Spring/Summer Plans?

[Schmeelkie]

Haggis - The restaurant is Tomasins - as I remember it's on west side of Dingle...looks like a comfy pub, eats like a fancy restaurant. and they often have live music. Enjoy!!

[cryout_yea]

AH~ after a very long planning I have finally made a plan out for my summer vacation; a trip around Europe!

Well as a Korean who has lived in Poland for around 3years, I am planning to revisit the country this summer and take a tour around Europe with a car.

First, I am planning to go to England, tour around London and get a EasyJet flight the next day to Warsaw, Poland. There I will spend a week in my dear friend's house and head south to Slovakia.
Then, I will go through Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia(just passing through) and cross the Mediteranian(what was the spelling?) sea to Italy. There, we( my friend and I) will go all the way up to Swiss, pass Czech, and back to Poland.

AH~ all this will be from June 21st to August 3rd...
I wonder if I will ever survive the road trip. Hopefully I wont get speeding tickets anywhere near Bosnia.

I do have a rough sketch on the places I would like to visit in these countries, but if anyone has suggestions on places I should visit, please alert me.^^

[Serenity]

Cryout_yea, I envy you. I would love to tour Europe! Your destinations sound a little unorthodox compared to typical tours but that's OK, if you would be so kind as to share your experiences with all of us on the board we would definitely appreciate it.

[cryout_yea]

Yes, I am hoping to be able to write an online diary during my trip; but it is only hopes... I am not sure if I will be able to find a computer and a well connected internet service in many of the countries that I am visiting.^^ But I would be glad to share my experiences as often as I have the chance.

Wish me good luck! I really don't want any anccidents in the middle of a foreign country without any insurance...^^

[bignaf]

my summer plans are working in a law firm to make money, and composing for fun/moneyless-comissions.

[Serenity]

Say Big, how do you get musical ideas? Do you hear musical fragments and "save" them for later when you can join them with other fragments of music? Or can you direct your thought toward an idea or theme you would like to cover and then elaborate a musical theme around that thought?

[bignaf]

both of those happen. much of my music is elaboration of a little motive. so I just come up with a little motive and go from there. but I laso sometimes come up with a theme and save it for future use. sometimes I come up with a idea of how to construct the theme, and the theme comes after a few minutes/hours/days of doodling at the keyboard.

[Serenity]

Also, do some of your ideas come when you are away from the keyboard? I mean, do you "hear" them in the sounds of nature or sounds of the city?

[bignaf]

many of them come away from the keyboard, they just start playing in my head. I have a continuous sound track in my mind, sometimes two at once.

[Haggis@wk]

The photos from our visit to Ireland are located here

We had a marvelous time even though the airline lost our luggage and the boat broke down, twice!

A week was not enough time to see and do all we wanted to and I hope to go back sometime and spend more time.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Cheers!

[barfle]

Welcome back, sarge. Looks like the weather was pretty much what Ireland is famous for...

Gotta love those little boats, though.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Wow. Looks like it was a really, really, really good boat trip. Did you guys ever see any of the canal pirates? Hanging out in the pubs, maybe?

I have never even imagined that a canal could go over a river.

I enjoyed the pictures.

[DavidS]

Thank you so much, Haggis! Beautiful pictures of a beautiful country. I felt like I was there with you (if you have no objection...)

[GreatCarouser]

Oh you poor thing, Haggis. Suffering so! What's the temperature in Dallas anyway?

[Haggis@wk]

GC,

What's the temperature in Dallas anyway?

It's 10:45, 06/12/06 and the temp on my patio is 89. It's supposed to go to 100 today

[BigJon@Work]

Would a boat that size handle a family of 5? Kids ages 1-8

[Shapley]

Just got back from the Riviera Maya. My wife, my son, and I went down there for a few days. Visited the ruins at Tulum and Coba. Swam at Xel-Ha. Did the tourist thing in Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

My stepson stayed home with the sitter. No way to get him around the ruins. This is the first time we've left him since the honeymoon, so it was a bit nerve-wracking, but he fared quite well. The sitter does a great job with him.

I'll try to post a few photos when the film (yes, yes, I'm still using film) gets developed.

V/R
Shapley

[Haggis@wk]

BJ,

The boat was advertised to sleep 4-6. The table converted to a bed and one of the low couches extended to a double bed. Four adults had reserved the boat after we left but I would think that anyone other than a family group would have to be VERY friendly to share a boat that size.

The boat had a frig (gas powered, it was weird feeling the heat from the back while it made ice!) stove and range top. While the shower compartment was small the boat holds 200 gals. so showers were as long as you wanted them. The boat had a separate gas heating radiator system so when you shut down the boat for the night you still stayed warm. The nights tend to be cool in Ireland in May although we were repeatedly told and the news confiremed that this May was one of the coldest Mays on record.

The scenery is what you see in the photos. We went primarily to relax and to ponder my future with my employer, UPS (said pondering resulted in me quitting my job two days after I returned to work, so now I'm unemployed and my blood pressure's normal...almost)

We also spent 2 1/2 days driving around the countryside around Galway. Ireland is a small country of 4 million citizens. We rented a car at Dublin on the east coast and drove to Galway on the west coast in about 4 hours, mostly on 2 lane roads with lots of stops for traffic.

I love the country and I love the people. I’ve traveled internationally a fair bit after 9/11 and I can’t recall ever feeling as comfortable as I did in Ireland. Even England, my home for more than 10 years left me uncomfortable when I visited in 2004 when they discerned I was American. But the Irish seem to truly love Americans. I don’t think I met one Irishman or woman who didn’t have a family member living in the States, “Me Brother Seamus, lives in a fine grand house in Boston, do you tink you might know him?”

I would like to revisit again and see more of the South the next time.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

So Haggis@wk is now Haggis@leisure? UPS will just have to figure something else out. You'll have to keep us posted on what else comes next - maybe on the "Fix your Job" thread.

[Haggis@wk]

Selma,
Yup, I'd resort to my earlier handle "Haggis" but for some reason the P/W doesn't work and me and the admin at BB.COM can't seem to find out why.

I really am feeling stress free and will start looking for a part-time gig, maybe as a consultant ("He who can, does, he who's lazy, consults")

In the meantime I'm spending more time with my dog...and my wife. She just left for her book group to discuss "Flag of our Fathers." Quite a controversial book for a group of middle aged white suburban housewives I thought.

I get up every morning at 06:30 (which is an hour and a half later than when I was working) and the MRHYN and I go to a nearby meadow to walk the dog and throw balls for him. I've been taking pictures and will probably post them onto my website. It a very nice place called "Connamarra." The lady who owned it detailed in her will that it would remain a wilderness. It's 72 acres surrounded by development. I found a nesting set of bluebirds and took some photos.

I'm trying very hard to "care" about my current state of unemployment but for some reason seem to be deficient in mustering the requisite emotions; maybe tomorrow.