Another Ireland update
Sunday, July 22 (continued)
We went to Monk’s to meet up with Conan. Our original plans were to grab a pint, go to his house and gather his drums, and head to the beach for a bonfire and drumming session with some drinks. But we got there too late, just after last call (but Phallon was nice enough to serve us anyway). We also felt very lazy and sore, so we decided just to drink in the bars..at Monk’s and at Logues, until close, and then head back to Orchard House for another night of debauchery in the G-Rage. We got back and Megan, Blair, Chris, Laura, Dan, Jaclyn and I entertained ourselves for a good long while. I think we ended up going to bed around 4 or 4:30. I was out.
Monday, July 23
Two scantily clad girls jumping on my bed is how I woke up at 10:30. Can’t complain. We slept in a bit from the usual 9 o’clock departure time from the house, but that was the plan. We leisurely got ready for a day of work and headed to school at about 11:45. I got in and started editing my sounds. I still have a very lot to do. I finished off the garage recording, and also the Eddie Lenihan storytelling recording. They took forever, but they are organized very well and if I keep up this method of organizing, then creating a piece won’t be very difficult at all. I also took portraits of our entire group, including Mira and Rich, except for Geoff and Eli, who I will have to shoot tomorrow. I made them give an upset, sad and disgruntled face, for entertainment’s sake, and to avoid the typical ‘look pretty’ posing. I think they will turn out amusing. I can’t wait to see them. I didn’t do much else all day, aside from a nap from 5:30 til 7:30. I stayed at the studio editing until 11 and headed home to see what was up. The plan is to return later tonight….
I borrowed Sarah’s bike and headed into town to meet up with the usual gang. They thought I had stood them up, considering I told them I would join them around 9. But inside I know they were happy. They were all at Highland’s and all of them inebriated. I got 2 Smithwicks and a shot of Bushmills to join the fun. I think I had one or two drinks bought for me also, and we hung out and talked about nape rape for a long time, and other habitual shenanigans. At one point outside Dan got on Sarah’s bike and proceeded for flip over the handlebars and somersalt to a standing position, unscathed. He broke him watch - a very unfortunate event - but he was all right in the end, which was simply amazing given the astounding flip he had completed. We walked home and I tried to rally the troops to go back to the studio, and it ended up being just me, Chris and Blair. We brought wine with us and hung out until about 4am, at which point Chris left and Blair and I worked for a little while more and retired to the tent. It was a good night and morning.
Tuesday, July 24
Woke up very hot at 9:45 because the tent was an oven in the sun. I went inside and immediately started editing some recordings. I finished the second set of the Beoga concert I saw, and I did some further arranging and organizing to make the composing process faster and simpler. Lunchtime panini when the time came. I arranged rooms in the castle for the exhibit. I got the bottom one for Wednesday, the actual exhibit day, where I am going to be playing the recording I will make mimicking Alvin Lucier’s idea of a room talking. I also got the top room for Tuesday, the previous, night. This is where my performance (“performance”) will be held. I continued to edit the day away. I took a nap at 6 so I could function later at night. I woke up when Mundy started playing at 8:30. Went in the studio and hung out and edited some of Gordon’s Burren history lecture and listened to Mundy’s generic tunes. Drank plenty o’ wine, and when Robert offered us a ride into town at 11, we couldn’t refuse. We were dropped off at Highland’s again, where I think the entire Mundy crowd ended up, including The Mundy himself. I was with Megan and Blair, I don’t know where everyone else was. We also chatted away with Ally, a funny local girl working at the new hotel in town. She told Robert pedophile jokes. He didn’t look to impressed, but I think he was on the inside. At some point during the night Mundy joined us for a conversation. He pulled up a chair and proceeded to buy us a round. Megan mentioned she was hungry, so Mundy went up to his room and brought back the spicy wings he had earlier in the day for us. He was a pretty nice guy. The only reason I think he was nice to me thought was because I was with 2 beautiful girls. It’s always nice to tag along because they just get everything, and who ever is doing the getting doesn’t want to look like an asshole in front of the beauties, so whatever they get, I get also. Clutch. When the bar closed (for some reason it is our duty to stay until closing every time we go out. When in Ireland…), Mundy gave us a ride home in his decked-out custom Beamer. We got in his car, and in a matter of 10 feet, he crashed. Nothing terrible, just a decent fender bender with the stone wall behind us that seemed to be right in the middle of the parking lot. He got out and looked and said everything was ok, but I think he was a little pissed off and embarrassed all at the same time, because it may have been worse than he said. It was a souped Beamer, and a scratch and/or dent is probably less than desirable. Anyway he drove us back and we informed him of our G-rages, and he said he wanted to come. I think he would be highly disappointed, but I wouldn’t care. He said he would come back next week. Megan nape raped him and got his number and gave him hers. We were dropped off at the studio. We continued to drink wine and we made plans to travel around Europe via RyanAir. We decided on: Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinborough, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, and maybe Oslo, for the hell of the 10-Euro fair. Blair made an circle-and-line hidden figure drawing, and she got pissed off at how Mira probably wouldn’t like it, so she threw it on the floor and poored wine on it and danced all over it. I joined in at the end. The act seemed to inspire Megan, who stayed up for a few more hours and did some work. Blair and I returned to the tent once again, where things just seem to get better and better. We have a plan to hide our mischievous tomfoolery and see how long it will last. Probably not long, but I am so down.
Wednesday, July 25
Dan woke us up by yelling at us. Bless his heart. I would’ve easily slept a couple more hours, but we had a crit to do. A group one, so I needed to be there. I sucked it up and went into the studio and we continued to crit every person’s work for the next 4 hours. It was pretty intense/necessary/unnecessary. I could’ve used the time to do other things, but I realize that crits are important and a good opportunity to bounce around ideas. I hooked up the mixer and big PA speakers to give everyone a sample of my work. I didn’t give too much away, however. I like the concept of surprise and emotional momentary recognition. Everyone was mentally wiped from the long crit, and the café was closed because someone broke in and stole all the money sometime during Mundy’s show. Robert gave everyone a ride either to town or to the house; I ended up at the house and cooked some food. I need to do some serious cooking if I am going to finish off what I bought. I don’t know where it all came from, it just accumulated and accumulated. After I ate, I needed a nap because I didn’t get nearly enough sleep that night. Blair joined me for the sleep because all of her bedding was back in the tent, and simply because it’s nice to be close to someone when you haven’t for a while. Actually it’s just nice period. Slept until it was time to go out to dinner at Logue’s with Megan. We slowly arose and prepared, and ended up at dinner at around 6:45. Terrible service, but delicious sustenance. We all got burgers and devoured them. Our plan was to head over to Greene’s for a traditional Wednesday night music night on the town, and we were told to go early to get seats, but when we appeared the lady (Brid?) told us to come back at 9. So we went down to Monk’s and found Chris by himself and Conan got off early and Dan met up with us and we started drinking, I think partly influenced by Dan, whose mission it was to get entirely obliterated. So it caught on and became all of our missions. Oh peer pressure, how we love thee. Emma and Sarah met up with us as well. We went to Greene’s at 10 and got some drinks and listened to the two men playing banjo and guitar, no vocals. One some they played with lyrics and I will always remember; it was a moment where everyone in the bar stopped talking and listened in amazement. Just thinking about it now turns my insides. I can’t explain it, it’s just a matter of trust - it was good. Afterwards we were going to head back to Monk’s, but the sudden rain deterred us, and we sought shelter in the much closer drinking staple that is Highlands. Dan was getting smashed at this point because of his lack of dinner and motivation. Conan and Chris and friends joined us, as well as Laura and Jane and Laura’s two friends from home. Merrymaking ensued. Drinking ensued. Buying beer take-away for the subsequent G-Rage ensued. We got a ride home from Conan’s friend all piled into a van. G-rage started in usual fashion. Robert (Chris’ brother) and friends showed up with more beer, and we played Jenga Orchard House style. The sudden lack of females about 45 minutes deep really affected the momentum of the evening, and things subsided sooner than usual, which in my mind was a good thing. Everyone went home and we all went to bed. Dan was passed out hardcore from his messy evening, and Blair and I took full advantage. My favorite evening to date.
Thursday, July 26
Woke at 10:30 and could’ve slept more, but decided to get up and get moving because I know I have a lot to do if my exhibit will be both successful and satisfactory to me. Cooked a massive amount of pasta to last a couple days, and also cooked up the Mackerel I bought at Spar. I prepared for a long, long day and night at the studio. I brought lasagna left over from the family dinner. Got to the studio at around noon and got poured on in the process of going there. Arrived and edited the rest of Gordon’s Burren history lecture. Also wrote in this and listened to a couple tunes for some inspiration. Sarah did an experimental photo shoot involving all of us getting in and out of the red boat that is out in the middle of a field near the studio.
I edited the first set of Beoga, and the recording in Monk’s all afternoon. Listened to my band’s music for an hour or so to unwind a little and because I miss playing with them. I can’t wait to get home so I can play my guitar, it’s been so long! I ate my lasagna around 5 in the afternoon. Everyone is going out to Logue’s for karaoke night, and I am tempted to go. I spent so much last night, though, and I kind of wanted to take a night off. We will see when 11p come around, how I feel. There is a chance I will still go out, but that would mostly be so I could be with a couple of people. I am going to camp out at the studio tonight. I have to have something to show tomorrow during our individual crits, and I don’t want to seem like a slacker. Even though I know I’m not and the editing process is very long, the bottom line is it doesn’t matter because I have nothing to show for it, and I need to work hard and fast to have anything to show for 5 days from now.
Come midnight I halted all studio operations and headed in to town to meet everyone at logue’s for some ultimate karaoke, and that it was. Eventually I sang ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ by Aerosmith with Laura’s friend Macala and Dan came up too. It was exhausting and fun as hell. I had some drinks at a rapid pace so I could catch up to everyone else. There was some free food and multiple pictures being taken. I can’t really remember what we did next, but I think we went over to Hyland’s for a drink or several, and we picked up some friends there and we headed home at close and had ourselves a large G-Rage. The G-rage has been corrupted. Too many people overall…not to mention too many brothas and not enough hos. We played Orchard Jenga, but there was only one girl, so that was no fun. Things eventually simmered because of the lack of girls and lack of booze. Blair and I headed up to the studio and camped out. Had myself a good time. I may be being vague about this because I don’t know who will read this, and maybe I shouldn’t care. I honestly and thoroughly enjoy my time with Blair and it’s not just a thing to do because it feels good to have intimacy; it seems more intense and worthwhile than that. But I don’t really know. I want to play the whole situation ultra-conservative because who knows what will happen when the trip is over…and I have to avoid finding myself too entranced in time that should be spent as project hours. But the night time surely is the best time of late.
Friday, July 27
Dan woke us up in the tent at around 10 so we could go inside and prepare for our crits. Rich and Mira eventually made it over to me, and I didn’t have anything for them because I was still finishing up editing. So I told them to come back at 3 and I would have something. I finally finished editing at 2:15, other than a little bit of the Irish lecture. I then started combining sounds. I made a chart with all of my samples on it, and I color coded a system of organization to ease the confusion of the densely worded paper. I went at it for an hour and showed the critters about 3 minutes worth of stuff. They thought it sounded good, but it really wasn’t that much. I assured them I would be done by Monday morning, since that is my goal anyway, so I have time to do some photo printing and whatnot. I composed a little more until about 5 or 6, and I went home for a little food and a nap. I woke from my nap at 8 or so and went back to the studio to conduct my ‘castle talk’ experiment. I got the speakers and mixer and my recording gear and a piece of my metal contraption and got everything set up by 10. It took a little while to finish my paragraph and read it and get it to sound how I like it, and also do a metal track to lay on top. I did it, and I recorded 16 takes of the paragraph, and it turned out well. I finished at midnight and locked up the castle and took a bike into town to meet up with Emma and Sarah because I told them I would, considering I haven’t officially been out with them yet. Everyone was at Hyland’s, including Laura (from the café) who had turned 22 today. She bought my Jager with her dad’s birthday money, and I bought her one in return later on. Had many Smithwick’s and some Bushmills, and got two take-away Bulmer’ for the road. Walked home with Megan and Blair and Dan. The Usual walk. When we got home I remembered I had to go back to the castle to take down all the stuff I set up because I didn’t want to leave it in there all night. When I got there, the mixer and speakers were gone…someone searched them out and took them, probably assuming I had left them there for the night. I feel kind of bad about that…but my intentions were not bad. And it’s not like I really was going to leave them overnight. Anyway, it made my cleanup easier, so I hurried through it and rode back home to meet up with Blair in my room. I hopped in and turned out the light and went about prolonging the magic. Or something like that. Slept very well that night, I have to say.
Saturday, July 28
Woke and went down for some breakfast and a game of cork-throwing. Smoked a doob with Emily and promptly got dizzy because of low tolerance and dehydration. Rode up to school around 11 to start with a day of intense work. I edited ‘castle talk’ and it is now finished. I also gave a good start to my big project…I think I have somewhere near 15 minutes completed at this stage. Hopefully will have 25 done by the end of today, leaving 25-30 more for tomorrow, and then the final tweakings. I decided on leaving all the samples as is…not messing with them too much, simply because of time reasons and also because I have such a vast and varying collection that they don’t need manipulation; they are interesting enough as they are in conjunction with the other ones. It’s 6:15 and time for a nap to gain back some energy to pull a late nighter.
I went outside to the tent, and it turned out just being a chance for some afternoon delight with Blair, and I cannot complain. Before I knew it, it was 9:30 pm and I wasn’t sleeping, so I rested for another half hour and headed back inside to pop the bubbly and work until late. I did so, finishing up my final editing with the rest of the Irish lecture, and getting about 17 minutes or so into my piece. At around 2am Blair and I made use of the castle, which was probably a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. I am glad that happened. We then retired to the tent and slept until the sun was hot.
Sunday, July 29
Not much to write about today. I woke up at 11 or so I think, and showed Rich my work so far. I went home afterwards for some nourishment and a shower. I made a ton of food so I could bring it back to the stude for another all-nighter. I brought the first plate back to the stude on a bike that I ‘borrowed’, and grabbed my recording stuff and took it back to the house because there was no one there and I wanted to get some recordings on piano. I got three good takes and then went back to the studio with my second plate of food. I settled back in to my space around 3pm and slowly chipped away at my piece. I was distracted a lot, though, with all of the activity in the studio. I smoked when Chris showed up. We played with a spinning bike tire and some paint. Anything to entertain us because so much thought was going into our one things that we needed an escape once in a while to remain sane. I finally sat down around 5 and actually started plugging away again at my piece. I worked a solid 4 hours or so and I needed another break so I smoked up everyone who was in the studio…Katie and Jackie, Geoff and Eli and Arielle. We all got pretty stoned because I didn’t use any tobacco because Blair took it in to town with her to the bar. I sat down and did another round of work, until about 1am when the bar crew returned. I was about 27 minutes in at this point. When they got back we opened a bottle of wine and talked for a while, and I went back to work again. I really was feeling a working groove. I think I felt that I knew it was possible for me to finish that night, so I went head-on until it actually happened. Everyone left at 2 to go home and sleep. I stayed up working and I finally finished at 6am. As soon as I stood up I knew I was insanely tired, and I went directly to the tent and was OUT.
Monday, July 30
I don’t remember Monday. I worked a lot, and I think I got stoned. Actually, I am going to make Monday and Tuesday combined…here we go:
Woke up at 11 and brought my rough draft into the little studio that the Chigagians set up across from the lecture hall. I edited and mixed for an hour or so until I was happy with a product that I could show at the show. Afterwards, I wasted a bit of time because I knew I was done. I am writing this 5 days after the fact so I may be leaving out some detail, but what can you do, I was consumed. At some point Chris and Conan and Jared showed up and we went out whale-watching in the boat. We smoked a spliff and Blair provided some wine. At noon Blair helped me develop my 4 rolls of Ilford Pro 400 film. I let them dry and put them in sleeves that I bought from Robert. They didn’t dry until around 8. I took the portraits into the computer lab and scanned them and printed them out. It took until 11 or so to print them out and be finished. I realized I didn’t take one of myself, so it wasn’t the entire group, but it will suffice. I walked into town and met up with everyone at Hyland’s. For some reason or another (wink, wink) I got shitty, once again. I swear all I spend money on is booze. That is ok with me. The end of our time in Ballyvaughan is blurry. I went to sleep.
Set up the metal installation in the top of the castle with Blair. It was pretty effortless, aside from all of the carrying up stairs and weightlifting. Got it all set for the Tuesday night performance. The advanced screening happened at 7:30 on Tuesday night. It went well. The sound is a bit muddy in the top of the castle. I have to EQ some bass out of it. Eddy Lenihan’s samples were especially muddled. Also, the metal dinging section was a bit out of control, and I received some suggestions from Rich and Mira that I thought were good ideas: instead of tell people to sit and ding the installation, to get up and walk in a circle and ding the stuff. This is what I will do on the Wed nite concert. I assume on Tuesday night I went out for some drinking.
Wednesday, Aug. 1
The big day. We had extensive crits for the entire morning. Mine went well. We met at 9:30 in the castle especially for me. Mine alone was almost an hour, and at a couple points I got sick of listening to Rich babble on, but I thought about what he generally had to say, and it was all credible. I had to miss Sarah’s crit because I had to take down my entire metallic mobile because there was to be a wedding inside the castle from 2 - 4. This meant I had to put it all back up again for the exhibit at 5. Wasn’t excited. It took about 45 minutes to take down and put on the floor below, and then I went into the studios to catch everyone else’s work, and it was all really awesome. I especially enjoyed Emma’s, Jane’s and Eli’s, and also Megan’s. Blair’s people sketches were very good as well. We broke for lunch at 12:30. The café put on a barbeque for us, which was delightful. Robert was outside cooking burgers and sausages in a chef’s hat, and inside, Emma cooked veggie-friendly pizza and cooked carots, and there was salad and apple tart for dessert. Afterwards, we pushed through with the rest of the crits, ending at about 2:30, I think. We went home and packed what we could and cleaned my bathroom and got ready for the gallery opening. I headed back at 4:45 to put up my installation again. Thankfully, Dan, Geoff and Eli helped out. We also paid a little lucky visit to the top of the castle. I didn’t have time to make my program, which was disappointing. But who cares, in the end. As long as I know what it could’ve looked like, I can still be somewhat happy about it. It was going to be a pamphlet, the inside being the description and program, and the outside being my paper I used for organizing the composition process of my piece. I typed up my description and printed out copies for the show and collected dingers with which participation audience members could get up and hit my installation. The show started at 7:10 or so. I started with castle talk. I let it cycle through about 7 times, and then skipped to the end to show the result of 14 copies. I think some people were interested. Then the Chicagian Mica and some of his friends played some songs on guitar, voice and for one fiddle also. I recorded them, which I am happy about. I forgot to videorecord the performance, but “you can’t always get what you want”. I then played my re-EQ’d mix of Burren Baby, Burren, and I think it sounded better. The dinging section was more pleasant, and I took part this time. It was more ritualistic, with people circling around the installation, just as Christians had done hundreds of years ago up in the Burren around mounds of symbolic rocks. Mary, the president of the College, was cracking up a couple of times because her mom is Nora, the Irish language teacher we had that I quoted so much. She gave a nice speech at the end of the performance, because that was basically the end of the exhibit. Then Blair and I and Rachel and Conan stayed after and smoked a joint in the top of the castle as we dismantled. Eventually it became just me and Blair, and we left all the metal pieces on the side of the road for Chris to come and pick up. We went to Hyland’s for our last night of drinks as a group in B-vaughan. Needless to say, we all got rather obliterated. But it was nice. We looked at all of the superlatives. We went home and passed out hard, anxious for our trip to the dirty Dub the next day.
Thursday, Aug. 2
Packed, cleaned and stole all of the excess food for the journey afterwards. Bus came at 10, left at 10:15. The bus ride was scorching hot, everybody was miserable. Something was wrong with the heat - it was on and burning people. We stopped halfway for a break and a sandwich, and I paid Arielle back by buying her food, because I borrowed money from her a couple days previously because I was broke broke. Getting off the bus was like the opposite of getting out of the shower into a cold bathroom. It felt so good to feel cool, moving air. Back on the bus and finished our ride to Dub. We stopped at a museum that was housed in an old stone hospital with a big courtyard. We had an hour to wander around, and we saw the Freud exhibit, which was interesting enough. Would’ve rather just went to the hostel for a nap before a night on the town. But that was our next stop anyway. We unloaded our stuff at the Kinlay House Hostel near Dame street. Wanted a nap, but needed to go to an ATM and to do another few errands, I forget exactly what they were. Eating was involved. We (Megan, Blair and I) left with Jane, Laura and Rachel. They were interested in shopping, and it was difficult to navigate smoothly a group that size, so Megan, Blair and I detached and went on our own way. We got money out of the ATM near Grafton Street, and walked for a while looking for a nice, somewhat cheap place to eat dinner out on the town. After a while we stumbled upon a really small Italian restaurant called ‘Steps of Rome’, and it looked good and affordable, so we went in and sat down. The waitresses were really nice. I think it is because they were Italian and not Irish, because Irish women waitresses are generally very cold, from my experience. It has got to be because of the lack of the tipping system. Anyway, the food was exquisite and delectable, and I didn’t spend too much. We spent about an hour in the restaurant enjoying ourselves. We three have seriously formed a lasting friendship, and it is probably the highlight of my time in Ireland. Blair, Megan and Dan as well are people who I look forward to knowing for a good long while. We paid our bill and hit the streets of Dublin once more. On our way to buying wine in an offy, we spot an old friend, Mundy!! Megan and Blair walked right by, but I knew what’s what. I called out his name, and he gave us a stern, puzzled, do-I-know-you, oh-you’re-probably-some-of-my-fans looks. So we kept walking and he kept walking, and honestly, our feelings were pretty hurt. But as we were sinking into despair, he came running back to us with an embarrassed smile on his face, saying “hey, guys! Sorry, I didn’t recognize you for a second there…” So he made up with us, and we asked him what he was up to later on. He said no real plans, he just rode into down on his bike to relax for a few days before his tour picked back up. We gave him our number and said we’d text him later to see if he wanted to meet up. Then we hit a Dunnes Store for some cheap wine and headed back to the hostel. It’s a good thing Dublin is a rather small city, because we started heading in the complete opposite direction of our hostel, but once we noticed the streets thinning out, we asked a local, and he pointed us in the right direction. We got back to the hostel eventually, right around 9, which was a time we set up to meet up with the rest of the group and head out to the pubs. But no one was ready to go out, so we started pre-gaming on our wine down in the lounge-kitchen area of the hostel. I was glad to see Dan there, though, because he was off seeing his mom and I forgot to leave him a note saying what we were doing. Soon everyone gathered where we were sitting, and they didn’t feel like waiting for us to finish our bottle of wine, so they went around the corner to the nearest place to get started. I was happy with pre-gaming rather than getting to the bar early, for the sake of saving money. It ended up just being me, Blair and Megan again. It was quiet and we all felt rather tired. It was kind of a feeling you can tell you all feel; a feeling that you know is the end of something, and you are ready for that ending, but you know you aren’t going to let it happen just yet. Eventually, Dan came back, and I think Sarah and Emma did as well, because they got bored. We were almost finished, but for some reason they went out again, probably because they were tired of waiting for us, which I would’ve been, too. But we just weren’t drinking very fast at all. They said they’d be at the Temple Bar, so we said we’d meet up with them in a little. We finished and headed out to find them, but Temple Bar seemed closed, so we walked a bit further, guessing at where they might be, but we couldn’t see them. So we grudgingly gave up. We passed Turk’s Head, the bar we had noticed earlier on a flyer for having Reggae music every Thursday night. We decided to pop in and have a few, and see where the night would lead us. Later on I was to meet up with Steph Blaufarb, who was living in Dublin through study abroad for the past 11 months. I was calling her intermittently throughout the evening, and we decided to meet at a club where there was some electronic music happening. So we had some shots and beers in Turk’s Head, paying a lot for them. The music made me feel less tired, and eventually pretty good (in combination with the alcohol). We stayed longer than predicted, and around midnight Mundy showed up! So we had a drink with him, and I basically gave up on visiting Steph, which I was really disappointed about, but I knew would just cost me more money and I wouldn’t see her for that long. Megan was in desparate need of Chinese food, so we went to the place we saw earlier. We met up with some other kids in our group who must’ve had the same hankering as Megan in the restaurant. I think it was Geoff, Eli, Katie, Arielle and Jaclyn. At some point Rachel met up with us as well. Megan ate by herself in front of Mundy. Blair and I talked with Jaclyn and Geoff and Eli. Mundy mentioned another bar where he knew the DJ, so we decided to go there after, and we convinced Jackie to come along too. We got there, down an alley, and the bar, which had a name I can’t recall, was very large inside, like a big rectangular loft with lights and old hip-hop music. I bought drinks for me and Blair and Megan, and Mundy bought some for himself and Jackie, which was nice of him. He was often over talking to the DJ. We just danced and drank and talked, nothing out of the ordinary. Megan was delighted with the DJ’s output. When the evening was closing in for me, I headed to the bathroom, as per usual. When I came back, there seemed to be somewhat of a scuffle happening within our group and a couple other guys. Apparently - I don’t know the whole story because I wasn’t there - the guy that had bought Blair a drink was pissed of that she wasn’t conferring to his plan for the evening, so he verbally threatened her. Then Megan stepped in, and he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, and told the bartender that she had physically attacked him, or some ridiculous assertion like that. So Mundy stepped in and things calmed down a bit when I got there, and Blair went to the bathroom to get away from the creepy angry guy. Eventually we left and said good-bye to Mundy and walked home. Dan wasn’t in his bed (I was sharing a room with him, Eli and Geoff), so Blair came to my room and slept in Dan’s bed. An eventful day in the drrty Dub, I do declare.
Friday, August 3
We woke up wanting to sleep more, but we knew we
We went to Monk’s to meet up with Conan. Our original plans were to grab a pint, go to his house and gather his drums, and head to the beach for a bonfire and drumming session with some drinks. But we got there too late, just after last call (but Phallon was nice enough to serve us anyway). We also felt very lazy and sore, so we decided just to drink in the bars..at Monk’s and at Logues, until close, and then head back to Orchard House for another night of debauchery in the G-Rage. We got back and Megan, Blair, Chris, Laura, Dan, Jaclyn and I entertained ourselves for a good long while. I think we ended up going to bed around 4 or 4:30. I was out.
Monday, July 23
Two scantily clad girls jumping on my bed is how I woke up at 10:30. Can’t complain. We slept in a bit from the usual 9 o’clock departure time from the house, but that was the plan. We leisurely got ready for a day of work and headed to school at about 11:45. I got in and started editing my sounds. I still have a very lot to do. I finished off the garage recording, and also the Eddie Lenihan storytelling recording. They took forever, but they are organized very well and if I keep up this method of organizing, then creating a piece won’t be very difficult at all. I also took portraits of our entire group, including Mira and Rich, except for Geoff and Eli, who I will have to shoot tomorrow. I made them give an upset, sad and disgruntled face, for entertainment’s sake, and to avoid the typical ‘look pretty’ posing. I think they will turn out amusing. I can’t wait to see them. I didn’t do much else all day, aside from a nap from 5:30 til 7:30. I stayed at the studio editing until 11 and headed home to see what was up. The plan is to return later tonight….
I borrowed Sarah’s bike and headed into town to meet up with the usual gang. They thought I had stood them up, considering I told them I would join them around 9. But inside I know they were happy. They were all at Highland’s and all of them inebriated. I got 2 Smithwicks and a shot of Bushmills to join the fun. I think I had one or two drinks bought for me also, and we hung out and talked about nape rape for a long time, and other habitual shenanigans. At one point outside Dan got on Sarah’s bike and proceeded for flip over the handlebars and somersalt to a standing position, unscathed. He broke him watch - a very unfortunate event - but he was all right in the end, which was simply amazing given the astounding flip he had completed. We walked home and I tried to rally the troops to go back to the studio, and it ended up being just me, Chris and Blair. We brought wine with us and hung out until about 4am, at which point Chris left and Blair and I worked for a little while more and retired to the tent. It was a good night and morning.
Tuesday, July 24
Woke up very hot at 9:45 because the tent was an oven in the sun. I went inside and immediately started editing some recordings. I finished the second set of the Beoga concert I saw, and I did some further arranging and organizing to make the composing process faster and simpler. Lunchtime panini when the time came. I arranged rooms in the castle for the exhibit. I got the bottom one for Wednesday, the actual exhibit day, where I am going to be playing the recording I will make mimicking Alvin Lucier’s idea of a room talking. I also got the top room for Tuesday, the previous, night. This is where my performance (“performance”) will be held. I continued to edit the day away. I took a nap at 6 so I could function later at night. I woke up when Mundy started playing at 8:30. Went in the studio and hung out and edited some of Gordon’s Burren history lecture and listened to Mundy’s generic tunes. Drank plenty o’ wine, and when Robert offered us a ride into town at 11, we couldn’t refuse. We were dropped off at Highland’s again, where I think the entire Mundy crowd ended up, including The Mundy himself. I was with Megan and Blair, I don’t know where everyone else was. We also chatted away with Ally, a funny local girl working at the new hotel in town. She told Robert pedophile jokes. He didn’t look to impressed, but I think he was on the inside. At some point during the night Mundy joined us for a conversation. He pulled up a chair and proceeded to buy us a round. Megan mentioned she was hungry, so Mundy went up to his room and brought back the spicy wings he had earlier in the day for us. He was a pretty nice guy. The only reason I think he was nice to me thought was because I was with 2 beautiful girls. It’s always nice to tag along because they just get everything, and who ever is doing the getting doesn’t want to look like an asshole in front of the beauties, so whatever they get, I get also. Clutch. When the bar closed (for some reason it is our duty to stay until closing every time we go out. When in Ireland…), Mundy gave us a ride home in his decked-out custom Beamer. We got in his car, and in a matter of 10 feet, he crashed. Nothing terrible, just a decent fender bender with the stone wall behind us that seemed to be right in the middle of the parking lot. He got out and looked and said everything was ok, but I think he was a little pissed off and embarrassed all at the same time, because it may have been worse than he said. It was a souped Beamer, and a scratch and/or dent is probably less than desirable. Anyway he drove us back and we informed him of our G-rages, and he said he wanted to come. I think he would be highly disappointed, but I wouldn’t care. He said he would come back next week. Megan nape raped him and got his number and gave him hers. We were dropped off at the studio. We continued to drink wine and we made plans to travel around Europe via RyanAir. We decided on: Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinborough, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, and maybe Oslo, for the hell of the 10-Euro fair. Blair made an circle-and-line hidden figure drawing, and she got pissed off at how Mira probably wouldn’t like it, so she threw it on the floor and poored wine on it and danced all over it. I joined in at the end. The act seemed to inspire Megan, who stayed up for a few more hours and did some work. Blair and I returned to the tent once again, where things just seem to get better and better. We have a plan to hide our mischievous tomfoolery and see how long it will last. Probably not long, but I am so down.
Wednesday, July 25
Dan woke us up by yelling at us. Bless his heart. I would’ve easily slept a couple more hours, but we had a crit to do. A group one, so I needed to be there. I sucked it up and went into the studio and we continued to crit every person’s work for the next 4 hours. It was pretty intense/necessary/unnecessary. I could’ve used the time to do other things, but I realize that crits are important and a good opportunity to bounce around ideas. I hooked up the mixer and big PA speakers to give everyone a sample of my work. I didn’t give too much away, however. I like the concept of surprise and emotional momentary recognition. Everyone was mentally wiped from the long crit, and the café was closed because someone broke in and stole all the money sometime during Mundy’s show. Robert gave everyone a ride either to town or to the house; I ended up at the house and cooked some food. I need to do some serious cooking if I am going to finish off what I bought. I don’t know where it all came from, it just accumulated and accumulated. After I ate, I needed a nap because I didn’t get nearly enough sleep that night. Blair joined me for the sleep because all of her bedding was back in the tent, and simply because it’s nice to be close to someone when you haven’t for a while. Actually it’s just nice period. Slept until it was time to go out to dinner at Logue’s with Megan. We slowly arose and prepared, and ended up at dinner at around 6:45. Terrible service, but delicious sustenance. We all got burgers and devoured them. Our plan was to head over to Greene’s for a traditional Wednesday night music night on the town, and we were told to go early to get seats, but when we appeared the lady (Brid?) told us to come back at 9. So we went down to Monk’s and found Chris by himself and Conan got off early and Dan met up with us and we started drinking, I think partly influenced by Dan, whose mission it was to get entirely obliterated. So it caught on and became all of our missions. Oh peer pressure, how we love thee. Emma and Sarah met up with us as well. We went to Greene’s at 10 and got some drinks and listened to the two men playing banjo and guitar, no vocals. One some they played with lyrics and I will always remember; it was a moment where everyone in the bar stopped talking and listened in amazement. Just thinking about it now turns my insides. I can’t explain it, it’s just a matter of trust - it was good. Afterwards we were going to head back to Monk’s, but the sudden rain deterred us, and we sought shelter in the much closer drinking staple that is Highlands. Dan was getting smashed at this point because of his lack of dinner and motivation. Conan and Chris and friends joined us, as well as Laura and Jane and Laura’s two friends from home. Merrymaking ensued. Drinking ensued. Buying beer take-away for the subsequent G-Rage ensued. We got a ride home from Conan’s friend all piled into a van. G-rage started in usual fashion. Robert (Chris’ brother) and friends showed up with more beer, and we played Jenga Orchard House style. The sudden lack of females about 45 minutes deep really affected the momentum of the evening, and things subsided sooner than usual, which in my mind was a good thing. Everyone went home and we all went to bed. Dan was passed out hardcore from his messy evening, and Blair and I took full advantage. My favorite evening to date.
Thursday, July 26
Woke at 10:30 and could’ve slept more, but decided to get up and get moving because I know I have a lot to do if my exhibit will be both successful and satisfactory to me. Cooked a massive amount of pasta to last a couple days, and also cooked up the Mackerel I bought at Spar. I prepared for a long, long day and night at the studio. I brought lasagna left over from the family dinner. Got to the studio at around noon and got poured on in the process of going there. Arrived and edited the rest of Gordon’s Burren history lecture. Also wrote in this and listened to a couple tunes for some inspiration. Sarah did an experimental photo shoot involving all of us getting in and out of the red boat that is out in the middle of a field near the studio.
I edited the first set of Beoga, and the recording in Monk’s all afternoon. Listened to my band’s music for an hour or so to unwind a little and because I miss playing with them. I can’t wait to get home so I can play my guitar, it’s been so long! I ate my lasagna around 5 in the afternoon. Everyone is going out to Logue’s for karaoke night, and I am tempted to go. I spent so much last night, though, and I kind of wanted to take a night off. We will see when 11p come around, how I feel. There is a chance I will still go out, but that would mostly be so I could be with a couple of people. I am going to camp out at the studio tonight. I have to have something to show tomorrow during our individual crits, and I don’t want to seem like a slacker. Even though I know I’m not and the editing process is very long, the bottom line is it doesn’t matter because I have nothing to show for it, and I need to work hard and fast to have anything to show for 5 days from now.
Come midnight I halted all studio operations and headed in to town to meet everyone at logue’s for some ultimate karaoke, and that it was. Eventually I sang ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ by Aerosmith with Laura’s friend Macala and Dan came up too. It was exhausting and fun as hell. I had some drinks at a rapid pace so I could catch up to everyone else. There was some free food and multiple pictures being taken. I can’t really remember what we did next, but I think we went over to Hyland’s for a drink or several, and we picked up some friends there and we headed home at close and had ourselves a large G-Rage. The G-rage has been corrupted. Too many people overall…not to mention too many brothas and not enough hos. We played Orchard Jenga, but there was only one girl, so that was no fun. Things eventually simmered because of the lack of girls and lack of booze. Blair and I headed up to the studio and camped out. Had myself a good time. I may be being vague about this because I don’t know who will read this, and maybe I shouldn’t care. I honestly and thoroughly enjoy my time with Blair and it’s not just a thing to do because it feels good to have intimacy; it seems more intense and worthwhile than that. But I don’t really know. I want to play the whole situation ultra-conservative because who knows what will happen when the trip is over…and I have to avoid finding myself too entranced in time that should be spent as project hours. But the night time surely is the best time of late.
Friday, July 27
Dan woke us up in the tent at around 10 so we could go inside and prepare for our crits. Rich and Mira eventually made it over to me, and I didn’t have anything for them because I was still finishing up editing. So I told them to come back at 3 and I would have something. I finally finished editing at 2:15, other than a little bit of the Irish lecture. I then started combining sounds. I made a chart with all of my samples on it, and I color coded a system of organization to ease the confusion of the densely worded paper. I went at it for an hour and showed the critters about 3 minutes worth of stuff. They thought it sounded good, but it really wasn’t that much. I assured them I would be done by Monday morning, since that is my goal anyway, so I have time to do some photo printing and whatnot. I composed a little more until about 5 or 6, and I went home for a little food and a nap. I woke from my nap at 8 or so and went back to the studio to conduct my ‘castle talk’ experiment. I got the speakers and mixer and my recording gear and a piece of my metal contraption and got everything set up by 10. It took a little while to finish my paragraph and read it and get it to sound how I like it, and also do a metal track to lay on top. I did it, and I recorded 16 takes of the paragraph, and it turned out well. I finished at midnight and locked up the castle and took a bike into town to meet up with Emma and Sarah because I told them I would, considering I haven’t officially been out with them yet. Everyone was at Hyland’s, including Laura (from the café) who had turned 22 today. She bought my Jager with her dad’s birthday money, and I bought her one in return later on. Had many Smithwick’s and some Bushmills, and got two take-away Bulmer’ for the road. Walked home with Megan and Blair and Dan. The Usual walk. When we got home I remembered I had to go back to the castle to take down all the stuff I set up because I didn’t want to leave it in there all night. When I got there, the mixer and speakers were gone…someone searched them out and took them, probably assuming I had left them there for the night. I feel kind of bad about that…but my intentions were not bad. And it’s not like I really was going to leave them overnight. Anyway, it made my cleanup easier, so I hurried through it and rode back home to meet up with Blair in my room. I hopped in and turned out the light and went about prolonging the magic. Or something like that. Slept very well that night, I have to say.
Saturday, July 28
Woke and went down for some breakfast and a game of cork-throwing. Smoked a doob with Emily and promptly got dizzy because of low tolerance and dehydration. Rode up to school around 11 to start with a day of intense work. I edited ‘castle talk’ and it is now finished. I also gave a good start to my big project…I think I have somewhere near 15 minutes completed at this stage. Hopefully will have 25 done by the end of today, leaving 25-30 more for tomorrow, and then the final tweakings. I decided on leaving all the samples as is…not messing with them too much, simply because of time reasons and also because I have such a vast and varying collection that they don’t need manipulation; they are interesting enough as they are in conjunction with the other ones. It’s 6:15 and time for a nap to gain back some energy to pull a late nighter.
I went outside to the tent, and it turned out just being a chance for some afternoon delight with Blair, and I cannot complain. Before I knew it, it was 9:30 pm and I wasn’t sleeping, so I rested for another half hour and headed back inside to pop the bubbly and work until late. I did so, finishing up my final editing with the rest of the Irish lecture, and getting about 17 minutes or so into my piece. At around 2am Blair and I made use of the castle, which was probably a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. I am glad that happened. We then retired to the tent and slept until the sun was hot.
Sunday, July 29
Not much to write about today. I woke up at 11 or so I think, and showed Rich my work so far. I went home afterwards for some nourishment and a shower. I made a ton of food so I could bring it back to the stude for another all-nighter. I brought the first plate back to the stude on a bike that I ‘borrowed’, and grabbed my recording stuff and took it back to the house because there was no one there and I wanted to get some recordings on piano. I got three good takes and then went back to the studio with my second plate of food. I settled back in to my space around 3pm and slowly chipped away at my piece. I was distracted a lot, though, with all of the activity in the studio. I smoked when Chris showed up. We played with a spinning bike tire and some paint. Anything to entertain us because so much thought was going into our one things that we needed an escape once in a while to remain sane. I finally sat down around 5 and actually started plugging away again at my piece. I worked a solid 4 hours or so and I needed another break so I smoked up everyone who was in the studio…Katie and Jackie, Geoff and Eli and Arielle. We all got pretty stoned because I didn’t use any tobacco because Blair took it in to town with her to the bar. I sat down and did another round of work, until about 1am when the bar crew returned. I was about 27 minutes in at this point. When they got back we opened a bottle of wine and talked for a while, and I went back to work again. I really was feeling a working groove. I think I felt that I knew it was possible for me to finish that night, so I went head-on until it actually happened. Everyone left at 2 to go home and sleep. I stayed up working and I finally finished at 6am. As soon as I stood up I knew I was insanely tired, and I went directly to the tent and was OUT.
Monday, July 30
I don’t remember Monday. I worked a lot, and I think I got stoned. Actually, I am going to make Monday and Tuesday combined…here we go:
Woke up at 11 and brought my rough draft into the little studio that the Chigagians set up across from the lecture hall. I edited and mixed for an hour or so until I was happy with a product that I could show at the show. Afterwards, I wasted a bit of time because I knew I was done. I am writing this 5 days after the fact so I may be leaving out some detail, but what can you do, I was consumed. At some point Chris and Conan and Jared showed up and we went out whale-watching in the boat. We smoked a spliff and Blair provided some wine. At noon Blair helped me develop my 4 rolls of Ilford Pro 400 film. I let them dry and put them in sleeves that I bought from Robert. They didn’t dry until around 8. I took the portraits into the computer lab and scanned them and printed them out. It took until 11 or so to print them out and be finished. I realized I didn’t take one of myself, so it wasn’t the entire group, but it will suffice. I walked into town and met up with everyone at Hyland’s. For some reason or another (wink, wink) I got shitty, once again. I swear all I spend money on is booze. That is ok with me. The end of our time in Ballyvaughan is blurry. I went to sleep.
Set up the metal installation in the top of the castle with Blair. It was pretty effortless, aside from all of the carrying up stairs and weightlifting. Got it all set for the Tuesday night performance. The advanced screening happened at 7:30 on Tuesday night. It went well. The sound is a bit muddy in the top of the castle. I have to EQ some bass out of it. Eddy Lenihan’s samples were especially muddled. Also, the metal dinging section was a bit out of control, and I received some suggestions from Rich and Mira that I thought were good ideas: instead of tell people to sit and ding the installation, to get up and walk in a circle and ding the stuff. This is what I will do on the Wed nite concert. I assume on Tuesday night I went out for some drinking.
Wednesday, Aug. 1
The big day. We had extensive crits for the entire morning. Mine went well. We met at 9:30 in the castle especially for me. Mine alone was almost an hour, and at a couple points I got sick of listening to Rich babble on, but I thought about what he generally had to say, and it was all credible. I had to miss Sarah’s crit because I had to take down my entire metallic mobile because there was to be a wedding inside the castle from 2 - 4. This meant I had to put it all back up again for the exhibit at 5. Wasn’t excited. It took about 45 minutes to take down and put on the floor below, and then I went into the studios to catch everyone else’s work, and it was all really awesome. I especially enjoyed Emma’s, Jane’s and Eli’s, and also Megan’s. Blair’s people sketches were very good as well. We broke for lunch at 12:30. The café put on a barbeque for us, which was delightful. Robert was outside cooking burgers and sausages in a chef’s hat, and inside, Emma cooked veggie-friendly pizza and cooked carots, and there was salad and apple tart for dessert. Afterwards, we pushed through with the rest of the crits, ending at about 2:30, I think. We went home and packed what we could and cleaned my bathroom and got ready for the gallery opening. I headed back at 4:45 to put up my installation again. Thankfully, Dan, Geoff and Eli helped out. We also paid a little lucky visit to the top of the castle. I didn’t have time to make my program, which was disappointing. But who cares, in the end. As long as I know what it could’ve looked like, I can still be somewhat happy about it. It was going to be a pamphlet, the inside being the description and program, and the outside being my paper I used for organizing the composition process of my piece. I typed up my description and printed out copies for the show and collected dingers with which participation audience members could get up and hit my installation. The show started at 7:10 or so. I started with castle talk. I let it cycle through about 7 times, and then skipped to the end to show the result of 14 copies. I think some people were interested. Then the Chicagian Mica and some of his friends played some songs on guitar, voice and for one fiddle also. I recorded them, which I am happy about. I forgot to videorecord the performance, but “you can’t always get what you want”. I then played my re-EQ’d mix of Burren Baby, Burren, and I think it sounded better. The dinging section was more pleasant, and I took part this time. It was more ritualistic, with people circling around the installation, just as Christians had done hundreds of years ago up in the Burren around mounds of symbolic rocks. Mary, the president of the College, was cracking up a couple of times because her mom is Nora, the Irish language teacher we had that I quoted so much. She gave a nice speech at the end of the performance, because that was basically the end of the exhibit. Then Blair and I and Rachel and Conan stayed after and smoked a joint in the top of the castle as we dismantled. Eventually it became just me and Blair, and we left all the metal pieces on the side of the road for Chris to come and pick up. We went to Hyland’s for our last night of drinks as a group in B-vaughan. Needless to say, we all got rather obliterated. But it was nice. We looked at all of the superlatives. We went home and passed out hard, anxious for our trip to the dirty Dub the next day.
Thursday, Aug. 2
Packed, cleaned and stole all of the excess food for the journey afterwards. Bus came at 10, left at 10:15. The bus ride was scorching hot, everybody was miserable. Something was wrong with the heat - it was on and burning people. We stopped halfway for a break and a sandwich, and I paid Arielle back by buying her food, because I borrowed money from her a couple days previously because I was broke broke. Getting off the bus was like the opposite of getting out of the shower into a cold bathroom. It felt so good to feel cool, moving air. Back on the bus and finished our ride to Dub. We stopped at a museum that was housed in an old stone hospital with a big courtyard. We had an hour to wander around, and we saw the Freud exhibit, which was interesting enough. Would’ve rather just went to the hostel for a nap before a night on the town. But that was our next stop anyway. We unloaded our stuff at the Kinlay House Hostel near Dame street. Wanted a nap, but needed to go to an ATM and to do another few errands, I forget exactly what they were. Eating was involved. We (Megan, Blair and I) left with Jane, Laura and Rachel. They were interested in shopping, and it was difficult to navigate smoothly a group that size, so Megan, Blair and I detached and went on our own way. We got money out of the ATM near Grafton Street, and walked for a while looking for a nice, somewhat cheap place to eat dinner out on the town. After a while we stumbled upon a really small Italian restaurant called ‘Steps of Rome’, and it looked good and affordable, so we went in and sat down. The waitresses were really nice. I think it is because they were Italian and not Irish, because Irish women waitresses are generally very cold, from my experience. It has got to be because of the lack of the tipping system. Anyway, the food was exquisite and delectable, and I didn’t spend too much. We spent about an hour in the restaurant enjoying ourselves. We three have seriously formed a lasting friendship, and it is probably the highlight of my time in Ireland. Blair, Megan and Dan as well are people who I look forward to knowing for a good long while. We paid our bill and hit the streets of Dublin once more. On our way to buying wine in an offy, we spot an old friend, Mundy!! Megan and Blair walked right by, but I knew what’s what. I called out his name, and he gave us a stern, puzzled, do-I-know-you, oh-you’re-probably-some-of-my-fans looks. So we kept walking and he kept walking, and honestly, our feelings were pretty hurt. But as we were sinking into despair, he came running back to us with an embarrassed smile on his face, saying “hey, guys! Sorry, I didn’t recognize you for a second there…” So he made up with us, and we asked him what he was up to later on. He said no real plans, he just rode into down on his bike to relax for a few days before his tour picked back up. We gave him our number and said we’d text him later to see if he wanted to meet up. Then we hit a Dunnes Store for some cheap wine and headed back to the hostel. It’s a good thing Dublin is a rather small city, because we started heading in the complete opposite direction of our hostel, but once we noticed the streets thinning out, we asked a local, and he pointed us in the right direction. We got back to the hostel eventually, right around 9, which was a time we set up to meet up with the rest of the group and head out to the pubs. But no one was ready to go out, so we started pre-gaming on our wine down in the lounge-kitchen area of the hostel. I was glad to see Dan there, though, because he was off seeing his mom and I forgot to leave him a note saying what we were doing. Soon everyone gathered where we were sitting, and they didn’t feel like waiting for us to finish our bottle of wine, so they went around the corner to the nearest place to get started. I was happy with pre-gaming rather than getting to the bar early, for the sake of saving money. It ended up just being me, Blair and Megan again. It was quiet and we all felt rather tired. It was kind of a feeling you can tell you all feel; a feeling that you know is the end of something, and you are ready for that ending, but you know you aren’t going to let it happen just yet. Eventually, Dan came back, and I think Sarah and Emma did as well, because they got bored. We were almost finished, but for some reason they went out again, probably because they were tired of waiting for us, which I would’ve been, too. But we just weren’t drinking very fast at all. They said they’d be at the Temple Bar, so we said we’d meet up with them in a little. We finished and headed out to find them, but Temple Bar seemed closed, so we walked a bit further, guessing at where they might be, but we couldn’t see them. So we grudgingly gave up. We passed Turk’s Head, the bar we had noticed earlier on a flyer for having Reggae music every Thursday night. We decided to pop in and have a few, and see where the night would lead us. Later on I was to meet up with Steph Blaufarb, who was living in Dublin through study abroad for the past 11 months. I was calling her intermittently throughout the evening, and we decided to meet at a club where there was some electronic music happening. So we had some shots and beers in Turk’s Head, paying a lot for them. The music made me feel less tired, and eventually pretty good (in combination with the alcohol). We stayed longer than predicted, and around midnight Mundy showed up! So we had a drink with him, and I basically gave up on visiting Steph, which I was really disappointed about, but I knew would just cost me more money and I wouldn’t see her for that long. Megan was in desparate need of Chinese food, so we went to the place we saw earlier. We met up with some other kids in our group who must’ve had the same hankering as Megan in the restaurant. I think it was Geoff, Eli, Katie, Arielle and Jaclyn. At some point Rachel met up with us as well. Megan ate by herself in front of Mundy. Blair and I talked with Jaclyn and Geoff and Eli. Mundy mentioned another bar where he knew the DJ, so we decided to go there after, and we convinced Jackie to come along too. We got there, down an alley, and the bar, which had a name I can’t recall, was very large inside, like a big rectangular loft with lights and old hip-hop music. I bought drinks for me and Blair and Megan, and Mundy bought some for himself and Jackie, which was nice of him. He was often over talking to the DJ. We just danced and drank and talked, nothing out of the ordinary. Megan was delighted with the DJ’s output. When the evening was closing in for me, I headed to the bathroom, as per usual. When I came back, there seemed to be somewhat of a scuffle happening within our group and a couple other guys. Apparently - I don’t know the whole story because I wasn’t there - the guy that had bought Blair a drink was pissed of that she wasn’t conferring to his plan for the evening, so he verbally threatened her. Then Megan stepped in, and he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, and told the bartender that she had physically attacked him, or some ridiculous assertion like that. So Mundy stepped in and things calmed down a bit when I got there, and Blair went to the bathroom to get away from the creepy angry guy. Eventually we left and said good-bye to Mundy and walked home. Dan wasn’t in his bed (I was sharing a room with him, Eli and Geoff), so Blair came to my room and slept in Dan’s bed. An eventful day in the drrty Dub, I do declare.
Friday, August 3
We woke up wanting to sleep more, but we knew we