Day 12: And then we came to the end

As they say, all good things must come to an end. We have reached the end of our trip, which is ironically also the beginning. This afternoon we arrived back at Bunratty Castle Hotel, where our journey began.

This has been an amazing trip; everything about was just awesome. I have very few complaints ... actually I don't really have any other than there are a couple stops where we could have used more time, but that is the nature of these kinds of trips. This is an amazingly beautiful country and the people are just wonderful. If you ever have a chance to visit, take it. You won't regret it. And if you ever come, make sure you find an older Irish person and aske them to tell you about their country. The Irish people are so good at telling the history of their country. Our guide in particular was amazing. He knew more times and dates and names of history than I do of our history, and our history is so much shorter than his country's history. It was impressive.

Our flight leaves at 9am tomorrow, and we have to be at the airport by 6. Way too early. Then, when we arrive in the states it'll only be 11. How weird is that? Tomorrow is going to be such a long day. But I'll get to see my dog! I can't wait for that. I think she's the only thing I've really missed about the states these last two weeks.

I hope you guys have enjoyed these posts while I was here. I'll probably post some more about Ireland in the coming weeks. There's a lot of things I would have liked to include here but didn't have time. For now I have to get to sleep, because 4:30am is going to come way too early.

Ireland Day 9: Catching Up, National Stud Ranch and Blarney

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting regularly. A combination of late nights and lack of internet access has prevented me from being able to post anything recently. But we’ve been having an awesome time, and I can already tell I’m not going to want to come home.

Thursday was cold and rainy. We toured Glenveagh Castle, which isn’t a real castle. It was built in the 1800s to be a hunting lodge of sorts and designed to look like a castle. However it was amazing inside. Then we stopped briefly in Letterkenny, the sister city of Elizabethtown. I found a book there that is a collection of letters written to a man who immigrated to Lancaster County. Thursday night we went out to a small pub nearby (and I mean small, the bar itself took up half of the room) it was full of other members of our tour and we all drank and sang and had a good time. I have several videos of that night (mostly of our driver sing for us) that I’ll probably post on youtube at some point. It was possibly the most fun I’ve had so far.

Friday we drove up to Northern Ireland and took a tour of (London)Derry. What you call it is based on whether you’re a Loyalist Protestant or Nationalist Catholic. The town was the site of a lot of struggle during the fighting between the religious groups. Then we toured Giant’s Causeway. Unfortunately it was another rainy, cold day so it wasn’t as much fun as I was hoping it would be, but the rock formations at the causeway are amazing. I’ll have to get some pix posted so you can see them. Friday night we stayed in Ballygally castle, which is haunted but unfortunately I did not see the ghost, though I very much wanted to.

Saturday was a beautiful and we took a driving tour around the town of Belfast and heard about the history of the town. Belfast is one of the many towns that was divided and became a battleground between Catholics and Protestants for years. It was sad hearing the stories and see all the reminders of that time period. In the afternoon we stopped in Downpatrick to visit St. Patrick’s grave, then took a long, scenic drive to Dublin. We had to take a detour, so it was longer than anticipated, but it was a nice drive and took us through a part of Ireland we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Sunday was another beautiful day, I can’t believe we had two in a row. We visited Dublin Castle and the Guiness Storehouse in the morning. We had our free pint in the Gravity Bar on top of the storehouse, which offers an amazing view of the city. I’m not a beer fan, so I couldn’t finish my pint, but it was fun anyway. Then the afternoon was free for us to wander Dublin. We saw the Book of Kells, which was another item on my must-see list. The book is amazing; so much detail and artistry went into making that. We couldn’t take pictures but I bought a poster and a book with lots of pictures. The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping. We stopped and bought shirts in Hard Rock Dublin and wandered around for a while. I fell in love with Dublin during that time; the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people – everything is incredible. I would love to live in this city for a while. For supper we went to The Abbey Tavern and had a traditional Irish dinner and entertainment, including singers and dancers. It was a lot of fun. On the way home our drivers led us in singing some traditional Irish songs. That was even more fun. Our guide, Ken, sang this one song called “Four Green Fields” and it was just amazing. He has so much passion for his country and his people and it really came out while singing that song.


Today started out nice as well, and most of the day wasn’t bad. I think it only really rained while we were on the bus. First we stopped at the Irish National Stud Farm and learned more than we really needed to know about breeding horses, and saw the most expensive horse in Europe. In the afternoon we drove to our hotel at the Blarney Woolen Mills then spent some time shopping after checking in. We wanted to see Blarney Castle, but it costs 10 euro to get anywhere near the castle so we decided it wasn’t worth it. All in all it was a pretty good day, not as busy as usual. I can’t believe we only have three more days left, I don’t want to come home (although I really miss my dog).

Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain so naturally our itinerary includes a walking tour of the town of Kinsale. Oh well, I getting used to being cold and damp by now. I have some pictures of the first couple days posted, I just have to figure out how to link to them. Keep an eye on the links to the right of the page, if I figure it out it will appear there.

Update: Pix are up! Some at least, check out the link in the list on the right. Hopefully more will come soon!

Ireland Day 4: Knock, Yeats' grave and Belleek

This will be a short blog, because believe it or not I'm actually trying to upload some photos! Not many, because I'm afraid of going over my limit and it takes a while to load them. I have over 300 pix at the moment, so there will not be a shortage of them to view when I get home.

This morning we went to the Knock shrine, which is a place some people saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary back in 1879. Since I'm not catholic it wasn't too interesting, but there was a cool graveyard nearby.

We stopped at Yeats' grave next. It was a lot more plain than I had imagined for Ireland's greatest poet. But I got some pictures and I bought a book of poetry edited by Seamus Heaney.

Last was a tour of Belleek pottery, they make some really nice pieces. I bought a small jewelry box.

Tomorrow we go to Glenveagh castle and stop in Letterkenny, which is Elizabethtown's sister city. Should be fun. Now, if this internet connection can hold up for more than a couple seconds I'm going to go upload more photos.

Ireland Day 3: Walking Man tour and Galway

Today we spent most of the morning driving through Conemara area of Ireland.

Before we left Galway and stopped at St. Nicholas and Our Lady Assumed into Heaven Cathedral (I think that's the name, it's at least something like that). The cathedral was beautiful, though it was hard to get good pictures because the lighting wasn't great. In the one room was a larg mosaic of Jesus, and at each side was a smaller mosaic. One was of Patrick Pearce who led the Easter Rebellion in 1916 and the other was John F. Kennedy, who was apparently just as well loved in Ireland as he is in the states.

Conemara is a beautiful part of Ireland, though it's extremely rocky. I hadn't realized how rocky the terrain was. It's amazing. I wouldn't want to try to farm this land, that's for sure. We stopped for lunch at Eddie's Bar or Pub, (I'm really having trouble with names). Apparently Eddie is related to one of the four men who discovered the Comstock Lode and also has a relative who married a Vanderbilt. This all came from Eddie himself.

In the afternoon we went to the village of Cong and toured some of the sites used for the filming of The Quiet Man, including Pat Cohen's Bar. Now the bar was not a bar at the time and actually just opened as a bar for the first time a few weeks ago. Apparently only the exterior shots were filmed here the rest were done in the states. Thanks to this tour I am now "married" to Ken our tour guide. If I ever get those pics posted I'll show you the "family photo." They pick people to dress up and I had to play Maureen O'Hara's part. It was kind of emabarassing.

Before dinner we had some free time to wander around Galway, which is a nice city. I bought myself a zip-up sweatshirt that says Ireland on it. It's pretty cool.

Dinner was fancy again. I wasn't expecting any less. Then afterwards we went to an Irish pub for a little while. As I'm still exhausted I didn't stay long. I wanted to come back and pack some stuff up as we leave Galway tomorrow and I wanted time to post this.

Tomorrow we do some driving around in the morning and visit some random places, one of which is the grave of William Butler Yeats. I'm really excited about that (that was one of the places on my "must see" list when we were selecting the tour). Then in the afternoon we're touring the Beleek pottery factory. I have no idea if I'll be able to post tomorrow, I've been lucky so far. I still haven't uploaded those photos (sorry!) I'm starting to think I might just wait till I get home. I will try hard to get at least a few posted before then, but I already have almost 200 photos so it's unlikely that I'll get them all posted. However I promise if I don't get them posted before I get home I will when I get back.

Ireland Day 2: Cliffs of Moher, Celtic Crystal and Galway

Tonight we're staying at an awesome hotel in Galway. I think this is the fanciest hotel I've ever stayed in, which isn't saying much since I haven't stayed in many, but it's pretty fancy. And we don't even have the best rooms! My aunt are staying on the top floor and they're room is like a mini-penthouse. Oh well, ours is nice too.

Today we were treated to typical Irish weather, cold and rainy. It was kind of disappointing; the Cliffs of Moher are so much more amazing in sunlight, but I still got some decent photos. And it was cool to actually be there after seeing so many photos of them.

This afternoon we stopped at the Celtic Crystal place and saw how they etch designs into the crystal. It was pretty amazing. It takes a lot of talent and its all done by hand. Mom bought a little dish that's just like the one we saw made.

I've quickly learned that the one stereotype of the Irish that is definitely true is they're love of drinking. There are pubs everywhere. There was one tiny "village" that was basically about 20 houses and 3 or 4 pubs, that was the entire village (that may be a slight exaggeration, but it's pretty close). One night we're going to have dinner in a pub and here the local music. That should be fun.

Tomorrow we go to Connemara and visit the village of Cong, where the movie The Quiet Man (starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara) was filmed. We're taking a tour of the places the movie was filmed. In the afternoon we have some free time to hang out in Galway. I'm hoping the weather is a little better, though I'm not going to get my hopes up, since it rains so much here to begin with.

I know I promised pictures, but once again it's starting to get late (ok, so it's not even 9:30, but I'm still working on making up the sleep lost Saturday night while I was flying) and it'll take me a little while to load them onto my computer, then upload them to the internet. And actually, I have to decide where I'm loading them. I never installed webshots on this computer and I don't know if I really want to. We'll see. How easy is photobucket?

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good time in the states! We're staying in the same hotel tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get my photos uploaded then, I should at least be able to have another blog on tomorrow's activities.

Ireland: Day 1, Arrival and Bunratty Castle

Hello everyone! I'm writing this from Ireland! We got here around 6:30 am local time (that'd be about 1:30 eastern time). I didn't sleep much; it's kinda hard to sleep on a plane, you know? Besides that, Continental has these cool screen/entertainment systems on the back of each seat that allows you to pick a movie to watch, or play a game or do all kinds of things. So I ended up watching Mis Pettigrew Lives For a Day, because I couldn't pass up a chance to watch the adorable Lee Pace (and now I might have to go watch the second season premiere on my iPod).

Ireland is amazing. We're staying in the Bunratty Castle Hotel, which is amazing. We just got back from a medieval banquet held in the hotel. It was so much fun. Tomorrow we're going to see the Cliffs of Mohr, I can't wait.

I'm hoping I'll have free internet access throughout the trip, but I can't count on it. Whenever I do I'll try to update this site for you guys, so keep an eye out. I'll also try posting photos sometime, but I don't really have time tonight (I am way too tired to worry about that).

Midnight Sun - The Partial Draft

For Twilight fans:

Apparently some moron got ahold of a partial draft of Stephenie Meyer's Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edwards POV) and posted it online. In a statement on her website, Stephenie said that she's put work on the novel on hold indefinitely, meaning it may never be published. I'm hoping once things blow over and she's calmed down she'll change her mind and complete the novel.

However, I can't blame her. I know personal the writing process is, and it truly is a violation to have something read publicly before it is completed to your satisfaction.

On a brighter note, Stephenie has decided that since the copy has already circulated the internet, she herself would provide access to the novel, so fans wouldn't have to feel guilty about reading it and being curious. The portion posted goes up to about halfway through chapter 11 ("Complications") of Twilight. There is a link on the main page of her website, as well as a letter from Stephenie, for anyone who is interested. I'm definitely going to be reading it; if there's a chance it won't ever be published then I'll at least read what I can.

There's a link to Stephenie's website in my list of links to the right, if you're interested.

Breaking Dawn

I just finished reading Breaking Dawn, and ... Wow. That's all I can say. This book was amazing. I got home from work around 1:30 and immediately started reading and didn't look up from the book till I realized it was 4am and decided I should probably get some sleep. I work up around 8, started reading again and continued reading until I finished about half an hour ago.

These books really took me by surprise. I still can't believe I love them as much as I do. They're just so engrossing. I already can't wait for the release of Midnight Sun (Twilight retold from Edward's perspective) and Stephenie Meyer hasn't even finished writing it yet.

If you're at all interested in the Supernatural and aren't adverse to romance, I highly recommend these books. They may be about high school students, but they're not as immature as you would expect. Definitely more along the lines of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Twilight Takes Me By Surprise

This is one review that I never thought I would be writing, mostly because I never expected to read Stephenie Myers’ vampire/romance saga. I guess it’s true what they say, “never says never.”

When I began reading Twilight I was convinced I would not like the book at all. I had pretty much grouped it into the same category as the Gossip Girl novels or one of those other teen novels that I see as a waste of time to read. There are so many other books on my reading list that seemed so much more worthwhile. However, as the release of Breaking Dawn got closer, I began to get more and more curious. When the schedule came out and I realized I would be working the night of the release I decided I would give Twilight a shot, just so I would have some idea what was going on. Once I started reading I could not stop. I started Twilight Sunday night; four days and three books later I am now hooked on the Twilight saga.

I have a lot of favorite books and even more books that I love though I may not consider them favorites. But very few books draw me in entirely – completely consume my time and thoughts. Rarely am I so hooked that I spend every available waking moment caught up in the book. However, since I started Twilight Sunday night, until I finished Eclipse last night I could not put the books down. The only time I spent more than five minutes away from the books was to sleep, work or watch The Dark Knight (which was amazing, by the way). This is the first time I’ve been on the computer for more than a few minutes since Sunday. Even when I wasn’t reading all I could think about were the characters in the books, and what was going on. I haven’t felt that way about a book since Harry Potter.

This series was about 200% better than I anticipated. Bella is an amazing character, well written, developed and her thoughts and emotions are real. I could really identify with her, which I think is part of the reason I became so engrossed in these books. I could understand Bella, sympathize with her, feel her excitement and pain. And of course, as every girl before me who has read these books, I fell too fell in love with Edward.

I think what impressed me most about these books was that they are not like the usual books, tv shows and music that are popular with teens these days. These books didn’t glamorize underage drinking or sex and these teenagers seemed to have a decent taste in music and literature; they also realized there were more important things in life than clothes, who’s dating who, etc. I think that must be why I liked these books so much, why they took me by surprise. I was expecting Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill with vampires and what I found was more like a cross between Buffy and Moonlight.

In a way I’m kind of glad I just discovered these novels, because I don’t think I could have waited the year between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. As it is, it’s going to be really hard waiting until next Friday, especially since the books will be arriving in the store any day now and I’ll have to wait until after we close Friday night (actually early Saturday) to start reading.

So I guess the moral of the story is, never judge a book by its cover. You just may be surprised. I was.

The Other Wizard Called Harry

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher are quickly becoming some of my favorite books. Lately I’ve been on a huge Dresden kick and have read the last three books in the series in less than two weeks. If you’re a scifi fan and haven’t read this series, or if you were a fan of the television version on SciFi last year, then I highly recommend these books.

A quote on the cover of one of the books described the Dresden novels as a cross between a grown up Harry Potter and Spencer, and I must agree. While these novels are full of magic and fantasy, they are also more firmly grounded in reality than Harry Potter. You could almost believe that that there really is an underground magical community out there under our very noses.

Each novel is narrated by Harry himself, and he provides a very amusing description of events as they take place. I love the wit and humor, and I love the fact that I actually get the majority of the pop culture references used in these books; Tolkien, Star Wars even Darby O’Gill and the Little People, these are all references that I get and understand. Harry Dresden certainly isn’t a perfect man, like everyone he has his flaws and personal demons (literally, in his case) but it’s those flaws that make his character so realistic and so likeable.

The supporting cast of characters in these books are extremely diverse and they’re all just as interesting as Dresden himself. There’s Karrin Murphy, the head of Special Investigations and a friend of Dresden’s; Bob, the talking skull; Thomas, a vampire who is more than he seems (Thomas is quickly becoming my favorite character after Harry, but I won’t tell you why because that may give too much away) and Harry’s friend Michael, a faithful, God-fearing man who wields a powerful sword said to be forged with one of the nails from the cross of Christ. There’s also an equally diverse and intriguing cast of villains, including werewolves, vampires, demons and a powerful mobster known as Gentleman Johnny Marcone.

While many fantasy series these days seem to borrow heavily from classic tales such Tolkien’s works, Butcher has created a world all his own. However, like Tolkien, Butcher takes inspiration from classical mythology and folklore (Queen Mab, Merlin, etc.) as well as various religions. What fascinates me is the way he blends Christian tradition with his magical universe. Most often books of this genre tend to view the existence of magic (witches, wizards, etc.) and God as mutually exclusive; but in Dresden’s universe God and those doing his work have just as much power as the wizards.

Some book series tend to dry out, become less interesting with each novel published, but that’s not true in this case. Each novel is better than the one that precedes it, the stories become more intense, the stakes are higher and I love Harry more and more with each page I turn. So far I’ve finished each book thinking this one is my favorite, only to fall even more in love with the next one as I’m reading. I’ve also finished each novel faster than the one before it, because I just get more and more involved in the stories.

I also love how each novel builds on the one that preceded it. These aren’t completely individual stories. While the first few books seem fairly stand alone, with only a few references to previous novels, by the fifth or sixth book you begin to realize that there is a much bigger picture, and Butcher is just starting to reveal his plans to us.

Okay, I’m done raving now. I really love these books and definitely recommend them to any scifi fan. These books are terrific, and just get better with each one published.

Small Favors, book 10 of the Dresden Files, goes on sale Tuesday and I’m looking forward to it almost as much as I was looking forward to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I’ll let you know what I think of it when I’m finished reading.

Beautiful Children and Other Odds and Ends

I just finished reading Beautiful Children by Charles Bock and this book is absolutely amazing. While it's kind of hard to recommend to people unless I really know them and know their taste in books, I think this was an incredible read and definitely worth the time.

The story is set in Las Vegas around the disappearance of a young boy named Newell Ewing. The novel follows his parents as they deal with the tragedy, while also weaving together other stories to create the overall tapestry of events that took place the night Newell disappears. Other characters include a geeky comic book artist, a group of runaway street kids, a stripper named Cheri Blossom and her boyfriend Ponyboy (named after Hinton's characters in the Outsiders).

I loved the author's style. This is his first book, and rumor has it it took him 11 years and 4 drafts to complete the novel. His hard work was worthwhile. His style is extremely raw and real, and as your reading you get the impression that he actually knows these characters intimately. He knows their lives and motivations and everything about them. The old addage is true, a writer should write what he knows. Bock grew up in Vegas, so he probably did know many people like these characters.

I must offer a word of caution though. This novel is at times extremely provocative, graphic and sometimes shocking. There's a lot of language, sex, pornography, etc. But the story is amazing. Usually I would have been turned off by a lot of the content of this novel, it's not something I would have chosen myself to read (we started a book club at work and one of the guys chose this, not knowing much about it) but something about this story captured my interest and kept me reading till the end.

Other Stuff:

I planned on reading Neverwhere next, as it was recommended to me by a friend, but we were out of copies at work so I'm currently reading Smoke & Mirrors, short stories by Neil Gaiman. Some are kind of strange some are really interesting. I'm beginning to love Gaiman's writing.

I'm planning on adding a list to the left with my current list of planned reading. If anyone has recommendations please feel free to mention them. I'm willing give almost anything a try (with the exception of romance novels or manga).

"You will fly and you will crawl, God knows even Angels fall..."

As much as I love the entertainment industry, I don't usually get very emotional over the death of celebrities. While I know it's sad, I've never really understood getting worked up over the death of someone you've never met. However, that changed at about 4:39 p.m. on Tuesday, January 22, 2008.

For some reason the death of Heath Ledger has hit me really hard. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's because I've been a fan of his since the first time I saw 10 Things I Hate About You almost a decade ago (don't laugh, I was about 15 and that smile could win over anybody). Maybe it's because he was so young and good looking. Maybe it's because he's left behind a 2-year-old daughter who will only know her father through the movies he's made. Or, maybe it's because I saw so many good things in his future. For years I believed he would become one of the Hollywood's greats - a legendary actor/director with multiple Academy Awards on his mantle.

Heath Ledger should have had a brilliant career. He was already well on his way. He was an amazing actor and by all accounts a good person. Sure, he wasn't perfect, but then, nobody is.

Since Tuesday I've been reading as much as I can about Heath, focusing on stories about his life, as thinking about his death is too sad. My favorite story was sent into CNN by a Dan Bova from Larchmont, NY:

"Once when I was driving in Brooklyn, I got a flat tire. As I was jacking up my car, this deep voice from behind me said, "Need a hand?" It was Heath Ledger. I couldn't believe it. He helped jack up my car and change the tire. He was really good with tools!"

No matter what the circumstances of Heath's death, this is how I choose to remember him. Despite his fame, he was not above helping a stranger on the street. He was a compassionate person, a caring father and a talented actor. I believe we were just beginning to see what he was capable of, and I am saddened by the fact that we'll never have the opportunity to watch him achieve everything I know he would have in his life. He accomplished so much in 28 years, who knows what he could have done with 28 more.

Rest in Peace, Heath. You will never be forgotten.

I'm Still Here

Hello everyone! I realize it's been a long time since I've posted anything here; I apologize for my absence. One of my New Year's resolutions is to be better about posting here. It's kind of hard to use this site as a reference for my resume if I don't keep it updated. Work got crazy with the holidays, but hopefully things will slow down now. I have a couple blogs planned out, so hopefully I'll be posting more regularly from now on.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and Happy New Year!