my toes and balancing on one leg with the towel still wrapped around my waist i hear.

"Are you ready "Such and such"?"


"Eh... yeah... Just let me get dressed????"


Flummoxed i scurry to pull on my unironed underwear, hop over the half-never-used Lateral Tighe Trainer (that i dragged out with very good intentions of using it), T-shirt.

Comb hair in tiny square mirror on desk, to lazy to move uniforms off door frame of big antique wardrobe.

No shave, socks on, shite didn't cut nails. Still no spots.

Light jumper, light jumper, fuck only wooly ones left, wait, ah ha, grey featureless top, bingo!

Well worn, ie need to be washed jeans, and we're done.



Step out with still wet hair:

"I thought you said half eleven was my appointment?"

"I said half ten was the other appointment, your appointment is at TEN TO ELEVEN."

"but it's like half 10 now?"

"Yes, so hurry up".


I step outside.

"but i though it was at half eleven, i was getting ready for that time, i havent shaved."

"if it was at half eleven i would have gotten you up later than 10"

"But 10 give's me loads of time to get ready? Whats wrong with that"


And for reason we stopped there.  I was late because i had the wrong time, i would have still been running late if it was the time i thought it was because i would have been woken up later. The logic was beyond flawed, if there even was any.


Doctor. Straight in, only a couple of minutes late.

Still had to wait in Waiting room, as you do.


Two old men chatted away about the recession and so on.

Two kids and their mother played in the corner.

One of the old men left.

After a few minutes the old man piped up saying "they don't make prams like they used to!"

"You don't see many of them anymore, you could fit 3 kids or a bag a coal in the old ones."


Begorrah he's right, however claiming you don't see them anymore show's what a culchie he must be, HE'S NEVER BEEN TO Henry Street/Morre Street.




Doctor Whatserface calls me in.


Before we get down to business we share inquisitive "have we seen each other before looks".

I claim im not sure.

She then asks if it's okay that a guy who is visiting that want's to be a "General Practitioner" comes in to watch.



Hang on there for one second. He want's to be a GP. Surely that's something you decide DURING Medicine, not BEFORE. Anyhoo....



I said yes and referenced that as a Student Nurse i'm often that person sitting in the corner, so go right ahead.

In stepped an ageless young man with Navy blue hair, but a neat suit-jacket.


My instant thought was Indie-Nerd, but now i'm not sure. It's the Start of term, if he was a Transition year student what is he doing here on a Thursday?

If he's doing medicine he should still be comatose in a bedsit in San Diego? What the hell was this blue haired sadomasochist doing here?


Either way i had an itch to stop scratching, i put him at the back of my mind and started rolling up my sleves, taking off my shoes and Pulling up my t-shirt to explain the extremities my rash had reached on the previous days.


But like the nasty little bollocks it is, it wasn't there! It was only on my wrists with the odd dash here and there on all other body parts. THE BASTARD!


So with just a few spots to look at Doctor Whatserface was flummoxed.


She asked, while reading my history with the computer, "Do you have a family history of Skin conditions".


"Eh i wouldn't know, i'm adopted."

I said this so nonchalantly, and usually do that it made me think twice, how is that so easy to say?  But it is.


So with no evidence of its extremes and barely anything there she had nothing to go with.


Blood tests. I needed to give blood. She asked "have you had blood taken before". What a ridiculous question it seemed, i'm a human being who gets sick, i'm also a student nurse who has to be inoculated several times, and i encounter accidents several times.

"Eh yes, i've had needle sticks in the past etc."

"oh really".

"yeah they should have some blood in storage actually".

"oh really..."

"yeah as a precaution until the next time etc"

"in case of AIDS or so on."


My mind: Eh no, because i'm a clumsy bollocks, and get needle sticks, so as insurance they probably want to know if i had stuff in the past the next time i come in with something or if i get sick from it. Ye know time scale of infection etc, yeah AIDS but i'm thinking Hepatitis considering i now have an unexplained symptom that's ye know, bizarre.

I didn't say this however. My knowledge is week etc So i just said yes, and explained it was a precaution for when ever i need another test or became sick.


Right so she had no clue, off to the free blood clinic. And a two week wait. She however stipulated that she would "love" to see me when it's at it's worst.

Yes like i can schedule when i'm at my most itchy. It has been controlled all summer and this is the worst it's ever been. How can i forcast that??????


A 2 week wait for these bloods.

50 euro for 20 minutes or so, and no prescription. Fuck me i forgot to get a physical! And why can't she take bloods or other tests?


Dad Coughs up 50 quid and off i go with a biohazard lipped slip for the blood clinic.

I had to quiz her on where the hell it was as my Drogheda geography is ATROCIOUS! I know more about New York and LA than Drogheda!

Both her and Mr Blue hair were laughing at this, i hadn't a clue where i was going, that and she was seemingly pointing through the wall in the wrong way to the words she was using.....


Dad drive's us there anyway, only around a few corners and down the steep hills and it's a street i know well, just not it's name.



FREE BLOOD, TEST.



So in i step through this big Georgian style door. The steps have been ramped up to it, with a wheelchair gangway on the opposite side to where i climbed.

Still thinking it's a typical Georgian big door i raised my foot while walking through and my foot MET NOTHING. It dropped twice the normal distance to a Level floor with my still stationary left foot. I was DUPED! LIE'S I TELL YOU. It was still level and i was off balance..... Stupid door.


So up i roll to the Desk Clerk.

She says i'm right on time, she's never seen it this quiet. Those jinxed words.

I look to my right, oh wait, not a soul here!

And this is free right?

So she starts her chit chat, completes my form as Dr Whatserface left out my Date of birth, the S in my address and my sex...

She then asks about the weather, oh it's fine.

My arms itch like hell at this moment.

Then she mentions her dads cows are a foot deep in muck, and that it'll take a month for it to be dry and by then they'll have to go back in again, sure it's madness she tell's me.

I am far from amused, my arms are in so much itchy craziness that i want to dip them in Brillo pads!

Then i off handily mention, oh i'm a nurse, a student nurse, when the "Have you had your blood taken before?" question raise's its head again.

Then she mentions a Friend who missed out on 5 points on his LC who wanted to do nursing in dublin, oh they need more guys don't they, he got it in some place down in LetterKenny, probably Letterkenny i'm thinking, which is ye know, miles away, he's from Claire... but he wanted Dublin.

I just add, "yes they need more men, especially psych." This is my bog standard answer. I have to say it a every time i'm quizzed about Men and nursing, which is EVERY time i meet someone new. It's annoying at this stage.


My arms are killing me and finally i'm free to run away from mindless chit chat. From yet again what must have been an ageless secretary, so with an LC friend she had to be younger than the late twenties of my half arsed prejudice guesstimations, my itch was far to important. Hell she was actually begging for conversation, possibly also flirting, but i really couldn't have cared, i even show cased my arms a few times trying to speed things up, even though this was just a blood test....



So a plump Public Health Nurse with a Phlebotomy certificate was taking my blood.

I sit in a reclining chair for blood donation, unable to sit in it properly, because it's locked upright....

She once again ask's me "if i've had blood taken before"

"YES, I'm a nursing student, i'm well used to it, it's just the PINCH, ye know."

"oh your a nurse... Where are you studying"

"Dublin" Shit i meant Trinity, the usual answer. Not to late.

"oh and what college."

"Trinity"

"oh that's nice."

She then misread a instruction on the form and quizzed a fellow PHN/Retired nurse with a Phlebotomy certificate.... "What's CG?"

"Oh thats, i g love, it's a curved i."

Fucking Dr Whatserface's half arsed writing strikes again i guessed.


The pinch.  Deep breath, deep breath, squeeze chair arm, deep breath. Oh wait not that bad?

Hell she was milking me. 4 fecking vile's of the stuff, and only on the forth did she remove the Turneque to keep the flow going, talk about healthy veins, go me!



Then i was done. No charge and a 2 week wait.

Fuck sake, 2 weeks? Hell in MY hospital they get it done by the afternoon! I guess that's free services for you.....




Colonic and Coffee......



So we head down the town again, bizarrely looking for a 3rd parking space and closer to the Scotch Hall Monstrosity, so we can meet The Mother for a coffee.


My dad catche's the parking person when we park and esquire's if our still valid tickets from the past 2 locations could count. They didn't, the river is Port Authority not County Council, BASTARDS!

5 euro in the space of 40 minutes! FOR FECK SAKES!


The Mother isn't there yet. Right walk through the Monstrosity.


Usual gripes of, poor access, it SO should be a Cinema, and the river, it SO should be a promenade with café's and restaurants and stuff.

We say this all the time. This awful awful awful development is a blight on what is a pock marked town of failed developments. Drogheda is a mess when it comes to failed shopping center's.

Half the shops in the entrance alone are empty. One is a make shift creche with no interior installed!



The Mother Arrives.

The Dad does some strange cowboy stance greeting her thinking it's the funniest thing ever. I try to control him like I'M the parent, this however is pointless......


So we sit down to Muffin's, 2 latte's and a Hot chocolate. The hot Chocolate is mine, i don't like coffee, or tea.


MMM APPLE MUFFIN.


While waiting i point out a building on the river front to The Dad. I Say it's really nice, red brick, white brick, lion's on the top of plinths on either side.

I shift my view and notice that counters block the fact that a god awful green shop "Frontage" is on the ground level, ruining the building.

I mention this to The Dad. He concurs. He then mentions that it looks like the "frontier" style shops we saw in Australia. Grand front, with a shack at the back.



Then when The Mother returns with all the hot drinks. We all settle into a chat.

However the "this should be a promenade" conversation is old hat. My mother JUST has to talk about the Colonic she had that morning....

What she can't have and so. And how it's uncomfortable. I interject to The Dad several time's that you don't have to expand on these points, but he does anyway for his childish toilet humour ways.

"Oh i'm not supposed to have tea or coffee for a few hours, to give me a rest". As The Mother sips her Latte.


Right well one instruction failed.

"oh and no pork products for 2 weeks".

"Why's that?" Says The Dad.

"It's because red meats and so on are harder to digest, its something vegitarians sprout all the time, some of those meats never leave your system. So you'd expect some one from such a place to mention that as well."

"yeah, the last time the girl checked the content, this time she didn't. Strange that."

Thus insude groan's and bemoaning's of Gillian Mckeefe or what ever that bitch of the telly is called, and then a "reinactment" of one of the clichéd poo smelling scenes from The Dad. It was impossible to stop, i really tried....


Despite never looking at them the 2 Recesionista's to the right swung the odd look our way, i don't know what kind but i could tell it was some form of disaproval or scorn at a close nit family talking about shite in a café.


We then started talking about other things and The Dad and myself got stuck in the whole "Ireland is fucked with this recession" stuff.


And then The Mother pipes in with how The Sister is blessed being in Australia at the right time and so on.

Then we mention the bridesmaids.

One's working in an Art gallery for 80 euro a week just so she isn't on the dole.

The other, the trained actress, she's working for a cloths store in Tallaght.


And i just scoff "An Alex girl, working in Tallaght, a trained Gaiety actress at that, what's the world comming to!"



Then The Dad talks about some trainee Teacher he knows from his old school, a past pupil or something, who met some girl at a conferance who apparently said the following.


"Yeah i'm loike, meant to be going out tonight in the new beamer my daddy bought me, but i loike can't with the recession and all the girls can't afford it and i loike couldn't go out on my tobbler."

The guy ran a mile after that. Apparently. A northsider as well according to the context of the story, but The Dad tried to insist that he (the stories protagonist) knew nothing of south side accent's or inability to speak good... Like that mattered.


The Mother tried to say that people DO speak like that, even saying that I SPEAK like that, the focking cheek!

And then i continue with the laughing at the story and start to insist that she got that from THOSE books! And she think's their, like, real words!

But she's so stupid, Tobler doesn't mean OWN it means PHONE!!!

"No it doesn't" Says The Dad.

"Have you read them? He says "i'll give him a tobler". It means Phone not own, sheesh (or some such scoff), she can't even copy slang from a book let alone speak english."

Thus missing the point of the joke i had just been laughing at by tearing it apart and over analysing it...




Tenner to Shop, YAY!!!!


So the Parental units had to run other errands and get me the skin cream with the steroids.

So as i didn't want to be waiting around i'd have a mosey in HMV, Waterstone's etc.

I was walking off and i was called back, handed a ragged and fadded Tenner, happy day's!

I though this is at least 2 Seemingly unending HMV sale dvds or a book i've missed.


No such luck. HMV, here anyway, doesn't have a sale. And Waterstones, despite books i do want to buy, meant i could only get one thing.


But i was in better luck than i could hope for. Gamestop, 4 dvd's for a tenner, sold!


So there i was riffling through the pre-owned dvds and i just was in owe of the choice. Some nice titles that people had discarded.


Beatles music was playing. And it actually gave a nice atmosphere. I even sang along in my head to one or two ditty's because i knew of them.


Then i was in shock, Imagine was playing. WO WO WO, WTF, that is not a Beatle's song, i hate the Beatles, but that IS NOT a Beatle's song!

I turn to look at where it's comming from and the big plasma on the wall behind the counter is playing a trailer for Beatle's rock band and the CGI Liverpudlian's are mouthing out of sync to a song that only one of them ever sang.

Disgrace! I may hate the Beatle's as a modern spoilt brat, or any other crticism you may want to give, but i know their hits, i appreciate what they did for music but i wouldn't give a rats arse about listening to them openly, or even paying to do so. No i couldn't care less about the Beatles. But that's just MADE of WRONG!


I finally pick my dvds.


Fight Club Special Addition
Super Bad 2 Disc Extended Edition
Intermission
Down With Love


I stand at the counter while the Guy searches the disk drawer for the apropriate disks. The girl remarks that they "should play the Beatles more often, it brings in a crowd".

And sure enough despite the ENTIRE SHOPPING CENTER being dead quiet there were nearly 20 people looking at the games and dvds, from all walks of life.

one mother Disgusted at the idea that "all console's have their own games." Surely missing some point, and the fact that some do spread out....


Then Beside me a kid rocks up to the counter with a couple of Rock Band games for the Xbox all excited.


"Oh so you have rock band." Says the enthausiastic female Clerk.

"Yeah i just bought it today in Hmv for a Hundred and........(?)"

"Oh so, do you not want to get the Beatle's???" She says with a smile on her face and their 60s craziness/modern blandness blarring in the background.

"No, i don't like them." He said with a smile.


I smiled too as i recieved my dvds and walked away. The Make everyone happy, but some people just wouldnt actually listen to them, or be seen liking them!





Back up into the town, a screw up with the cream.

We have to get a perscription, lies!

The SAME chemist the day before offered it to my dad as a soloution as the steroid in it gives it that extra punch. He said no.

Dr Whatserface said it was over the counter.

Mere hours later it wasn't. So they had to fax the chemist in my name.

But it was closed for lunch.

49 cent red bull immitation drink from Dunnes store's to cool my now burning hands as i dance back and forth in agony like i had ants in my pants.


I'm irratible to say the least and i can't keep still.

The parents by a huge bag of Fish from the Fish Mongers and then call the Clinic for the Perscription.

I'm nearly dancing in the street trying to distract myself from the hell of my hands. Not much joy.

I then fed up with the indiscssion of what's happening now. I ask to go to the car to sit and wait. In the heat.....


I carry the fish back, and put them in the boot.


With the sun roof open, 3 windows half mast, and a slight breeze i manange.

But it's an hour or so i had to wait.

Joe Duffy and Moncreef are both spurten shite on a weekday afternoon and i've read the dvd covers twice.

I could have been in the cinema! I could have been eating a tonne of sneaked in popcorn and enjoying the last time i see a good freind till Christmas or January.

Instead i was sitting in a car, in the heat, scratching myself and twiddling my thumbs.


ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.

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Manic Monday (part 2): Back to the Society...

And yes it is a day later than promised, but the phrase "could not be arsed" comes to mind. Sometimes 1 long post and an easy snap happy is just the limit of blogging i can do in a day, that and my rash came back with a vengeance so it took about 3 hours to write the first part.

For what else happend on Monday see part 1 and part 1.5

So what happened on Monday evening that was so manic, and so worthy of a blog post, well i'll tell you, in due course:



So with college over for at least 2 weeks, i was free to either go home or spend time with some friends.

It just so happened that Lenn had asked for help via email with some enveloping of for the starter packs to be sent to all the freshers. It was coincidentally also on the same day as my return to college, good buzz as some would say.


So i had texted Boop asking about it, and messaged Apollo no word. While wearing a swine flu mask in my orientation deal-ey i recieved a text from Boop informing me that she was working and she passed on Lenn's number to me so that i could contact him directly.


By the time i was all finished with my stuff in college still no word. So after witnessing the mass pile of luggage from 3 girls comming back from "The Picnic" i used the earphones of my phone to shock horror, make a phone call!

I know how strange! A phone call! But i did. I called Lenn and asked him about the goings on. He swore he sent me a reply, my inbox was fully loaded with 300+ texts, none of which were from him, but yes i could help out. All sorted.

A provisional heads up text to the Mother-parental unit and i was all set.

Across to Westmoreland street and i bought myself a BLT from the Londis for 1.82. Bargin.

Although i did have to stand around a lot as the deli person wasn't at the counter, and a aul wan and her spoilt brat kids were adding and subtracting sweeties on top of loose change at the only free counter. The frustrated shopkeep switched counter and dealt with two culchie tourists instead of me who patiently queued behind the aul wan.

The Culchies were scrabbling with loads of Dunnes and Pennies shopping so they thought, good service and stole my place in line.

Then there was much pointing and deliberating over which Dry Cork Gin bottle they wanted. Opting for the minimum sized bottle, all that was on the counter was schweepps tonic water, ah gin and tonic, now i get it. Cheap skates! You're tourists in your capital during a recession and your paying for your own cocktail's from a convenience store.....

Oh yeah i was paying 1.82 for a BLT, never mind.


Ate my sandwich in Fellow's Square near a mass group of German Tourists, all girls with striped colours in their hair. So not only is it a tour group from an all Girl German Secondary School, but also one where the only fashion statement is Rock Chick? I'm sold....


They passed, and so did the sandwhich, 6 inch's of Baguette, 2 rashers and assorted melting butter, lettuce and tomatoes disapears quickly when you're hungry.


Then i went into the library to bring back severely overdue books from my supplemental study.

16.00 Euro worth of fines, i was penniless, it was okay, i can pay it in installments and can't withdraw a book until it's as low as a tenner. Oh well then, if you put it that way, then it must be okay....



Front Square. Stood by the chapel checking my facebook, still 15 minutes till i was due to help out in the Gimby.


Coincidentally Lenn, Dona and Joker were passing to pick up envelope's from the SU shop.


How-do-you-does and i was following them to pick up some boxes.

Lenn, Dona and myself all only could take 2 at a time, joker dived straight in and took 3 at a time...

Across the cobbles and up the steep steps of the Gimby and we plonked the boxes into the big room with the lovely hang over couches.


The table was already covered in yards of leaflets and booklets to do with other societies, shocking quantities, some 2,000 or more. Not only that but there were also mass piles of Vouchers for Subway on Nassau street, happy days.


Then OUR booklets arrived, by van at that. The Socialite as it will be called, we hauled these rather heavier boxes up the stairs with more and more helpers now present and Gammaman's Successor a returning student that most of the older members know, she now will be called Maria.

Now the next task after reading the The Socialite was to haul up the Other societies one's as well. None of The societies people volunteered for this so i waited for them to open their Couch room as the only Society person there, it was the first time i'd ever helped the Others with anything. They're not bad, they're just even bigger drinkers and more renowned for their sexual exploits and care free attitude and liberal opinions and philosophy. Now frankly i have no problems with them, but i never bothered to spend any time with them last year, the Society alone was a lot of time unto itself, any more with a similar organisation just seemed redundant.

Their boxed were even heavier! Like i can feel my biceps heavy! I'll call it the "Otherside" since it has a silly pun like that as it is.


So then we started our production line.

Maria being rather well prepared and organised had the long table as set up as a production line.

We would all walk along either side and pile the peices together and then slip them into a manila envelope at the other end of the table.

And as we went, her, Dona and Lenn would add back to the table or sort the finished envelopes into empty boxes.

There was also music via Potter's iPod which Maria took charge of on many an occasion.


Eventually though the discord between communal songs and personal taste was hurting some of the motivation, or at least mine. So on with my own ear phones. It made me work so much faster. Bopping about to songs no one else could hear and mouthing along may have looked odd but i was motivated and wasn't too antisocial as i frequently thanked Dona and then Demi as they collected the envelopes.

It was fun and it was fast, just constantly running around the table filling the pile's in our hands and slipping them into their envelopes. My wrists began to ache, my biceps and triceps were screaming that they existed, i was on overdrive and every now and then would grab a lolipop or other sweet that was on the Envelope table. Pure bliss to stuff sweets and dance to music while being charitable and socialbe all at the same time.

After 30 minutes i gave my phone a rest and The Killers, and Michael Jackson were better choice's than some of the clap trapp that had been played.


Then the grand daddy of motivation, Hey Ya by Outkast. Feckin' classic.

That was THE song of the Transition year play, such great memories. Songs like that are perfect, songs that remind you of the good times, songs that remind you of the sad times, oh wait thats Chumbawumba!......


But you know what i mean.


Then at somestage when passing envelope's to Demi I over head her and Dona Talking about (500) Days of Summer and Joeseph Gorden levitt in general.

This led to a circular conversation where every time i came back to that part of the room i would add another little bit to the conversation.

First clarifying that it was indeed Joeseph they were talking about.

Then (500) Days of summer.

Then i said i'd send the trailer and (bank job) clip to Demi so that she could be aware of the greatness of this movie.

Then i rememberd that he was in some movie where he was a Male prostitute who was abused.

And of course mentioning the brilliance of Brick.


Then 10 Things I hate About you.


And Demi had to actually discribe this classic to Dona, that's an offense to film right there.

I heard her mention the amazing Bleachers scene where the Late Heath Ledger sings to "Kat".


So then on my next go i just had to suggest a Joeseph Gorden Levitt marathon. It was a nice idea but i doubt it would happen.



And then several goes later i rememberd his best line from 10 Things i hate about you, when seeing his object of affection "I pine, I weep, i perish".

A great use of the original line from Shakespear.




The night wore on and around 9 o'clock we finally finished.

We were all knackered.



I collapsed on a couch and rested.

I whipped out my timetable, oh shit, the bus is in 2 minutes, i've missed it. Oh well i was going for drinks anyway.


So to McT's!



By this time Boop had also joined and she was a great source of laughs, at one point causing a sort of Chortle to emanate from Demi that Lenn describe as a the sound of a Pterodactyl....

Dona also inquired about the Lisbon treaty, confirming in her head that it "did not involve the invasion of Portugal".




Boop then started to describe the irksome task of cleaning out Mayonnaise vats at work.....

This soon descended into hilarity. As she described how you had to heat it up, churn it till it was a big clump, and then how as you mashed it about the water would splash up and hit you in the face. Since this was also coupled with hand movements and great enthusiasm in telling the story it only added to the ensuing hilarity.

Jayne noticed the Innuendo involved and then Lenn who was just sitting down only heard Innuendo coupled with mayonase and there was a sort of a rinse and repeat of the story by the now embarrassed Boop.

Hard to describe, but hilarious.

There was also Jayne's story of how a Crossword had thought him a British act that had 14 consecutive Top 5 UK singles was Steps, and despite deliberation with Goldylocks he couldn't remember most of them. Still an impressive bit of trivia none-the-less, especially since they were so bloody awful!




By about 11 i had to leave the now dwindled group and get my bus home.

Via MSN on my Phone i was able to talk to DS and we arranged our last cinema outing before he leaves for Scotland, which is most likely going to be tomorrow (Thursday) and "The Hurt Locker".  So expect that to be added to the list of Cinephillia Reviews yet to come, as District 9 and (500) Days of Summer are still outstanding, in more than one sense.

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Manic Monday(Part 1.5)/ Snap Happy #9

So off i went on lunch.



A facebook update, probably and credit expense, and off i went.

WOOSH, EEE GHATS NO, REAL SUNSHINE! Hot sunshine, warm sunshine, shocking shocking sunshine!

I popped into the no-longer gender-confused former Centra now Spar, and bought a Spar brand Cola for 82 cent.

Off to campus. The glim hope that some Society Friends would be around. I texted Boop regarding the Society Help-a-thon that Lenn had emailed about the previous week but no word. A facebook message to Apollo to, but also no word.


So Campus, sunshine! I popped into the computers briefly and then gave up, i had nothing to do.

I had an apology text from Chaterbox after we hadn't run into each other. I didnt invite her to lunch as i now had an idea of what to do.

READING!

On a bench infront of the Library, the long Library, the book of Kells venus tourist trap. I sat in the sun beside a Spanish tourist reading a map and a sneezing yank on a near-by bench reading.

Sal Paradise was on his way from New York to New Orleans in a mad dash.

I was sitting in great alien weather in the heart of Dublin.

It was getting a bit much. My sleeves were rolled up, and the sun kept dissapearing behind clouds! When the clouds preveiled it was cold and moderate, when the sun was out it was Tropical, sunshine tingles on my exposed skin and too warm. So on with my cap. My Emergency Purchase in Sydney to save my scalp, tourist cap. A cap with AUSTRALIA and a kangaroo on it. To say it was out of place in Ireland is an understatement! But to save me from the discomfert of good weather i needed it!

After about an hour of reading i decided to head back.

But i was still intent on going to the Society thing that evening, so economically speaking i had to consider lunch and fluid supplies.

Burger King was out of the question, now 3.95 for the recession buster, not 3.50!

Londis BLT for 1.82, it will have to do!

That left some money, M&S!!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh you bastion of middle class consumerism, how i love thee!

Down the stairs i saw all manor of money, i mean people. Business folk, office folk, girls shopping, college students, and Yummy Mummy's, all going about their Middle Class Lunch's, oh how quaint, how familiar, how old hat. I've long lost this fix, living in the bog. Drogheda has no such experiance. After all you can't have the same level of greatness when buying a Toffee-Pecan Mirangue Rulade when you have African's and culchies on the till. You can slap a uniform on them and stick it in a more deserted more centralised shopping center but M&S Laurence Center, Drogheda, is no M&S Grafton Street!

Oh no. For one it doesn't have the lunch counter, full of health foods, smoothies, wraps, sandwich's, and boxed fresh salads.


The Drinks fridge. The cheapest drink? A can of crazy fruit flavours, no thanks.

Cheapest smoothie, 1.70, flavours, Banana and blueberry, SOLD!





So in the queue to pay for this wonderful little drink i heard this story from the group of girls infront of me.



Drummy 1: Guess who i saw the other day.
Drummy 2: Who.
Drummy 1: Well not saw, he waved to me.
Yank 1: What are you on about.
Drummy 1: Pierse Morgan, he waved to me, he's much taller in person.
Drummy 2: Goway out of that.
Drummy 1: No i did, he's really hansome in person.
Yank: Pierse Morgan *scoff*
Drummy 1: Yeah i saw him was lioke, i know him, who's that, it isn't, it's Peirse Morgan, and he was lioke with this real hot model and he heard me and waved and i lioke waved back it was mortifyin'.
Yank: But handsome Pierse Morgan?
Drummy 1: Yeah he's really hansome, and SO much taller than on the telly.



I couldn't help but smile. I payed 1.70 to the girl at the counter who had ignored the whole thing.

I also drooled at the sight of the honey glased roast ham steaming under the Snot Gaurd, i wanted some so bad!



In the window of one of THOSE shops i saw this rather strange ensamble:



Now i get the bag, the top, even the scarf, but the 2nd colour to the scarf and the bear balaclava? What were they thinking!

I'd go gay just to slag that outfit, seriously!



I saw this on a lamp post:



Moobgate has come full circle and been included in anti-Lisbon campaign's, Noice one!


A man play spoons by the slapper:





Some homeless people doing their once a week big poem and plea with Simpsons characters, there's more of them every time they do it!






Me in a "duck-bill" mask, learning how to try them on for size.



For Reference sake this is what Daisy's haircut is like:









A odd sight outside of the my College building on D'Olier Street.




Three reveler's returning from "The picnic" with enough luggage for ten people. Madness.

They seemed to be making sure they had everything. Considering this was D'Olier street they had to have gotten there by bus, and mainly only Dublin bus stops there, so i'm wondering:

How they got on a bus with all this stuff.

How do they have so much.

Why were they checking if they had everything, surely it was all you could fit ON A BUS.

Were there more of them or was this all of their stuff?

How did they expect to move it all?


Bizarre.

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Manic Monday (Part 1): Back To Nursing...

So yesterday was quite a busy day. First off i had to be back in college for orientation stuff for 3rd year.


So due to the whole transport situation, ie no trains, i had to get the bus in. Now i have been getting the bus in for study and exams as it is, but 5 am starts are not exactly fun.


So i was in college for 730am. Unfortunately everything didn't begin until 10, not 9 as i thought. Que a lot of waiting.


Computers are only fine for so long, so i went up to the plush couches in the Art Deco foyer of our wonderful building. The smell of muffins, croissants and other pastry's beating down the smell of coffee from the West Coast Coffee Café on the opposite side of the foyer.

So with my music from my mobile, and a can of Cherry tango that i got for 50cent in The Spar Near Tara Street Station, i was set for some more reading of On The Road.


This however was wishful thinking. Someone spotted me. A mature student. Someone i barely knew and would be damned if i had to name them. But she felt she knew me, or of me, and had to talk.

Now this was fine for about 10 minutes, the whole catching up thing but then it just kept going, and going and going. She was the fucking Duracell bunny of small talk!


Not only that but i could barely get a word in edge ways or offer an opinion, it was mostly a spectators sport, one involving aural torture i imagine....

Not only was it a long conversation with some i barely knew but she also started including personal fears about fainting on placement in theater and so on.

She also poked me several times and ruffled my hair. In any circumstance this is odd, but she did it so frequently and so quickly that i couldn't stop it. It was off putting to say the least.

And then there was the doozy of a line "I scare men away, i don't know why." I fought a bazillion urges inside my head from giving any judgmental jab's or quips or so called honesty. I just let it slide. And i won't even elaborate on it now.

I was pinned down, interrogated in a way where the interviewer is the only one who wants to talk. Subjected to information, worries and queries i didn't have much interest in and on top of all that i was poked and prodded.

Also when there were lulls in the conversation she would talk to other people, cross the room, talk over me to people on the other couches. I had been quite content to read and pass time. And now i was included and excluded from conversations so quickly it was rattling to say the least.


One such instance was asking a girl beside me how her summer went. Now i remembered this girl from ages ago.

Late to a lecture i had to sit at the back and made quick and brief friends with the group around me. She also was late, but part of their group, and ended up beside me.

Long story short my initial reaction wasn't much, i just thought a usual back of the class type, fairly attractive and out of my price or interest range, if i had one.

Basically prejudicial dismissive of her from the get go, with assumptions of bimbo and so on and so forth. Hey i can't help it, i've known quite a few at this stage, at least 200! (From being in two nursing classes of 250, you work that out!)

But even back then when i first met her the was the obvious, "gettin' to know you" chit chat. Included in that as i relished the shelter of the back rows and the laid back less attention needed atmosphere i was reading the free-sheets. The Metro being my free-sheet of choice, the letters page!

And she mentioned her love of the letters page, and instantly made the connection of my long commute with the Letter from months previous about a bout of spontaneous hugging that occurred on one Commuter train. A great story that i've always been dubious about, knowing that train and the scowls of caffeine shortage's, wet hair, jolting and rocked make-up application and blaring earphones(those would be mine), so hugging seems alien and novel for us true "Straphangers", or as i like to be known, Full-distance-traveler-so-only-i-am-worthy-of-a-seat!

Something about her enthusiasm in mentioning the letters page and specifically that piece had always seemed worthy of note.


And then in the idle chit chat of "how was your summer" from the mature student who at length shouted a wrong name at her until she remembered the correct one to get her attention.

She came out with this:

"Oh, i spent the summer road tripping in California and am now 5 grand i debt, but you only live once."

My face may have been blank with my eyes begging to save me from this mad yabbing machine, but on the inside i lit up!

Road trips, glorious road trips. A girl i had been so dismissive of taking that daring leap, plunging into debt and just embracing the open road, and adventure.

And it was the way it was just one sentence, my quote not word for word, it was NOT a story of a J1 or trip to Ibiza and such similar piss ups. It was a genuine, here's a funny story and insight into my life while also defending myself from telling the rest of the story to any further probing. IT was snappy, it was informative, and it was down right brilliant.

Within seconds she crossed the room to buy a coffee or some such. And i could help but roll over the idea of what that road trip was, while my body automatically oogled her crossing of the room, and a fleeting eye starred longingly at the book in my lap, now closed and forgotten after the constant small talk with a stranger.






Orientation:


So we received the explanation of the new rules and documentation.

A lot of changes, and pretty strict stuff.

Basically you can't miss a day of placement unless you're REALLY REALLY SICK or have other legitimate excuse's. A lot of girls had been fobbing the system off and generally taking the piss with its apparent leniency. So now there's no room for maneuver

Also the documents have changed. BIG TIME.

Less chance of Forgery. There is now a "signature" bank where each signature is recorded and also given in block capitals, FUCK!

The documents are also all stapled together in one huge book so that your "preceptor" (person you shadow and work with all day) can see how you were on previous placements. Also a big eek.


Whats worse is that travesty of an annoyance, the portfolio, reflective pieces and on placement learning, all in the document!

No longer the days where you rush summerise an article off google that loosely covers your chosen topic and just pretending you learned something off it.

I was a semi-master at this. The last minute save, the excuses, the letting it slide, the distraction techniques, the blank faced lies, oh i was a master.

I had learned it oh so well from avoiding work in secondary school. Predominantly in Business and Art. Business because i hadn't a clue, Art because it was far more time consuming and my i gave that teacher so much hell it was the least she could expect....

Now i won't encourage what i was doing, of course not, but i had always derided the system for being so weak, for putting this insistence on people when we just want to sleep after days of slave labour. I understand it is meant to aid our learning process but frankly WE students our mules. And doing anything other than turning up and doing what is asked of us is a tall order. There is food to eat, socialising to be done only via the internet or the rare outing, there is also fuck loads of tv!

Where would i or normal nurse's be without their tv? The Home and aways, or in my case How i met your mother and Battlestar Galactica. There's Dexter, House, Gray's Anatomy, Greek and the mother of all greatness QI !!!! Work during placement, PAH!

So now we have to, it's in our documents, and the space is TINY! It's so tiny it's laughable. Okay so there's no excuse for not getting it done but it reflects fuck all! Of all the scribbled and rushed, delayed, disjointed and insulting work i forked out over the pass 3 years i learned and wrote a fuck load more than what is expected here!

I slaved over every last minute deadline for stuff that was never read, never legible, and never reviewed. Hell most of it has never appeared ever again, but i did it damn it! If i said so, anyway, there's some gaps....


The change is welcome. People will get stuff done. But generally you need to show real interest in it. It will force more and more student nurse's not to be lying habitually to avoid the responsibility of actually learning or getting any form of academia into their systems during placement.





And then the big OH Fuck. The statistics on interpersonal relationships. This is where MOST 3rd and 4th Years Fail in their placements.

Now this covers a large range of things, but is basically how you work with the Staff, the Patients and how you work as a supervised and semi-free agent and advocate of people's health and well being.


It's a tall order. To work your ass off, slip the disks in your spine, and do it all with a smile and a hop skip and a jump. Project an image of competency and so on.

I have always found this the hardest. I do all my preceptor given tasks as a sense of automatic duty. I pro-actively care for things outside of my orders out of general knowledge and experience. And i interact with the staff on basic chit chat and the order of the day.

I do not do it all with a pro-active assertiveness. I'm a shy headless chicken. I do what is asked, do what i know, and inform when i see something untoward and out of the ordinary. I make suggestions to and share the general disdain for the job, how it operates and how what is expected of us is a dream world in comparison to what we get achieved.

Do be able to extend my effort beyond the exhausting one i already put in is alien and terrifying. I'm awful at being me socially as it is. So doing it in placement with Transient more experienced authoritative figures who are predominantly female is just difficult!

I won't try and excuse every aspect of it. But as a nurse this is a large failing of mine, and it has been the main highlighted criticism ever since 1st year. It's not been lack of skill or academic knowledge. No i work well. But i don't look good at what i'm doing. I don't appear to be on top of it all. It shows that i am not confident. It shows that i am only doing what is asked. It shows that i am often just trying to avoid any more than what is asked.


Okay with patients i am grand. With fellow staff not as much. It's harder to be friendly. It's harder to be the same. It's the same small talk. It's the same what do we have to do. It's harder to step into their world and be like them. And my interests are so far removed and alien to a typical nurse it's impossible to mention them.

How do i talk about Science fiction, Debating, Politics or the internet and computing, even tv choice's are out hard to include with some.

Whats worst of all is trying to stretch this socilising and "non-sex flirting" cross culturally!

With Non-Irish born Nurse's, and the majority of these are Sub-asian or Oceanic Islanders, how do i share my chit chat gossip across a folded bed sheet to someone who i would rarely encounter anywhere else but here in hospital over a commode?

The closest i ever got to a truely extensive friendly conversation with a foreign national nurse was about Relgion. This was in ICU! The patient couldn't talk and we couldn't leave the room. We had only the radio and a "floating" nurse to help with some tasks. Otherwise we were stuck in a room together. It had to happen. We had to connect on more of a level than simple work. THIS RARELY HAPPENS!


Although it does happen with student nurse's. This is a given. After all they are all Around my Age, share the same experience, are from the same cultural background, and of course i am FAR more inclined to flirt with them or to strike up a rapport. So in essence i have to expand this to all staff members...


So IF i get into 3rd year this will be a very big fear of mine. How do i work on all of this?





After the documents were explained to us we received them.

It was a big queue and as i got mine one of girls from my Tutorial, who had seen my "oh god i was in at 730am for 10", comment on facebook, asked me with a quip "Was it Worth the wait?"

Made me smile anyway.


As i fumbled to read it at the top of the lecture theater a girl who had been sitting with me and an old classmate who had returned from Off books approached me seeking information from an email i had mentioned earlier.

Confused, lost, and without much help from staff or tutors this repeating ID student hadn't a clue where or when she was supposed to be so i helped her with getting info from an email.


After that bit of chivalry i left for lunch.

In the foyer i jacked in my music after much cable untangling. Staring at slightly familiar face's in the crowd as they passed or ate their lunch in the cafe or the plush couches. Face's such as Daisy...(more on that later)

 LUNCH FEATURED IN Manic Monday 1.5/Snap Happy #9


After lunch we had our specific Hospital talks. Mine was upstairs, and the others down stairs.



I went to one of the stand up computers just to check my general emails, and any notifications on facebook to save me some credit.

As i did this Chatterbox rounded the corner. I talked with her briefly as i hurriedly battled with a bad mouse and slow computer to get what i wanted to read seen and out of the way so i could go upstairs where i had to be.

Her thing was canceled and i talked with her briefly. I mentioned my exams and assignment and she wished me luck.

I cheated and used the lift to ascend to the 1st floor, which was actually 2 storys up from where i was.

And then we had our thing.

A talk on the documents, the still standing code's of conduct and so on.

What was worse was i had had run ins with all of these CPC's before!

2 from some of darker moments of the past year, like that "sick" day in the name of Chasing Cleo on insane false interests.... Not good. I was in deep shit for that, and my whole disillusionment with the course and repeating was dragged out. So i would like to have avoided them.


We tried on Masks for the risk of Swine flu and some people had to stay behind to try on larger "HAZMAT" type ones, like in Outbreak. It all seemed a bit ridiculous, sine Swine flu is so bloody harmless! Sure it's highly infectious but you have to be pretty sick with underlying things to pop your clogs from a flu.

But of course a large scale Hospital Pandemic would be very dangerous. It's the right place for people to die from it. And the staff would be heavily exposed to it. If the staff got it they would spread it to other patients at risk, and to all of the staff and the people they interact with. It would also mean that A LOT of nurse's would be out of work, sick.

And student nurse's are breeding grounds of cross infection. Even if we're trained with better hand hygiene and warnings, we're more likely to make mistakes at crucial points or to have picked up habits from less competent nurses. We also move about a lot more and spend A LOT more time in the community, because some of the students actually have live's! So we're very likely to be sources, or victims of swine flu.



Following that i went back to the computers.

On the way down i walked passed Daisy. My eyes were not really aiming for anything but our eyes met but i kept walking.

There was an a large look of recognition in her face and i heard a failing sentence of

"Hey, how...." behind me.

I wasn't sure if it was her addressing me, or someone else, as i was walking quickly but i didn't leave the time for it to matter.

I think if it was her she got the message that i wasn't going to stop and talk, or say hello, or something like that.

What i was thinking was;

 i'm going somewhere, oh there's someone i want to avoid, oh oh our eyes met, keep calm, keep walking, what, did she say something, oh no it stopped, forget it walk on, don't mind, oooh a flutter-by....

I had no real intentions in my walk passed her. I had seen her Emily the Strange Silhouette all day. And despite it conjuring up memories and the temptation to oogle i didn't, or at least not to often. She still had THAT hair cut, she still looked the same and even some of her cloths were familiar from my period of bitterness. Obviously not quite over, but then again why did it matter. There is the chance this was the LAST time i would ever see her, or at least until January if i pass.


Computers, usual routine.

Chaterbox entered, she briefly talked to people from our old year who were obtaining thier new documents and ward profiles.


Then as she was leaving she rounded the desks and talked to me some more about my exams, what came up, and the assignment. She wished me look and expressed confidence in claiming that i probably did well and so on. And i bid her a due. I probably won't see her till January, or possibly longer than that, who knows. Although the thought had crossed my mind to take her to the Next Twilight film as she mentioned it a few times. A perfect opportunity to be a good friend or prove the theory my friends and i had that she could be a lesbian. Who knows...



Then off to Society Stuff. This will follow in Manic Monday (part 2): Return to the Society....

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Music appreciation is an individual experiance, don't let anyone tell you any different!

Now i have mentioned this the odd time but i really hate Music magazines and music critics.

What is there to criticise?


I maintain that loving music is an individual experience and no so called expert can EVER tell you otherwise.


No critic can ever tell you one band is shit, or copying another. After all it's what a band does for it's listeners that really matters.

Bad, untalented or not, it is what the individual listener hears that really matters.


If bands can reach each person 1 at a time and win them over, then they're job is done.


Mass fan groups, or the wider public for popular songs don't understand this. They follow trends, they follow what is popular and they assure you that only a specific band is the best, the greatest, the only superior band possible. Well i''m sorry but not in my books.


I HATE THE BEATLES
I HATE QUEENS OF THE STONAGE
I HATE KINGS OF LEON
I hate metal music
I have a general disdain for U2


I have a predominantly individual taste in music.

There's no point in listing every artist i listen to, but i listen to a lot.

Now i admit i do also follow popular trends, but sometimes ahead of everyone else, or in a different way.

He is a cross section of songs that, only today, sound like the best thing to me. Songs that make me feel good and make me want to sing along.

Tomorrow i might not feel the same way, but that's the beauty of music.




A Day AWAY - The Coldest Night



All Time Low - The Girl is a straight up hustler




The like - What i say and what i mean


Fight Like Apes - Something Global


Fight Like Apes - Jake Summers

Paramore - Misery Business accoustic

Farewell - Zelda


Mercy Mercedes - Spanish Mackerel

Fightstar - Paint your Target

Green Day - Walking Contradiction

Emily - Just because you say it


Emily -  Dear Temptation


Hey Monday - Josie



The Academy is...: Black Mamba

The Academy is...: Bulls in Brooklyn

Cute is what we aim for: Curse of Curves



Fall Out Boy - Chicago is so Two years Ago

Fall Out Boy - Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes

Fall Out Boy - Roxanne

Fall Out Boy - Nobody puts baby in the corner

Fall Out Boy - (coffee's for Closers)


Fall Out Boy - Snitches and talkers, get stitches and stalkers.





Songs i only just found now that i now love, thank you youtube suggestions!

The Bridges - Pieces

Shiloh - Goodbye you Suck





I think that's enough music for now.

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What's Next....

As i said yesterday, somewhere in this post, i have Idea's of what to do in the future.


Well for some these are few and far between, for me they come thick and fast and unrelenting.

But the key topic area's are as follows:

• Writing 
• Blogging
•  A website to call my own
• Traveling and seeing the world. 
• A travel Business based around road trips.  

Now these are the broad area's. What also has to exist, is realism.

The realistic things that await me in the future are:

• Examblor results....
• Driver Theory Test
• Employment
• Leaving the homestead
• Responsibility
• Independence
•  Relationships
• Settling down
• Wealth, mediocrity or impoverished. 
• Death and dying.

Yep. There is a lot that can't be predicted or planned for. But what i really want to do is fulfill my dreams. To believe in the idea's that come into my warped little mind and set them in motion.

So this post in some way is meant to list them.

Here it goes:


Writing:

I have had several idea's for Novels, Fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, fantasy, books, film, tv-series, graphic novels and so on for as long as i can remember.

What makes this special is that over the years i have amassed big idea's that have never left my mind. Entire Saga's, franchise's and universe's and meta-verse's all waiting to be explored and given justice.

Here is a brief summary of some of them, and their temporary or current titles.

1. Aquarius 210:

A tv-series based around a film crew documenting a seemingly average Spaceship as it sets out on its first missions to assist internal issues in a Coalition of planets.

As the story progresses the vast story's possible in this universe align and politics and drama take the fore as problems such as Terrorism, Free-trade, piracy, corruption and xenophobia take over. Slowly the human governments fall apart and threaten the unity that the main characters had been working for.

As protest against the way things have gone the main characters and their friends on several planets and in the media become outlaws and rebels themselves. Striving to maintain the idea's of freedom they were hired to promote they become terrorists themselves and align with former enemies and criminals in order to create a society they feel fits the ideology they thought they were meant to protect and promote.

-Either a long series of 5-7 years, or several short mini-series covering different aspects of the drama as it happens. It also will have possibilities of spin offs set at similar times and covering other angles.

I've been adding to it and adding and removing ret-con's to it for more than 10 years. It in no way resembles it's original idea and changes all the time. I just wish i could settle down and get it made.

2. Chronicles of Dolmus:

A group of outlaws and outcasts all lost in their own disillusionment with their lives become united again when they must protect a secret that is the cause of all their life's problems.

In their quest to keep the truth hidden and themselves alive they grow as a crew and influence the people that join them along the way in their journey's.

Eventually they establish a resistance movement and attempt to overthrow the two evil empires that influence thier lives.

All the while searching for a lost planet that they hope will be the answer to all their problems.


- At the moment the idea is for 4 or 5 books. I've already gotten at least 4 chapters into the first one. It's slow work but it's got the most work of any of my ideas.


3. "Punk Verse":

The most basic idea behind this concept is that the "punk" genre of each era of history is covered in one bizarre interconnected storyline ranging over 4,000 years and covering every age of human history and technology.

From Swords and sandles to Diesel-punk and Jet-punk.

But the original idea, and the biggest, is that of a WW1/ Napoleonic style war novel where several empires clash in order to prevent an extinct ancient relative of humanity from rising from the grave and conquering the world. Using various Clockwork-punk, steam-punk and so on, technologies the empires all come together as friends and enemies to destroy this army of the undead and save their very existence.

To cover other parts of this idea i have though of including tie-in comics/graphic novels to cover all the background history and so on.


4. Alternative reality Super hero saga:

A mental patient thinks he's in the wrong reality.

He slowly changes the live's of seemingly unconected people who discover super powers.

They eventually work together to become a crime fighting team together, like any other super heroes, but also as terrorists. They aim to either find a way back for the mental patient to his home reality or change the one they live in in the process.

- Initially it was meant to be a tv-series, it could almost write itself. But a bit pissed with it's predictability in my head, and how cliché it's "unique" and unconnected characters seemed in their origin stories, the more familiar they seemed. So in order to make it different, to say something different i DON'T want it to be a tv series. Instead it will be a series of books, or graphic novels. Such a good intentioned and dark show could be stagnant and predictable on tv, instead as a book I could explore everything in a deeper way and drag it out. Even more so with a graphic novel in no way does it have to follow normal conventions or plot ideas.

It's a work in progress and an idea thats only a year old at this stage, with several people LOOSELY based on people i know from my own life. It has yet to find it's feet as an idea, but i love it.


5. The Tick all the boxes Saga, AKA The Dorian Webster Collection:

A young boy in a 1930s type Britain who is from a formally rich family struggles to stay alive in city slums.

He dreams up 3 worlds to help him cope and to play with.

However these are not just 3 worlds of a childs imagination. They're real.

1 A fantasy world with a lonesome Ultimate warrior avenging the loss of his cat. Another a far off future with a renegade mad scientist who is searching for the parts to his Anti-Indifference machine to make people like his bad poetry, but he unfortunately built a amnesia ray which makes the task even harder. And a world the boy didn't want to dream up. A world where money is king, consumer goods are rampant, and a teenage boy is unhappy with his life. This 3rd world being our world.

As Dorian Grows up the 3 worlds he visits when he plays, and also visit him, all play important roles in the pivotal moments in his life and follow him all the way into adulthood, until his death.

- The idea is for a saga of books, at least 7 or so, with spin offs and short stories. The idea behind it is to tell a heartwarming and approachable story spanning a characters entire life and using all genre's at the same time to do so.

Harry Potter meets Adrian Mole via The Lord of the Rings and Buzz Lightyear. Wow, what a tag line!


6. Vampire Saga:

The idea behind this story has been with me for a good few years.

A unhappy journalist who is an outcast within his rich family starts to visit the world below the great floating city he lives on.

He slowly discovers himself and sexual desire. Unfortunately he sleeps with the wrong person and becomes infected. Not with a disease, but with the ultimate virus, the Vampire virus.

A virus that lays dormant in most people and effects them in many different ways. However he catches a strain that makes him into a new person. A sexually confident person, a changed person.

As her turns his life around and becomes as confident as his brothers he entires the power struggle within his own family while also trying to control the daemon within himself. The more he feeds his sexual lusts and quest for violent sex the more the vampyric influence takes over. Soon he slowly stops aging, gaining strength and his appearance becoming more attractive.

Most vampires are just people with sexual deviancies or other minor changes and powers, but this once reclusive reporter and outcast becomes intoxicated by lust and greed as he changes.

A series of power struggles and stories play off of this first one as the family changes over time.

An outbreak of other strains of the vampire disease also occurs leading to more and more people similar to the original protagonist  and a class war of epic proportions begins.


 Blogging, and a website to call my own:


As my readers are aware I have thought a few time's about my "Social Dullard" identity for blogging. And frankly i haven't been sure what to do with it. Now i think i have an idea.

And that idea is to Create a new collaborative blog or website.

Social Dullard could be the name of this website or blog, but i'm undecided on that. But the idea's behind that name have let me to think of the basis of the website anyway. 

The idea behind this blog is to use anonymity to share life stories, advice, opinions and guiding stories for it's readers.

It will be a life guide type blog. And it will be aimed at teenagers and young adults, and those suffering from mental health problems.  

It's content will be submitted by bloggers, experts, readers and marketing aimed at supporting youth movements and idea's. 

The subjects covered will be anything from Education, Social life, Family life, relationships, sexual health, mental health, physical health, Film/Reading/Television and music appreciation and recommendation,  and any other issue's raised by it's community.

Before i can afford a domain name it will start as a simple blog for people to contribute their advice to.

From there the name of the blog will expand to it's own website and attempt to reach more people.

Purely for a charitable influence and non-profit. Just bloggers and experts providing advice where needed for young people and those in need of support.
  
 
Road Trip Business.

Now this idea is actually a rather extensive one that i have been slowly building a "pitch" for.

In brief it is a Tour company based on the idea of road trips across the United States that embody's a spirit of Hitchhiking and Share-taxi's.

Through a website and specialised services people can join these Share-taxis as they take non-linear routes across the United States, creating an adventure with each passenger they pick up and each road they take.

I won't say any more than that but that is basically all my idea's for the future.   



What i'll really be doing next is the Driver theory test.

I will also be awaiting my exam results.

I will also be reading books, adding to this blog in a more devote way, and hopefully fulfilling those dreams and idea's i out lined above.


See you all soon.