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Banana bread is cooked and cooled and it is so delicious. I think it is the best banana bread I've ever had. It's so moist and delicate. Not at all dense, like most banana breads. There are banana-y pieces and chocolaty pieces and it is oh-so-difficult to have just one slice (but at 250 calories per slice (decent slice - about an inch), that's about all I should eat). I can post the recipe if anyone's interested.

I was just out walking River (in the 36° heat) and thought to myself, "I'd be quite happy if this weather went on forever." We'll see how I feel in five months' time.
I'm still getting up at half five to walk her. I think I've discovered that going back to bed straight after the walk (and sleeping until 9ish) works best for me. Napping in the middle of the day doesn't work because, apart from River barking, I sleep very lightly and wake up every few minutes.

We went to see Men in Black 3 last night. I really enjoyed it. Will Smith is his usual funny self, and the capers and character interaction are fun and harmless.

Did I mention lordkilljoy and I are playing Diablo 3? We're almost finished, just the last act to go. It's fun. I'm playing a wizard and I don't think I'll ever get bored of shooting a massive disintegration ray out of my hands.

So Much News

I'm finally getting around to updating my livejournal. I have loads of news... I must also finish off the account of the wedding - even though I've done all the good bits already.

I'm trying this new thing of walking River at stupid o' clock in the morning (aka 5:30am) while it's a nice temperature for walking. It went well enough while I was still on jetlag time, but now that I'm coming out of that things are getting harder. I was so tired this morning getting up and while out walking. It's only now (because 7 is such a less early time :/ ) that I'm feeling a bit more awake. Though, I am very tempted to just go back to bed now. But I want to get this written first.

Poor River's a bit institutionalised after her month in boarding. The day after we got her home she went into her crate in the middle of the day (which never happens). She's also been going in there in the evenings (when she'd usually be up on the couch beside us). But I think she's coming back to herself again - which is good and bad. It's lovely to have mad, playful, loving River back, but with that side comes the barking at strangers, trucks and the UPSman. Very annoying.

Now, I know there was something else... Crochet - ever since penelope_stone showed me how to do it properly, I can't get enough of it. I'm making fingerless gloves and driving gloves. I'm trying to get the driving gloves done fast so that I can wear them. Contrary to all sane thought - gloves are necessary while driving in 40degree heat. And not because things are hot. No, indeed. It's to stop the freezing cold air coming out of the vent right next to my fingers from giving me frostbite. Okay - that was an exaggeration, but not by much. And if you are wondering why I don't just turn down (up?) the ac, it's because the air is a lovely temperature by the time it reaches my face.

Other things of note: I cycled 35km around one of Killarney's lakes last week (god, was that just last week?). I'm still not finished the string top I'm knitting. I'm making gnocchi for dinner today - from scratch.

I spent a good bit of yesterday driving around by myself. I feel like I shouldn't be allowed control something as freakishly frightening as a car. Every time I go, I feel like I'm going to be in a crash or something. But anyway - I got to the post office and the shop for food without any problems. I do think, though, that our car isn't the most efficient ever. I filled it on Saturday and it was a quarter gone by the time yesterday's jobs were done. And we didn't go anywhere far. The dog park was the farthest, at 13miles away. I looked it up and the Cruze does 22mpg in an urban area. That sounds about right, I guess. That's 250 miles per fill for just driving around (it does better on the highway). Does that mean we did 60 miles in a few days? *Off to google maps to add up journeys.* I suppose we did. Wow, driving really ads up.

Emm, right so. I haven't any other news. I think I have to sleep now.

dog park adventures

We brought River to a dog park with a lake (pond) yesterday. She swam for her (possibly) very first time. She really loved jumping through the water - I don't think she liked swimming so well, so she got around by doing this leaping-forward-through-the-shallow-water thing. It was cute, and pretty funny.

While we were there a little dog swam too far out and panicked. He swam around in circles for ages. His owners called and called him, but any time he started heading towards them he'd get turned around again and start swimming the wrong way. Eventually the man took his shoes and t-shirt off and went in to rescue the dog. Everyone got back to shore safely, but I'd say the little dog was wrecked for the rest of the day.

The weekend was seriously hot. The thermometer in the car read 41 at one stage. The thermometer in the house got up to 38. It's really too hot for doing anything much - we did manage to laze around in the pool for a bit yesterday, but I worried about getting burned (because obviously I was too lazy to put on suncream).

hot weather

It's starting to get hot here. The apartment was at 29 degrees last night (that's partly because I'd been baking too), and today cycling to the shop I felt that another few degrees and it will be too hot for cycling. Don't know what I'll do for food then :( The climate is so mild here, that the leaves on the trees don't fall off - they are pushed off by the new growth in spring. It's really weird to see all the leaves falling now. And if you are curious, like I was: Phoenix is the second hottest city in the world. Yuma, AZ is the hottest, and somewhere in Egypt is the third hottest. And I live here. Crazy.

I don't have a whole lot of other news. I made chicken cordon bleu last night. It was amazing. The breadcrumbs were so perfect. I had some issues with the cheese - it wasn't gooey enough. It didn't melt out of the chicken when you cut into it. So if I make them again I will look for some other way to do the filling (last night was just grated swiss cheese (which I don't think I like the taste of)).

Here's a photo, because I was so proud:

(re)Learning to Drive

After almost 5 years, I went out driving today. We got our learning permits on Wednesday (a very happy, albeit nervous day) and today me and lordkilljoy went out driving in a car park. It was kinda scary, but kinda fun too. The straight bits were fun, going around corners was not so much fun.

We put up the hammock yesterday. It was a lovely day yesterday and we decided taking a nap out on the balcony was a wonderful idea. And it was. Even though it was a tiny bit cold. It was even colder today so we lay out there with sleeping bags. It was hard to stay awake it was so comfortable. I can't wait until it gets warmer and I can lie out there in shorts and a t-shirt.


Us :)

I can't think of anything else to say. I'm sure there's loads, but I can't think of it right now. I'm off to play Star Wars.

Spring is giving us a taste of its wonderfulness

I've been watching the weather for the last 2 weeks - watching today's forecast go from 17 to 11 to 14 to 19 to 13. Seems the weather people have a hard time forecasting temperatures. But since that first 17, I've been looking forward to today, because from that first 17, I believed today would be wonderful.

Today dawned (well, I have no idea how it dawned, but when I got up at 9 it was...) cloudy. And I felt cheated. The forecast had settled on 18, but what good was it if it was cloudy?

Roll on a few hours and the clouds had all been burned away. So I went outside, and I stayed outside for 2 hours. I didn't want to come in. I went for a walk, and then came home and took my bike out for a stroll-cycle*. It was wonderful. Warm, sunny, the most refreshing breeze. The sound of dogs barking, a plane flying around somewhere. It felt and smelled and sounded like summer. I had to keep reminding myself that this was spring and summer would be unbearable, so enjoy it now. And that's what I think I'll do.

I got slightly sunburned yesterday. The kind of burn that heals overnight. But still - we were out for about and hour and a half yesterday (about 40 minutes spend stilling outside having lunch - it was amazing).

I have the balcony door open and the kitchen window open and there's a very light breeze going through the place. I have griddle bread on the pan, and everything is good. The funny thing is, our little thermometer is only reading 14.

Actually, I meant to add - my walk was to the shop to buy sun cream and aftersun. Hee.


*a stroll-cycle is one where you pedal the bear minimum to keep yourself going. you let gravity do most of your work.

weekend joys

the weekend was great. i got to meet more cousins i've not seen in about 10 years. everyone was in great form.
then on sunday my whole family came over to the apartment and stayed until today. it was cool.

we went into town yesterday and i bought some plugs for my ear. it's at 6mm now - has been at that for the last few years. i always figured i'd put in the effort to get it to 8, but i was just never bothered. so it's staying at 6 forever. i bought three really cute plugs - i have photos.





yea. they are the motivation behind this post.

i spent today (after everyone left - that really feels like yesterday, or last week or something) editing draft 3. chapter 1 is considerably different now. a little more action packed. penelope_stone tells me the book is too action packed as it is, but i'll sort all that out when i get to it. for now, the start needs more action.

hmmmm, yea. i got a bit sunburned over the weekend. lordkilljoy is off in australia and we are getting better weather here. it's mad. but good. nothing like a bit of warm sunlight.

the sun should shine and i should go for a cycle everyday

about an hour and a half ago, i decided to go for a cycle. i'd had enough of staring at the sky wishing i could jump into it, and swim around in its smooth blueness, and decided i should enjoy it some other way than just in my imagination. so i filled up my water bottle, put on my helmet and went out on my bike.
and i didn't want to come home. i did my usual 12km route, then continued on along the canal because the day and the sunshine and the warm air were just too much of a delight. and to stall going home even longer, i sat under the brand-new, spring-green leaves of a chestnut tree. pure bliss.

and now i'm sitting here, with both the windows open (a little paranoid that a wasp will fly in) and dream of being outside again.

of rayguns and space aliens

i feel like i haven't updated in ages. i've been looking for a job and drafting a query letter. both are very slow processes.

i went home for the weekend. it was good - got to hang out with my parents and go to taleweavers. and the weather was beautiful. i went from wearing 4 layers on thursday to wearing one on sunday. i'm wearing a t-shirt now (and jeans, obviously) with the window open and it's so warm. it helps that the sun is almost full on me - ahh delightful sun-heat.

in writing news, i'm drafting a short story for crossed genres (an e-zine). i'm really excited about it. it's a sci-fi. i love writing sci-fi short stories. it involves a girl and a ship (obviously - i couldn't possibly write a sci-fi if it didn't involve a girl and a ship). i should have draft one done by tomorrow or the next day. it's only going to be 1 or 2,000 words - i should be able to write it in a day, but i'm a little out of writing practice - i've been editing for so long.

ooh - while i was at home, the shed was open and i was rummaging around in it - just looking at all the random bits of things that are broken or gathering dust. and i saw this cool thing that looked like a ray-gun. it was the body from a power washer. but with a little paint it will make a cool space laser-gun. :) i was so excited when i saw it. i took the hose off the end of it and ran around the house pulling the trigger and making pew-pew noises. i can't wait to show it to lordkilljoy. i can't wait to paint it. it's going to be hyperion yellow (anyone who has played borderlands will understand) with black trim and red and silver innards. and maybe a bit of electric blue somewhere to be a little laser-y. and then i'm going to dress as a space-fighter-pilot at every fancy-dress occasion. and if lordkilljoy ever runs a star wars game i'm going to play a roguish captain and have my trusty blaster bedside me. :)
this laser-gun and me: we're going to have some adventures together. :)

can you tell the sun is shining?

news news

new art up on dA

Colour CyberByMutantmushroom by ~zarkia on deviantART

happy summer solstice. today is roasting - it's as if we've offically hit summer, the air has been heated by the sun heading up to this point and now we get to bask in the heat. yea... except that it's a very muggy kind of heat. a thunderstorm would be fun right about now. don't think the clouds are ominous enough, though.

i don't really have a lot of news. went in around the world street performance on saturday - just for a bit. and made sushi on saturday night. that turned out well. hmmm, i might have sushi for lunch. yummy.

i'm playing drakes fortune at the moment - well i started it on friday and am almost finished. it's kinda fun, but there are too many gun fights for my liking. (i have drastically improved at aiming with a console controller since last summer, though.) but i was at a bit last night where it was really dark and all i could see was a little flashlight ring segment of the screen and there were baddies and i was so scared. i even screamed a little at one bit. hhaaaaaaa, games shouldn't be allowed to have dark segments. i get so frightened. i could never play a game like dead space or alone in the dark (if that's the one where you can only see the bad guys through your camera) that just seems like the most frightening thing ever.

yea... not much else to say.

i think it was sunny all over the world today

it was a beautiful day today - blue skies, no clouds, a little windy, warm, summery. i wore flip-flops for the first time this summer and went out without bringing a jumper with me.

lordkilljoy had the good idea to go the the japanese gardens and national stud in kildare today, in celebration of the wonderful weather. we wandered through the gardens, went on a guided tour of the stud, saw some horses and took some pictures. i will upload them at some later stage; i'm using the mac to post and want to use my own pc to make some crops, trims and adjustments.

so, yea... we had fun. last weekend was fun too - i totally forgot to mention about it. delichan and mytholder got engaged, so we all went out to the franciscan well to wish them well and celebrate. got to see loads of people and had a great night. then saturday we went to a barbecue in kanturk. the house did not burn down and the food was yummy, so it was a big plus. and to cap off the evening we watched the eurovision. yea....

not much else news. i'm kinda stuck in psychonauts. lordkilljoy is playing wolverine at the moment.

i think that's all, really.

just making things up to fill the space

i attempted to get some writing done today. i figure i got about 100 words. not so good, but still better than 0 words. and apart from those few words i've done very little of note with the rest of my day. i think living in new zealand spoiled my views of summer. i had forgotten just how bad irish summers are - how dull and overcast. so what i'm getting at is that the weather wouldn't inspire you to do much. it's a mini-battle just to get over its looming sort of depressiveness.

i made sushi rice for dinner. it was yummy. i need to figure out the right proportions for the vinegar/sugar/salt mix, though. i make it with balsamic, which is way too strong, so i water it down (with water) and always end up with too much. anyway. it's not like it will go off quickly or anything. i covered the remainder with tin-foil and it will be there for again.

i want something good looking, but easy to model in 3dsmax. i'd do a tea-pot, but that's cheating and i wouldn't feel good about the end result. i'm thinking some kind of funky building... but my imagination has run away somewhere, probably somewhere with better weather than here.

ok, i need to end on a positive note: my sushi rice rocked!!!

inside writing on a lovely summer's day

yeay, procrastination time again. wooo!

today has been somewhat routine, read a bit, edit a bit, add a new paragraph or two to a scene, go online and see has anyone updated. yea...

[edit, a bit later: i found 2 plot holes today. this isn't good.]

yesterday was good though. i went to the taleweavers meeting, which was definitely more random than normal - everyone seemed in a good mood. and after the meet we just happened to catch the cork gay pride parade. i hadn't even known it was on. the costumes were very colourful.
yesterday evening claire introduced me to some mmos: mirror online and talisman online. i have a problem with online games in that they just arn't varied enough. you run around and talk to people and kill things and that's about it. i think maybe it's because it takes the main story so long to get going (if there even is a main story).

it's a lovely day today, though. hot, sunny, blue sky with just a hint of cloud. i took out my poi and spun for a bit - relearning flowers and seeing how fast and how long i can maintain a 5-beat weave for... not long apparently.

so that's my news, not a whole tonne, really.

the sun came out today

it was a lovely day in southern ireland today. warm and bright and i wore a skirt and string top. it was nice just lazing about in the sunshine and making faces out of the few clouds.

i took a break from my computer today - i didn't turn it on until about 9 tonight. go me. days away from my computer make me feel like i've actually achieved something, even if i've done nothing at all.

i don't have any news really - i ran around the place with mammy's camera taking random pictures, i don't really get any good ones.

oowww

i hurt today. my throat is really dry and raspy and sending painful pings to my left ear. i've been drinking honey and lemon all day in the hopes it may do something, but its fleeting relief wanes as the cup empties. i think i need something like potter's cough mixture or something, 'cause it's not really a sore throat i have, it's more like a throat gone dry from a tickely cough. :shrug: i know not.
i think there's some kind of evil thing going around in work. everyone seems to be coughing today... or maybe it's just random throat-clearing.

we're getting our car today. : ) that should be cool.

i think summer here is going to be really warm. it's equivalent to early march, and already the sun is so hot. i walked up to shirley library this morning in a tshirt-over-long-sleeved-top and i was roasting. though, the blue sky is balmy. it's just so beautiful.