Mojo

Things are still going well for me at the moment, which is all good. I got through my transfer talk fine, and in fact, even felt a little bit cocky about it before I went through with it, so much so that I didn't bother to do that much preperation. It still went really well - it's amazing how smoothly things can go when you actually have some sort of a clue about what your supposed to be researching.



Its a big season of change for me at the moment. We're moving at the end of the month, due to the fact that we can't cope with the mould situation. The spores have taken over. Resistence is futile. It's time to move on. Plus the place is fucking freezing at this time of year. We've found a place actually just down the road, which is nicer than our current one. Its in an apartment block located in a converted convent. Lovely apartment, lovely building but what a kip of an area - it's get your sovereigns out! Let's just say Im not going to be walking home from town after 9pm. But I suppose you have to compromise somewhere. At least the apartment is secure - it'd wanna be with all those pregnant teenagers in the area dropping a new breed of scum every few hours. That kinda reminds me of the gremlins for some reason. I am looking forward to getting out of our place to eventually get a bedroom that's a tad bigger then the wardrobe that Im sleeping in at the moment. The apartment is due to be finished - its still not furnished and has no lights - in about two weeks, which is perfect timing as our lease is up at the end of the month. One downside is the fact that half my wage is going to be spent on the rent. I think its going to be a Tesco value brand year for me.



Been hanging with the ol' LGB college society too. We went gay bowling about 2 weeks ago - and by gay bowling I mean a bunch of gays bowling, not throwing gays down the bowling lanes. It was out in Palmerstown (still havent a clue where it is) and it was a great night. BYOB with disco music and lights on the bowling lanes. Oh what a gay old time was had. I still get the feeling however, that my memebership of the society is somewhat pointless. Nobody seems to be interesting in talking to me as much ever since Ive got a boyfriend, and when there is a conversation it usually starts with "so how long have you been going out" with a shocked expression at the answer, as seemingly any relationship lasting over a month long seems like a lifetime. It just gets a bit annoying after a while. I mean, I may be a little older than the rest of them, but still, I'm not old, and I do have a life outside of the relationship, although maybe less of one than I used to. I do really want to get involved in the society but maybe I shouldn't... Maybe its just me though... I dunno. I'm feeling quite inarticulate at the moment - most likely due to the fact that I haven't posted anything in ages. I should really look for that mojo of mine. It's got to be around here somewhere..

Transfer Talk

I have my transfer talk today (to transfer from MSc to Ph.D.), so wish me luck. Although I am wearing my brand new lucky green runners - yeah, you heard me, they're green!

So Much for an Open Society

From the Irish Independent:

A demonstration is taking place in Dublin today to highlight a series of attacks on members of the city's gay community.
The protest is being held close to the popular gay pub The George, in an area where many of the assaults have taken place.

The organisers said at least three people had been hospitalised as a result of attacks over the past 10 days, one of whom lost three pints of blood.

Gardai have made a number of arrests, but the gay community is seeking more visible patrols in the city centre at the weekend

I thought I should post about this. What is even more upsetting is the apparant attitude of the Gardai who arrived on the scene who came across quite ignorant, according to certain reports. If so, with an attitude like that from the authorities, what kind of example are they setting for the public? Hopefully this protest will get the media attention it deserves. I know it would if it had been an equivalent racially motivated attack. The streets of Dublin just aren't that safe anymore. Especially if you're gay.



For more details, check out the topics at QueerID here and here.

Slapper-Face Shit

I can breathe. For the moment anyway. Just finished off my transfer paper, so now I've about three weeks to get the talk ready, so I guess the pressure has eased off a little bit, for now.



Apart from being ridiculously busy in work, I've been out a few times since I've gotten home, catching up with a few mates. My first Wednesday back I ended up in Slapperface Prick's. If there was any tiny niggling heterosexually within my person, it was quickly annihilated as soon as I heard the sound of the Proclaimers over the speakers and saw the crowd of drunken country boys and men in suits feeling up even more intoxicated girls in far too much sequence. I mean, it was just revolting. Thank God Im gay. Really, thank God. The place just reeked of desperation, well I suppose most gay clubs can too - but at least they attempt to be glamorous or more discrete about it. This was just tits-in-your-face lob-it-in-there type stuff and made me feel so awkward. *Shudder*. I suppose I should have expected it. They also had a plastic ice-bin in the middle of the dancefloor to collect water leaking from upstairs. Oh, and don't get me started on the leopard-skin print everywhere! Classy.



I must say, however, it was better than the last time I was in there, when I walked into the gents toilets only to find someone had shit in the urinal. And it wasn't just a discreet little poo - it was a gigantic, sloppy, stinking turd. I mean, who would do that? Really, who? Can you imagine just thinking to yourself "Oh, I need a poo - I may as well just perch myself up here then, sure who cares if someone walks in on me as I'm shitting in the urinal". And another thing, what nightclub leaves shit in a urinal? It was there all night. That's Slappers for you.

No, I'm not dead, and yes I am back. In one piece. Does that answer everybody's questions?



Will post a.s.a.p including photos from New Yoik (that's my poor attempt at a Long Island accent)!

Mega-Update!

For those of you who are still hanging around here, yes I am still alive. I haven't had the inclination to blog about anything much in a long time - maybe all my creative juices have finally leaked out.



So Baltimore is indeed a fine place - if you're some kind of mugger or crack-whore. The university itself is nice and expensive looking, with big white columns on most of the buildings - just to emphasise how well-to-do you must be to attend. The people Im working with are also pretty cool I have to say, and I have made a few friends, which has made the time here all the more bareable. The city itself is another matter. For example, one of the students who was here was driving his scooter, when a gang of kids tried to pull him off the bike by his packpack, while he was stopped at a traffic light, and at the same time another gang of kids were trying to hijack a moving car by attempting to smash the windows in with half a tree trunk. Also one of the girls got mugged by someone with a gun the day she arrived, and another student from the university was mugged just outside the grounds in the early afternoon. The local paper has quite a jovial column on the number of homicides that are commited each week. Currently I think the count is around 20 or so, from the time Ive been here - although the paper only includes deaths by gunshot. So you see, the city does have a really good sense of community.








Actually, around where Im staying isnt so bad, but you cant walk a block east or west, without feeling extremely intimidated, and its far too dangerous to walk into town or anything, which kind of limits the possibilities of what one can do with one's time. Luckily, the work load is ridiculous - hence me being the only person in the lab at 8pm, and any time off is usually spent hanging around in someone else's apartment, which leaves me less time to get homesick, which is a very good thing.



So what have I done since Ive been here....well not a hell of a lot really. Went to Ann Arbor in the second week to give a paper at a conference, which was truly horrific. The hotel I was staying in was 5 miles from the city centre. At my talk I basically got told that the research Id done was a load of shit, by a complete asshole, from Microsoft nonetheless. And having no company or colleagues to back me up it really was a deer-in-the-headlights moment. I just got the fuck out of there as quickly as I could and off to the only gay bar in the town. It was a nice enough spot and I had a drink outdoors. When leaving, some guy who'd been hanging around the bar attempted to cruise me, and when he saw me getting into the taxi that I had rang from the bar, he gestured suggestively at me and made it clear that he had money to pay me for my..err...'company'. So what a fantastic day that was - to be called a failure and a prostitute, who could ask for anything more. The taxi man, being a fellow pink-player then suggested I go out and have some fun for the night, despite the fact I told him I had a boyfriend. Its nice to see Michigan has morals!



Another weekend I went up to New York City, getting a free lift from someone here. I met up with a few friends on J1. We attempted to go out Saturday night to some gay club, which I was really looking forward to, as, up to then, my social life had been somewhat lacking. However, a bottle and a half of wine later and I was in absolutely no condition to go anywhere. I think I got as far as Manhattan before I had to be taken back to their apartment in Queens, aparantly falling on some innocent woman on the subway along the way, who thought I was attacking her. I passed out back in the apartment and had an extremely unpleasant journey back to Baltimore the following day. The thing is, I didnt even drink that much, but it was just a mixture of the heat and the fact I hadnt eaten dinner that day. Oh well.



So since then Ive just been surviving the swealtering heat and never-ending, completely unsatisfying, work. I have been out a few times, including a local arts festival which was pretty cool, and one or two nights on the town, including a trip to the Baja Beach Club, which was full of topless guys (yumm) and sleazy older drunkards molesting the closest innocent Baltimorian female (not so yumm) - it brought back so many fond memories of Copperface Jack's (although, it must be noted, I have only been there once and after being confronted with a huge turd in men's urinals, I vowed never to return again - its just not that kind of action I was after).



Ive only around two and half weeks here before I head to New York for a week of fun and frolicks with the boyf who's flying over. I can't fucking wait!

Off to the USA

Despite my recent lack of posting, I am still alive....barely. This is just a short one to let you know that Im off on Sunday to Baltimore, where I will be till the end of August. Hopefully Ill get back into blogging while I'm away to recant tales of my adventures. Wish me luck!



And to all my limp-wristed brothers and sensible-shoe wearing sisters out there...Happy Pride!!!!

Show me the way....

I just had to link to this video created by the British Troops in Iraq. (via Proceed at your own Risk).

Let the Good Times Roll!

First and foremost, thanks to everyone who made an appearance on Fri night -and to everyone who couldn't. I had a fantastic birthday weekend! I would say memorable, but the fact is I can't quite remember all of it. I took Friday off to prepare. I needed the lie-in after slaving away making the king of all birthday treats, rice-crispy buns, for everyone the night before. My sis took me to lunch in Luigi Malones where I indulged in a great big slice of toblerone cheesecake for desert...mmm. People started to arrive around 8, but the place was packed by 9 - I think everyone I invited showed up. Had the music blaring, but still conversation was so loud you couldn't really hear it. Most people were talking about the photos that I had showing on the TV after I hooked up Dee's laptop, so was well chuffed that it worked out. Got fairly merry on the punch Id made up, then everyone headed into the Dragon just after the water in the apartment failed, and people couldnt wait much longer to use the toilets before their bladders imploded. After that I don't really remember that much (which I naturally blame everyone else for) - apart from cocktail after cocktatil being handed to me, and the moment when a condom landed in Ciaran's drink. Who said gay bars weren't classy! Even my brother came along, which was a huge deal for me, which I let him know in a drunken text on the way home, after the boyf had to escort me home in a taxi early as I couldn't stand up straight. Paid for it the next day as I shouted down the big white telephone, which wouldn't flush cause the water was still off, making everything seem that extra bit nasty. We didn't actually get our water back till Monday - which led to us living in a somehwat Flistone-state, having to resort to filling up the toilet manually and splashing our faces with dirty dishwater.



Sunday started fantastically when boyf woke me up and to my delight presented me with the best birthday present ever....an iPod photo! I couldn't believe it - esp as he's not working at the moment. It's fantastic timing as I can now bring my entire music collection to the states with me. I bet your all jealous....go on...admit it! Have to get a cover soon for it though - cause I can't bare the thought of getting it scratched. I had dinner with the family + boyf, followed by some delicious extra-chocolatey cheesecake he made for me. Was just a really nice and relaxing day, and the perfect ending to a fucking excellent weekend...Roll on 25!!


In other news - this blog has been selected as the "Best Personal Gay Blog" this week by Best Gay Blogs in the self category. And Ive won tickets to Glitz tonight, so Laddy Luck (no, it's not a typo) seems to be siding with me! Way to go me!

By By Fishies

Im all over the place this past week, so forgiveness for not posting...once things settle down Ill get back to some more regular posting. I'm up to my eyeballs in work. Got the last paper I wrote accepted to a conference in Michican, so it means Ill be going there the same date I was supposed to head out to Baltimore, and fly from there to Baltimore a few days late. Im also working on two other papers that have to be finished by the end of the month, and haven't even started my transfer paper, plus I've all this work to do before the meeting in New York at the beginning of next month, so its crazy. Have had to cancel my dental appointments, so guess my teeth will just have to stay fucked up for a little bit longer. Had a great weekend though. Went to the opening of the Dragon - the new gay bar on George's street, formally Sosume. The place looks fantastic. They've moved the dancefloor downstairs at the back, and put an open-air smoking balcony upstairs at the back. Im sorry to say Dave, that the fish are gone - actually I think they were serving them as apperatifs at the opening party. Was great cause they had free cocktails at the start of the night, then all drinks were 2eur up till midnight. Didnt really take full advantage of it tho, as I was tired and had to be in college early the next day. Went to see Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy on Fri night - was better than I expected, but still far, far too British for my tastes, if you know what I mean. On Sat night I went out to the Flounge and met up with a few of my old LGB soc people for drinks - then headed onto the Dragon afterwards. It was packed and lots of faces haven't seen out and about before - then again I haven't really been out and about properly in ages. And this weekend is going to be even better as its by birthday!! Celebrating with drinks at mine before heading out - looking forward to it, though its all a bit hectic trying to get in touch with everyone and planning things etc. Im sure you'll hear all about it.