July, July!

Ok, I think it's time we acknowledge that I am not very good at consistently updating, but hey I've kept this up since November. I have been in Ireland for over eight months! That is eight months of fish and chips, Guinness, whiskey, making new friends, seeing old friends, interning, frolicking through green rolling fields, sheep sighting, etc.

Last Wednesday I went with the theatre company to the Absolute Fringe Launch Party. I was dressed to the nines but in the end it was a bit disappointing. S. and I were expecting the vodka to be flowing but instead we were only given one free drink and then expected to pay at the bar if we wanted any more. Also there was not any food. Yes, I know this sounds snobby but haven been dragged to more than my share of artsy fartsy events I know that food is to be served if it is at a peak dining hour, like 6:00pm. So after we stayed long enough to schmooze S. and her friends and I headed off to a real pub had some wine and then went off to stuff our faces.

Summer comes in short doses here. A popular phrase that has been circulating is "I love summer in Ireland, it's my favourite day of the year." Sadly this is pretty close to the truth but Saturday was lovely so I headed to Malahide, a town on the coast, so I could at least say that I walked on a sandy beach once this summer. Sunday was nice as well so I took part in another popular summer activity spending the day in a beer garden. Drinking is a year round activity when it's miserable out you drink in the pub and when it's gorgeous out you drink outside the pub. I am getting the hang of it.

Tuesday was very busy in the office. We are getting ready to be audited which means we have to put together a gross amount of paperwork and I have become very good friends with the staff at our local bank branch. My boss has also put me in charge of social networking as I am young and hip. Right? So that being said like our page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/smashingtimestheatrecompany and follow us on Twitter @Smashing_Times please and thank you. Maybe if this social networking goes well I can start a blog for the theatre company. I know you ghosts of the ethernet would like that. Oh! Also my boss is sending me to Valencia, Spain in October for a seminar/conference we are doing with a partner company, all expenses paid. I am so excited. See? It does pay off to work for nothing.

Today I am feeling very Carrie Bradshaw a la Sex in the City because I bought two pairs of shoes today and am now blogging, which is essentially what she did only it was in the 90's so blogs didn't exist. And she wrote about more adult things. And spent her money on Manolo Blahnik's. The fact that I am able to make this reference makes me cringe a little. But I needed new shoes, as in truly needed not wanted, because I have worn holes into two pairs of my flats because I walk everywhere.

Yesterday I went to the National Stud in Kildare with my friend M. to see where some of the worlds best race horses are born and bred. The Queen stopped by on her recent visit, so naturally I had to see what all the fuss was about. The highlight was getting to pet some of the fouls. I was squealing and cooing over them. But they were really cute and their fur was still baby soft. Pictures will be coming! In addiction to the horses the grounds also boast a Japanese garden which was beautiful and St. Fiachra's Garden which houses old monastic cells. As we left we saw a sign for St. Bridget's Well which I vaguely remembered had some historical accuracy so I made M. turn down the narrow lane where we came to the well and the natural spring that supplies it. I washed my feet in the spring as is custom, it was ice cold, but clearly a perfectly Irish cultural experience. Then we had fish and chips at a local pub and saw The Guard, a film by John Michael McDonagh, brother of the fames playwright Martin McDonagh. I highly recommend this dark comedy set in, of course, Ireland.

In other worldly news, this past month we have seen some violence in the North due to July being what is referred to as "marching season". Protestants light giant bonfires and march through Catholic communities in order to commemorate their victory in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Next month I am going to east-Belfast with the company to hold some workshops-should be interesting.

My thoughts and prayers go to those in Norway. It seems we live in troubled and violent times all over the globe...

I hear it's real hot in the USA! Have fun and stay cool. Or send us some sun!

Over and out!

Hey Big Spender

Well I went to the poker re-match on Saturday, thus confirming my life as a bachelor as I ate pizza and had a beer. I think playing a man is starting to affect me. Luck was on my side as really I have very little strategy and I was winning when I had to leave to go to my final performance of Hamlet. So I give my huge pile of chips to someone else on the agreement that if they won I would still get half the money from the pot. (Oh yes, we played for real money, but not very much.) After the play I got a text saying that she won and that my friends had my half of the money for me! Sweet! Although I don't think I'm ready for Vegas yet.

Hamlet is over the ending of a play is always bitter sweet but it is nice to have my evenings back and be able to eat dinner at a normal hour. After the play the cast went out to celebrate at a nightclub where one of the girls worked. She made sure we all got in for free and we had a table reserved and two complimentary bottles of champagne. I could get used to this. I was definitely feeling like a high roller.

During the week I have indulged myself in my some of my usual habits of dating Dublin, such as sitting with a latte and a raspberry tart and attempting to finish Ulysses.  Rough, I know. I've also discovered a love for tulips. I think they are my new favourite flower. I saw the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean, which at this point I think the writers have given up. I only saw it for Jonny Depp.  Wednesday I had dinner with my friends H. and M. H. has just moved to a new place in a very posh area so she had us over for dinner. It was lovely.

Last night I saw the final Harry Potter film. It is like a chapter of my childhood has closed. I realized that the seven-year-old girl sitting next to me was not even born when the first books came out. I felt some indignation but mostly I felt old. I realize these will probably be one of the films I talk about when I am at the point where I start sentences with "...when I was your age..." Yeah, I don't really like to think about that right now.

I have been continuing my internship with the theatre company and still enjoying it very much. S. is doing a play in the Dublin Absolute Fringe Festival and she has asked me to help her with the lights. I had a meeting yesterday to look at the space. It should be exciting, although I am currently more excited about the Fringe launch party next week which is sponsored by Absolute Vodka-free drinks anyone? Now to find something to wear...

Till next time!

O What a Rogue and Peasant Slave am I

Oh my lord I know it has been way too long since my last update. I have been performing in Hamlet for the last two weeks and between the performances and all the rehearsals leading up to them it seems that I have unfortunately put blogging to the wayside.

I have two performances left and then I am sure I will have to find something else to occupy my time, but seeing as how I'm in Ireland and we're in the thick of summer that shouldn't be a problem. Anyways, the performances have been going well, it's in a small venue and for the most part the audiences have been pretty decent, both in size and their attention span. In fairness the play is three hours and despite air conditioning the theatre has been getting very hot. We have been reviewed by entertainment.ie, yay.ie and the Irish Times. The reviews have been mixed, from what I have heard, I haven't actually read any of them. My own feelings on the experience, at the moment, are a bit mixed though I won't divulge much in case any fellow cast members stumble upon this. Overall it has been fun and very exciting to be in my first production here in Dublin. I love Hamlet, I think it is one of my favourites and one of Shakespeare's (or Beacon's) best. We can save the debate on who the actual writer is for another time. I think I became more excited when a fellow cast member and I were realizing which characters in the Lion King we were (yes,  the Lion King is based on Hamlet sans all the characters dying). I am a few smaller roles but am probably closest to Zazu, the obnoxious bird. This is of course if you indulge me and assume that Rafiki and not Zazu was meant to encapsulate Polonius. I will spare you and not go into the rest of the characters.

In my little amounts of spare time I went to the international street performance festival which was held over a weekend several weeks ago here in Dublin. I saw mimes and lots of jugglers accomplishing various fantastic feats like juggling a running chainsaw or balancing on a unicycle. It was fun to enjoy an old fashioned type of entertainment set in the old Georgian area of Dublin. Of course it rained but because we are used to that here everyone braved the weather to watch the talented performers. I also visited my friend H. at her new job as a tour guide at the Leprechaun Museum, no leprechauns to be seen but a few exhibits on Irish folklore. I'd say it's more for the kiddies.

It is still very light out late at night here which I love. It is very surreal to be leaving the theatre at 11 walking home in twilight. The seagulls are a bright white against the dark but not yet black sky and it's little moments like these where I find myself waxing poetic that it is not surprising that Ireland has such a rich literary culture.

Saturday night, after the play, I went out with some of my cast mates. We were exhausted having done two shows that day, but we decided to go out anyways. We had a great time, though unfortunately my ipod got stolen! And my sunglasses were stepped on and ruined. This has been my first major tragedy since moving to Ireland, so I guess that's not so bad, but all the same I was bummed. For the ipod thief, however, my ipod is an ancient first generation nano and hasn't been updated to the latest itunes software in years so good luck with that. And my name is engraved on the back so it will never let you forget of your thievery. There I feel better now. I suppose this is a lesson in a. being more careful with my belongings and b. not becoming attached to material possessions. Ce la vie.

Last Sunday was my first day off from Hamlet and it was a gorgeous day! I went with my friends R. and B. to A. and M.'s place across the square from me were we had a lovely barbecue on the roof. We played Texas Hold 'em and I was very close to winning but then at the very end my luck turned and R. won. I did have some of the best hands of the day though including a full house, straight, and a straight flush. Then B. challenged me to a round of foozeball but unfortunately I lost at that as well. We may be having a poker re-match tomorrow.

Monday I went with Australian A. and a few fellow Americans to the lovely beach town of Bray. We had chips and strolled along the boardwalk for a bit and then decided to do the famous cliff walk along the beach that ends in Greystones, the next town over. The views were spectacular and it was great to be outside by the water. When we got back to Dublin we had a few pints in honor of the 4th of July and played a game of pool, which I lost, but hey at least I'm trying.

Well I think I have you caught up as best as I can! Promise I'll get back to my more regularly scheduled programming soon!