Confessions of a drinker student abroad

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Lotta stories

So, long time gone, been shenanigizing all about the country, you know...actually I've been reminiscing about all the shenanigans back home, St. Patty's day over here was interesting, pretty tame compared to back home, went out campaigning for a friend, had some time in the sunshine hanging out with the lads. Then, since, you know, being sober on St. Patty's day until 2 is just a crime, at least to me and our one Irish born lad, we headed off to lecture early so that we could hit the pub on the way down. Sadly, they only import from Northern Ireland, so pints of Murphy's were all they had, but hey, for 2 quid it's not bad. Then we spotted a bottle of Bushmill's on the counter, asked the lovely barmaid how much for a shot, figuring they might have a deal like, 1.50 per or something, turned out, 99p. Cue up emptying the money pocket. Lecture was short, just a hand out basically, then out with some of the lads to another pub for some dinner before training. The rest of the night was pretty usual, training, sleep, no real zombie hunting, harassing of exes or sitting on the dock talking until all hours of the morning, but then again, not every St. Patty's day can be that way.

Saturday was Super Saturday for the 6 nations, all three final games in one day. 2:15 we were at the pub, I in my Wales jersey, Patty in his England. The Italy Scotland game was fantastic, and Scotland won, so...awesome. The England game was a travesty of awesomeness, for starters, if you're trying to figure out the definition of 'cheeky' as an American, here it is. God Save the Queen shares a melody with our beloved 'My Country Tis of Thee'. Cheeky is singing the latter over the former at the beginning of a major sporting event...in a pub crowded with England fans. Somewhat akin to going to a bar in Columbus OH and shouting 'Go Blue'. And yes, I did, luckily my mates have a sense of humor. Ah, it was wonderful, Ireland stomped on the English, shattering their dreams of a Grand Slam.

Since then things have been somewhat blurred, training and a lot of stress over coursework, I feel massively underqualified for the project I'm on, no matter how much my professor admires my interest and keenness, it doesn't give me magical coding skills that are apparently necessary. Oh well, they made help files for a reason I guess, so idjits like me could remind ourselves of the syntax for an if/else statement. Yeah, that's right, I rtfm.

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous, they say it will turn sour again, but I reckon spring is proper here, given that I saw the girl who inspired my last story again, no hat this time, but instead a Robin's egg blue ribbon in her hair...didn't really recognize the girl, but between the eyes and the ribbon, it must have been her.

On a humorous finish, apparently I'm too strong for British Mosquitos. A lot of people have been complaining of bites as the weather warms. Maybe it's my killer instincts, or my policy of relentless extermination, or the fact that my skin has been toughened by years of Georgia summer evenings to the point that they can't pierce it. Either way, it's nice.

Well, I'm off, I should probably check out some stuff on one dimensional molecular chains before tomorrow, I hate spending so many nice days in the computer lab. Cheers.
-JK

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Thoughts for the day

So, after several internet arguments today, I'm gonna start saying some of the things I've been thinking.

1. Why didn't we just shoot Gaddafi 20 years ago when we had the chance?

2. Kung Pao sauce can spruce up cheap spaghetti.

3. Calling an American a racist because he supports Israel, while simultaneously saying that 'Zionists' are evil and the root of all problems is funny, because you're a bigoted little shit.

4. On a related note, 'resistance' movements strike against military targets, shooting rockets into hospitals and schools is not resistance, it's terrorism, and honestly, when you side with people like that, I hope you get kicked in the teeth.

5. Backing up your internet argument with an XL spreadsheet graph without any citations is also amusing...kind of like putting MS Paint printoffs in an art gallery.

6. Because it's such a 'classic' I've tried watching Friends...I have laughed twice, once, when one of the guys gets a new laptop and is excited over a 50 mB hard drive, and once when I realized that people used to dress that way in the 90's Watching this show is like breaking an arm using a hydraulic loading cell, it takes forever, but on some level you want to finish just so you can say you did.

7. England...I know you guys beat Scotland, but it wasn't by a lot....and that's pretty sad, cause, you know, it's Scotland, and they're terrible. (This is Rugby fyi)

8. Sick and tired of having a cold every month or so.

That's really all the thoughts for the day, I'll try to find more creative or entertaining things to write about soon. Cheers.