Poppin home for a bit...

Decided I'd prefer to have me 30th (!) birthday back in Ireland with the family and mates rather than spend it with the few people I know here (that will come after when I get back).

So I managed to bag a great deal with Zoom airlines flying to Glasgow followed by Aerlingus/Ryanair flights to/from Dublin. Total price return: 440 euro (incl tax)

Nice eh?

Part of the reason for the trip is also the amount of luggage I've amassed while I've been here. Guitar, Snowboard, about 4 bags of clothes, ANOTHER laptop, and even a full 17" monitor!!

I plan to bring it ALL back with me

So because BA were threatening to charge me 150 dollars PER BAG over my 2 bag limit, plus cargo would be equally expensive and more risky, I decided it would cost just as much to get a cheap return flight back to Ireland in October.. at least in that situation I could get to celebrate the big 3.0 at home (plus I need to do my taxes among other bits n bobs!!)

On the plus side, I scored some more advertising deals this week that pretty much paid for this flight... nice!

Some little bits n bobs of info to keep ya entertained to follow...

- Went to get my haircut "Scarborough Stylee" the other day. Scarborough being the most ethnic neighbourhood I've ever lived in (I'm usually the only white person on the bus and subway) means that every normally-mundane experience has a unique twist to it.

In this case, it turned out the barbers I went into was primarily catering to West-Indies.
I marched up to the door determined to get me locks cut no matter what the place was like - even if it was a poodle-parlour!

When I entered, the entirely-black congregation (who had been busy chatting and cutting up to that point) stopped in their tracks, turning to stare at the crazy "cracker" in the doorway, jaws on the floor. Even the photos on the wall were entirely of black guys ... after overcoming the awkward silence for the first 5 minutes, I ended up asking for the "Snoop Dogg Special". Good haircut though .. despite the fact the guy was gonna shave my head like a rapper before I stopped him!
...


- Last Friday I went out to a gig in one of my favourite spots, the Horseshoe (where John Canavan's band played earlier this year too), to check out a band called "C'Mon"

I didn't know who the hell they were.. just that they liked to rock out (plus they sounded good on their MySpace site), and I was in a mood to rock out .. seriously.. I've been overworking all this month!

The singer (from New Orleans) wasn't terribly impressed that the crowd weren't rushing the stage or whatever (he was drunk out of his skull)

I was up at the front of the stage, when the singer decides to single me out. He approaches me and holds out his shoe and shouts at me to do something. I thought he wanted me to kiss it or something - I wasn't THAT drunk yet - so I just sorta held his shoe there, whereupon he fell on his ass on stage - crashing into the drumkit and sending the drummer flying, much to the cheer of the audience.
He wasn't impressed to say the least, so he gets off stage and stands up to me... yet realising he was about 1 ft shorter than me, he decides to instead play his guitar and goes off wandering to the back of the bar through the crowd... fun night
...


- This Saturday there's this thing called "Nuit Blanche" (website) which is basically an "all night art festival across the city" from 7pm until 7am on Sunday! Gonna be lots of weird and freaky interactive things: concerts, movies, lightshows, etc!

All because it's the first Saturday of October.

I swear, Canadians will find any excuse for a festival!

I love it