(no subject)
There is so much that has happened in this past month...
Ireland was wonderful, as I had expected, though we didn't bike after all; we aren't in shape enough to bike up and down all those hills. Instead, we took buses and trains wherever we wanted to go.
There are pictures on the internet. Go to our pictures if you wish to see them.
The first day, We flew into Cork and then went to Skibbereen, because I knew a tune called Skibbereen. (This is how our travelling went. Nothing was planned; everything was random. I saw that a bus was going to Skibbereen, recognized the name, and went.) We stayed at a B&B; our hostess was amazing. She told us about things to do in the area, and we took her advice and went to Cape Clear for a day. The island was beautiful, and we met a British couple there. With them, we went looking for the standing stones, cutting across fields and hiking up and down, and poring over the (rather inexact) map that was available to us in an effort to find them, which we eventually did. In the process, we learned about geocacheing. It's rather difficult to explain; I recommend looking it up online, because it is quite interesting. Basically, people place boxes that have GPS transmissions in especially interesting or scenic places all over the world, leave a little something inside, and then post riddles on how to find them online. When someone finds the box, he or she takes what was left inside and leaves something else for the next person, and then logs their discovery.
Then we went to Dublin, and stayed there for several days. The highlights of the city were touring the Guinness Storehouse and seeing Riverdance, which was absolutely incredible. I'd seen it before, but I had forgotten just how moving that show is.
After that, we went out towards the west, and stayed in County Clare, in Doolin. We visited the Cliffs of Moher (which I had seen the last time I went to Ireland, but not from the water; we took a boat out to see the base of the cliffs), and were going to go on a bike ride through the Burren (which is a strange and fascinating geographic formation), but it rained.
Then we had to return to Cork so we could catch our flight back to Munich. While there, I purchased a new fiddle. It's brighter than my old one, and as I play it I'm finding more and more that I like it better. I'm actually tempted to abandon or sell my old fiddle here; I have no way of getting two fiddles back to the States, and it's too expensive to ship it over.
We returned from Ireland, and I got sick. Very sick. I had never been in that much pain before, and I ended up in the hospital to get my appendix removed. It turned out that my appendix wasn't even the problem; during the surgery, the doctors discovered that it was actually a nasty, unidentified infection in my colon that was at the root of things. To date, I still have no idea if they know what the infection was.
In any event, I was in the hospital for a few days getting antibiotics and painkillers through IV, and then I went back to the apartment and stayed there for a good long while to recover from the surgery. The incision still isn't fully healed, but I'm well enough to get out and about, now, for which I am most thankful.
After I got out of the hospital, I spent most of my time sitting in the apartment, recovering from the surgery. However, I did go to the Ninth Edition release event (for Magic: The Gathering), and to a draft in Munich. Aside from that, I've been playing my new fiddle and playing computer games.
And that is what has happened in the past month. [nods] I really have nothing more to say.
Ireland was wonderful, as I had expected, though we didn't bike after all; we aren't in shape enough to bike up and down all those hills. Instead, we took buses and trains wherever we wanted to go.
There are pictures on the internet. Go to our pictures if you wish to see them.
The first day, We flew into Cork and then went to Skibbereen, because I knew a tune called Skibbereen. (This is how our travelling went. Nothing was planned; everything was random. I saw that a bus was going to Skibbereen, recognized the name, and went.) We stayed at a B&B; our hostess was amazing. She told us about things to do in the area, and we took her advice and went to Cape Clear for a day. The island was beautiful, and we met a British couple there. With them, we went looking for the standing stones, cutting across fields and hiking up and down, and poring over the (rather inexact) map that was available to us in an effort to find them, which we eventually did. In the process, we learned about geocacheing. It's rather difficult to explain; I recommend looking it up online, because it is quite interesting. Basically, people place boxes that have GPS transmissions in especially interesting or scenic places all over the world, leave a little something inside, and then post riddles on how to find them online. When someone finds the box, he or she takes what was left inside and leaves something else for the next person, and then logs their discovery.
Then we went to Dublin, and stayed there for several days. The highlights of the city were touring the Guinness Storehouse and seeing Riverdance, which was absolutely incredible. I'd seen it before, but I had forgotten just how moving that show is.
After that, we went out towards the west, and stayed in County Clare, in Doolin. We visited the Cliffs of Moher (which I had seen the last time I went to Ireland, but not from the water; we took a boat out to see the base of the cliffs), and were going to go on a bike ride through the Burren (which is a strange and fascinating geographic formation), but it rained.
Then we had to return to Cork so we could catch our flight back to Munich. While there, I purchased a new fiddle. It's brighter than my old one, and as I play it I'm finding more and more that I like it better. I'm actually tempted to abandon or sell my old fiddle here; I have no way of getting two fiddles back to the States, and it's too expensive to ship it over.
We returned from Ireland, and I got sick. Very sick. I had never been in that much pain before, and I ended up in the hospital to get my appendix removed. It turned out that my appendix wasn't even the problem; during the surgery, the doctors discovered that it was actually a nasty, unidentified infection in my colon that was at the root of things. To date, I still have no idea if they know what the infection was.
In any event, I was in the hospital for a few days getting antibiotics and painkillers through IV, and then I went back to the apartment and stayed there for a good long while to recover from the surgery. The incision still isn't fully healed, but I'm well enough to get out and about, now, for which I am most thankful.
After I got out of the hospital, I spent most of my time sitting in the apartment, recovering from the surgery. However, I did go to the Ninth Edition release event (for Magic: The Gathering), and to a draft in Munich. Aside from that, I've been playing my new fiddle and playing computer games.
And that is what has happened in the past month. [nods] I really have nothing more to say.