Monday, June 27, 2005

What if i do? What if i don't?

There are various versions of the lyrics to this track on the web but these are from the official site and sure enough its not "love", but "Lord". Which i guess means the same thing, and then again, something else entirely.

flippin' great CD. absolutely loving it and it's been a salve for an otherwise shite week.

in 24 hours we'll be in france for a MUCH NEEDED break from the norm. our thanks to Nathan for staying with Chloe and Easter in our absence and keeping the home fire burning.

Back and forth, that voice of yours
Keeps me up at night
Help me search to find the words
That eat you up inside
I go side to side like the wildest tides
In your hurricane
And I only hide what is on my mind
Because I can’t explain
What if I do, Lord?
What if I don’t?
I’d have to lose everything
Just to find you
It’s my turn, this soul won’t burn
So throw me in the fire
Trophies earned and lessons learned
From wicked little liars
We could pave new roads with their cold gravestones
And wind them through the pines
Should I stay or should I go alone?
I cannot decide.
Carolina.

What if I do? by the Foo Fighters. From In Your Honour, CD2.

be safe. be cool.
x.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

ya gotta have sole

if you've just arrived, this is the last of several new posts today. i suggest ya scroll on down til you see something you don't recognise. . . .

so, having caught up with the other things i had logged to blog . . . today is aka Foo Fighters day. have been listening to the new album as i have ::ahem:: worked. loving the second, and not-so-loud, cd. a couple of the tracks are pure loveliness on a disc.

and if you have good bandwith and real player i recommend a thoroughly tight live set from an infamous hangar in Roswell, NW. you'll find an hour and a half of pure FF rock at: http://www.foofighters.com/bw/news.php?passedMonth=06&passedYear=2005, dated June 20th.

yesterday afternoon i clocked off early and went for my first ever pedicure and have been not so much walking as floating around with french pedicure feet. the whole thing was very SATC, save for lack of 3 glamourous gals to gossip with. thoroughly recommended.

on a far less glamourous or indeed shallow note - here's a link to an editorial from Nathan's local rag (the Twin cities' Star Tribune) that he sent my way: http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5471244.html

if you ain't outraged, you ain't payin' attention.

peace,

x.



5. reasons to be cheerful part 2

Congratulations to Nathan and Rachael on their impending nuptuals.

may you be blissfully happy together.

bless you.

x

4. God Bless Dad

For he have the best chocolate sauce recipe going (and in honour of Fathers' Day). . . highly recommended warm over fresh profiteroles and since you should already have the ::frames player:: open - why not listen to ::lay me down:: on ::for the birds:: - the album covered in crosses. lyrics are somewhat ironic given my dad is very much alive and kicking. linked at the above title.

SPECIAL CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Makes about 300 ml.

110g (4oz.) plain chocolate, broken into pieces
150 ml (1/4 pint) single cream
50g (2 oz) chilled butter, diced
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon strong black coffee
1 tablespoon rum

Cooking time: 5-7 minutes

1. Place chocolate and cream in small saucepan and stir over a low heat until the chocolate has melted. Do not boil.
2. Away from the heat, add the butter and stir until melted.
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Use warm or cold.

3. Reasons to be cheerful part 1

Lee Smithey's in town for seven weeks. philly's loss is belfast's gain.

'nuff said.

pip wilson - go to the link above. listened to ::say it to me now:: and thought of you.

word up.

x.

2. God Bless Mum

you may be wondering what the number one was about on the previous post. my intentiton had been to post 5 different posts in the one day but hey this is me - slowest most unreliable blogger of the lot - so heck here's the news rather late but not out of date. . .

last week featured my mum's birthday. were she alive she would have turned 58, which on reflection seems quite strange. i can't imagine what she would look like at 58. so she remains as she was - a fresh faced 51.
i listened several times to the God Bless Mom - having had a bit of a Frames Revival day, reminding myself why i love that band so much and thought often of her and of the many times ewan and i have rocked out to this over the years and how this track always held such poignancy for us.
See above for link to their official site where you can play all but their latest tracks for free. On that page above you'll find the live version of GBM from the exhilirating live album Set List - chosen over the studio version for its stunning breakdown in the middle. Headphonz recommended. Turn it up to 11.

You see how hard it can be to keep your side of the deal
You see how hard it can be to keep one foot in the real.

~ Glen Hansard.


Tuesday, June 21, 2005

1. Most likely to request a Magnum. . .

This past weekend was spent in Edinburgh - something of a reunion for 4 of us who lived together for several years in Dublin. Thanks go to Kirsty, who was a wonderful host, and to whom I promised I would blog the following:

As a child I would stand back and watch as my younger brother would sample new food with consistent enthusiasm – at McDonald's he would try something new from the menu everytime. By the time he’d got as far down the menu as Filet O’ Fish, I was only contemplating that I might one day forego a Hamburger for a Quarter Pounder. When given a Soda Stream for his birthday, I stood back and watched while drinking my beloved Ribena – which to this day I still drink daily. I never did like bubbles.


But it was at countless ice cream vans that the difference between my brother and I would become most memorably manifest. Crazy Feet, Tangle Twisters, some bright green thing in the shape of a frog, a cone with bubblegum at the bottom - he tried them all – never the same thing twice. I, meanwhile, always played it safe – wanted to be guaranteed something I liked.
(Please do not think I am a fussy eater. My parents were always very glad that we both enthusiastically ate most things that were ever put on our plates. But it was in these more exotic settings outside the home, when I was getting a treat that I would quite literally re-treat into familiarity at every chance – for fear that if I tried something new – the gift would be wasted.)
And so to this day, when wanting to highlight my fear of the new, be it food or otherwise, my nearest and dearest repeat , in a very little voice, my consistent request on those warm summer days in country parks and at the seaside, “Can I have a choc ice please?"

And so it is with no small measure of delight and even a little pride, that I can say that in Kirsty's flat in Edinburgh, there featured three acts of culinary bravery. At thirty one and three quarters I finally ate the following foods for the first time ever:

Trout. A whole one. With its head still attached.
Poached egg. (Served in a floury roll with bacon). Topped with:
HP sauce. (There was no Heinz ketchup so I went out on a daring limb.)

Yum. Yum. Yum.

Brother – you woulda been a little astonished. And I think just a little proud.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

days like these . . .

. . . you really appreciate the simple pleasures. those things that keep you going in the office when you've a "to do" list that never seems to get any shorter no matter how fast you try and work.

so here are 5 things for which i am truly thankful:

1. gifts of dark chocolate from a nice American at just the right moment and thus soothing one's stressed soul
2. when the first thing out of someone's mouth on seeing you is a compliment on your new threads and thus bolstering one's self esteem a notch or two
3. free promo cds in the post as a surprise gift from your brother, thus putting a big smile on one's face and entertaining one's ears
4. emails from friends in far off places, which make them feel closer
5. the thought that at 6pm one can head off to buy a bottle of wine to take to tuesday group - thus providing one with a goal to reach

it's 6:09. goal reached. i'm outta here. . .

be thankful i am so busy this week. i bought st elmo's fire on dvd at the weekend. were it quiet around here i would be eulogising on its joys. . .

(by the way, in other news, ikon has a cd coming out, and we've picked our services for gb05, both of which are very exciting. and zero28 is shortly to launch enhanced features on our website. i'll keep ya posted.)

also coming soon: the recipe for my dad's delicious warm chocolate sauce. . . not to be missed.

blessings,

x.

Friday, June 10, 2005

perps, poets, prophets

i put this first link here for the entertainment of my spouse, who recently returned from church groaning, "not another flippin' Purpose Driven Sermon!"
This little gem from Lark News should put a smile on his face:
http://larknews.com/may_2005/secondary.php?page=1

over on jude's blog you may have recently read the "see-someone-you-went-to-school-with-for-first-time-in-years-so-do-you-go-up-and-say-hello?" dilemma.

From Pádraig, for Jude, comes this lovely piece from the poetic pen of Steve Turner:

The Gap - Steve Turner.

We both happened
to be there.
It was some
distance from
schooldays and yet
we still carried
something of the
same faces.
We smiled and said
hello. We smiled and said
how are you. We smiled and said
how goes it.
Then came the damp
silence that forms
in the gaps between
experiences.
Lips dried up and
eyes hunted for
escape routes.
We searched for an
intersection of our
lives which could be
made to look like a
conversation.
We said it was good
to have seen each other
like this but both
knew it wasn't.
We said we might bump
into each other again
but already we were
taking precautions.
Maybe it would have
been better if we'd
just touched that night.
Just smiled,
and acknowledged our humanity
and moved on.

please try and make time today to check out and bookmark:
and while you're at it, please participate in The Big Ask on climate change@ http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/big_ask/
enjoy your weekends.
cary. x

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

how to end poverty

Picked up this link at the greenbelt site.

"In support of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign, Greenbelter Peter Bone has put together a new website to help us understand the issues and what we can do to help.
Peter has put something together which doesn't use too many words, yet clarifies some of the issues and draws attention to the urgent need for change for the poorest countries of the world."


http://www.howtoendpoverty.org/index.html

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

inner calm means comedy genius

10 days later i finally see this absolute gem of a posting from jude's blog. original source: her good pal merlei. had to post it here, while still wiping tears away. . . enjoy.

Am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me
and most of us could be more calm in our lives. By following the simple advice I heard on a Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner
peace.

Dr. Phil proclaimed, “The way to achieve inner
peace is to finish all the things you’ve started.”
So I looked around my
house to see all the things I had started and hadn’t finished.

So, before leaving the house this morning, I finished
off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a
bottle of Bailey’s, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the
remainder of both Prozac and Valium prescriptions, the rest of
the cheesecake, some saltines and a box of chocolates.
You have no idea how freaking good I feel!

i is back

okay okay okay. it's been two weeks. i'm sorry. i've no excuse really other than too much stuff going on and general forgetfulness.
thank you in the meantime for nice messages, friendly kicks up the arse to blog something and intriguing reports of dreams you've had involving me.

this past weekend was a combination of fundraising, activism and chat. met a stackload of folks over the weekend that i don't see enough. there was a memorial gathering for ashley on sunday morning down on the beach at helen's bay and we had the ensemble of 20 or so back to our place afterward for tea and toast. it was a beautiful tribute and me and mr LB were struck by what an amazing bunch of people they were. this bunch of folks collectively know as the ikon community and friends is just incredible. there's a lotta love in the room.

got this message from jude today, which caused much excitement:

Les arts dans la rue
Vendredi 1er juillet, toute la journée.
L'Isle sur la Sorgue:
Démonstrations et ateliers de danse, musique, arts divers...manifestation originale qui permet à chacun de s'essayer à de nouvelles activités. Place du marché.

but before france there is more travel to be had. in ten days i hit edinburgh for a whistlestop reunion of the "lovley gerls" from dublin and various spouses and cohorts.

can't remember if i posted before on this but as of july i'll be part time agin with PA on the proviso that as soon as a nice funder gives us a shed load more cash i'll go back to full time hours.
i should probably be more concerned but i am attempting to maintain zen-like calm and so am trying to look forward to the opportunities that might come along to fill the 19 hours i am about to gain.

i hope this finds you all well. i haven't read any blogs these past two weeks, so i look forward to seeing what you are all up to out there.

be safe. be well. be happy.

word up. x