A Pet's Diary :P

A typical Dog Diary Vs A typical Cat Diary 

I came across this on Tumblr and thought it was brilliant and probably ridiculously accurate....

...hope ye had a laugh at it, especially if ye have pets! :P

New Year's Survey

1. Where will you be at midnight tonight?

I was on the couch watching the countdown on tv after getting home from a party

2. Will you start the year with a NY kiss?

Ew no.. I was at home...

3. Got plans for the first day of the year?

I recovered from the night before and visited Dad's grave

4. What’s something you wanted to achieve in 2012 that you didn’t?

Getting a proper career job

5. Will you try it again this year?

Yes

6. Where do you think you’ll be at this time next year?

Hopefully in Australia working in a proper engineering job

7. What do you hope will happen in 2013 in terms of your

a) family? - recover from losing Dad at the end of 2012

b)friends? - reconnect with some friends I lost during college

c) career/job? - get an engineering job anywhere

d) study? - start working towards getting chartered (of course that depends on part c!)

e) love life? - get happy single first then maybe a proper serious relationship hopefully.

8. Are you saving up for anything?

Immigration and/or car.

9. Think you’ll get it in 2013?

I'll try my hardest!

10. Anyone you want to get to know better?

My Mom

11. Anyone you want to leave behind?

Yes, just wish it was easy to cast people from your memory

12. Do you think you’ll live in the same place by new year 2014?

Well if I'm not in Oz.. then probably yes :(

13. Want to try any new

a)sports? - kickboxing or start gym-ing

b)clothing trends? - I'd like to have a smarter, less casual look 

c)hairstyles? - trying to figure out what look suits me... tired of my boring hair

d)other activity - want to have my full driving licence by the end of the year

14. Got any definite plans for 2013?

Learn to drive

15. If you could have one wish for the year ahead, what would it be?

Get my grown-up life on track!

2012

The Highlights

On the 4th of July, a huge scientific breakthrough was made. After 40 years of trying to create this particle to prove it's existence and function, it finally happened in Geneva. The Higgs Boson was momentarily recreated using CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Basically the Higgs Boson is the particle that gives matter mass. Without mass the universe, including us, would not exist. Nicknaming the Higgs Boson 'The God particle' was a bit of a jibe at the religious folk... it was the God particle that created the world :P 

Katie Taylor winning gold at the Summer Olympics held in London this year. She was just amazing... don't get me wrong, the rest of the Olympic squad were great too... but Katie was just unforgettable!

Barack Obama won a second term in The White House... to be fair, America would have been the biggest laughing stock if they voted Mitt Romney (a fricking MORMON!) in as president. Voting for someone like that would be anything but progressive.

My personal highlight was finishing college... I'm a chemical & biopharmaceutical engineer bitches!

The Lowlights

Aurora.. the mind-boggling mass shooting in a cinema in America. In Aurora, Colorado, James Holmes opened fire at the opening night of The Dark Knight Rises killing 12 people and wounded 58 people.. it can be a really crazy world sometimes!

Sandy Hook Elementary school.. another crazy gunman shot up an American primary school killing even little  school kids!

My personal lowlight was the passing of my Dad, Alfie, on 3rd December.

Dad holding his grandson Sean.

Before & After 

Christmas 2011 - Christmas 2012

The most wonderful time of the year....

xxx Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! xxx

Although this was a bit of a weird & not-so-happy Christmas for our family.. I figure I'd share a few of my favourite things about Christmas in general!

1. Food & Drink

Let's just cut to the chase... the reason why we all love Christmas is the overindulgence of EVERYTHING. My favourite food item at Christmas is potato stuffing... oh my goodness, it is AMAZING! Plus it's a family recipe so it is extra-scrumptious :D  And then there is the drink.. the copious amounts of drink that is consumed in Ireland over the festive season is legendary! For instance, below is my drink supply for Christmas - excluding Baileys and wine for dinner! :P

2. The Weather

This year was kind of mild in comparison to how it usually is but I like the cold and windy weather that we usually get. I love wrapping up warm at Christmas with big scarves, hats, gloves and furry boots. And I love curling up in bed with my duvet, blanket and fleecy pjs watching my favourite Christmas movies on the laptop.

3. The films

Kids films are always the best!

I'll always remember An American Tail being shown on RTE every Christmas morning for years!! Haven't seen it in yonks now though... wonder what happened to it!

4. Midnight Mass

As most people who follow this blog will know... I'm not exactly the religious kind! But there is something about midnight mass that feels somewhat special.. Going to mass late at night, everyone huddled together in the pews and the usual caroling service that is held in the church before mass. Perhaps the reason why I like midnight mass so much is the caroling service...!!

5. The Music

I love Christmas music and carols. My all time favourite Christmas carol is a not-so-well-known one. It's a song that my choir used to perform. The men would sing Silent night under us women singing Night of Silence. Quiet hard to find a good recording of it on youtube.. this is the only recording of where they sing one over the other... yet they only do one verse of Night of Silence (there is three in total if you want to check out the whole song.. it's really pretty!)

My second favourite carol is O Holy Night 

And now to the mainstream Christmas music.. here are a few of my favourites.. Enjoy and have a good Christmas :) xx

And finally... the most loved Christmas song of all time.. HANDS DOWN... 

Ho Ho Ho  ; ) 

xXx

My New Addiction

Apologies... I haven't blogged in like a month! Been a busy busy little bee lately.  So here's something quick...

My New Addiction!

SPOTIFY Me Baby!

I tried out the music thingy called Spotify 2 weeks ago.. and I AM HOOKED! It's like a mixture of Jango and Grooveshark.. you can turn on Spotify radio to be like Jango OR you can compile playlists like on Grooveshark.

My first few playlists are basically..

• NOW chill - I subscribed to this playlist... it's pretty class!
• Bruce  - my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs all in one place!
• Just Lovely - lovely lovely chilled out songs like Skinny Love, All I Want, and Beneath Your Beautiful...awwh
• Ed Sheeran - pretty self-explanatory.. I love that ginger!

There will be more playlists!! Next is a Christmas one for sure :) 

And at the moment I am discovering the musical stylings of Ron Pope.. a friend of mine told me to check him out months ago... and thanks to Spotify, I have finally gotten around to it! Basically chilled American pop.. I'm liking it! Check him out...this is my favourite so far :D

"What's Wrong with Bantry?"

Here is a link to an article I stumbled upon.. check it out!
What's Wrong with Bantry? - Articles - The Peoples Republic of Cork

There's nothing wrong with Bantry!! 

In relation to the sea front, there are plans to rejuvenate the sea front. The inner harbour is going to be dredged and a marina is going to be installed. There is going to be a boardwalk and new facilities all along the sea front. (If you fancy seeing the proposed development, I believe there is a model and posters in the Harbour Masters Office)

It'll take time and money, but Bantry will be even more beautiful once the Town Council are finished with it!

Thank God?

I'm a believer of science, not religion

Something popped into my head a few days ago.. I was saying "Thank God for perfume"* and I got to thinking why do we say 'Thank God' when we're grateful for things? I would say I'm agnostic bordering on atheist if I'm being honest. Ya sure, I'd go to mass most Sundays but it's not really for religious purposes. It is so that my mom doesn't have to go alone all the time. I'm a believer of science, not religion. I've taken to saying 'Thank Jebus' lately though :P

In the perfect world, instead of saying 'Thank God for...', we should be saying 'Thank [inventor] for...'. It wasn't God that made the things we are grateful for (if you want to believe he did, then carry on believing that mumbo-jumbo), but an innovative person.

So, saying all this, here is a list of who to thank next time you're going to say Thanks to!
(I'm just putting surnames in...I think it sounds better personally!)

Perfume - Egyptians
      So, 'Thank the Egyptians for perfume!'
Aspirin - Hoffmann
Automobile - Benz
Bra - Phelps Jacob
Chocolate - Mayans / Aztecs / Olmecs
Coca cola - Pemberton
Computer - Zuse
Digital camera - Sasson
Elevator - Osis
Fridge - von Linde
Internet - Cailliau & Berners-Lee
Mobile phone - Cooper
Paracetamol - Morse
Telephone - Bell
USB flash drive - Ban, Moran & Ogdan
Vaccines - Pasteur

*

And before you go thinking I'm a smelly cow for being grateful for perfume, here's the story!
Thursday night on the bus down from Cork to Bantry, a kid was getting sick the whole way down. The following morning, we had the same bus back up to Cork.... and it hadn't been cleaned. So it STANK of stale vomit!  Luckily I had a scarf on and a small bottle of perfume in my bag. So I doused my scarf with perfume and inhaled that the whole way up willing myself to NOT vomit....!!

THANK THE EGYPTIANS FOR PERFUME!!

Basically me on the bus trying not to vomit!