lazy sunday

It actually hasn't been that lazy, really...

I was awoken this morning by crows outside my window, as I am most mornings. I made some eggs and toast and tea, my normal breakfast, and while I was eating it my housemate came in and said "I'm going to have to ask you to make yourself scarce in about ten minutes!" She works from home and was meeting with a client, and understandably didn't want me underfoot. So I finished up, threw my laptop in my backpack, and headed out. Originally my idea was to find a coffee shop and get some work done, but after walking past two I decided just to meander about for a while.

I walked past the market and across Bridge Street. At the bottom of Dominick street, I could smell the sea on the wind, so I followed it down to the Claddagh. I walked out to the end of the walkway and sat on the wall, with my feet dangling over, listening to music and watching the gulls diving into the bay. I probably sat there, watching the sea and smelling the air and feeling the wind in my hair, for almost half an hour, before my hands started to get cold.

I walked back, crossed the Wolfe Tone bridge, and wandered through the Docks for a while, before my meanderings took me to Shop Street. As I walked through the pedestrian areas, I passed two friends sitting outside at Neachtain's, the oldest pub in Galway. I chatted with them for a minute before continuing on. I looped back around, crossed the Wolfe Tone Bridge again, walked up Dominick Street, and ran into one of the same friends again. He gave me suggestions for how to kill time, and then I headed back up to Mary Street.

On Mary Street, which is no more than five minutes from my flat, there is a coffee shop that I pass a lot but have never gone into-- I think it's just called "Java." I went in, had a cup of coffee, and updated my CV. (I'm hoping to get a job soon.) After putting the final formatting touches on the CV, and marveling for a moment at the weird job history I have, I put the laptop away, paid for the coffee, and walked back, past my flat to the college. I printed the CV at the library, checked my email using the wireless there, and then headed home.

... And that's been my day! This week has been far more interesting than that, really-- two poetry readings, a great concert, new friends, &c.-- but readers of the 'blog are surely quite familiar with my tales of indie bands at the Crane and poetry jams at Sheridan's and don't really need to read another.

something a bit different...

I should change the update schedule for this 'blog dealy-bopper from "updates Sundays" to "updates sometimes," shouldn't I? And once again, I have no excuse for not updating yesterday except laziness. (After a busy week and an eventful weekend, I spent the day watching old episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood and crocheting a new scarf. It was lazy and lovely.)

So, to make up for it, I have something a little different for all (both?) of my faithful readers: a walking tour of my apartment!



(Because what's the point of having a mac if I don't use it to make silly little videos?)

Enjoy! ^_^

New apartment!

... aaaaaand I'm moved in!

My new housemate, Julia, is awesome. She is 33 and has done a bit of everything-- lived in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and New York City. Now she's a sales executive for a major cleaning company (she said she doesn't deal with contracts less than €2.5 million), as well as being a part-time publicist. She's very laid-back and friendly, outgoing but not a partier (though she does enjoy a drink down at the pub.) She even says she's going to help me find a job; while we were drinking a cup of tea together, she was throwing out ideas of where I could work.

Already I like living with her much more than with Virginie. Virginie was nice, but also kind of weird and annoying, and we never talked-- I think I can count the number of actual conversations we had on one hand. Also, this apartment is just goddamn beautiful. The living/dining/kitchen room is huge-- it's on the ground floor, and right next to the canal-- if I throw a stone out of my window it will land in the water. There's a large (fenced-in) garden outside, and we have a door to it from the living room. Oh, and it's across the street from the cathedral. Lovely.

The only problem I can see so far is that I haven't been able to figure out how to get the wireless internet to work. Julia isn't sure of the password, but she'll ring the internet guy tomorrow if we can't figure it out. Right now, I have my my lappy in the living room with a cat-5 cable plugged into the router-- if all else fails, I have a 50-foot cat-5 cable that we can run to my room. But that would be a little annoying. Anyway, the internet is also fast! What a luxury.

here and gone

Just a quick note-- I'm moving tomorrow!

It came up quite suddenly. On Tuesday, my friend Seanna called me to tell me that she'd moved out of the apartment that I'm moving into. On Thursday, I got the move-out paperwork in the mail from my current building manager. On Friday, I talked to my new housemate Julia, and we decided on Monday at noon. She has a car, so she's going to come pick me up and help me move! That's particularly excellent, because otherwise I'd be paying for a couple cab rides across town.

I packed most of my things today, just leaving the things I'm going to need tomorrow morning. I'm very excited to be away from the outskirts of town and closer to the city centre. The apartment is gorgeous, the rent is reasonable, and the location is ideal-- equidistant between the College and the city centre, and less than a ten-minute walk to either.

It's rather odd, though. I've lived in this apartment for almost nine months, and I can be packed and gone, leaving no sign I was ever here, in a couple hours. I've never quite gotten used to the temporary, semi-nomadic lifestyle that tends to be common to college students. Well, I have four years ahead of me in Galway, and I'm pretty sure I can stay in this new place as long as I want.