It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light...

THE FRIDGE IS FINE!

Jayann danced in her bikini and she showed us how to do the Beat It dance. It was awesome. Now we are going to the beach. Tomorrow we get to feed lions. True story.

This has been a short summary.

:D

The other night was one of the loveliest nights of my life. And even in my eventful and sometimes messed-up life there have been many fantastic ones, so this is saying something.

Woot texted asking if we watched to watch the sunset on the beach. The LFoD was watching Queer as Folk and eating, so we had to finish that of course (Brian Kinney says so) and so we ended up leaving just at sunset. The sky was brilliantly orangey-red and incredible and by the time we got to Sumner beach, it was darkish. Sumner Beach looks like THIS except the tide was out so you could walk all the way out past that nearly submerged rock out there.

For those of you who have not seen me on a beach, I regress to a ball of child-like joy. I grew up, at least in part, on the ocean. Wellllll on the Puget Sound, and we spent a lot of summers in Oregon and California. The ocean owns my soul. I ran into the water, not too deep because it's freezing, and played in the surf. And you see that big rock with the mast thingy on top of it? That has a cave under it, so we went into the cave and them climbed up to the top of the rock, meaning I faced two fears. The dark, and heights. And while we were up there, people were playing with sparklers and I didn't panic. HAH!

But...it was so beautiful, you guys. It was misty and the lights on the hill were SO pretty and it was warm and wonderful and just... kind of like this but darker and mistier and AWESOMER.

And since I had faced three fears, we figured why not another one. Woot drove us out to Lyttleton via the tunnel (AUGH) and we looked around there. It was lovely and peaceful and full of joy and RENT songs and laughter. Sometimes the simplest things are the best things.

Ali: "I am not good at verbal book reviews." *awkward silence* ..... ... .. ..... "Or...speaking..."

Alison ♥

My exercycle is awesome. It is in my room and I've already used it twice. Woot took me to get it and Alison came along and getting it into the car was...interesting. I did not help. Woot did it all. And then we went to the BeAcH and we had SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM FROM A VAN and then I FROLICKED IN THE OCEAN UNTIL MY JEANS WERE SOAKED AND I COULDN'T FEEL MY FEET. No, you seriously do not understand how excited this makes me.

...I'm 29. *cough*

Anyway, my presentation on prejudice is nearly finished and I have consumed an entire clove of baked garlic as well as chicken and wedges. Alison should always cook. Garliiiiiccccccc.

And coffee. But not together.

I might be slightly hyper since I spent the entire day studying instead of on the internet (except for the break in the middle with beaches...not the movie though I do love that Bette Midler) and now I can't stop wiggling and giving Alison funny looks which make her be silent awkwardly.

YAY!

Last day touristing and it was a blast. I dig Ireland hardcore. I have to say, if you do visit Dublin (and I hope you do) make SURE you take a day and get out of the city. Dublin is amazing, but I took a half-day bus tour of the coast and it was the best thing I did hereby far. I wish I had had more time to spend on the coast, but alas! The tour guide/bus driver was this awesome old man (who made jokes like 'that interference you're hearing isn't someone's mobile, it's me pacemaker. Oh, and that one was God sendin' me a text message because me use by date is almost up') who has lived in Dublin his entire life. He sang songs and he was GOOD and it was awesome. And he was hilarious. All the bus driver/guides I have had in Dublin have been fantastic. So if you DO do the bus tours, do the ones from Dublin Bus. Ignore the others, they're fakers! This guy even explained why people from Ireland don't pronounce h. Because there IS no h. So that's why they say 'ting' and the like. I love it. His accent was made of awesome.

We went to Malahide Castle, which makes me squeal with glee. Why? Because there is a Tudor connection. Wait for it. Okay, the family who owned it are the Talbots (the last one who lived there died about 3 months ago, and I think they started living there in 1100 or thereabouts, though I think she sold the home in 76) and the Irish Talbots were related to the English Talbots AKA the Earl of Shrewsburys. The Earl title was created and handed down and one of the Earls, one Lord George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury; HE was the Lord Marshal for Queen Elizabeth. And when her wily Scottish cousin Mary got in to a bit of bother, Mary Queen of Scots was placed under Lord Talbot's care (for A LONG TIME). They didn't explain any of this at the castle, but the guide pointed out a picture of "the English cousins" I had a squee. ((And Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of Talbot's second wife but from her previous marriage to Sir William Cavendish)

See? I AM A BIG FREAKING NERD! None of that came from the tour, it was prior knowledge. Thanks, Phillipa Gregory, even if your novel about all of that was completely unreadable.

Moving on, the castle was beautiful but the coastline...oh my goodness. I'm a big lover of the ocean anyway, but oh. Oh my word. I can't describe it, so I'll let the pictures do that for me. Magnificent. And hopefully it'll make you want to take me at my word. Get out of the city! The coast is breathtaking.

Back in the city, I finally made it in to Kilmainham Gaol! Not a fun time, because it's absolutely unpleasant. The jail was supposed to have a capacity of 120 people at most, and during the potato famine it housed up to 9,000 at one point. Which is unthinkable. And then there's the terrible executions carried out after the Easter Rising in 1916. None of it was feel good stuff, but that's history. Irish history.

Anyway, after that I walked about, visiting Trinity College and I FOUND FITZWILLIAM SQUARE BOOYAH! Granted, I got rained on while I did it, but I was born in Seattle so a little rain doesn't concern me. And it didn't last long. Then I saw a random street acrobat, and gave him 3 euro. Dude, he limboed under a burning pole mere inches off of the ground... Then I strolled back, had dinner at Eddie Rocket's, and came back here. To pack. Because I'm leavin' for MT tomorrow but I GET TO GO THROUGH LONDON FIRST which excites me because I am SO having Caffe Nero again omg.

You have no idea. Unless you do. ;)

New Photos start here and they include the Ghost Bus ones!

Scout, the Fitzwilliam Square photos start here!