Would you believe its the 2nd of March!!

I woke up with a killer headache today and then had to sit in a test where trying to access any sort of information for my throbbing head was failing miserably. I also managed to second guess myself on a number of questions and scribbled out the right answer replacing it with a wrong one. Oh well college is going ok so I suppose I can’t complain; still have a good bit of work to do though. The next test is a practical and he’s taking the best two of three so hopefully I’ll be able to make up for this test in that one.

Thankfully the headache subsided somewhat and I’m doing good now!. Just sitting in the library after fencing. I didn’t do much today since I still have a wee bit of a dose (Don’t worry Hazel I’m getting much better X) It was a cool session; and I once again marvelled at how small the world is! A new member an ex-student of the college about 10 years ago came and joined our club today; and when he met me he was able to tell me who I was, what my brothers names were and where I lived due to my resemblance too my brother Darragh. Funny Stuff

Went to the IT’s Song Contest today to watch the band Lumer (sorry guys not sure if the spelling is correct) perform; Well done guys you did great!! Well Impressed. Also playing today was my friend Joe Cleere. Joe was just playing for the entertainment though as he was the competition winner last year he decided not to enter this year. Joe also won the Perri 2fm song contest last Friday (Well done man, couldn’t think of a more deserving person!).

All in all life is really good!

 

Tomorrows Friday & Fencing!

Well its nearly Friday. My cough was killing me this morning so seeing as I had a few free periods first thing I headed down town to pick up some meds. Feeling much better now. Just out of the shower after a hectic fencing training. Only a few of us there tonight but I had some good bouts all the same.

Considering fencing is the only sport to which I’m in any way commited I’m surprised I haven’t mention it more often. For those of you who don’t know what fencing is wikipedia describes it as:

“In the broadest possible sense, fencing is the practice of armed combat involving cutting, stabbing or bludgeoning weapons directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot or thrown (in other words, swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons, clubs, and so on). In contemporary common usage, fencing tends to refer specifically to European-originated schools of swordsmanship and to the modern Olympic sport which has evolved out of them.”

Fencing for me is a great way of getting a bit of excercise and in my opinion its almost as much a mental workout as it is a physical one. Your mind must always be alert looking for any weaknesses in your opponents defense through which your blade might slip.

I took some fencing photos and my fencing master Tim took the photo of me fencing against my team mate markus.

Me & My Sabre…..

Me lunging an attack at Markus (taken by Tim)

I was just messing with the reflections in the windows in the room where we fence.

And tomorrows Friday!! wohoo

 

Wednesday……….thought it was Thursday……always the same.

So this morning dawned bright and beautiful and as usual I awoke thinking its Thursday! despite the fact that it is indeed Wednesday…… Suppose I should be getting used to doing that at this stage. If only I knew why I do it on Wednesday mornings and no other mornings of the week.

Pretty quiet day so far. Just sitting in one of the library labs while the college’s computer society are busily beating the life out of eachother at CS Source; the typical Wednesday night noise. Thank god for Nick Drake and headphones

I got a copy of Lost Series 2 from a friend today so I currently have up as far as episode 12; currently 10 episodes ahead of Network 2. Happy Days

Time is going really slowly this week edging towards Friday; its like a kid before christmas sort of thing. The more you look forward to something the longer it takes to get here! wonder if theres a term for that? I suppose time is just a matter of perspective in the end.

Got my test result back from last week 65% not to bad I’m avaeraging in at around 75% so if I’m lucky I’ll be able to pass this subject solely on continuous assessment!

 

Friday Feeling!

Well just out of the exam and alls well; I’d say I averaged about 68% and the study last night helped out a lot just sitting in the lab taking a quick breather before I head back to the house and pack; no Networking lab today!
My brother Ross, his wife Lucy and my twin sister Rachel are going to be passing through in around an hour so I’m grabbing a lift home with them. It’ll be great to see Ross & Lucy! granted I saw Ross last month but its always good to see him but Lucy hasn’t been back from the states since last Summer.

The family is having some sort of get together on Sunday so we’ll all be there; I wan’t to try get a picture of my four brothers and I. I was thinking about it last night and its approximately 9 years or so since there was a photo of the five of us taken together.

I was the smallest back then so it’ll be a bit of a role reversal; pity there were no photos taken in between. Although thinking about ity maybe it was a blessing

Probably going to get thrown into some gardening work the minute I get home; me being at home for any number of hours is a rare commodity so I’m sure the parents will take full advantage of my skills in heavy lifting and strimmer / lawnmower usage. Oh well they’ll wan’t the house looking nice for Sunday and if I do it today it means I can relax tomorrow.

Going to the Happy Medium gig tomorrow in the pumphouse. My old friend Kieran Byrne is playing support and I have to pick up some of my equipment from him; looking forward to hearing some of his original material too! Haven’t seen the Silloheuttes before so I’m interested in seeing what they sound like. Also the upstairs of the pumphouse has been converted and I’, looking forward to seeing what changes they made.

Although being completely honest most of all the main thing I’m looking forward to is next week

 

Its weird feels like yesterday was last Thursday!

The weeks are really flying by; seems like only last week that next week was a month away. Strange night last night our cat (I’ve renamed her “Kissen” its Swedish slang for cat) didn’t show up Maybe she decided to stay in her real home; hopefully we’ll see her again though. Was a bit restless last night couldn’t really stay still kept wandering back and forth between the sitting room, kitchen and my room.

Eventually ended up dozing off on my bed round 12.30am although my housemates woke me since I’d gone to sleep with Johnny Cash blaring “Hurt” (such an amazing song) and they were a bit tired of it since it had been looping for about an hour.

Didn’t get back to sleep till around 3am then; I picked up the guitar and just starting playing everything and anything that came into my head. Bits of riffs making up songs off the top of my head as I was playing. Its weird I can actually make reasonably decent songs that way! its just that I can never remember them afterwards (I really should just record myself but its kind of a spur of the moment thing).

Trevor came down today he’s staying over and packing up his stuff to leave tomorrow; so I won’t be moving rooms till Sunday. He keeps telling me to remember that his room is freezing and that I won’t last in it; but its got an electric heater and its exactly the same (insulation wise) as my room so I should be grand

All in all life is good

 

Completely out of it………

I’m completely out of it today; couldn’t sleep last night ended up wandering around my room. Feels like I’m almost in a daze and the funny thing is I still won’t fall asleep till 2am or so tonight. Damn internal clock College is going reasonably well though I cant remember a word of lectures today; mind was wandering near and far.

Only two months till I have to get my end of year project in. I have to get my ER-Diagram off the ground and then I’ll be able to link my page too it. I should be fine; just have to keep plugging away at it.

Can’t wait for the weekend! my brother and his family are coming home for a quick visit and I haven’t seen the kids since last summer!. Its going to be great craic catching up with them.

Wrote a new song last night. Still needs a bit of tweaking and a title; here are the lyrics:

(Verse 1)

I’m standing on this branch,
With the world spinning far below;
And I’m trying hard to reach you,
As I’m thrown to and fro.

But the distance is between us;
And I’m trying to bridge the gap.
But the closer I get to you;
Theres a chance that it could snap.

(Chorus

And I could fall down;
Right before your eyes.
While trying to reach you;
You’re unresponsive to my cries.

And so I call out;
I acknowledge all the blame.
Are you still with me?
And do you feel the same?

(Verse 2)

I’m getting closer to you;
And I hope you feel the same.
The longer that I’ve know you;
The less I feel the rain.

And I say I’m mad about you;
And they think I’m just insane.
But I don’t care I’m working on it;
Its my hope, I’m not ashamed.

(Chorus

And I could fall down;
Right before your eyes.
While trying to reach you;
You’re unresponsive to my cries.

And so I call out;
I acknowledge all the blame.
Are you still with me?
And do you feel the same?

Needs a bit of work. but its getting there

 

Its Monday again?

Seriously where does the time go? It can’t be another Monday already!! Well my weekend since my previous post was great fun. I went over to Kev’s Saturday night; Paul came over and we just hung out. Went out for a few pints too since Carrie was home and we wanted to see her before she headed back to Wales.

Paulie crashed in Kevs too so the two of us ended up lying on matress’s till 5am talking about life and laughing at its many odd occurences. Yesterday was same old same old; hung out with Kev and Paul till around three got home; created a custom cd cover for my cd from Ryan’s and posted it (hope you like it miss ;)) Then jumped on the bus and headed for Carlow.

When I got back to the house in Carlow I was informed by my Swedish housemates that we now have a cat. She wandered into the house on Friday night and the guys started feeding her; she now comes back every night, climbs into the sitting room, and curls up on the couch. Lovely little animal; thankfully our land lord told us that we were welcome to keep animals if we wanted so it won’t be an issue if she’s seen in the house.

She’s on young cat and still fairly small we’ve named her Trevor (yes I’m aware Trevor is a boys name) we felt it was a fitting tribute to our departing housemate. Heres a few pics I took:

Life is good

 

Life & Creative Release

Typical friday; apart from the fact that I’m playing a gig tonight. Sitting in the worlds most boring networking lab dealing with questions such as:

• Calculate how many bits (N) are required to represent that number of subnets.

• Calculate SNM: make all network address bits 1 & make the N bits 1 aswell.

Riveting stuff its times like this I regret my inability to do anything remotely matematical. I’ll get through it though; just taking a break from it for a minute.

Gig tonight; only a wee bit nervous; printed out my first ever set list last night. Felt all professional and stuff to see my name on it. Even if it was entitled “Kens first EVER setlist FOR DUMMIES!”. Looking forward to hearing Peter Doran play aswell I’m a big fan of his solo acoustic stuff on “The Birds” demo; should be a cracker of a gig. I’m only on for approx 30 mins which is perfect. Thats all I was hoping for in truth

Should be a great weekend; I get to pick up the mastered cd of the gig last week and finally hear what I sound like onstage lots of copies to make aswell; but only one signed one nothing else planned apart from that but I’m sure I’ll end up in Kev’s or wandering the town just hanging around as usual.

On a poetic note:

Creative Release:

My hand glides acroos your surface;
Satiny smooth wood as glass.
A small reverb of my touch;
echoes within.

You weight balances;
like a fine chain around my neck.
Nestling in against my chest;
Strap stretched across my shoulders.

I strike downward at first;
A sweet sound envelopes.
Strum a few notes;
Your strings sing effortlessly.

You full history unknown;
I often wonder where you’ve been.
You sit silently on my stand;
Waiting for creative release.

 

Alls Well & Falling

Happy days today! I got my exam results for the past week and a half! the two exams I had were the two continuous assessments worth the most marks of any CA’s all year. Each assessment was worth 15% of the overall year and I got 11% in Business Management and 14.6% in Information Systems Engineering. My lecturer in ISE laughed at the expression on my face whe he handed back my result; Complete SHOCK

Gig coming up tomorrow night! can’t wait; starting to feel a wee bit nervous (which reminds me I have to make a set-list) but I’ll be ok. Last week was the one that mattered most to me; hence, why I was so nervous. I’ll play better with less nerves tomorrow; Or so thankfully I’ve managed to convince myself

I have to attened a meeting tonight for the clubs and societies in the Dinn Rì in Carlow as president of the Fencing club up here. Its all good though as we get a free dinner in the restaraunt and a free pass to the Foundry (Dinn Rì’s nightclub). We just have to sit in for a talk on methods of improving our club and promoting it around the college. I’m giving my pass to Trevor as a small present he’s going out with his classmates to celebrate his last Thursday night in Carlow before he leaves the college (and on that note).

A shocking development occured last night. My housemate Trev announced to me that he’s dropped out of college and is moving out of the house within the next week. I’ll miss the chap as he and I get on like a house on fire. Looks like it’ll be me and the Swede’s and our housmate Noel who none of us know as he locks himself in his room 24/7. Our original theory is (and bear with me on this………no pun intended) that he lives in his room with his imaginary friend who is a red and white polar bear by the name of Sanka; this is a typical example of the things you come up with when you have a bit too much time on your hands. Seriously though he never says more to us then “The music is too loud, turn it down”; its a wee bit weird.

With Trev leaving I was offered the option to move into his room by my land lady; since my room is half the size and the rent is the same. So it looks like I’ll be moving rooms at some stage next week! That’ll be fun

On another note lets see what I come up with today I’m starting to enjoy my daily poetic breaks from college:

Falling:

You went early last night.
Strangley lonely without you.
Makes sense to me;
But what about you?
How do you feel?

Find my mind drifting of late;
With a tell tale smile on my face.
Am I alone?
Do you feel the same?
Too early to ask; too soon to know.

I feel like I’m falling;
But not from a height.
Yet through cloud.
Too early to tell you;
Too soon to know for sure.

So I sit and wonder;
Mind drifting again.
I’m falling;
A tell tale smile on my face.

 

Wednesday and Things.

Well my break from tests didn’t last long but it was good while it lasted; I’ve got a Systems Administration test coming up on the 10th of February. I’m not too worried though I still have plenty of time to revise; and its one of my stronger subjects.

Currently sitting in one of the labs in the library; off for a few hours so I’m working on a web page assignment due for Friday. Complicated stuff but I’ll get through it; there are a few benefits to being an eternal optomist

Kev came up for a visit last night; unexpected but extremely welcome. I only realsied this morning that he is only the second person to come up for a visit and the first in over a year to call up. Funny considering Kilkenny’s only 25 mins or so down the road.

Gig is coming up on Friday and I’m going to take all the tips I was given last week and implement them this week. I’ve always believed its better to learn from your mistakes then to regret making them in the first place (can’t change time after all) and this is a good chance to show just what I’ve learned in one simple week.

Kev said the quality of the recordings from the gig last week is excellent; I can’t wait to hear it. Its so cool just being able to do something you love and entertain people at the same time.

Feeling poetic again; seem to be writing a lot more of late. Todays creation is…….

Things ( don’t regret learn):

I sit in the clouds as my life flashes by.
A warm glowing glint In a hurricanes eye.

The things that I’d squandered or driven away.
Are now coming back to me clearer than day.

The things that I’d learned from lifes brief insights.
That just made me stronger prepared me to fight.

The things that I’d needed but never could see.
The times that I’d struggled to simply be free.

But I don’t regret; I’ve learned much in my time.
Experience made me; A man in my prime.

Not my best IMO (but it ryhmes :P) just floated out.