BellX1 are nearly finished their North American tour and they now have dates planned for a European tour in April and May. They really are keeping themselves busy. I just hope that they don’t tire themselves out as I will be extremely disappointed if I don’t see a few Irish dates coming up on their website soon, especially if they were to perform with Nada Surf!

April 2008

21st Caen, FR - Big Band Cafe, w/Nada Surf
22nd Paris, FR - Le Bataclan, w/Nada Surf
26th Lyon, FR - Transbordeur, w/Nada Surf
27th Barcelona, ES - Razzmatazz, w/Nada Surf
28th Murcia, ES - Sal Audio, w/Nada Surf
29th Madrid, ES - La Riviera, w/Nada Surf

May 2008

2nd Munich, DE - Atomic Cafe
3rd Nurenburg, DE - Hirsch, w/Nada Surf
4th Aschaffenburg, DE - Colos-saal, w/Nada Surf
6th Luxembourg, LU - Den Atelier, w/Nada Surf
7th Utrecht, NL - Tivoli, w/Nada Surf

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

Aging is not 'lost youth' but a new stage of opportunity and strength.

Betty Friedan
US feminist (1921 - 2006)

Callipygian – adjective (literary)

Having well shaped buttocks

- ORIGIN from Greek kallos ‘beauty’ + pûgç ‘buttocks’

Someone at work was in Portugal on holidays and as is the office ritual they came back with some sweets. I noticed that some of sweets had the word Mundy on the front. I wonder what that means in Portuguese and whether the Co. Offaly singer songwriter with the same name knows that there are sweets out there bearing his name.

Easter – a time of religious ceremonies and chocolate eggs. I didn’t give up chocolate for lent this year. Last year I gave up confectionary i.e. chocolate bars and sweets but I got an awful doing because I was still eating chocolate biscuits so this year I decided not to attempt any embargo on chocolate. At the moment my favourite chocolate is the Lindt pistachio chocolate which is extremely yummy. I hope everyone (that likes chocolate) is enjoying their Easter eggs!

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

George Washington
First president of US (1732 - 1799)

It’s interesting to see where words originate from and what they mean. I was surprised to see that the origins/early senses of the word ‘nice’ aren’t really that nice at all!

Nice – adjective

Pleasant, agreeable or attractive.
Good natured; kind.
Fine or subtle – a nice distinction.

- DERIVATIVES nicely adverb niceness noun.
- ORIGIN early senses included ‘stupid’ and ‘coy’: from Latin nescius ‘ignorant’

I went for a lovely walk down in Courtmacsherry on St. Patrick’s Day. It was really cold and windy, which you can see from some of the slightly blurred flags in the above photograph.
We saw a procession of boats in the water that were done up with some flags, which was very festive.
As we walked through the village to the beach we passed people putting the finishing touches to their floats as the start time for the parade approached.
Fair dues to the musicians that played on the stage, it was so cold that I’m surprised their fingers weren’t frozen. I have a feeling that a lot of people were taking refuge in pubs!Shortly after the parade was due to start in earnest we walked back towards the car which was at the edge of the village. I noticed that one house had really got into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit with a lovely big shamrock made of tinsel hanging on the door.

I hope everyone has a lovely St. Patrick’s Day. The sun is sort of shining outside so I’m going to take advantage of the lovely weather (before it rains) and go for a walk.

You Are A Rowan Tree

You are full of charm and cheer. You light up a room. And while you crave attention, you do it without ego. You are an interesting mix of contradictions - and very unpredictable. You are both dependent and independent, calm and restless. You are passionate, emotional, gregarious, and (at times) unforgiving.

I got an email recently that said that Music Space 126 (i.e. Music Gigs at Meade’s Wine Bar) has been closed down. The venue didn’t have a music licence so the guards called and closed it down. It’s a real shame as it’s a great intimate venue for small music gigs. Cork could do with a few more good venues. I’m still bemoaning the loss of The Lobby and thought that Meade’s Wine Bar was doing a good job of trying to fill the gap for smaller gigs.

It all started with me looking out the window at the piddling rain and declaring to my work colleague that ‘the weather is minging’. My workmate turned to me, scrunching up his nose and said ‘I don’t like the word minging, it’s just not nice’. Cue a short discussion about the origin of the word minging which culminated in me reaching for my dictionary to look ‘minging’ up. As it turns out that origin of minging isn’t that nice as it might comes from the Scots dialect ming meaning excrement. Who knew?

Minging – adjective Brit informal very bad or unpleasant

- ORIGIN perhaps from Scots dialect ming ‘extrement’

In a way it’s hard to believe that I’ve been writing this blog for two years but in another way it doesn’t feel like that long at all. I’m still enjoying it for all its randomness so long may that last. Thanks to everybody for their comments.

If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.

G. K. Chesterton
English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936)

Shortly before Christmas I was struck with an inexplicable desire to make soup. I got Rachel Allen’s new cookery book ‘Rachel’s Food for Living’ as a Christmas present (kudos to Cousin Lou for that one) and luckily it contains five soup recipes. I’ve tried four of the five soup recipes. I started off with Zac’s Aztec soup which is a light tasty soup made with chicken and a little bit of chilli. The interesting thing about this soup is that you make an accompanying salsa (avocado/onion/tomato/lime) which is added to the soup and is really yummy. The next soup that I tried was the Spanish Chorizo and Chickpea soup. This is a good substantial soup with great flavour and is wonderful to have if the weather is crappy because it feels really warming and comforting. The third soup that I made was a French Onion Soup. I had the most gorgeous bowl of French Onion soup in a restaurant towards the end of my holiday in Montreal back in October. Since then I’ve had it in the back of my mind that I would like to make French Onion soup. I sorted of cheated with this recipe, when I read the ingredients I blenched at the thought of using 1.25 kg of onions so I split the ingredients in two and made a half portion of the soup. This soup was delicious but it took fecking ages to make. Chopping 625g of onions left me red eyed and blotchy and the onions need to be cooked pretty slowly for 45-60 minutes. Making the croutons of crusty bread and gruyère cheese was fun and they really made the soup extra yummy. I think I’ll have to make this soup again except next time I’ll use the full quantity of ingredients! The fourth soup that I tried was a Leek, Potato and Blue Cheese soup. There is a great contrast between the mild leek/potato flavours and the strong blue cheese flavour. If you like creamy smooth soups then this is a good one. All the ingredients are whizzed together at the end so there are no lumpy bits. The only one that I haven’t tried is Rachel’s recipe for Crab and Prawn Coconut soup which sounds delicious so I might give that a try soon. I also found a recipe on the ‘Good Mood Food Blog’ for ‘restorative chicken soup’ which looks really good. I think that will be next on my list after the Crab and Prawn Coconut soup.

* I got so excited about the French Onion soup when I had finally finished making it that I took a picture of it (left), umm… having admitted that I should probably endeavour to get out more. :-)

I found one question on this quiz really tough, the one about music or laughter i.e. which one could you do without. I really wouldn't want to do without either but in the end it came down to the fact that I'd probably go crazy if I couldn't have a good laugh about something. Although the thought of not being able to listen to BellX1 is pretty disturbing too...

You Are Very Normal

You scored 80% normal on this quiz You are normal in practically every way. Yes, you're average. But average definitely doesn't mean boring. You just fit in well with the mainstream. Why You Are Normal : You would rather be an astronaut than a movie star You prefer fiction to non fiction You'd rather have rats than cockroaches in your home If you had to, you rather live without music and still have laughter You prefer a good meal to a good nap

Panacea – noun

A solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases.

- ORIGIN Greek panakeia

As part of Seachtain na Gaeilge a new CD Ceol '08 is being released in March and all proceeds from this album will benefit the charity Barnardos.

1. Drochdomhan Mór Álainn – Declan O’Rourke
2. Comhaireamh chun Codladh – Wallis Bird
3. Cailín na Gaillimhe – Mundy
4. Sea Táim – Fiach
5. Bunús ar Gach Uile Ní – Delorentos
6. Grian Gheal Lonrach – The Walls
7. Taibhsí nó Laochra – The Coronas
8. Cailéideascóp – Dave Geraghty
9. Cruthaítear Éad – Tadhg Cooke
10. “Wickerman” – Lir
11. Oscail do Theorainn – Jack L
12. Taibhse – Luan Parle
13. An Dragún – The Guggenheim Grotto
14. Mo Ghrá Geal – Gavin Glass
15. Fíll Fíll a Rún Ó – Dingle White Females
16. Ar Shiúl go Rinn Spáinneach – Slide

The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse.

Jules Renard
(1864 - 1910)

There are a number of gigs coming up in Meade’s Wine bar, on Oliver Plunkett Street, over the next couple of weeks:

Fri March 7th Niall Connolly 9pm

Sat March 8th Niall Connolly 9pm

Fri March 14th Darktown Strutters 9pm

Sat March 15th Darktown Strutters 9pm

Sat March 22nd Polskadots 9pm

Fri March 28th Polskadots 9pm

Sat March 29th Colin McClean 9pm

On Mother’s Day, my sister and I went for a walk around Midleton with my Mum. It was a lovely relaxing day just walking here and there.We wandered into the Old Midleton Distillery in search of some coffee and cake. There is a great coffee shop in the distillery and I got the nicest slice of chocolate torte and cup of coffee.How cool are the Jameson seats (above) and the Jameson table (below)!We didn’t take the tour of the distillery because I was the designated driver and there is no way I’m going on the tour if I can’t take part in the tasting. The distillery has a fabulous Jameson bar where you can take part in an Irish whiskey tasting session.The whiskey family. :-)

You Are a Question Mark

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning. And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma