Another year older...

So, it's been a long year. Not much posting, I know, but it's been a good one. I've spent my first year working full time, and enjoyed it. I haven't met a new girl, or at least, I haven't started a new relationship with anyone. Didn't start running nor walking, but I have started cycling an awful lot more, and invested in a new bike, and a fair amount of equipment. I budget, and am saving, though not as much as I want to. And I only feel sorry for myself every once in a while. It helps to have a regular income, where so many other people don't. Makes me glad that I can afford to do so much more than so many people I know. I share the love when I can, and frequently end up out of pocket after nights out, but I don't mind. I have the luxury of being able to have the attitude that sure, it's only money - there'll be more next month.

But a brief review of the year shows I've managed to cover a lot of ground. A messy start in Cork, a wet weekend in Donegal, and the wedding of two of my best friends (and my first role as a groomsman!). The Fastnacht carnival festival in Mainz, a brief weekend in Clare, another wedding in June, a long weekend in Berlin. A muddy Oxegen, London, two wet weekends in Kerry - one camping in Caherciveen, the other an abortive attempt to climb Carrauntuohill. A weekend in Emilia Romagna, Halloween in Galway, a conference in Kilkenny, and a weekend in Kilkenny with five Donegal girls. And lastly a trip to Cardiff, another wet weekend.

A few great gigs - Leonard Cohen stands out as a fond memory. Muse were spectacularly showcased in the O2, and Fleet Foxes at Vicar Street were sublime. Oxegen included Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Doves, NIN, Regina Spektor, the Specials, Fight Like Apes, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Ocean Colour Scene, Katy Perry, and Blur, the soundtrack to my youth.

Finally joined the IFI, so managed to catch a good few quality films. Gran Torino, Let the Right One in, Antichrist, Fermat's Room, Mesrine, Broken Embraces, the Good, the Bad, the Weird, Frost/Nixon, Away we go, Trick 'r Treat, The Girlfriend Experience - all great films.

And next year? What does it hold? Hopes and dreams, ambitions and desires...

1. Start a photo 365 project
I've had my D40X for about six months now, and know SFA about how to work it. Shutter speed, ISO levels... I know what they are, but not how to set them. This will also eventually necessitate purchase of a VR AF lens, probably 55-200mm, which is needed really.

2. Start German lessons.
I have a modest level of German, but I'm rusty as hell. If I can find a quick-moving course starting simple, but ramping up quickly, that'd be perfect.

3. Start swimming lessons
Something I've wanted to do for a while. Much as I love swimming in the sea, I'm just not a strong swimmer. If I want to start kayaking later in the year, I'll need at least confidence in the water.

4. Save €9,000
I think that's an achievable amount for a year. €740 a month. That's about what I get paid for a shift of out of hours support, so if I get one of those a quarter, I'll be happy. With what I have saved already, I'll have about what I want to head off in 2011, and a few months at the start of that year to get a nice margin in case of emergency... or just in case I don't want to come home. :P

5. Join a cycling club.
Something I don't think I need to make a resolution, but it'll be an incentive to get it done sooner rather than later.

Goals for the year:
1. Cycle the Wicklow 200 (though it might only be the 100 if the lads in work have their way).
2. Walk the Wicklow Way (132km).
3. Climb Carrantuohill, preferably at night.
4. Climb Croagh Patick, preferably on Reek SUnday.
5. Visit Northern Ireland.
6. Do a Christmas Day or New Year's Day swim next winter.
7. Take up kayaking.
8. Do a short presentation at the the company conference.
9. Pass my driving test.

Now, there's nothing in there I'm not capable of, so bring on 2010! ...I just need to figure out where to spend New Year's Eve! o/

Recovery

After a rather minor operation last Friday morning, I've spent the weekend taking it easy. As you may guess, this means copious amounts of time spent in front of this computer. I got myself a new monitor to mark the occasion, 23" of widescreen goodness. But a period like this, trapped in the house, forces me to regress to a state of dreaming restlessness. I have to plan... to go somewhere, to buy something. To sit and do nothing is not something I am capable of, unless I have accomplished something. I can sit and enjoy the view from the top of a mountain I have climbed, or watch an afternoon film form the comfort of the couch if I've completed a particularly gruelling cycle that morning. Otherwise, what's the point? Life should be lived fully, filled with active engagements!
So these days have been torturous... reorganise my music collection? Done. Tick off those 'to do' lists? Done. Soon I'll find myself sorting out the cabling behind my desk, and labelling each wire and plug. Maybe with a colour-coded system if I'm feeling wild. Hopefully I'll be able to eat properly by Tuesday, and pull myself out of this reverie.

Restlessness

Been a while since I felt the need to post here. Been growing up, bit by bit. I have a freakin' pension now! And yet, the most of me still feels like I'm pretending to be an adult.



I'm still living in the same house, sleeping in the same bed. I have no place of my own, no mortgage, no shed. I've never put up a set of shelves, nor laid a carpet. Can't cook, don't cook. No girlfriend, no fiancé, no wife. Haven't left Europe yet, haven't pushed myself out of my comfort zone in any meaningful way. I just sit and make plans. Plans for the next week, for the weekends of the next few months, the five year plan... always planning - putting off 'til tomorrow what I want to do today, but can't afford.

The Italian

Fkn hell... this has been building up for a while, but dammit, I can't take it anymore.

New guy started about a month and a half ago now. Himself and myself are a team within the company, so we sit beside each other. He seems a really nice guy, but constantly irritates me in so many tiny ways...

* If your phone is vibrating, pick it up off the desk. Better yet, don't leave it there in the first place.
* Stop talking to yourself out loud in Italian. Ditto for gasping really loudly at something you've seen on the Internet.
* Don't touch my leg when you're talking to me. I realise you're Mediterranean , and that maybe that's culturally acceptable to you, but bloody hell, I don't like other men touching me in the office.
* If you do want to talk to me, hovering behind me when I'm on the computer until I notice you really isn't the best way to respect people's privacy. I know it's open plan, but there's a difference between walking past someone's screen, and standing behind them. I may end up "accidentally" elbowing you if you keep this one up.
* When I say "yes, I understand", that is not a cue to explain another time. I fully understand that you talk slowly, and it must be difficult talking about technical topics in a different language, but when I say "that's fine", I don't mean waste another five minutes of my time.
* Meetings that are scheduled for twenty minutes long should not run an hour over time. srsly.

More may come tomorrow as they occur... 1.30am is not really the height of my rage, but I felt the need to make a systematic list.

Sea Sew

Sew comes up as sex in the predictive text. heh. Beautiful album by Lisa Hannigan though, just beautiful.

I find myself listening to it when I can't sleep, which is a fairly frequent event these days, or rather, these nights. My brain switches to turbo without any outside stimulus, and mills through any number of thoughts, events, people. Usually I start imagining some scenario, and I follow that train of thought to the bitter end, leaving me sad or angry, or both, or just confused.

I'm a groomsman at a wedding next month, and the bride has informed me that my old girlfriend will be there, which raises multiple questions, and limitless potential scenarios. Will she bring a date? A friend? (I get on well with all of her friends bar one.) Will she be staying locally? In the same hotel? Will we hook up? Will she hook up with someone else? Do I want anything to happen at all? Will we be friendly, civil, or simply refuse to acknowledge each other's existence? Only a few weeks 'til I find out...

In the meantime, there's groomie drinks, the stag, a separate trip to Donegal, and much socialising to be done! And I have to get myself a really nice suit! I don't want to be left with an ugly cousin! :P