Blog of Bling #3- Lost in Translation

22-09-2008So I haven’t kept up on my blog for a while, but in my defense, I killed so many brain cells during my trip to North Ireland that I’ve just now regained the ability to type. Yes, I visited the land of leprechauns and Joelle a weekend or two ago to help her celebrate her 25th birthday! The flight there and back was only 100 GBP, but that meant I had to fly out of a tiny little airport north of London at 7 AM and return Monday morning quite early. My Saturday started at 4:30 AM, but at least the cheap bastard inside of me was happy.My flatmates all got up at 5 AM to wish me godspeed on my weekend trip….but that may have had something to do with me somehow setting the fire alarm off with the steam from the shower. I have my version, the flatmates have theirs.Anyone that knows me, knows that I hate to brag (is hate the right word?) but I planned my journey perfectly. I waited 4 minutes at the bus stop, 3 minutes at the tube station, a whopping 30 seconds at the trains station, and I had just enough time to stop for coffee and a pain au chocolat (chocolate crossaint) in the airport terminal before my flight started boarding.Joelle and her boyfriend Rory (aka bubbles) were nice enough to pick me up from the airport and host me for the weekend. I couldn’t tell you the name of the towns or villages we went to after leaving Belfast, but the coast was beautiful and the hills were more green than I would have thought. Honestly, I didn’t understand a whole lot of what was being said as both the irish accent and vocabular escaped me for much of the weekend. I understood Bubbles father long enough to hear a story about a little pub in a northern coast town whos owner didn’t allow women in the bar. Something about an American tourist and his wife being thrownout didn’t sit too well with me, especially as we entered the pub later that day. “If women knew any better, they wouldn’t set foot in here,” said the owner to Joelle and her friend and I decided to keep my American mouth shut while bubbles ordered the beer and the girls scurried outside.The rest of the night was spent looking into the bottom of a whiskey bottle for myself. I thought I was up for the task, but alas…not so much. I lasted till a meager 1 or 2 before bed. But at least (or perhaps for entertainment purposes, unfortunately) I avoided the black out and the terrible hangover the next morning. Sunday was recovery day full of hiking through green bogs (my shoes are still a mess) and kayaking…rather watching other people fall out of kayaks. Monday morning I made it back to London, just in time to head to work for an unproductive afternoon and I was back to business as usual. On a final note, I’d like to give a shout out to Carmelle Masdon Martinez’s Blog, found here: http://themartinezmafia.blogspot.com/Carmelle actually gave a shout out to me in her blog a few weeks ago, and immediately her hits skyrocketed. Little did she know she was actually doing a favor for herself, by talking about me! Anyway, she’s a sweetheart and a dear friend and I hope shes doing well and in keeping the stakes fair for our blog duelling, I thought I’d give her a little publicity to return the favor.