So this past while I've been making an effort to get out of the rut that is the life on social welfare and get out and try new things/ socialise with my friends more aaaand probably spending alot more then I should in the process.
In terms of the online dating scene I've been semi active out of part boredom and part desire to expand my social circle and go out and meet up with girls I would never have considered meeting up with before. There was one girl who was quite cute, she was a month "off the boat" from Japan and when I sent out a message asking if she wanted to meet up she replied with "Hi, I'm new to the city and I don't know where to hand in a tax form" paraphrasing but that was the gist of it. I was thinking "a bit unusual but sure if we actually sit down for something to eat for a chat after", nothing really became of it like with most of these encounters but that was one of the more unique suggestion for an activity to do.
A more recent one (only last night) was an Irish girl, who is training to be a midwife and so has a very busy work schedule. So we meet up at a pub that I know does good food and beer. I was quite tired as I had significantly less sleep then I'm used to the night before, I don't think it was that detectable but maybe that in combination with the beer may have given the impression I was drunker/creepier then I was, or maybe this is my paranoia.... Anyway, I found myself doing a lot of the talking, not out of nerves but because my lady friend didn't seem to be that enthused about any subject much. I tried a lot of subjects and tactics and some of them would work and she'd be talking for a about 4-5 sentences but then would stop and didn't seem to ask me questions back much. This was weird, because we seemed to get along fine when sending messages on the site. Anyway it was what it was and I'm in no way ruling out meeting up again and hopefully that would go better or maybe she only does one date "trials" and if it kinna goes a bit flat (which it did, I'm sorry to say) then that's it she moves on to the next guy... if that's the case then I respect that and it's understandable. I've not given up looking just because I wouldn't mind another meeting with this girl, so at least I'm keeping my options open if she's not interested in meeting again.
Anyway on a totally unrelated note, tomorrow I'm off to my annual week long trip down to my parents summer house in Dingle, Co. Kerry. It's kind of a traditional family thing as a lot of my aunts and uncles on my dad's side will be down there and hopefully quite a few of my first cousins also as I would consider some of them almost like additional siblings. It's incredibly picturesque down there and there's a beach within a half mile walk from the house. It's quite large and although wouldn't be considered private, on a normal day you might only see a few locals walking their dogs and that's it. Of course on sunny days it tends to fill up with people on beach towels. A lot of my uncles/aunts/significant others of them/ cousins would be major golfers and there's a links course that's about a half mile in the other direction to the beach, this tends to fill up the mundane/ slightly cloudy days down there but on a nice day sometimes a road walk or a hike up one of the hills or mountains that surround the area. It's very remote down there, the night life consists of going around to one of the houses with the cousins for drink/ sing-a-long with the cousins (and I mean proper songs not camp-fire bull shit) or an occasional trip out to the village which is a mile or two away. It consists of a shop (used to be two, don't know if it re opened as I've not been down there in about 2 years) 3 pubs and one pub that became a hotel with new owners and a complete knock and re-build but still keeps the lower floor as a pub, a post office, a cafe and a primary school. You'd want to go to Dingle (we're about 6 kms away) if you want something more commercial with a DJ or jukebox. There's a ton of pubs there (some late-bars) and one nightclub. I'll have significantly less to spend then usual, as I'm not working and the return train ticket cost me 55 euro, so I think I'll limit myself to going over to one of the houses if there's something on on any given night.
I'll bring my camera and tripod in case just by some chance we get decent weather down there. Also the views from the top of the mountains can be quite beautiful if the weather breaks for a sec (which chances are it'll be fine if it's "walking weather").
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Dating...
So I'm sitting here browsing the web while sipping a few cans (on my 2nd, more possibly to follow). Not with any view to get drunk but just to mellow out at my own pace while I casually browse facebook, youtube, tech blogs and whatever else takes my fancy. As I'm doing this I see quite attractive girls from my past (who've thankfully not befriended me) post status updates and photos as I'm passively letting my news feed wash over me.
This brings me the thoughts that I'm altogether disillusioned by the whole dating scene. Mostly, I suspect, because I am woefully ill equipped for these sort of things. I know people who thrive at the game like it's a natural extension of their personality, or at least put enough effort into learning it as they would a sport or profession. Myself? call it a flaw if you will but I'm a passive rather then an active dater or at least any time I've tried to be an active dater I've failed miserably. Composing sonnets? Comparing the object of my affections lips to red roses and their eyes to endless blue oceans that I could get lost in eternity? Do I object to such language? No I find it wonderfully descriptive, but I'm not so bold as to profess my affections like such in public. It'd make me feel hugely self conscious.
Dating sites while useful for seeing that yes there are attractive girls with which, on paper, I should get on with like a house on fire. They are am sure bombarded with messages from suitors on a daily basis and while I feel that what I write, when I send them a message, accurately reflects who I am. I'm sure it's as unique to them as a piece of gravel on a driveway. The solution, so guys are told by other guys (which is always the primary source of knowledge on these things, rightly or wrongly) is to stand out, be slightly obnoxious, as the girl won't be expecting that. "It works!" so they claim "sure fire, tried and trusted method!" they always sound like snake oil salesmen from the 1850s. This maybe true, you may get a girl to think "wait, he's not showering me with complements, that makes me want to go out with him to find out more" The thing is with this is it makes guys like me disillusioned with the dating process.
I'm not a complete hermit. As I said, I'm just not an active dater. I'll strike up a conversation with any girls in my immediate vicinity when out and about or going to parties. And if they're not interested or we've nothing in common then that's ok it's not my primary purpose for being there. Alas, if only all this was much simpler.
This brings me the thoughts that I'm altogether disillusioned by the whole dating scene. Mostly, I suspect, because I am woefully ill equipped for these sort of things. I know people who thrive at the game like it's a natural extension of their personality, or at least put enough effort into learning it as they would a sport or profession. Myself? call it a flaw if you will but I'm a passive rather then an active dater or at least any time I've tried to be an active dater I've failed miserably. Composing sonnets? Comparing the object of my affections lips to red roses and their eyes to endless blue oceans that I could get lost in eternity? Do I object to such language? No I find it wonderfully descriptive, but I'm not so bold as to profess my affections like such in public. It'd make me feel hugely self conscious.
Dating sites while useful for seeing that yes there are attractive girls with which, on paper, I should get on with like a house on fire. They are am sure bombarded with messages from suitors on a daily basis and while I feel that what I write, when I send them a message, accurately reflects who I am. I'm sure it's as unique to them as a piece of gravel on a driveway. The solution, so guys are told by other guys (which is always the primary source of knowledge on these things, rightly or wrongly) is to stand out, be slightly obnoxious, as the girl won't be expecting that. "It works!" so they claim "sure fire, tried and trusted method!" they always sound like snake oil salesmen from the 1850s. This maybe true, you may get a girl to think "wait, he's not showering me with complements, that makes me want to go out with him to find out more" The thing is with this is it makes guys like me disillusioned with the dating process.
I'm not a complete hermit. As I said, I'm just not an active dater. I'll strike up a conversation with any girls in my immediate vicinity when out and about or going to parties. And if they're not interested or we've nothing in common then that's ok it's not my primary purpose for being there. Alas, if only all this was much simpler.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
General recap of the last while.
Ugh, It's been months since my last blog post so this one maybe a bit long and disorganised.
I was on Linux Mint 13 Mate for quite a few months and so would have no complaints over the stability or functionality. It's quite snappy and responsive in it's Mate guise, I've talked about it at length either here or on itchyhippo.com so I won't go into much details about that now.
By the way, as a little aside, I've not heard sight nor sound from Andrew from Itchyhippo in months (could be part of the reason why I haven't posted here much, as I've not really thought about writing for either, it just hasn't occurred to me much). To those who wonder if I know him in real life or if we've met, well sorry to disappoint but it's a no on both counts. I was one of his subscribers on youtube because I thought it was refreshing to hear an Irish voice doing tech tutorials and linux distro reviews, and when he asked did anyone want to write for his site I applied, directed him towards here to give him an idea of my writing style and luckily enough was accepted. He's a nice down to earth bloke but I've not met him, no, haha.
Anyway back to what semblance of a track I have laid out for this blog post, ah yes! Linux Mint! well I must confess that I am back to Windows 7, not because of a specific programme that I have to use (though I may have to do that when I go back to college, did I mention that in the past? well if I didn't I've applied to DIT to do a 4 year course in Computer Science and I've been accepted), no it was in part inertia and other parts trying unsuccessfully to flash a new rom to my newly acquired Galaxy s2.
What else have I been up to? well as you know I've been kind of dabbling in photography on and off this past while and I thought I'd put a bit more structure around the pursuit. So I had a look at meetup.com to see if there are any regular photo meetups in Dublin. Turns out there are a few, so I settled on one called "Dublin photo walk" and the results of my first meetup with them I posted here a few weeks ago for your viewing pleasure.
A few nights ago I saw the new American Pie movie and although I'm nowhere near the age of the characters portrayed in said film, it kinna made me feel sentimental about my youth and also made me think about a few of the girls who I probably could/should have dated but due to my deftness in matters of the heart at the time being similar to a camel in ice skates, I messed up more then one chance with them. I'd love to meet up over lunch with a couple of the more special ones sometime and maybe assure them that I'm not the dick they probably think I am (or more accurately am no longer, I hope) even if they're seeing someone and we depart as friends I'd at least like to chat with them and catch up. It also made me think when our reunion would be. Let me think, we're class of '05 and the first one would maybe be the 10 year? that would place it at 2015, barely 3 years away! Bloody hell does that make me feel old! It'd be nice to catch a few beers with some of the lads (though I've not really lost touch with some of them), and also the girls! not just the one's who I wouldn't considered dating back then but also just in general to see where they are in their life. I know some have married and had kids (boy does that really make me feel old).
Until next time (whenever that may be) I bid you adieu.
I was on Linux Mint 13 Mate for quite a few months and so would have no complaints over the stability or functionality. It's quite snappy and responsive in it's Mate guise, I've talked about it at length either here or on itchyhippo.com so I won't go into much details about that now.
By the way, as a little aside, I've not heard sight nor sound from Andrew from Itchyhippo in months (could be part of the reason why I haven't posted here much, as I've not really thought about writing for either, it just hasn't occurred to me much). To those who wonder if I know him in real life or if we've met, well sorry to disappoint but it's a no on both counts. I was one of his subscribers on youtube because I thought it was refreshing to hear an Irish voice doing tech tutorials and linux distro reviews, and when he asked did anyone want to write for his site I applied, directed him towards here to give him an idea of my writing style and luckily enough was accepted. He's a nice down to earth bloke but I've not met him, no, haha.
Anyway back to what semblance of a track I have laid out for this blog post, ah yes! Linux Mint! well I must confess that I am back to Windows 7, not because of a specific programme that I have to use (though I may have to do that when I go back to college, did I mention that in the past? well if I didn't I've applied to DIT to do a 4 year course in Computer Science and I've been accepted), no it was in part inertia and other parts trying unsuccessfully to flash a new rom to my newly acquired Galaxy s2.
What else have I been up to? well as you know I've been kind of dabbling in photography on and off this past while and I thought I'd put a bit more structure around the pursuit. So I had a look at meetup.com to see if there are any regular photo meetups in Dublin. Turns out there are a few, so I settled on one called "Dublin photo walk" and the results of my first meetup with them I posted here a few weeks ago for your viewing pleasure.
A few nights ago I saw the new American Pie movie and although I'm nowhere near the age of the characters portrayed in said film, it kinna made me feel sentimental about my youth and also made me think about a few of the girls who I probably could/should have dated but due to my deftness in matters of the heart at the time being similar to a camel in ice skates, I messed up more then one chance with them. I'd love to meet up over lunch with a couple of the more special ones sometime and maybe assure them that I'm not the dick they probably think I am (or more accurately am no longer, I hope) even if they're seeing someone and we depart as friends I'd at least like to chat with them and catch up. It also made me think when our reunion would be. Let me think, we're class of '05 and the first one would maybe be the 10 year? that would place it at 2015, barely 3 years away! Bloody hell does that make me feel old! It'd be nice to catch a few beers with some of the lads (though I've not really lost touch with some of them), and also the girls! not just the one's who I wouldn't considered dating back then but also just in general to see where they are in their life. I know some have married and had kids (boy does that really make me feel old).
Until next time (whenever that may be) I bid you adieu.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Bless me father for I have sinned, It's been a month since my last blog post
So what have I been up to? surprisingly not a lot hence the lack of posts. I'm on the dole so no interesting anecdotes from a daily grind of a job. The odd social weekly meetup with friends and the semi- regular skeptics/atheist's in the pub has permeated the dullness of being at home a lot and not spending much. I got away with the 401 being in my account last month (just about). That was cutting it very fine.
My birthday was a few days ago on Saturday. I turned 26 and I don't really feel that age. I don't know if it part of me is afraid I'll lose the childhood freedoms of going on a weekly bender with friends, but then again I can't really afford to and even if I did only one of my friends seems to be going out every week! and he's a few months older then me! On the birthday note my Mom has re-engaged her continued battle to get me to take up driving lessons by offering to make a "contribution" towards lessons which I think is her way of saying she'll pay for them as I she know's I'm in no position to pay for them myself, she also provided the very tempting alternative of money to spend as I wish. I'm not opposed to the idea of driving, I like cars. I like watching car related tv shows like Top Gear, Fifth Gear and Drive on you tube but at this moment in life with me possibly facing 4 more years in 3rd level doing Computer Science in September I'm thinking I'd rather have the money and save for a laptop with portability and a decent battery life. My current 2-3 year old one is fine on specs (core i5, 4gb ram) and especially as I'm currently running Linux on it, but at 15.6" it's a tad big for lugging to and from college and the battery life is terrible (2-3 hours when new and now I'm lucky to get an hour). So I'm faced with getting lessons now that I mightn't really use for the next for years as I certainly can't see myself being able to afford fees and the purchase and upkeep up of a car (even a 10 year old, solid as a rock, honda civic). So for me a new laptop would be a better investment. I am going into IT after all and it would be used for the course project work.
My birthday was a few days ago on Saturday. I turned 26 and I don't really feel that age. I don't know if it part of me is afraid I'll lose the childhood freedoms of going on a weekly bender with friends, but then again I can't really afford to and even if I did only one of my friends seems to be going out every week! and he's a few months older then me! On the birthday note my Mom has re-engaged her continued battle to get me to take up driving lessons by offering to make a "contribution" towards lessons which I think is her way of saying she'll pay for them as I she know's I'm in no position to pay for them myself, she also provided the very tempting alternative of money to spend as I wish. I'm not opposed to the idea of driving, I like cars. I like watching car related tv shows like Top Gear, Fifth Gear and Drive on you tube but at this moment in life with me possibly facing 4 more years in 3rd level doing Computer Science in September I'm thinking I'd rather have the money and save for a laptop with portability and a decent battery life. My current 2-3 year old one is fine on specs (core i5, 4gb ram) and especially as I'm currently running Linux on it, but at 15.6" it's a tad big for lugging to and from college and the battery life is terrible (2-3 hours when new and now I'm lucky to get an hour). So I'm faced with getting lessons now that I mightn't really use for the next for years as I certainly can't see myself being able to afford fees and the purchase and upkeep up of a car (even a 10 year old, solid as a rock, honda civic). So for me a new laptop would be a better investment. I am going into IT after all and it would be used for the course project work.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Bit of an update in general
Ok in my last post (a few weeks ago at this stage) I said I was liking 12.04 in general but didn't really have the best of luck with the AMD graphics drivers, well I remember trying out Xubuntu (ubuntu with XFCE interface) a few years ago and ended up liking the lightweight nature of it alot. It's a more light weight UI and running environment then the likes of Unity and Gnome 3 but since it's still ubuntu 12.04 it gets all the updates that the Ubuntu team release. I must say I like that I can install all the same programmes that I would normally but the desktop environment never really gets in the way with effects and eye candy. Don't get me wrong the eye candy has it's appeal (I have eyes that can be candied :P) but I've found out that I like responsiveness and multitasking more. Sure there's the argument that my specs (core i5, 4gb ram) are overkill for Xubuntu and other lightweight distros, but it just means it's all the more responsive.
As for my adventures with LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) well I did indeed install it in virtual box, and although I am quite taken by the nostalgia trip that is Mate and the retro/modern Cinnamon and was sorely tempted to switch over and may still yet (so sue me, I do this sometimes before I settle) but the idea of reinstalling all my apps, themes, music etc is holding me back and as I've said I'm quite happy with xubuntu for the time being at least. Mate has finally matured to be 90% of what I remember gnome 2 to be (not bad for a 1.2 release) and Cinnamon is quite compelling also.
As for my long leave of absence well my parents left me to my own devices for two weeks and between social nights in Dublin city (of which there were at least 3 if not 4) and being lazy and ordering pizza a few too many times then I should have I ended up just about getting away with it. I've a few accounts and 400 is supposed to go into a savings account on the same day every month (it's automatic there's no flex in it) and anyway I've about 401 in my current account now and won't get more till Tuesday (yep that's how fine I've cut it). I can "borrow" 50 from that savings account till Tuesday to tide me over the weekend. It was a close call but it looks like I might get away with it. Well my parents don't check my account balances, as long as I have an X amount of savings by September (college fees) I should be ok and between my two savings accounts I'll be on track as long as that 400 a month never gets interrupted.
As for my adventures with LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) well I did indeed install it in virtual box, and although I am quite taken by the nostalgia trip that is Mate and the retro/modern Cinnamon and was sorely tempted to switch over and may still yet (so sue me, I do this sometimes before I settle) but the idea of reinstalling all my apps, themes, music etc is holding me back and as I've said I'm quite happy with xubuntu for the time being at least. Mate has finally matured to be 90% of what I remember gnome 2 to be (not bad for a 1.2 release) and Cinnamon is quite compelling also.
As for my long leave of absence well my parents left me to my own devices for two weeks and between social nights in Dublin city (of which there were at least 3 if not 4) and being lazy and ordering pizza a few too many times then I should have I ended up just about getting away with it. I've a few accounts and 400 is supposed to go into a savings account on the same day every month (it's automatic there's no flex in it) and anyway I've about 401 in my current account now and won't get more till Tuesday (yep that's how fine I've cut it). I can "borrow" 50 from that savings account till Tuesday to tide me over the weekend. It was a close call but it looks like I might get away with it. Well my parents don't check my account balances, as long as I have an X amount of savings by September (college fees) I should be ok and between my two savings accounts I'll be on track as long as that 400 a month never gets interrupted.
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