Apple iPods? Don’t think so.

My brother John bought a new MP3 player and I have to say it is fantastic. He bought an Archos MP3 player and it only cost him €30-€40. John actually said it cost him €29.99 but I don’t believe him. The sound quality of his MP3 player is way better than my Apple iPod, and it also has a built in radio. I asked him if I could get a lend of it as I wanted to see if it was as good as I heard. I also wanted to see how much video it would take. I told john that more than likely I would delete all his music, but it would be easy to put back on again.

          So I deleted all his music files (not before backing them up on my p.c.) and started loading on all the videos from my laptop. There was about 10 or 12 videos, which included an hour long documentary from the BBC about 6 degrees of separation. There were a few short animations from BCFE student work and also three Daves School videos. Six episodes of Tom Arnold’s Overkill and 6 or 7 episodes of robot Chicken and I’m sure there was others videos as well. OMG that way more than 10 or 12 videos. Think I need to learn to count.  ANYWAY After adding all these videos on to the MP3 player, I then added back all his music and then about 10 albums of my own. OMG it took all that data, no bother and there was space left over as well. Absolutely fantastic wee MP3 player and way better than my Apple iPod classic that I bought a few years ago. Mind you my iPod is over 4 years old. €29.99 for the Archos MP3 player is absolutely brilliant, even the headphone would cost around €20, if not more. It also doubles up as a camera, how fab is that. 

 

Sorry this is a bit of a review, but I’m really pissed of about a job I have been trying to apply for, and I’m not ready to blog about it yet as it is peeing me off big time. Will post about it next time.

Weekend dinner

One thing I really miss is the Sunday roast beef with lashings of gravy and Yorkshire puddings, Yum Yum! I know I have blogged about this subject before, but I haven’t been home to Donegal in a while, so I haven’t had my mums Sunday roast. I can’t go home for a few weeks as my parents are away in the UK visiting relations, so I will just have to write about the Sunday dinner. Yes I know I can go down to the butcher and buy a roast for tomorrow, or even go out to one of them gastro pubs for Sunday lunch. But to be honest, it’s just not the same as mums cooking.

 I can’t believe I’m talking about my mums cooking as she is legendary for NOT BEING A VERY GOOD COOK. I know what you are all thinking, but I have to be honest and say that it is true. In case you are reading this mum, I’m talking about another Mum that one of my friends heard about (I think I will get away with it) ANYWAY as I was saying, My mum, or I mean, a mum that one of my friends heard of, isn’t a very good cook. I know this sounds unfair and in a way it is, as the food she cooks is quite good with her Sunday dinner and maybe the odd homemade apple pie. Her food, although not bad, seems to taste the same. One example of this is when she was staying with me for a week. I was still working and I came home and there was a dinner ready for me. Ok this is a good thing, but I didn’t expect her to make dinner at all. I was going straight home to make a nice dinner for the both of us, but she beat me to it. Know I don’t remember what she made, but I do remember how amazed I was (although I did not say to her) that the food somehow had a uniform taste that I, to this day, cannot figure out how she managed. When I make a dinner, normally every component has its own taste. For example, peas will taste of peas and potatoes will taste of potatoes. It’s a simple as that. Another time was when we caught some fresh marcel in Lough Swilly, and mum cooked them for dinner. I did not say, but they had little or no taste to them, which I could not believe. Normally fresh marcel is one of the tastiest fish you can eat, but not in my mum’s kitchen.

 Now it’s not just the uniform taste, or even the lack of taste that is so different in my mums cooking, it’s also the strange combinations that she will serve. My sister in-law has said this before as well, and she has talked about the food combinations such as frozen pizza served with lasagne and baked beans for tea and salad with tinned salmon served with oven chips and waffles. Also her home made custard that is made from sugar, corn flour and milk and nothing else. I mean, even if there was something in the custard that would make it look the traditional yellow it would be some improvement. My brother Arren (sounds like Arren but starts with a D) loves my mums cooking even though his wife is a great cook. I kind of think his pallet would be more educated seeing as he hasn’t lived back home in Donegal for 15 years or so. Don’t know how my sister in-law puts up with the competition as she herself is a brilliant cook.

Another odd thing is (my uncle Joe told me about this one) when mum and dad go to a restaurant, they always seem to pick the same thing each and every time. If they get a steak for example, they will both ask for it to be well done with onions. My aunty Angela went on holiday with them for two weeks last year, and she was saying, she never came across two people that will eat the same dishes each and every time and it never seems to be a conscious decision either, as they may be sitting at different ends of the table. So much for freedom of choice.

Anyway, I’m going off now to make a dinner. It won’t be roast beef with all the trimmings, but if I can make everything with a uniform taste, I can just shut my eyes and pretend that I am eating my mums Sunday roast dinner. 

 

Re written poem 3

So after forgetting the poem that I had written yesterday, due to not saving my work, DOH!

I have tried, as much as I can, to recreate the said poem. Now I know it’s not brilliant and also it’s only half the size of the original. But I think this is the best I can do. Think it’s one of those things that you can only do on the spur of the moment or when the iron is hot as we would say back home. It seems very unfinished to me, but I may get back to it again, but to be honest, I think that moment in time that formed the poem, is gone for ever. I’m kind of happy with the lines, but I can’t help feeling that it is missing something. Ok so here it is, my new poem (from some one that is not a poet) I hope you all like it and can see some depth in the writing.

Condensation by A.M.Donaghey

As a boy I’d often watch, roles of condensation drops.

Watered surface of the glass, on winter morning’s coldness past.

Furrow down the window pain, and merge into a single lane.

Gathering upon the sill, and pooling till the tension spill.

Once the moisture of my youth, now just memories of past truth.

Just added this video file with my new poem so you can hear what I think it should read like.

 

Music and poetry

I was just looking over a few diaries from when I was still a cabinetmaker and I am astonished how creative I used to be. I would invent and designed things on a regular basses, or at least come up with original ideas in some form or another. The other thing that I could do with ease is to write a song. However, if I didn’t record it somehow, it would be lost forever. So I really only have a memory of having written good songs as I cannot play a musical instrument (even though I have a guitar)

 Although I am, no way as creative as I used to be, I still seem to get the odd song, with lyrics, form in my head. But again, if I don’t record it, they are lost forever. How mental is that? I wonder do other people have the same issues.

 I will try and learn the guitar that I have had for a number of years (Not saying what number it is) and you just never know what could happen. I won’t be able to sing though, as I damaged my voice a few years back and can no longer hold a note. I once did have a nice voice, although to be honest, I only have the memory of having a nice singing voice.

ANYWAY Today I was reading about the poet Patrick Kavanagh, who is from Inniskeen in Co.Monaghan, Ireland. Now I know Inniskeen very well as my mother is from near there and we used to go to Mass there on a Sunday if we were down staying with granny. My Granny and my Grandfather would have known Patrick Kavanagh fairly well as rural areas of Ireland are very tight knit communities.

ANYWAY after reading some of Patrick Kavanaghs work, a new poem started to form in my head. Almost like the songs with lyrics that I used to get. This time I was on the PC and I was able to write this new poem down and was very happy with it or be it for a short time only. So after writing the poem and reading and re reading it, I went out to the kitchen and started making dinner (no courgetts this time)  After eating my dinner, feeding and playing with the dog, I came back to my PC and found all my work GONE!  I just don’t know what happened? The PC was still on but all my work was missing. Silly idiot as I didn’t save anything. Now as with any songs I have written, if its not recorded its gone forever. Good job I’m not an actor as I would never be able to remember my lines.

I have been trying to peace back my poem and all I can get is four small lines.  

So here it is, my new, very short poem.

Condensation by A.M.Donaghey

As a boy I’d often watch, roles of condensation drops.

Furrow down the window pain, and merge into a single lane.

Watered surface of the glass, on winter morning’s coldness past.

Once the moisture of my youth, now just memories of past truth.

A bit peed off as I know my original poem was ten lines long and better. Although I only have the memory that it was better. Catch22 I think.

 

Looking for a job is no fun. Another application for an internship.

As you know I have been looking for a job for what seems FOREVER. I have applied for so many jobs, courses and internships, that it is just not funny anymore. I do admit I didn’t apply for many customer service jobs because I feel this is far too unhealthy (sitting in front of a phone and PC all day) although I still would not rule it out as a job is a job. The only thing about doing customer service or even sales jobs, is I feel they are just not `stimulating enough. I need to do something that is creative and productive. Something I can get stuck into and put energy and imagination into.

        Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against customer service jobs and have worked in that environment for a number of years and got on brilliant with the customers. It’s just, I feel that they sap all your energy in a way a physical or creative work just doesn’t. When I was cabinetmaking I used to cycle 10 miles, do a full day’s work (with only one break) and then cycle 10 miles home in all weather. I can honestly say I was never as excused as when I worked in customer service. After coming off the phone and PC, it just felt like all your energy was sucked from your body and by the time I got home (driving a car) all I felt like doing was, flopping down and vegetating for the rest of the evening. But at the end of the day, if there is a customer service job out there, I would not turn it down.

However, today I have applied for another internship (one of many) and it seems to be one of my ideal jobs again. This internship is for Archaeological Draughtsperson and I think this would tick all the boxes for me. I know that this job may seem a bit boring for a lot of people, but to me it would be so stimulating, I just can’t tell you. When I was about 12 or 13, there were two jobs that I wanted to do, Cabinetmaking or Archaeology.  Well I was lucky enough to become a cabinetmaker and amazingly this crossed over with archaeology as I did work for most of the museums in the country. However the company that I worked for had a management style that, well let’s just say, I would not work in that environment again and heartbreakingly, I have not worked as a cabinetmaker since.

ANYWAY as I was saying, this Archaeological Draughtsperson internship would tick all my boxes and in fact, when I tried to get that college course for Graphic Design, my thinking was that I would be able to do the artwork and sketching for archaeological digs. Now I know that this internship will not be the same, but it will open up the opportunity for me a bit more. However I must not get my hope up as there will be hundreds of people applying for this internship that does not pay anything.

All I can do is hope.