Finished My Exams, Birthday Tomorrow

Well, here I am, as promised. I've finished all my Xmas exams and it's now the weekend and my birthday. So how do I feel about all these emotional events occurring all at once?

Well quite frankly, I need to pee.

Without wanting to go into weird, funky, fetishy(?) details, let's just say that I have to go to the bathroom a lot more frequently than most people. As a result, I've had to cut coffee out of my diet completely, which is probably what got me into this mess in the first place. I went to the doctor today. He performed a "prick test" to get some blood from my finger, examined my urine sample (I don't have diabetes, yay!), checked my blood pressure and touched my abdomen. Naturally, I almost leaped off the bed when he started doing this because, as I always have to say to said doctor, I'm a twitchy bastard. My instructions were to go home, drink a ridiculous amount of water, see how many glasses I can down before I explode, and then email him the results. Yeah, at least I have hands, Eoghan!

Back to the exams. I can't remember the order we did them in, so expect random shenanigans:

• Agricultural Science: Harder than expected, but then, we haven't covered most of the course.
• Irish: Test was a standard Leaving Cert. paper, so I can't say "that bitch robbed us!", even if I'd like to. Didn't do either of the "Prós" or poetry.
  
• French: Everyone agreed that this paper could have been a lot worse, which is slightly worrying, because in the real Leaving Cert. it probably will be worse.
• Biology: I loved this test. Straightforward and no trip-ups. Eoghan O'Connor described it best, "Fair".
• English: We didn't have enough time for this exam. Didn't even make it to the Comparative Study.
• Maths: It was a very easy test, but I still slipped up here and there. Nothing that can't be learned!
• Geography: *insert picture of a man vomiting here*

Oh school...

So it's my Birthday "Party" tomorrow. Birthday is on Monday. A game or two of bowling with my friends, Rory, Eoghan, Andrew, Brian, Paul (I managed to swipe him down from Dublin), James, Jason from squareyes and I, afterwards we'll spend our night in squareyes. Brian, Paul and I will most likely be spending our monies on Guitar Hero World Tour or Rock Band 2.

...it was 430mls, by the way :)

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Now playing: Weezer - The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
via FoxyTunes

Update to Talk About an Update

I'll be updating my blog tomorrow evening. I'll be sure to regale all my stories about the Xmas Exams and whatnot, so stay tuned sports fans!

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Now playing: Sum 41 - Makes No Difference
via FoxyTunes

I'm Dying, Moe.

I'm really sorry this time for not updating my blog. I've been really sick since before the weekend.

And this week I've got all my Xmas exams. Tomorrow's Agricultural Science... wish me luck!

Instead, please check out my friend Eoghan's awesome blog update:
http://crazyslyhawk.livejournal.com/

The Big One

Hey. Sorry for not updating for the past.... few.... whatever it's been.

The important thing is that I have a big, massive, huge, gigantic, gargantuan blog post coming up soon. It's saved as a draft and pretty much explains a lot of what's going in "inside me".

All this week I've been studying, yes, studying for the first time ever. It feels surprisingly gooey and rewarding. It turns out Agricultural Science is a bag of piss to revise:


Why We Cull Animals

1. Udder Damage
2. Infertility
3. Disease
4. Injuries
5. Birthing problems
6. Bad tempered
7. Hard to manage
8. Old age
9. Reduced litter size
10. Reduced milk yield
11. Poor body conformation
12. Upgrade... O_O


Oh, bless that Frank Thornton and his Biology notes, really makes the task at hand easier. Let's hope our teacher doesn't screw us over in the exams. What the hell is active immunity?!

Aaron's Computer Gets Virus: World Divides Itself by Zero

Noooo!

How could this happen? My PC has a/multiple viruses.

The thing is, I don't have a clue how this happened. I didn't download anything weird lately, and I don't utilize LimeWire or .torrents

avast! antivirus is running a boottime scanner as I speak.

If you're religious, please pray to whatever gods you have at your disposal. If you're atheist, some form of monetary donation would be nice...

TheCosmicCocktail

This is my HowTo for one of my homemade drinks, which I call TheCosmicCocktail.

This can be served as either an alcoholic or non-alcoholic refresher.


Ingredients:
makes one pint

• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• Juice of 1/3 an orange
• Ice-water
• Salt
• Lots of crushed ice!
• Vodka (optional) OR
• Fruit schnapps (optional)
  

Directions:

1. Acquire fresh lemon and orange juices using the same juicer. Juice the lemon first and then the orange, allowing the orange juice to mingle with the lemon juice.
2. Place the crushed ice (two ice trays-worth seems good) into the pint glass.
3. Sprinkle a tiny amount of salt over the top of the ice. Less than a fingertip-pinch will do. This causes it to stick together.
4. Pour the lemon/orange juice mixture over the crushed ice.
5. (Optional step) Add a shot-glass amount of vodka/fruit schnapps to the juice.
6. Fill to the top with ice-water.
7. Finish with a bendy straw and salt the rim for effect.

Good for a hot day, or just to remind yourself that you're alive!

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Now playing: Ramones - My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg)
via FoxyTunes

Max Pain...

My alarm didn't go off this morning. Isn't it annoying when alarms do that? Nevertheless, my internal clock (girls aren't the only ones that have these...) told me to wake up fifteen minutes after my alarm was going to, so all was good.

Was dragged to Max Payne today. 'Twas an absolute and utter shitfest all the way through. I couldn't believe how awful one movie can be. Mark Wahlberg was, as per usual, abysmal in his rendition of Max Payne. And this is coming from someone who has never even played the video game series, that's just how awful he was in his role.

The plot?
Max Payne's wife is murdered. Max finds out who it was, and kills him. Then there's a twist, and it turns out it was someone else who did the deed, so Max kills him too.

The action?
Half-assed, overused scenes of Max overpowering his enemies and asking if they'd "seen this woman?".

Afterwards, we went to Ed's so I could grab a bite to eat; Meatball Parmigiana. It's a Subway beater, by miles. Then to squareyes for some zombie bashing, COD5-style.

Andrew's dad is quite the informative man. He explained to us how singers used to take cocaine "up their ass" so as not to ruin their voices... touché.

It's been a bad day, please don't take a picture (Steve).

Please check out my good friend Jason's newly revamped blog at www.JasonParmele.com

...and while you're at it, check out my other friend James' blog, right here on Blogger, at James-Brod.blogspot.com

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Now playing: R.E.M. - Bad Day
via FoxyTunes

Guitar Hero and Zombies

Woo, what a fun day. We decided to book Guitar Hero: World Tour in squareyes again.

On this occasion, it was Andrew, Rory, Steve and I. Seán joined us for the first hour, but was happy to leave after that amount of time from what I could see. Rather than talking about, I'm going to let the following pictures, taken with Steve's swanky new camera, do said talking:














Shortly after, Eoghan joined us, so we played some Call Of Duty: World at War with the zombies mode. Eoghan, Steve and I made it to Round 8, but the winners were Jimmy and Stephen who got to Round 19. Nazi Zombies FTW...

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Now playing: Thin Lizzy - Whisky In The Jar
via FoxyTunes

Economic Cutbacks

This blog entry probably won't be long. Half-way through my Irish grind, there was a loud "crack" noise and all the sockets in the house stopped working simultaneously. Several months later, the electrician arrived and fixed the problem. All I heard was, "Arrah, I shouldn't have done that, that was stupid, alright...". I swift showing off the back of one's hand and he was away. What a lovely man!

Went to see a movie today for school, called Man On Wire. The teachers mistakenly branded it as a "French film", but it was no more than a movie about a French guy, called Phillipe Petit. Phillipe illegally erected a tightrope between the North and South towers of the World Trade Center and walked across it multiple times. He was eventually arrested and tried, but the only thing they could charge him with was trespassing and public disturbance (hence why we have so many tightrope walkers in Mountjoy today). The judge said he would drop all the charges if Phillipe performed a free juggling show for New York children. His assistant was permanently excommunicated and expelled from the United States of America. How fair is that?

The film itself was genuinely good. It was easy to ignore all the shoutings of "fat knob!" and slurping noises every time the long-skirted girls would pass by, so I got more than I expected to out of it. The interviews with those involved were excellent. Phillipe Petit was a genuinely likable character, who had the tendency to "act out" what really happened, while he was chatting.

And that's where I'll take my leave. Goodbye and good luck!

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Now playing: R.E.M. - Imitation Of Life
via FoxyTunes

The 12.40

Irish, Biology, History, English, French, then we got to leave that pee-pee soaked heck-hole!

After school, I made my way up to Modern Music, where I bought some acoustic guitar strings for my "project". That guy is so cool, he always knocks money off of his own prices; gave me a 50c discount on said strings.

Apres-cela, James wanted lunch, so we waited in the Corn Store while he ordered (and inevitably wolfed down) a something-something-something in Charcoal Grill. Whatever it was, it sounded delicious. Man, I love that place, but these sacks of flab won't turn into pecks by themselves [/self-thought].

We then walked up to HMV, casually ignoring GameStop. I was about to walk out, when I noticed the new sale they have; "Two CDs for €15". The difference between this and their last sale is that this one actually consisted of good CDs. As a result, I bought myself "Two CDs for €15", them being In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003 and Thin Lizzy: Greatest Hits, the latter bought after several well-reputed recommendations from Eoghan. Check out Eoghan's blog at http://crazyslyhawk.livejournal.com/

Since then I've just been kicking around my house, trying to ignore the flicking on and off of the TV as the power keeps going (house re-wiring in progress...), and working on my new guitar. The good news is that it's finished, after many heart-breaking truss rod realignments and restringing. I've always been useless at guitar restringing. What happens is that I begin turning the machine head, hearing the pitch getting higher, higher, higher, lower(?), lower, lower, SNAP, higher, higher, lower, SNAP, until I eventually give up and throw the guitar down in frustration.

And now here it is, all shiny and polished, bearing its several war wounds and the crack on the neck that just screams, "I was dropped off a stage!".

Bean mhaith, fear maith...

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Now playing: R.E.M. - Man On The Moon
via FoxyTunes

There's a "Get a Mac" UK Version...

...no, I ain't kidding, check 'em out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuHGThfbQog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrX4rEtvp1k

...and many more!

I have to admit, I didn't like it at first. But after a while, Mitchell and Webb seemed to catch my funny bone just as much as the original US Get a Mac ads did. Is it just me, however, or does Webb not seem "sexy enough" for the position of Mac? I feel like he should be wearing a shirt or shades or something, I don't know...

...why do I keep using dots?

Guitar lessons were fun today. Trying to trudge through Waiting for an Alibi by Thin Lizzy. This week I'm learning the solo, but over the coming weeks I'll be recording the second guitar, rhythm and then the bass. Check out the song and the solo at 2.04:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUubo0Xz29I

My little acoustic guitar project is starting to take shape. I removed the old strings, cleaned out the hollows, polished it and adjusted the truss rod to give me a more lowered action. The strings were way too high when I got it.

Tomorrow, I might see about buying strings, athough perhaps I'll put it off until Saturday..

...ohshithalfdaytomorrow!!!

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Now playing: R.E.M. - It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
via FoxyTunes

Down at the Old Swimming Hole Pt. 2

Went to bed last night pretty damn late (5.30am) so I was guaranteed to wake up late this morning. I eventually got up at 1pm and had myself some breakfast, yes, at 1pm.

Not long after, I replied to a text Rory had sent me earlier regarding what we were "doing today", i.e. if we were going to the gym or not. I had myself a protein-rich meal of grilled fat-less bacon and went down to the NUIG Kingfisher leisure center. The public access hours are 2-4pm, and we got there at 3pm.

We spent 30 minutes in the gym upstairs. I ran a mile, as did Rory, himself later doing 5km on the bikes, while I did some weights. I downed a bottle of orange Powerade, Rory opted for the blue option. Nothing beats the grape-flavored Powerade they sell in the US though...
One thing I don't like about the NUIG gym is how hard it is to breathe in there. The air seems pretty stale.

After that, we decided to spend the last half-hour in the pool. Laughingly, that's about the time we spent in the sauna. Nobody told us to get out or prodded us for membership details so we stayed in the pool area for 1h30m.

Let's hope nobody cares next Sunday!

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Now playing: The Gin Club - Sometimes Sober
via FoxyTunes

Guitar Hero World Tour For The Win (in the fight against Rock Band)

So today started out like any other Irish boy's morning. Waking up at 12.30pm, I heard the weather before I saw it...

I made myself some lunch, having officially missed breakfast now. Over-roasted chicken goujons and grilled bacon, as part of my recent protein-rich diet. After that, I got into contact with Rory and Brian, where we eventually decided to book Guitar Hero: World Tour in squareyes for two hours.

When we arrived, my initial expectations weren't so high, considering the bashing everyone seems to be giving it lately. Added to the fact that squareyes don't yet have the official Guitar Hero drums yet, so we had to suffice with the Rock Band ones (which are still perfectly adequate for the job at hand).

Initial expectations = Erased from existence. As soon as I picked up the new guitar I knew it was going to be awesome. Since Activision's contract with Gibson had expired, many feared that the new in-house guitars would be worse. The fact of the matter is, they are so much better it's not even a debatable subject. The new whammy bar is the same length as the Rock Band one, but in the same position as the GH3 one and just as stiff. The strum bar is an improvement over the GH3 one, as they've decided to add the RB-esque "bump" to the tip of the 'bar to make your thumb slip less easily. The 'bar is the same stiffness as the GH3 one and has that trademark "click click" noise we all loved so much about the Guitar Hero guitars. The bridge position Star Power button is awesome, so natural. The buttons aren't slippery like the RB guitar. The touch pad will be great once I figure out how to use the damn thing!

In-game gameplay is just as functional. The fact that if one band member fails, the whole band fails is a bit of a bummer, but it's far harder to fail the GH:WT than in Rock Band, so it's not actually that much of a problem. I definitely don't like the pooled Star Power (Rory kept stealing my hard-earned power!), but I'll get over it. Naturally, the whole game has a more "badass" theme to it than the more glamorous Rock Band, but that was always the GH-way. I like the way there's more of an emphasis on snare/tom-tom layout than the RB layout of cymbals and high-hats. As Brian said, there tends to more of an emphasis on the right-hand side of the drums in GH:WT than in RB, mainly due to one of the toms being over there (compared to the crash cymbal in RB). Two cans of Rockstar/Monster each and two hours later we parted ways. Well actually, we got the same bus home so we parted ways after the bus dropped Brian and I in Newcastle. Poor Rory was left to fend for himself in the dark.

When I got home, I was in for a nice surprise. My uncle gave me an old acoustic guitar he didn't want, so now I have a little side project. The guitar is in reasonably good condition, but needs some new strings, some dusting-down, polishing and a truss-rod adjustment, which isn't going to be easy since there's a superglued crack along the base of the neck. Apparently it was played by some famous Irish musician by the name of Mick Moloney, by whom it accidentally fell off stage during a gig and the neck snapped, where it was picked up by said uncle.

I was feeling bored so I went up to visit James, Eoghan and Andrew (who doesn't want me to mention him in my blog *middle finger*).

And now I'm writing to my blog.

Brother's Grads... or something

I only have to be in school tomorrow until 12.30pm, woo!

Then it's off for a four-course meal at the Hotel Meyrick.

And Horlicksmakesmesleepy...';/#]

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Now playing: Weezer - My Name Is Jonas
via FoxyTunes

I Don't Even Have Honours Maths...

Not a large blog update today, as such. Doing some cleaning, not to mention I just finished a (slightly excessive) 1h30m Irish lesson.

Damn you Sky News, I turned you on at 6am only to see "Obama Wins Election" slapped in my face. I missed all the excitement, but hey, there's always next time. Rudi 2012!

I'm suing McCambridges. The spoon they gave me with my soup was too sharp at the edges and sliced up my gums pretty badly so now I can't eat.

Never fear! I'm not getting lazy. I still love writing to my blog, I'm just a little upside-down this week. Keep checking back everyday, because I should have something up, even if it's only something small like this.

I think I'm officially leaving Higher-Level French now. It's just too tough and I can't afford to fail a language in the Leaving Cert.

I paid for my trip to the Shannon Aerospace Centre on November 18, which should be interesting since it's one of the few things that gives me any buzz whatsoever (aeronautical engineering and aerofoil science, that is). I just love the fundamentals of a jet engine; air comes in, air gets blown out faster and hotter.

In fact, even simpler is a new type of engine which, it's hoped, will eventually replace present-day turbofan jets when the oil runs out. It's called the SCramjet (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet) and its proposed fuel is liquid hydrogen. It's essentially a mini-rocket, therefore it has no moving parts. It's shaped like funnel, so the air compresses itself.

The concept is hilariously amateur:
Air comes in, squeezes itself, gets mixed with fuel, pushes itself out.



The good news in all this? Shannon to Ibiza in 20 minutes!
The bad news? Ryanair has hedged enough fuel to last those 737s another millenia or two...

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Now playing: Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly
via FoxyTunes

US Election Tomorrow...

...and my alarm is set for 5.40am, I want to be there as soon as the polling stops!

I find it aggravating that tomorrow I have to go to school where the results of the election will, no doubt, be broadcast aloud by some annoying teacher for all to hear and shout about. I'd much rather be at home sitting in front of the TV, sipping casually on a mug of Horlicks, but as Frank Sinatra would say (if he hadn't smoked himself to his own demise), "that's life".

Note to self - bring in absence note for Mr. Herrick tomorrow...

I like the teacher we have for study on Tuesdays, he lets me read my book in peace.

Well, it's still a mess here and I'm cramped and uncomfortable, so I'm going to have to cut this blog short again. I'm just going to sit here for a few moments playing my harmonica, then I'm going to bed since I have to be up early.

Bye.

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Now playing: Guns N' Roses - Paradise City
via FoxyTunes

She Forgot About Detention!

Remember that detention I mentioned earlier in my blogging days? Well she forgot about it!


...I hope O_O

So anyway, sorry for not writing to my blog over the last two days (Rory has been reminding me). My house has been a complete mess as we're doing some renovations. I actually arrived home today to see my bare concrete floor strewn with holes and pits.

So I went to see Quantum Of Solace on Saturday. Being the picky bastard I am, I kept picking holes at the tiniest problems which I had with it. Comprehensive list below:

• It was too short. I don't care what the critics thought of Casino Royale, Quantum was too brief.
• Daniel Craig took his top off and made me feel worthless, again...
• The cameraman should have been shot. If this is "modern camerawork" I'm never watching another action movie. The nosebleed-inducing, scene-shift effect made it so that I completely misunderstood the "Eco-Hotel" part.
• The story felt like a bit of a bum-note after the masterpiece that was Casino Royale. There was something missing. Maybe it's time to bring back Moneypenny and Q (as long as they're not played by Samantha Bond and John Cleese respectively).
• There was a severe lack of humor in this iteration. What few jokes were apparent were absolutely hilarious; there wasn't a single person in the cinema that didn't shed a tear when Bond flipped the bike up from under the motorcyclist.

School was horrible today. You could feel the exhaustion in the air like a humid blanket. One of the teachers wouldn't let me sleep during one of the French classes and another teacher wouldn't let me read a book during study. I was so tired I woudn't have studied anyway!

Gym and McCambridges at lunch, as per usual. Once again, they had tomato soup, so I had to go for a carb-filled ciabatta. Poor me, indeed...

I had to move my PC into my room during these renovations, so bedtime blogging is probably going to happen most of this week.

Well, I'm off to make myself a nice cup of Horlicks.

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Now playing: Thin Lizzy - Chinatown
via FoxyTunes

Halloween

Well, another Halloween has passed without anybody really noticing (for most people it's the casual inhuman drunkeness killing vital areas of the brain needed for memory...).

I woke up too late at 2pm. I realized that Paul, Rory, "Scanner" and "Lally" had gone to see Quantum Of Solace in the Eye Cinema. I didn't mind since I'm going to see it tomorrow with my brother. I decided to cycle out there for 4pm, when I knew the movie was over. When I met them, "Scanner" refused to give Paul a lift back to town, then sped off at an excessive pace out of the underground parking lot ("what an awesome guy", according to Paul).

We made our way into the city where, naturally, we went to squareyes. After not spending very long there, we migrated to...................................Ed's....................................
I got the Chicken Parmigiana on Paul's recommendation. It was good, but it's no Meatball Parmigiana! The plate of french fries we got between us would feed a famine worth of potato fanboys <3 Ed

Lally left our side to go to work, so Paul, Rory and I went back to squareyes. Paul and I played Rory and Brian in a game of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, whom the former won. Paul decided to go to a fancy dress party dressed as a box so Greg gave him what he was looking for, a box (...in the jaw).

So Paul, Rory, the box and I made our way up to the Dunnes Stores Off License in Eyre Square where Pail searched for the ingredients required for the perfect Sex On The Beach, which is (apparently) orange juice, cranberry juice, vodka and peach liquor, as a matter of fact. Rory took the bus home, while Paul, the box and I waited for Scanner to give the two of them a lift home. When he arrived I cycled home.

Later I made my way up to Dangan. I met up with Eoghan and Andrew. We collected Rory down in Newcastle and escorted him past all the crowds up to Dangan Heights. But first, we passed through Tudor Lawn, where the action was really happening. Two paddywagons entered the estate and made an attempt to scare off all the "randy youths". As I kept reiterating, Dangan teens are harmless, they're upper-middle class for crying our loud!

The Gardai shone a light at us as we passed to which I responded by walking up close to the van, stopping and putting on a pair of sunglasses (I'm well 'ard, I am). As we walked up, they stopped us again to say something. Eoghan almost got us killed by talking thick to one of the ignorant Gards; "Limerick is that way, is it boss?". We went up to see what was happening with the bonfire. Shortly after we arrived, "the shades" came and everyone ran screaming like pussies away.

We ascended to Andrew's house where we were going to watch some Asian-related porno horror film, but eventually decided to go BACK down to my house. There, we just played some GTAIV and looked up sporadic YouTube videos and, of course, FAIL Blog!

How did you spend your Halloween?