where's the italian?

oh, hi. i didn't see you there.

have a good friday? mine was decent.

FRIDAY
- 5am - finally am tired enough to go to sleep
- 7.20am - wake up.
- 10am - finally go back to sleep
- 1pm - alarm goes off. shut off alarm.
- 1.58pm - wake up. get up.

it was a very stressful sleep. the past three nights have been stressful sleeps. because when i wake up all i can think is, "UGH WHY CAN'T I FALL BACK TO SLEEP!?!?" and i get angry about it.

one of the reasons i get angry is because my eye mask is too big. so it's always falling off. and i get really frustrated. like, really frustrated. and so finally tonight, i sewed it so it was tighter. i'm hoping this will help.

didn't do much today. around 7 or so i went downstairs to hang out with Courtney. there is only one resident here this weekend, so last night she told me that they weren't going to be doing much else but hanging around and watching movies. so, i said that i would come hang out with them. and i did! and it was fun.

and just after 8 o'clock, the president of the board stopped by with hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese, pasta salad and rolls from some company picnic. so that was nice. it was like a faux bbq.

tomorrow the plan is to wake up early and go to the post office. i'm thinking that if i wake up and can't get back to sleep right away, then i'll use that time to go to the post office and then i'll come back and try and sleep. i have three netflix coming:
- the wrestler
- forgetting sarah marshall
- season 2, disc 1 of entourage

so, i didn't know that forgetting sarah marshall was a judd apatow film. i saw that just tonight and i got a little less excited to see it. but, hey - i'm going to watch it with an open mind. it has Marshall from How I Met Your Mother. and it also has the voice of Gossip Girl, which i didn't realize until tonight either. and also, Paul Rudd. and he's a hottie.

anyways.

so, last night i had this weird dream that i went to the doctor's for my allergies and they discovered that the source of my allergies was from this rare fluid in my wrists. and the only solution was to cut off my hands and drain it out.

so, they cut off my hands and drained my wrists. and then they sewed my hands back on. and i can remember moving my fingers for the first time after the surgery and how weird it was. and also how creepy it was. and i had these huge staples and stitches in my wrists. and i think my arms were a bit shorter.

so when i woke up i looked up what this all meant:

HANDS: hands represent communication; your relationship to others and the world around you. detached or disembodied hands means that you feel you have trouble getting your point across and nobody understands you. also symbolizes feelings of lonliness.

DISMEMBERMENT: some situation or circumstance in your waking life is falling apart. you feel cut off, isolated and disempowered.

so, i read this and thought, "hm, hands mean communication. dismemberment means cut off. hm, my cell phone isn't working." that was the most obvious. but, in the dream it was like a good thing that my hands were being cut off, because then it meant a cure to my allergies once they drained my wrists. so, overall, it's good that i'm feeling cut off from the world because i hate my cell phone.

anyways. the other two girls who have been in the house all week also have been having trouble sleeping. i guess it could be something to do with the house and not with my allergies. i don't know. no, i think it's the allergy medication.

hm. i guess i'll try and go to bed now. hope you all have great saturdays. i'll talk to you sooon.

<3

annie are you ok?

so now that my majorly huge ireland post is out of the way, i can start blogging normal again. it's weird how i felt like i couldn't really tell you anything until that was done. whatever. i'm happy i did it, finally. i hope you all read and enjoyed.

a few things to tell you before i am off to sleep. or, "sleep" as it's been lately.

nice segway.

.....i started taking a new allergy medicine the other day. after my 'wait a sec, my allergy medicine isn't really working' epiphany i decided to go to the pharmacy and see what was up. so, i had been researching and researching online about all the different drugs and types and dosages and brands and oh my god there are so many drugs. here was my situation:

---i was currently taking 10mg of certirizine (zyrtec), an antihistimine, every night before bed. it lasted for 24 hours.
---the med i wanted to switch to was 5mg of certirizine and 120mg of pseudoephedrine (zyrtec-d). the pseudoephedrine is a decongestant, which i wasn't getting before.

my question was this: if i'm taking 10mg of certirizine right now and it's doing nothing, would it be smart to switch down to 5mg? does the decongestant really help that much?

i thought it was a fair question. and, i had researched EVERYWHERE, and the don't make a 10mg certirizine, 120mg pseudoephedrine combo.

SO. the normal zyrtec is available OTC, but the fancier one you have to take the little card to the pharmacy to get because of the pseudoephedrine. so, i brought it up and said that i wanted to talk to the pharmacist. she was on a phone call, but i could wait in the "questions for the pharmacist area." great.

so, i waited for her. her name was Dorota, which made me happy because that is the name of Blair's hilarious housekeeper on Gossip Girl. i wanted to ask her the question about switching from 10mg to 5mg, but she kept cutting me off! and she would just tell me that i should definitely switch because the decongestant would really help with my stuffiness and YES it was a good idea.

so FINALLY, i got in a word with her. i said, "okay, i still have a question." and i asked my question. and she said,

DOROTA: Hm, this is 5mg?
JULIE: Yeah. And I was taking -
DOROTA: 10mg?
JULIE: Yeah..
DOROTA: Okay, let me see if we have this in a 10mg....
JULIE: (i know that you don't because i've already researched it online.)
DOROTA: It looks like they don't make it like that. Hm, that's funny. Let me check the computer......(checks computer).....No, they don't make it.
JULIE: Do you think it will make a difference?
DOROTA: (thinks for a minute) No, I think it will still be better. Because once you have the decongestant you'll definitely start to feel better.
JULIE: What about for itchy, burning eyes?
DOROTA: Oh!! Here, you'll want to get these eye drops (writes it down), these are what I take. They work great, and no more burning, itchy eyes!
JULIE: Great! Thanks so much.

so, i have new allergy medicine and new eye drops!!!! christmas come early!!!!! it was substantially more expensive. and, i only got enough allergy medicine for 6 days because i wasn't sure how it would work.

but the eye drops were the killer. $14.99 for a little bottle. YIKES. before i was paying like, $4.97.

and the allergy medicine is different because they are only 12 hour tablets, so i take 2 a day. and i had to pick two times during the day when i would most likely be awake. and i realized this was hard. so, i took the first one at midnight, and then the second one at noon. it's been working pretty well. today i didn't take one until 2pm, so i just took the second at 2am.

but MAN, what a difference!!!! I CAN BREATHE!!!!!! for serious. GOOD PURCHASE. i mean, i'm still sneezing a lot. but i DEFINITELY notice an improvement. and the eye drops are wonderful. i put like, 2 drops in in the morning and my eyes are good for the day!!! incredible!!

but, the pseudoephedrine really is awesome. when i bought it from the pharmacy, i had to show my license and then sign a thing promising i wouldn't start a meth lab. i said, "i promise." but after seeing how well the drug worked i got so angry at all those meth lab workers!!!! i mean, COME ON. if you are stuffy from using meth then hmm....maybe you shouldn't do meth. you are just using for fun what some people really need. i curse you non-allergy sufferers who are users of meth!!!!

but, downside - i can't sleep. i feel with you here, meth users. like, i fall asleep fine, but then i've been waking up a million times during the night and it's sooo hard to fall back to sleep. i guess it's a small price to pay for a more enjoyable day. although, not enjoyable if i'm tired.

anyways, that is my allergy success story. we're almost at total relief, friends.

.....in other news, i don't have a phone. after 6 enjoyable years, my cell phone finally decided it was too old to work. i guess i don't blame it. it had slowly been dying over the recent years. i have been browsing new phones and plans, and i should have one fairly soonish. but not right now. believe me, i am enjoying this more than you know.

.....also, my laptop has crashed like, 3 times in the past 2 days. and i just want to say that if my laptop and my cell phone both die in the same summer i will not be happy. i mean, it's HIGHLY possible. my cd drive no longer works. i'm 95% sure there is some kind of undectable virus somewhere on here.

and, they say death comes in three, so why not throw in my car too?!! that thing has been running pretty horribly. i should say, "running" pretty horribly. it's super hard to drive at slow speeds. and acceleration isn't really happening. some cars boast, "0 to 60 in ten seconds." mine is like, "0 to 60 in three minutes."

but hey, if my cell phone, laptop and car all die in the same summer, i suppose it would be kind of incredible.

.....and, they say death comes in three. ed mcmahon. farrah fawcett. michael jackson. sad and weird. love to their families.

.....i have some other things i want to post. links. the fun section!!!

--- the first thing i am very excited about. it's an article called, 'The 21 Best Web Comics.' now, this may seem unrelated but it's not!!!! BECAUSE!!!! my super awesome famous canadian relatives are NUMBER 11!!!!! everyone should go read their comic, The Joy of Tech. i've been super excited to share this all day. i've had the tab to the article open for like, 13 hours. no joke. :)

---"Olivia Wilde is so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands." - Top 10 Megan Fox Quotes. i.just.don't.know.what.to.say. i can't stand megan fox. and these quotes aren't like, made up by David Letterman for a joke. they are things she ACTUALLY said in interviews. they could be a Letterman top 10 though, because they're so ridiculous and she comes off as dumb and arrogant. UGH.

---now, we have a two-sided debate. United States v. Cuba. am i right? i don't know if anyone is following the story of the Cuban Five.....the five cubans who were arrested in miami for being "spies" and were thrown into prisons around the country and they were just denied an appeal to their case. i saw the first article on CNN.com and then immediately said, "ooo i hope there is an article about this on the Granma!!" (the cuban newspaper) and there was!!! so, please read. it's like they are completely different stories.
CNN
Granma
Please read. it's seriously important. and, i think, pretty interesting. especially to read the Cuban article and to see how much support these five men have around the world. for serious. it's like, every major city worldwide has tributes to these guys. they are heroes in Cuba. i was reading the CNN article thinking, "man, i have no idea how powerful the media is in this country."

---i saw STAR TREK!!!!!! no, i really did. and it was totally awesome!!! i bet you didn't know that i used to watch The Next Generation on tv all.the.time when i was younger. i have a clear memory of making up a dance to the theme song of Star Trek in my family room and thinking, "wow, this could be a really great dance!" so, i embraced that memory and went to go see the movie with my dad and kara as a father's day celebration. and it was so great. yeah, four stars for Star Trek. five stars for the hotties in Star Trek. Spock and Kirk? forserious. they could have called the movie, Hottie Trek. and, there are seriously a ton of famous people in this movie! i couldn't believe it. i realized sitting in the theater that i had not even seen the trailer for this movie. no tv spots. nothing. weird, right? but, it was awesome. those Lost guys are pretty crazy. OSCAR PREDICTION: Best Visual Effects. actually, prediction that it will do well in all the technical categories.

---i bet you're all wondering what i'm thinking about the changes for next year's Oscar ceremony. TEN BEST PICTURES NOMINEES?!?!!? i am not happy about this. think about it, there are 12 months in a year. that means that a 'best picture' will be released almost every month of the year. NO. NO NO NO!!! Hmm..what will be June's best picture? The Hangover? the 8 millionth Ice Age? Bruno?? COME ON. being one of the five nominees was special and classy. now, they're just gonna throw in a bunch of other non-worthy movies. i disagree. unapprove.

---speaking of unworthy oscar nominated films....i finally finished Benjamin Button. what a snoozefest. this almost three hour movie was based on a 7 page story. it was like, sooooo draggy in some parts, and then in some of the really important parts, they just zipped by. i was like, "what...they're not gonna spend more time on....oh, okay, we're moving on..."

wanna see the movie? here, i'll show it to you:


THIS IS WHAT THEIR FACES LOOKED LIKE THROUGH THE WHOLE THING. Brad Pitt seriously has no other expression. and if he does, it's a computer making his digital face smile. unbelievable. and he maybe has like, 2 pages of on screen dialogue. the rest is voice over. for all we know, he could have been sitting in a recliner in his bathrobe saying those lines. "oh wow, let's give him a nomination!" "yeah! great idea!" WHAT?! NO!?! no great idea!!!! i mean, yeah, it's an interesting story but let's credit that to Mr. Fitzgerald. they totally bombed the story on film.

Taraji P. Henson was the only good part about it. she played Benjamin's mother and she was great. i loved watching her. good job. nomination was worth it.

Pitt? i like him when he wears fancy suits, steals casinos and eats sandwiches. that's about all.


well. alright. i think i've just about exhausted my allotted time for your internet attention. i'm gonna go try and get some sleep. kitty has no problem with that. she's been tired because she's constantly on Finding Bug Patrol. it never stops. hard work, though.

have a great day. i think it's friday. so, that's good. any plans for the weekend? i do. i bought hefty super trash bags today and i am going to clean out my recycling closet. more about this later. i'll post pictures.

love you! goodnightall.

::IRELAND::

Welcome!!!

I know I'm pretty late with this, but I don't think you'll be disappointed. It's like an Oscar post!!!! Times four. And not as many fancy dresses. But - there are some fancy dresses.

Okay, so I really had no idea how to share this information and pictures with you without it being incredibly overwhelming. I threw around a couple of ideas, and ultimately decided that I would post EVERYTHING all at once, but in different entries. That way, you can either read it all in sequence, or read each entry at once. It shouldn't be too confusing.

ALSO: Some of the pictures you will see were taken by Aliya. (Aliya, I used some of your pictures.)

So, I now present to you.....

...TOTES IN IRELAND...2009...

STARRING......

ELIZABETH: From Texas. Recent graduate from Hampshire College. Wrote an epic Romanian novel. Moving to Austin in the fall to advance her writing career, but until then is located in Virginia, working as a chef at an international peace camp.

ALIYA: From Florida. Recent graduate from Hampshire College. Created an entirely new world bringing people together through art. Currently living at Elsewhere, in North Carolina, an artist collective.

JOE: From Seattle. Recent graduate from Hampshire College. Documentary filmmaker who created a film about the Quaker lifestyle and beliefs. Currently living in Brooklyn creating and editing films.

JULIE: From Maine. Graduated from Hampshire College one year ago. Wrote a creative historical non-fiction novel about the struggles of the Cuban Revolutionaries. Has been living in Western New Hampshire working as a residential staff for Hannah House, a home for pregnant and parenting teenage girls. This is her blog.


LOCATION:
Dublin. Ennis. Doolin. Galway. Ashbourne. Navan. Kentstown. IRELAND.


.enjoy.

:: Arrival, Dublin, Oscar Wilde, Dave::

Our journey began on I-89 heading towards Concord, New Hampshire. Aliya had arrived at my apartment a few days prior, we were all packed, and we were getting excited. Remember now, I had been working for three months straight to save up both money and days off for this trip. So, by the time we hit Boston, I WAS EXCITED.


The night before we were leaving, we were staying with our friend Kate, who lives just south of Boston. She has a super nice and way fancy house. Her father is a preacher so it was basically just like Footloose. Awesome!



The next morning we awoke and had delicious banana pancakes for breakfast!!! They were super yummy. And then we had goat cheese, walnut and maple syrup sandwiches for lunch! Classy? DUH!

Then, we needed to stop at Target for a few reasons. Here was the main reason: While we were on our drive to Boston, I realized that I had forgotten to pack all my shoes. Save for the wedding shoes and the shoes I was wearing (which i had not intended on bringing). So, I really thought and thought about it. The two pairs of shoes I had planned on bringing were my sneakers and my flip flops. And all I had with me were 3.5 inch heels and clogs.

So, we went to Target and after much debate, I ended up getting a new pair of sneakers and a new pair of flip flops. I put the sneakers on right away, since I figured it would be harder to really break those in. They are a little bit "mom", but they are grey and teal. Aliya and Kate thought that despite them being a bit "mom" they were really sensible. And, I'm really glad I had them. Even though, I think they gave me a really itchy foot rash. I won't go into that.

Then, we headed into Davis Square to get some ice cream! I ended up getting key lime pie frozen yogurt and it was DELISH. A very good choice. We got a call from Elizabeth saying that she and Joe were about to board their plane in New York. We were to meetin Dublin at 8am the next morning!!!

Then we said goodbye to Kate and Aliya and I drove to her friend Kathleen's house to leave her car there. I had met Kathleen on the road trip around New England that Aliya, Elizabeth and Kerianne had taken the previous Spring, so it was nice to see her again. And she was kind enough to drive us to the airport.

And then we were at the airport!! We both got through security. It was pretty lame though, the scanner thing didn't even notice that Aliya had scissors in her carry-on, but they made her dump out her bottle of water.


That was our plane!!! We ended up talking to a very nice lady in the airport who was also going to Ireland to visit her parents, who lived there. We told her we were going because our friend from college was getting married and she responded with, "Are you going to wear hats?" We said no. She said that everyone wears hats at Irish weddings, and we did indeed find that to be half true. Instead of hats, the women wore very elaborate and gorgeous head pieces.

Us in the airport!! Aliya, Me, Liam and Skye (Aliya's shark earrings).


FIRST PICTURE OF IRELAND!!!!!



WELCOME ONE! WELCOME ALL!!!!!



Then we went through customs and I had all my problems with the officer who yelled at me telling me that I didn't bring enough money to give back to the Irish economy. For a complete recollection, please refer to this update I did while in Ireland. (i think it's at the bottom)

And then we went to the baggage claim, only to find that the strap to my duffle bag had been broken off. Thank you, Ireland.

After security and customs, we were welcomed by Joe and Elizabeth who had been waiting there for like, 2.5 hours. It was a very exciting reunion.

Then, Aliya and I ate some breakfast to try and wake us up. It helped a little. It also helped being excited and seeing our friends.

After that, we headed outside to find the bus that would take us to the city centre.


Hooray for tired friends!!! At this point, it was probably around 9am or so, and we had already been awake for about 24 hours. Plus five hours. Or something. I still don't understand what jet lag is.

WHOA! Look out for those hott Americans in Dublin!!!! They haven't slept, but man, do they look hott. This was right outside the currency exchange place. That was depressing. "Here! I'll give you allllll this money and then don't give me back as much!! Ok thanks!!"



Dublin.

Dublin, and a man eating a sandwich.



Dublin Castle! And lots of European cars. Joe was very excited.


It was weird, because you're standing right in the center of the city, and then you walk through this gate, and you're here. It's like, where'd the city go?



You do funny things when you're overtired. Like....pole dancing?


And then we found this fountain.


Aliya took a nap. This was basically the theme of the day. Everytime we sat somewhere, we would try and take a nap. This happened in cafes, Trinity College, and library exhibits.


These are still at Dublin Castle.



We weren't sure what this symbol meant, but it was very cool looking. Those pathways were just tiny things, even up close. They were like, one foot wide. Not like, 12 inches, but like, the thing at the bottom of your leg.


Taken from the roof of the library at Dublin Castle.

We spent most of the day walking around to keep ourselves awake. We tried to stay awake as long as possible. We headed back to the hostel in the late afternoonish, and we were in bed by 7:30, 8pm. And we definitely slept for about 12 hours.

Got up and were now ready for our first REAL day in Ireland!!!


We saw this great bridge! Which, is featured very quickly at the beginning of the film, My Left Foot.


We were walking and then stumbled upon this church, St. Audeon's. The church had really beautiful gardens.



The Irish elections were going on while we were there, so if you take a look at that lamp post, you'll see large posters with faces on them. Yeah, those were some of the candidates. There were a million of them!!! Allll over Ireland! We liked De Rossa.




Blurry? Maybe. Hott? Definitely.


Inside the church.


Outside the church!




So, the whole reason we were walking in that direction was to get to the Kilmainham Gaol, which was on the very western part of the city. This gaol was pretty old and is famous because it held and executed the prisoners of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. We got to see all their jail cells.


Long row of cells.


And this was the best. It was like, the center of the gaol, almost. There were these huge vents in the floor that were right above the kitchen, and in the winter they would open the vents and the steam would rise and heat the upper floors. I thought this was totes brillz.



Aliya and I in a cell.


Our tour guide listed off a bunch of movies that had been filmed there. The ones I remember were, Michael Collins, The Tudors (on...HBO?), and the original Italian Job. Sometimes they have concerts in this room because the acoustics are so good. I thought that was sweet.


Outside of the gaol.


Memorial.

We let the gaol and walked alllll around the city to find someplace to eat. We ended up at the Cinnamon Cafe for sandwiches and coffee.

Then, we walked some more. We used the bathrooms at the Jameson factory. They were really nice. There were swanky looking men sitting in the factory's bar and they were doing some sort of whisky tasting.


Then we passed this place. They might've had bananas....but we weren't too sure....

We continued onto the Dublin Writer's Museum. We thought we were going to tour, but then got there and opted for no. Most of the things they would have been talking about, we hadn't read. So, we browses the book shop instead, which was good.

Then, we stumbled upon this garden, which I had actually wanted to see,


The Garden of Remembrance. Honoring all those who gave their lives for Irish freedom.



There was this really haunting statue in the back of the garden. It's referencing the story of the Children of Lir, whose wicked stepmother turned them into swans for 900 years. Then, at the end of 900 years, they were reborn into human again. They were now 900 years old, so they died, but were then able to live peacefully in Heaven with their parents.

I think the statue is at the end of the 900 years when they are being reborn.






The next day was a day full of Oscar Wilde.

First, OSCAR WILDE!!!!! Look at him!!!! So gorgeous. Such a perfect statue.




There were these marble posts across from the Oscar statue and they were covered with quotes of his. "You have set yourself to music."


"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth."


Oh, I was so in love.



That girl was talking too long. She might've thought that Oscar was her boyfriend, but no, he was mine.

And, if you're wondering where I got those hott earrings....um, I made them!


"Lying - the telling of beautiful, useless things is the proper aim of art."

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."


Oh, Oscar.




Okay. This picture needs some explanation. First, I'll give you some names. From L to R: Joe, Elizabeth, Aliya, Will, Dave, Julie. We met up with Will and Dave the previous night at our first trad sesh (session of traditional irish music). This great bar called, The Palace Bar. In the Temple Bar part of town. Anyways, Will and Dave were both Hampshire students. Dave graduated a few years ago, and Will just graduated with Aliya, Elizabeth and Joe. We knew that they were going to be in Dublin at the same time as us, and then we seriously just happened to run into them at the bar.

So, basically, Dave was a super hottie. He had this great laugh and I think he was wearing that sweater everytime I saw him. We were all in love with Dave, and we turned his name into an adjective. For example, if we were referring to something totally awesome or better than anything else, we would say, "That's so Dave." I think it sounds pretty good. And we used it pretty steadily throughout the whole trip. I'll use it a bit in the rest of these entries.

THEN, we went to visit Oscar's house.


He lived there from 1855 - 1878.


His father really makes you feel lazy, am I right?




They didn't let me in. :( It was still super exciting to be AT HIS HOUSE!!!!


Then, we were walking through Trinity College and we walked past this huge garage structure that was like tiny mirrors. Like a warehouse made of mirrors. Aliya immediately dropped all her stuff and yelled,

ALIYA: Photoshoot!!

and that is what happened.







HOTTT!!

One thing we noticed on our second or so day in Ireland was that there was pregnant women everywhere. So many, that Aliya and I started keeping a tally. We ended with 29. But, whilst in a book shop one day, we noticed this strange section of books....it was like, pregnancy romance books. There were so many! It was very odd.

Aliya and I lined them up in the store. We knew you wouldn't believe us!!!


This was our favorite, 'Temporary Doctor, Surprise Father."


AANNDD...that concludes our Dublin adventures!!!! Keep reading. Save the rest for later. Whatever you do, please enjoy the rest of the trip!!!