April, 2010. I flew into Dublin from Chicago because it was, by far, the cheapest place to fly to in all of Europe. Ireland was not really on my list of places I wanted to spend any prolonged amount of time in, but it was a good starting off point.
As the plane was descending over the Emerald Isle, I gazed out the window at what really was the greenest place I had ever seen. Shimmery even. I was seated next to a man on the plane who was about 50 years old and had dreamed of going to Ireland his whole life and this was his first time, so he was very excited and it was rubbing off on me.
I made my way from the airport, by bus, to my hotel which was situated right in the heart of Temple Bar. Within Temple Bar lies Grafton Street - probably the most famous street in Ireland, except for maybe that street where Bloody Sunday occurred in Belfast, but Northern Ireland is a whole other story. Anyway, my hotel was called The Fleet Street Hotel and it was well before check-in time so I wandered around, trying to find a pub that was open so that I could have a few pints. I met a window washer named Pat (how original!) who pointed out the towering "spur" monument near the river Liffey and referred to it as "the syringe" and then gave me a ride in his window washer van to the only open pub in the neighborhood. I remember trying to get in to the van on the drivers' side and he said "oh ye're drivin' are ye?" and I sheepishly made my way around to the other side. I wish I could remember the name of the place he took me to, but it was a nice place that served a good lunch and I got quite hammered on Guinness. I met a lovely girl who was telling me all about how I had to go to a store called Penney's before I left Dublin. She also helped me get a taxi and sent me on my way to my hotel. I had a nice little room with a private bathroom (something I took for granted at the time).
The weather in Dublin was quite nippy that week in early April and I was packed for spring-like weather so I really had to layer on the clothing when I ventured outside. I had watched a documentary on famous Dublin pubs hosted by Frank McCourt (the author of Angela's Ashes) before I embarked on this trip, so I had a list of places I wanted to check out. Two places that really stuck out were John Kehoe's and Toner's.
I have never been much of a typical tourist. I am not very interested in seeing all of the monuments and museums and taking guided tours and what have you. I am more of a bar-hopping people person, and to me, the people ARE the attraction. I'm also an alcoholic, so naturally I spent a lot of time in pubs.
This initial stay in Dublin was only planned for 2 days and 3 nights because I wanted to check out a little bit of the city before I had to meet my friend in Scotland. I mostly wandered around Temple Bar, hit a lot of pubs, met a lot of super nice people, struggled to stay warm and stuck out like a sore thumb. I met a nice Irish guy named Jack and he took me to John Kehoe's (crossed that one off my list), which was packed full of Irish men in suits who all got a major kick out of me. I drank a LOT of Guinness. It was a LOT of fun.
Back in my hotel room, I was able to catch my first glimpse of a soap opera called Emmerdale. More on that in blogs to come. Anyway, my last day in Dublin I decided to have a bit of food at a really cool pub with a gorgeous mosaic wall and I met this bohemian-like couple who were really sweet and the guy even gave me a pill that he said would relax me for my flight. I washed it down with a pint of Guinness (what else?) and proceeded to catch the bus to the airport as the pill was really starting to take effect. I had some time to kill so I sat down at a table in an airport pub with a pint of Guinness and promptly fell asleep, missing my flight. Shit. I woke up several hours after it had departed and, in a panic, scrambled to find a way to get to Glasgow. Fortunately, RyanAir is dirt cheap and I was able to get a reasonably-priced, last-minute flight the next morning.
All in all, my first Irish experience was a positive one. Looking back, I was starry eyed and invincible, awestruck and trusting to a fault. I walked the streets of Dublin as if they were my own and I hadn't a care in the world. All of these illusions would disintegrate and float off into random shards of fuzzy memories as my European adventure continued, and by time I would return to Dublin, the city would take on a whole new light.
Here's a little questionnaire circulating around facebook. I thought I'd bring it on over here for your reading pleasure.
1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:55 AM
2. How do you like your steak? Medium Rare and juicy!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Avatar. Almost fell asleep and proceeded to walk out about halfway thru.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Real Time With Bill Maher
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Pittsburgh, duh.
6. What did you have for breakfast? 3 of eggs.
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Mexican food FTW!
8. What foods do you dislike? See previous post.
9. Favorite Place to Eat? Chipotle Mexican Grill!
10. Favorite dressing? I can't help that I love the homemade ranch dressing. So bad but so good.
11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Nissan Sentra
12. What are your favorite clothes? Simple, neutral colored clothes with very bold shoes and accessories.
13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Bavaria, Germany or Venezuela.
14. Cup half empty or half full? Always half full.
15. Where would you want to retire? See three posts below. Wyoming is a place where people go to die.
16. Favorite time of day? The night time is the right time.
17. Where were you born? Borrington, WHYoming
18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Football. The real kind. Also does Ninja Warrior count?
19. Bird watcher? Sure!
20. Are you a morning person or a night person? Both!
21. Do you have any pets? Too numerous to mention.
22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I am totally, butt-crazy in love with Johnny and I get to see him in 28 days!
23. What did you want to be when you were little? A pop star
24. What is your best childhood memory? playing "let's annoy grandma" with my cousin Todd.
25. Are you a cat or dog person? I can't choose. They're both great!
26. Are you married? Nope.
27. Always wear your seat belt? Always.
28. Been in a car accident? A handful of them.
29. Any pet peeves? People who speak in monotone. People who stop by without calling first. If someone stopped by unannounced and spoke in monotone the whole time I would probably go mental.
30. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Anything, anything as long as there's extra cheese!
31. Favorite Flower? Orchids are beautiful but I am a sucker for a blood red rose.
32. Favorite ice cream? MOOSE TRACKS MOTHAFUCKA!
33. Favorite fast food restaurant? Again, Chipotle!
34. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Once.
35. From whom did you get your last email? Photojojo. They're wonderful!
36. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? I would never max out my credit card! If I could go on a shopping spree without creating any debt I would go totally nuts in any number of electronics departments or Canon stores.
37. Like your job? Umm...
38. Broccoli? Yum!
39. What was your favorite vacation? 7 countries, 3 months, Spring 2010
40. Last person you went out to dinner with? My mom and grandma...
41. What are you listening to right now? The "whirrr" of my CPU.
My mom says that she fed me various game meat as I was growing up and supposedly I gobbled it up like nobody's business. Why is it, then, that I cannot stand the taste of things like deer, elk and pheasant now? One winter about 15 years ago someone gave my mom a big, beautiful deer that they'd hunted and she used every part of that deer for all sorts of different types of meat. I was eager to try it but, as it turned out, I just did not like the flavor. It's gamey! So this was a miserable year or so for me because obviously that amount of meat lasted us a long time and she'd put deer in EVERYTHING. She tried to be sneaky and grind it and put it in things like spaghetti and chili but I could always tell. That distinct flavor cannot be disguised.
One time I had some moose that was not bad. It was dry but didn't have that gamey taste. Come to think of it, I did not mind the deer jerkey so much either. Something about the drying process must remove the sourness that I do not like. So there are exceptions to every rule I suppose.
The next thing I would like to discuss is sheep. I do not like the taste of mutton either. It has a very sour and sharp aftertaste that I am not fond of at all. When I was in Scotland I tried all sorts of haggis at various different places and was not impressed with any of it. The seasonings were nice and the flavors beyond the sheep were quite savory but I could still taste that nasty meat through and through. Also, when I was in England, I was interested in trying Shepherd's Pie. Unbeknownst to me, it also contains mutton and it ruined my entire Shepherd's Pie experience. So then someone turned me on to Cottage Pie, which is exactly like Shepherd's Pie only with beef instead of sheep - and all was right with the world again.
Someone also suggested that I try lamb because it has a milder flavor than its parents. I had the opportunity to eat a succulent lamb on Greek Easter at a club I used to work at and everyone was "ooh"-ing and "aahhh"-ing over how delicious it was. So, in good faith, I took a piece. It smelled wonderful. It was juicy and seasoned perfectly. I bit into it.....FUCKING SHIT THAT SHIT IS NASTY TOO!!!!! GODDAMNIT!!! FUUUUUUUUU......!
So anyway, as far as the things that come out of the nipples of sheep and goats, those are gross too. They contain that same sourness that I just do not have a taste for. Icky.
I am jealous of people who like lamb and sheep and game. On cooking shows they're always cooking up beautiful-looking lamb chops and people seem to go nuts for them. It's not fair, but I guess the jerky is good. So there's that.
was such a complex character. He had great taste in music. He was good at the guitar. Some of the most insanely fun times in my life were spent with Fred. Lord of the Dance, gallon-of-vodka, Tool at Redrocks, jugs of wine. He was such a monkey! Always climbing everything and doing dangerous stunts.
He was the little brother I always wished for. RIP Fred. XO
Seriously. The only reason I can think of why anyone ever settled this land in southeastern Wyoming is that they were too fucking lazy to make it to the West Coast. What a hell hole! And I am not just talking about the people. Five months out of the year it is over 90 degrees fahrenheit and the remaining seven months average out at about 20 below. It like, NEVER rains. Except for when it does. And then all the crops are totally washed out and people lose their homes, etc. Tornadoes are a normal summer event, in the winter it is not unusual to be snowed in your driveway and the "rain" is usually accompanied by devastating hail storms that cost the community hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair.
Why stay in this place? I am beginning to suspect that the people who originally settled here were morons. This makes perfect sense considering that everyone who lives in this part of the state are morons too. Even people who move here from another place are morons because, come on, why else would they move here? "Oh I know honey, let's move to a place where the climate is comfortable for .2 seconds a year!"
I have never been particularly happy to live in Wyoming, but I do get offended when people mix it up with Wisconsin. Wisconsin has considerably better weather although they are having floods now so let's just move on.
Aside from the climate, this place is just a shit hole. It is no wonder it is so close to West Virginia alphabetically because seriously if you add up the number of teeth between all of the residents in Wyoming you can count it on one hand. Crystal meth is our biggest export and learning a foreign language in this area consists of a few Mexican cuss words. '
Teen pregnancy in this part of the country is at a record high. Why? Well aside from the moron thing it has to do with total boredom. This ultimately stems from moronic choices from our moron government and city councils to do away with anything that might seem remotely fun to people under 80. No wonder everyone here is an alcoholic. Yay booze!
When I tell people from other places that I am from Wyoming they are always like "Oh it is so beautiful there!" and they're right. Northwestern Wyoming is gorgeous. Yellowstone Park is grand and the Tetons are too, but let's not forget the wildfire that got out of control in Yellowstone about 20 years ago. Yeah, there's no rain up there either. It is just another place that is pretty to look at but not a place you'd want to live.
Anyone who is happy living here is over 80, mentally retarded, addicted to crystal meth or a combination of those things. I have no idea why I am even writing this instead of moving right now. And screw you blogspot for not recognizing the correct spelling of 'fahrenheit.' Or 'blogspot.'
So Mom and I were just about to watch Michael Clayton earlier today and she told me "I wish I had become a lawyer." I was surprised because this was something she and I had not really discussed before. I asked her why and she told me it was because she wanted the knowledge and power to help people while earning a good living, yaddayaddayadda.
We proceeded to watch the film and it does *not* shine lawyering in a very flattering light at all. To me, it looks like a LOT of stress; endless hours of work, ass-kissing, shitty clients - not to mention the dull wardrobe.
A few hours after the movie, though, I found myself still thinking about what it would be like to live in that world. I imagined myself studying night and day through law school, trudging through all the bullshit as an assistant DA, working hard to get hired to a firm and ultimately "making partner," whatever that means.
I pictured myself in a court room. It really is funny to think of! Then I thought about all the images of actual women lawyers on televised court room trials and all I can think of is: they're all ugly and tired looking. I am sure some of it can be chalked up to unflattering, overhead courtroom lighting, but that can't be all. It's gotta be a hell of a lot of stress and I imagine it ages a person triple-time.
All that aside, I considered again what Mom had said - about being able to help people. I do have a passionate side about certain issues and a soft spot for underdogs and it *would* be incredible to have the power to defend something I believed in. But I don't know. I ask myself questions followed by answers that have nothing to do with the questions at all. Like...
Q: Do I really like to argue that much?
A: I am a very talented actress.
Q: Do I have the determination to make it all the way through the schooling I need to become a lawyer?
A: I am poor.
So, as it turns out, this topic intrigues me, at best, at the moment. But it is something I am toying with. I find myself going over all the little details of what I could to to make it happen from start to finish. And it's kind of fun!
