I’m still here. I’ve been home for over a week now. No, I didn’t spend _another_ week abroad. I just didn’t have anything interesting enough to write about. It happens. Not that I haven’t been busy. As it happens I’ve been run off my feet (well, relatively speaking) as of late. If you don’t believe me, here’s a summary of what I’ve been up to over the last seven days: ==

• I uploaded plus-or-minus 140 photos taken during my visit to South Africa from the didge onto the eMac. I edited a handful — a bit of cropping, red-eye correction, et cetera — but sloppily. I decided to come back to them with a fresh eye and lots of time on my hands.
• I ate a milk chocolate Tempo bar, from Cadbury’s. It was good.
• I went out for a drink one night with Eoin the Film Student (unbelievable, I know, but it’s true!) and paid my first visit to Rick’s on Dame Street for one of their famously good burgers. Tasty.
• I thought about Photoshopping my vacation photos, but my eyes were too tired to stare at a computer screen. And besides, it was after midnight and I was still hallucinating from lack of sleep.
• I went with Dave to see Buffalo Soldiers. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t exactly blow my mind. Also, I would have written a much better ending.
• I drank some grape flavour Fanta, and kicked myself for not bringing home more.
• I rang Benitha from that international call centre above where Dave used to work. We talked for a while, and spent most of the rest of the weekend chatting with her online. I miss her.
• I thought again about editing my vacation photos, then got distracted by a small fly.
• I eventually stopped hallucinating, which was good as it was really starting to disturb me.
• I began transcribing a diary that I kept for the duration of my vacation; I’ve still got a long way to go, so don’t expect to see it for at least another week. If you see it at all.
• I cooked up my first batch of pap, and it actually turned out okay. A bit clumpy, sure, but it tasted right. I’ll do better next time. I wish I had some wors to go with it.
• I ate a caramel P.S. bar, from Cadbury’s. It was even better than the Tempo.
• I went out to UCD to do some photocopying (why go elsewhere when I still have 20-plus credits left on my old student copy card?) and felt like a total outsider. Afterwards I spent the day in town with Grover, and made an amazing discovery. You know that newsagents just inside that archway entrance to Temple Bar, the one facing the Ha’penny Bridge? Well they’ve got cans of soda imported from the States, including Pepsi Blue, and root beer. I’ve never tried either. So I bought a can of each. Not bad. (I must say, though, that I didn’t know what to expect from the root beer. It smells like Deep Heat, but tastes like Big Red, only better. I like it.)
• I thought once more about editing my South Africa photos, but decided to waste my time writing this instead.

== So there you have it. Doesn’t it make you just wanna spend a day in my shoes? I thought not. Oh well.

Wed 03 Sep 2003 at 19:48   ·