astarmain

It seems like I've been captured by some timewarp that has brought me back about 10 years. Over the last week I've had contact with three different people that I haven't seen in ages and it's kinda cool that you can pick up being mates with people even after long periods of time. I think I should try to not be as bad at keeping in touch with people as I have tended to be in the past.

So the house saga comes to an end with us backing out of the place in Ballinteer. Seems that when two sets of solicitors can't agree on what needs to be done there's nowhere else to go. We've decided to give up on looking until we have the wedding done and dusted which means I'm gonna have to spend the long weekend moving a load of junk back from my mums house to give her back some space.

All in all, I think I'm actually slightly relieved that it's not going to happen but I can't really put my finger on why. I guess it's just that it had been dragging on for so long that I'd lost any sense of excitement about the whole thing.

Next up is a road trip to Holland with Dave, Jim and Clince for a weekend of beer and metal and other stuff and then sure it'll almost be christmas :)

It's soooooo good to go on holidays. Looking back, it's been a full year since I actually was away from work that didn't involve gigs, festivals or being sick. It really makes all the difference being able to put the feet up and do nothing for a week. Well nothing is a bit of an exaggeration - there was plenty of pottering around seeing lighthouses, forts, various chateau and the like as well as beach and swimming pool slacking. Oh and two pretty grim rugby matches as well.

Of course coming back to work is poxy - there's too much to do and the cold this morning really made me yearn for going back to France pronto. There's nothing quite like breakfast on a terrace in 20 degree sunshine looking over the sea to start the day. Certainly beats Rice Krispies and a walk to the train station in about 7 degrees. There is a silver lining though in that our "summer day out" is on tomorrow evening and we're off to Shelbourne Park for food, drink and dog racing.

This weekend sees the dreaded "marriage preperation" course that you have to do (apparently) before you can tie the knot in the church. The topics look fairly moronic and I really hope they don't start getting all religious on my ass - I may end up unleashing the inner Dawkins which could end up ugly.

I've forgotten nearly all my French. I know it's been 13 years since I last used it in any regular sense but I would have thought some of it would stick in the back of the brain. I've been conversing by email with a hotel down near Bordeaux trying to book accomodation for the week between the Namibia and Georgia matches. I've had to resort at times to phoning my mother (an ex French teacher) to be reminded of words I knew and basic gramatical constructs. Not sure it's gonna be easy to survive there for the week!

I had a fairly long Wacken report written and then my stupid browser decided to crash and take all my hard work with me. So the salient points are

1. 8 hour long traffic jams suck
   
2. Becks isn't actually the worst beer in the world
   
3. Saxon, Immortal, Blind Guardian, Therion, Amorphis were excellent
   
4. Type O Negative were a complete let down
   
5. Ryanair are poxy
   

Been managing to get some face to face gaming in over the last while. Good to see Baz and watch him over-analyse yet another trucks game!

Housewise we're still no closer to moving. Stupid vendor solicitors haven't got the paperwork sorted out yet. Looks like we'll miss the cheaper mortgage rates but it does mean we've a few months more savings which should cover some of that cost.

Jamie and Aileen's wedding was great craic. The priest was hilarious (not intentionally) but a bit long winded, the grub was yummy, the main band were really good and we got to blast out a few rawk numbers at the end. Sing song with free beer until 4:30 is always a good way to end a night.

Bit poxy that Heaslip and/or Gleeson didn't make the world cup squad. Also pants that Denis Hickey is hanging up his boots after the competition and not coming back for the rest of the season.

Had a strange experience today in the gym. As opposed to the usual beepy-beepy, thumpy-thumpy tunes that are usually being blasted out there was a mix of tunes I actually enjoyed. Nirvana, Rainbow, KISS, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams is not your normal exercise fair. Not that I'm complaining - more of the same is always welcome. Wonder if they have any Def Leppard or Skid Row in the playlist?

So it's been the guts of 3 months since I posted anything. That's pretty damn bad even by my own standards. Not that there hasn't been anything happening - in fact probably the other way altogether. So the highlights are

• Sale agreed on a house right near the sea in Killiney
  
• Amon Amarth gigs - fooking deadly!
  
• Nintendo Wii
  
• Geoffstock
  
• Heiniken Cup final trip
  

The lowlights are

• Going further into debt with banks
  
• FF/PP being returned to power
  
• Kate's sudden death
  

This weekend is going to be completely quiet - no early mornings, no legging it around town, no watching bands. Hopefully next week will see a more regular LJ service resumed.

The last few weeks have been the most mental in a long time. Long hours in work trying to get some new equipment up and running, followed by rehearsals for two sets of concerts and in the background there are house related activities like painting, cleaning and meeting estate agents. Luckily the first concert happened on Friday night and the second is next Tuesday so there is an end in sight.

The long weekend was pretty good - ended up going out with Jim and Dave to a crappy gig and then to Bruxelles on Saturday night. Spent the rest of the time re-reading Ender's Game for the first time in about 15 years. Had forgotten how good a story it is. Might have to go out and get some of the other books in the series.

Met some people I hadn't seen in long time on Friday night while fairly well jarred. They had booked one of the booths in the place on Wicklow Street where they do karaoke so off we trotted for the 2AM session. Turns out that it's actually great craic. Once you get over the first few tunes you get into the zone and the time flew by really quickly.

It's also amazing the tunes that you didn't know you knew but actually you do. By this I mean songs like Rhinestone Cowboy, Sweet Caroline and various Abba numbers. Did manage to keep it a little bit kvlt by getting some Lynyrd Skynyrd and Pearl Jam as well. Not sure it's something I'd do every week but for a change of scenery and pace it was really enjoyable.

I've finally succumbed to the dark side. Having realised that I'm not getting to play as many games as I used to (or would like to) I've decided to give Magic Online a bash. Seems like a perfectly good way to spend a few hours and a bucket load of money to boot. I just wonder if I'll be able to keep up the cardboard collection or if I'll just buy what I need on ebay in future.

The new Mael Mordha album has just been released and it's deadly. The sound is huge and there's lots of little fancy bits in various songs that you don't normally hear live. Atlas of Sorrow and Curse of the Bard are probably the highlights but in all honesty there are few places where you feel bored listening to it. Unfortunately there was a mix up in the production and the tracks are out of order like on Cluain Tarbh so I'm sure that there will be loads of reviews with all the names on the wrong songs!

With the final 6 nations matches tomorrow I'm planning a big day on the couch. The effort of heading into town, through the parade, ceili and tons of yanks is too big. Reckon we should put a handy enough score past Italy but it will probably be about 10 points too little at the end of the day for the championship. If only Paul O'Connell could have held that kick off in Croker ...

MCD are doing their usual crap of announcing deadly support acts and then quietly dropping them just as tickets go on sale. This time it's Nine Inch Nails meant to be supporting Foo Fighters in Marley. At least MCD had the decency to put the announcement on their website this time but I'm sure a good few people will just go to a Ticketbastard outlet and pay cash for tickets without realising that NIN aren't on the bill anymore.

Got my car back from the chop shop last night and it looks pretty much as new. Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling when you don't screw up someones life by claiming off their insurance and giving them financial headaches for the next 5 years.


T minus 364 days

Dear me,

Kindly refrain from going out on Thursdays. Or if you insist on such stupidity make sure to arrange that you do not have to be in work at 8AM the next day. If that is not feasible at least try not to get locked and stagger home about 1:30. As has been scientifically proven, 5 hours sleep is just not enough to shake off a night of beering.

Yours sincerely,

Me

P.S. Don't stand right in front of the speakers at the next gig in the Voodoo Lounge. Ears that ring aren't kvlt.

Turns out the guy that bashed my car isn't such a knob after all. He's accepted responsibility and is going to pay for all the repairs. Drop it off next Monday and have it back good as new Wednesday. And since it's not touching my insurance my no claims etc. is intact.

I still haven't gotten over this stupid cough I've had for the last couple of weeks. Went to the doc yesterday and he put me back on another week long course of anti-biotics. Maybe I just need a week in the sun or something to get rid of it.

Work's as hectic as always - too many deadlines on top of each other, not enough people to do all the work. Still the good news is that the first shipment of our latest toys arrives tomorrow. Bad news is that the buildings office didn't make our meeting today to sort out power so the toys may just have to sit in the boxes for a while yet.

Turns out that the night of the 1st Twisted Tower Dire gig in April is also the same night as our performance of Carmina Burana in the NCH. Kinda sucky seeing as I'll be in da real capital the previous night at Amon Amarth. Also thinking of heading to Doom Shall Rise at the end of April for another weekend on the lock with the Mael Mordha boyos.

A traffic accident on the southside. So what do you call a crash on the northside? A pain in the ass - especially when some moron decides to pull out and drive straight into the passenger side of my car. Luckily no injuries and probably more damage to his car than mine but still annoying as hell.

No Saxon tonight - Biff is sick and so postponed until May. Will just have to go out and get locked with Jim this evening instead.

My favourite picture from Saturday's events at Croker. There's a very fine line between ironic and moronic. More to say on the whole weekend later.

I knew there was something wrong with our last minute equaliser against San Marino on Wednesday. It's called karma and it bit our shiny metal asses in Croke Park yesterday. Now I'd be the first to say that the French well deserved the victory - they should have been about 20 points up before half time, but the way we coughed up a soft try when we only had to hold onto the ball for about 90 seconds was heartbreaking.

We're only just into the 6 nations and I'm already trying to figure out trips for the rest of the year. First up there's the HEC game against Wasps. Still haven't decided if ~250 is worth paying for a day trip to a dump outside London. Then there's a potential trip to Biarritz - or more likely across the border in Spain again likely to cost upwards of 300 squids.

Already have my match tickets for the HEC final got and we're combining the trip with a visit to some friends who recently had a sprog. Looking forward to it, even if we don't make it, as I've never been in Twickenham before. I might even cheer on the turnips if they get there and we don't :)

Then there's the RWC. Have tickets for 3 of the pool games (not for the France game - grrrr) so will probably combine the two games in Bordeaux with my "summer" holidays. Will need to organise another over-nighter to the Argentina game. Had a look at tickets for the QF but they're gonna set me back about 200 before even travelling to Cardiff so might just pass on those.

This whole supporting thing isn't a cheap hobby.

As if there wasn't enough going on at the moment we've also decided to undertake moving house at some point this year. Had a couple of estate agents in during the week to value the house and give some advice on how to get the most dosh. The good news is that the only tasks are tidying up the garden, washing windows and a lick of paint on a few walls. The bad news is that we should also "declutter" the house. By that statement I get: you have too many books, CDs and DVDs in your life, try to get rid of some of them before normal people come waltzing though your house. So I have to try and convince my mother to hand over her spare room for several months of storage duty.

This weekend I get to stay in Dublin! It seems like ages since I had a whole weekend without going somewhere. So lots of it will be spent lounging in front of the telly watching the 6 Nations. No outlandish predictions here - France, England and Ireland for the wins. Also gonna hit the Master and Carnún Rising gig in Dorans tomorrow night. Might even try to catch up with corrections for the MSc kiddies. Other than that, the weekend will be used for restful purposes only.

So how was the music in America? The only word to use is DEADLY. Arrived down at the venue to find that in the US you need ID to buy alcohol no matter how old you look. Seeing as I had left my passport in the hotel, it meant a dry spell for me. Luckily we'd had a few in the hotel before leaving and Dave was always good for robbing beer from.

The main highlight of Friday was, of course, Slough Feg. These guys just amaze me every time I see them. They started out with a bit of a mellow vibe but after a few songs they hit their stride with the Traveller section. Vried didn't really do anything for me - fairly straight forward blackish metal. Manegarm were a different matter. Most bands with a drummer doing the vocals seem fairly empty on stage because there's nobody to focus on. Not Manegarm though who have a nut-job playing the violin out front to attract attention. Good quality folky/black metal.

Leaving the venue we managed to freeze to death. It hit -18C that night and we were about 15 minutes waiting for the shuttle bus back to the hotel. Needless to say a few jars ensued to warm up and then a trip to bed to prepare for Saturday's onslaught. More on later.

Free wireless in hotels rocks!

So we made it in 1 piece to St Paul. The flight from Dublin was delayed be almost 2 hours and then we took the long way over greenland to avoid a storm so we we're almost 9 hours in the air. Still didn't make any real impact as the flight to Minneapolis ended up being delayed for almost 4 hours between a late arriving plane and de-icing. Landed in Minneapolis about 10:40 so it was about 11:30 when we got to the hotel.

At which point we hit the bar. It's not like we've been up for 22 hours at this point or anything :) Met some of the other bands and fans staying in the hotel. Ended up drinking in the lobby when the bar closed until about 4 (10am Irish time!), with occasional trips outside for snowball fights, until I finally gave up and hit the sack.

Today is just hanging around day with the gig starting at about 6ish. Main entertainment tonight is Slough Feg.