Well, I haven't been here for a while!
I've sort of missed being here, and I really should get back more often. Maybe I can make that one of my new year's resolutions. Along with eating healthier food, exercising more often, giving up smoking... Oh wait... I don't smoke... Oh well you know what I mean.
I'll put it on the list of all the things I should do, writing, that is, not smoking...
Anyway. I just want to wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful New Year, and I hope I get my act together and get back here again soon.
Have a good one!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Holy translation!!
If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you will remember that I visited the lovely Caribbean Island of Jamaica earlier this year. Ahh...Such fond memories...
Before I went to visit, my friend wrote to me on several occasions describing life in her new found paradise. We heard about all aspects of Jamaican life both from the 'native' side and from her side as an 'Ex Pat'. One thing she mentioned regularly were her visits to Church. Here's a quote about one visit from one of her e-mails:
"...We went to Mass today, a short one by all accounts - only an hour and three quarters - joyous singing and swaying in our pews (well not so much us stiff Irish folk), lots of holding hands and reaching out with love, etc. .."
It always fascinated me when she spoke about the religious aspect, it seem so joyous, musical, fascinating, and good all round entertainment. When I was there I got to see some of this entertainment first hand. No I didn't actually go to church, but I did witness the beautiful colourfully clad ladies complete with hats and gloves making their way, at the Jamaican pace of 'leisurly', to their local place of worship. It looked so exciting it nearly made me want to go...Until I heard that some of the 'worship' can go on all day, and some people even go home for lunch and go back again in the afternoon. Eh...
Anyway, you can imagine my amusement today when I read that a new version of the Bible has been recently produced designed especially for the lovely people that reside in that equally lovely land. It has been translated into Jamaican patois (which took 20 years!!) and now goes under the new name "Jiizas Book".
OK, I'm not going to read you the whole Jiizas Book, but here are some amusing extracts (you have to read with a Jamaican accent!)..
Jiizas Book: "Jiizas: di buuk We Luuk rait bout Im."
The Bible: "The Gospel according to Luke"
Jiizas Book: "Lisn op!"
The Bible: "Behold"
Jiizas Book: "Lisn op! Di uman we needn sliip with no man ago get biebi."
The Bible: "Behold a virgin shall be with child".
Jiizas Book: "Di ienjel go tu Mieri an se tu ar se, 'Mieri, mi av nyuuz we a go mek yu wel api. Gad riili riili bles yu an im a waak wid yu all di taim."
The Bible: "And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women."
Jiizas Book: "rispek fi yu an yu niem".
The Bible: "Hallowed be thy name".
Apparently, you can listen to the Book of Luke on iTunes in 24 episodes! Well I suppose it would make a change from listening to the News this evening....
Reading the Jamacian got me thinking. I began to wonder what the Bible would sound like translated if it was translated into Dublin speak....
Jay-sus...did ya 'ere, Mary's preggers... it's a bleeding miracle 'cos shee-es s'not ever bin wit a fella.....
(Behold a virgin shall be with child)
Story Bud? (Behold)
You'es de Man! (Hallowed be thy name)
Dat Luke bloo-eke was rabbitin' on 'bout some udd-er eejit... (The Gospel according to Luke)
Elocution lessons anybody???
Before I went to visit, my friend wrote to me on several occasions describing life in her new found paradise. We heard about all aspects of Jamaican life both from the 'native' side and from her side as an 'Ex Pat'. One thing she mentioned regularly were her visits to Church. Here's a quote about one visit from one of her e-mails:
"...We went to Mass today, a short one by all accounts - only an hour and three quarters - joyous singing and swaying in our pews (well not so much us stiff Irish folk), lots of holding hands and reaching out with love, etc. .."
It always fascinated me when she spoke about the religious aspect, it seem so joyous, musical, fascinating, and good all round entertainment. When I was there I got to see some of this entertainment first hand. No I didn't actually go to church, but I did witness the beautiful colourfully clad ladies complete with hats and gloves making their way, at the Jamaican pace of 'leisurly', to their local place of worship. It looked so exciting it nearly made me want to go...Until I heard that some of the 'worship' can go on all day, and some people even go home for lunch and go back again in the afternoon. Eh...
Anyway, you can imagine my amusement today when I read that a new version of the Bible has been recently produced designed especially for the lovely people that reside in that equally lovely land. It has been translated into Jamaican patois (which took 20 years!!) and now goes under the new name "Jiizas Book".
OK, I'm not going to read you the whole Jiizas Book, but here are some amusing extracts (you have to read with a Jamaican accent!)..
Jiizas Book: "Jiizas: di buuk We Luuk rait bout Im."
The Bible: "The Gospel according to Luke"
Jiizas Book: "Lisn op!"
The Bible: "Behold"
Jiizas Book: "Lisn op! Di uman we needn sliip with no man ago get biebi."
The Bible: "Behold a virgin shall be with child".
Jiizas Book: "Di ienjel go tu Mieri an se tu ar se, 'Mieri, mi av nyuuz we a go mek yu wel api. Gad riili riili bles yu an im a waak wid yu all di taim."
The Bible: "And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women."
Jiizas Book: "rispek fi yu an yu niem".
The Bible: "Hallowed be thy name".
Apparently, you can listen to the Book of Luke on iTunes in 24 episodes! Well I suppose it would make a change from listening to the News this evening....
Reading the Jamacian got me thinking. I began to wonder what the Bible would sound like translated if it was translated into Dublin speak....
Jay-sus...did ya 'ere, Mary's preggers... it's a bleeding miracle 'cos shee-es s'not ever bin wit a fella.....
(Behold a virgin shall be with child)
Story Bud? (Behold)
You'es de Man! (Hallowed be thy name)
Dat Luke bloo-eke was rabbitin' on 'bout some udd-er eejit... (The Gospel according to Luke)
Elocution lessons anybody???
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
McDreamy....
My (very lucky) brother posted THIS picture on Facebook yesterday....
There were lots of comments!
The winner is: "Did you lick him for me"!! I won't say who posted it, but you know who you are Lisa Halpin..
Oh by the way, my brother is the one on the right.
Jealous....
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Born with the gift of a Golden Voice
It was 'Junior Cert' exam results week this week.
For those of you reading this that don't live in Ireland, Junior Cert is a state exam that you sit when you are about 14 or 15 years of age, you sit the exam in June and you have to wait until September for your results. How mean is that, you have to wait a whole summer, stressing over results (as if!!). For those of you living in the UK reading this, the exam is the equivalent to the GCSE's. For those of you reading in the US...I'm not sure what the US equivalent is, or if you even have an equivalent exam.
So, anyway, after a couple of missed opportunities, it was fitting that I got to see somebody this week who I first came across when I was supposed to be studying to sit my Junior Cert exam all those years ago...
...Just before Junior Cert year for me, we got a new Math teacher at our school. He was very cool and trendy and good looking, and being an all girls school, he was understandably a bit hit. Suddenly everybody was interested in Math! Our class/form were one of the 'lucky' classes that actually got him as our new Math teacher. We all turned over a new leaf in our much scribbled copy books and started to see algebra, trigonometry, theorems and all sorts of other Math stuff as items of interest. We forgot all about Donny Osmond and David Cassidy and whoever else's names we were drawing love hearts around and scribbling in our books about, and concentrated on our studies (and if you believe that.....!)
As it turned out, our Math teacher was not only a good teacher, he also played the guitar, and as we discovered years later, is an accomplished song writer. He was also very generous with his time and organised after school guitar lessons for anybody that was interested. So I decided to go along and see what this was all about. I think from memory there was only about 6 pupils who stayed back for the lessons. After a couple of lessons, teaching us how to read music and showing us a few chords and getting us strumming our shiny new guitars, he decided to teach us a song that we could all play and sing along with. A natural progression I think!
Here is where it all went horribly wrong. He asked did we know Leonard Cohen and the song Suzanne...eh...who....eh...what song? Everybody else in the class said yes so not to be outdone I said yes too (remember it was about 20 years ago and I was only about 14 years old....oh wait... that doesn't add up to my current age...I really should have paid more attention to my Math!!). So he gave us the chords, ran through the song a couple of times and told us to go home and learn it for next week. Jeez....I had never heard of the lovely Leonard or the seductive Suzanne...I was going to fail, fail miserably, and look a fool in front of the really cool teacher. Oh no...how could this be happening to me....
We had a record player at home, of course, but we didn't have any LC records. And, of course there was no Internet or Youtube for me to look up and find out what this was all about. So I had to learn the hard way by reading the music note by note and hoping I had the tune right. I spent a few hours (when I should have been studying my Junior Cert Math or French or some other subject) every night practicing and eventually got the hang of the tune and the chords and the words....gosh those words, they made no sense at the time...
Those were the days too when the television finished at 11.30, and I made my pocket money by babysitting.
One evening whilst babysitting for a couple that I thought were the most boring people under the sun, (having come to this conclusion because they had no Albums by David Bowie in their record collection) the television has long since finished broadcasting and there was still no sign of them coming home. The children were all fast asleep and I was bored. So I decided to browse their record collection yet again, and low and behold, I found a previously ignored Album entitled "Leonard Cohen - The Best of". The first track on the first side was Suzanne....after learning to play and sing it I finally heard the original....and that was it.... I was hooked! I think I wore out the needle and the record, and my voice from singing along!
So last night after many years of waiting, I finally got to see the great man himself. He came to my lovely city to entertain me with his songs and poetry and funny little quips. I know most people don't like or understand his music, but I do. And more surprising than him coming to entertain me, was how he entertained me. For an 'old' man of 78 years of age, dare I say....he rocked the joint!! By the end of the night the whole audience was dancing in the aisles.
My friend is a big Paul Weller fan, but she won't go and see him live because she thinks seeing him live might spoil the illusion and the fantasy and she might end up disappointed....well I have to tell her, that for me to see my idol live just made it all the better, and there was absolutely no disappointment.
I don't play the guitar much nowadays, but strangely enough when I do pick it up and play, I can always remember how to play Suzanne...
Funny how I can remember how to play the guitar, but I can't remember Math!! Best go and get a calculator and try to work out exactly how old I am....
For those of you reading this that don't live in Ireland, Junior Cert is a state exam that you sit when you are about 14 or 15 years of age, you sit the exam in June and you have to wait until September for your results. How mean is that, you have to wait a whole summer, stressing over results (as if!!). For those of you living in the UK reading this, the exam is the equivalent to the GCSE's. For those of you reading in the US...I'm not sure what the US equivalent is, or if you even have an equivalent exam.
So, anyway, after a couple of missed opportunities, it was fitting that I got to see somebody this week who I first came across when I was supposed to be studying to sit my Junior Cert exam all those years ago...
...Just before Junior Cert year for me, we got a new Math teacher at our school. He was very cool and trendy and good looking, and being an all girls school, he was understandably a bit hit. Suddenly everybody was interested in Math! Our class/form were one of the 'lucky' classes that actually got him as our new Math teacher. We all turned over a new leaf in our much scribbled copy books and started to see algebra, trigonometry, theorems and all sorts of other Math stuff as items of interest. We forgot all about Donny Osmond and David Cassidy and whoever else's names we were drawing love hearts around and scribbling in our books about, and concentrated on our studies (and if you believe that.....!)
As it turned out, our Math teacher was not only a good teacher, he also played the guitar, and as we discovered years later, is an accomplished song writer. He was also very generous with his time and organised after school guitar lessons for anybody that was interested. So I decided to go along and see what this was all about. I think from memory there was only about 6 pupils who stayed back for the lessons. After a couple of lessons, teaching us how to read music and showing us a few chords and getting us strumming our shiny new guitars, he decided to teach us a song that we could all play and sing along with. A natural progression I think!
Here is where it all went horribly wrong. He asked did we know Leonard Cohen and the song Suzanne...eh...who....eh...what song? Everybody else in the class said yes so not to be outdone I said yes too (remember it was about 20 years ago and I was only about 14 years old....oh wait... that doesn't add up to my current age...I really should have paid more attention to my Math!!). So he gave us the chords, ran through the song a couple of times and told us to go home and learn it for next week. Jeez....I had never heard of the lovely Leonard or the seductive Suzanne...I was going to fail, fail miserably, and look a fool in front of the really cool teacher. Oh no...how could this be happening to me....
We had a record player at home, of course, but we didn't have any LC records. And, of course there was no Internet or Youtube for me to look up and find out what this was all about. So I had to learn the hard way by reading the music note by note and hoping I had the tune right. I spent a few hours (when I should have been studying my Junior Cert Math or French or some other subject) every night practicing and eventually got the hang of the tune and the chords and the words....gosh those words, they made no sense at the time...
Those were the days too when the television finished at 11.30, and I made my pocket money by babysitting.
One evening whilst babysitting for a couple that I thought were the most boring people under the sun, (having come to this conclusion because they had no Albums by David Bowie in their record collection) the television has long since finished broadcasting and there was still no sign of them coming home. The children were all fast asleep and I was bored. So I decided to browse their record collection yet again, and low and behold, I found a previously ignored Album entitled "Leonard Cohen - The Best of". The first track on the first side was Suzanne....after learning to play and sing it I finally heard the original....and that was it.... I was hooked! I think I wore out the needle and the record, and my voice from singing along!
So last night after many years of waiting, I finally got to see the great man himself. He came to my lovely city to entertain me with his songs and poetry and funny little quips. I know most people don't like or understand his music, but I do. And more surprising than him coming to entertain me, was how he entertained me. For an 'old' man of 78 years of age, dare I say....he rocked the joint!! By the end of the night the whole audience was dancing in the aisles.
My friend is a big Paul Weller fan, but she won't go and see him live because she thinks seeing him live might spoil the illusion and the fantasy and she might end up disappointed....well I have to tell her, that for me to see my idol live just made it all the better, and there was absolutely no disappointment.
I don't play the guitar much nowadays, but strangely enough when I do pick it up and play, I can always remember how to play Suzanne...
Funny how I can remember how to play the guitar, but I can't remember Math!! Best go and get a calculator and try to work out exactly how old I am....
Friday, August 24, 2012
Getting the balance right!
I read an interesting article today about a substance called 'Resveratrol'.
It's some kind of a scientific molecule (why do all those scientific things end in 'ol'?) that I have never heard of before. So, being curious, I looked it up, and according to Wikipedia:
"Resveratrol is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol (there's that 'ol' again!), and a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi."
Does that make it any clearer for you? No? Well it didn't for me either!
So I went back to the article hoping for enlightenment. Apparently, as in all good research, they fed this compound to a group of ageing mice, and at the end of the study, the mice showed a huge improvement in their sense of balance. (Where do they come up with this stuff?) But alas, the ageing mice that were not fed this wonder molecule continued to stagger and stumble. A stumbling mouse! I have never seen one of those, the only mice I ever see seem to be very nimble as they are darting across my kitchen floor and disappearing through some space that I didn't even know was there! Anyway, according to Dr Jane Cavenaugh, in some university in Pittsburgh, who is conducting the study, Resveratrol "could decrease some motor deficiencies seen in our ageing population and would therefore increase an ageing persons quality of life, and decrease their risks of hospitalisation due to slips and falls". Excellent result!! A big thank you to the mice!
Oh I forgot to tell you that this substance is found in the skin of red grapes, therefore by deduction, its also found in red wine, and I didn't need to be a scientist to figure that out. So, basically, in this study, they got the old mice drunk on red wine and, eureka, they could run around the room without falling over!! Where as the poor old mice that were left to drink the Ribena couldn't make it across the room without falling over.
Well hurrah, at last a study that makes sense! Now, thanks to this fantastic research, I know where I have been going wrong... You see, I only drink WHITE wine. So now, to get my balance right (eh...not that I'm ageing or anything), I am going to have to change my tipple and start drinking the red stuff. A whole new world of Merlot's Shiraz's and Chianti's could be open to me here, and you know how much I like to research...
Oh it also said in the article that to get the benefits of Resveratrol from red wine, you would have to drink about 700 4oz glasses a day....
...I better get started...
It's some kind of a scientific molecule (why do all those scientific things end in 'ol'?) that I have never heard of before. So, being curious, I looked it up, and according to Wikipedia:
"Resveratrol is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol (there's that 'ol' again!), and a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi."
Does that make it any clearer for you? No? Well it didn't for me either!
So I went back to the article hoping for enlightenment. Apparently, as in all good research, they fed this compound to a group of ageing mice, and at the end of the study, the mice showed a huge improvement in their sense of balance. (Where do they come up with this stuff?) But alas, the ageing mice that were not fed this wonder molecule continued to stagger and stumble. A stumbling mouse! I have never seen one of those, the only mice I ever see seem to be very nimble as they are darting across my kitchen floor and disappearing through some space that I didn't even know was there! Anyway, according to Dr Jane Cavenaugh, in some university in Pittsburgh, who is conducting the study, Resveratrol "could decrease some motor deficiencies seen in our ageing population and would therefore increase an ageing persons quality of life, and decrease their risks of hospitalisation due to slips and falls". Excellent result!! A big thank you to the mice!
Oh I forgot to tell you that this substance is found in the skin of red grapes, therefore by deduction, its also found in red wine, and I didn't need to be a scientist to figure that out. So, basically, in this study, they got the old mice drunk on red wine and, eureka, they could run around the room without falling over!! Where as the poor old mice that were left to drink the Ribena couldn't make it across the room without falling over.
Well hurrah, at last a study that makes sense! Now, thanks to this fantastic research, I know where I have been going wrong... You see, I only drink WHITE wine. So now, to get my balance right (eh...not that I'm ageing or anything), I am going to have to change my tipple and start drinking the red stuff. A whole new world of Merlot's Shiraz's and Chianti's could be open to me here, and you know how much I like to research...
Oh it also said in the article that to get the benefits of Resveratrol from red wine, you would have to drink about 700 4oz glasses a day....
...I better get started...
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The 'Fighting Irish'!
I have the 'Rocky' soundtrack on...
I have my fists clenched tightly and I'm holding them in front of my face...
I am dancing and shifting my weight from foot to foot...
I'm dipping my shoulders and moving from side to side...
I'm doing that backwards/sideways shuffle...
I don't get it!
What does that lovely little girl from Bray see in the Sport. She walks calmly and quietly into the arena, she waves shyly but somehow confidently to the crowd, she smiles, she listens very carefully and respectfully to her trainers, she puts on her head gear and gum shield, she smiles again, she gets into a ring with that pretty little face and humble demeanor, and then, she BEATS the hell out of her opponent!!
I'm all for women having equal opportunities, especially in sport, but really, boxing? I don't like it as a mans sport. I know it's very technical and skillful, but still, to me it just looks like two people beating the pulp out of each other.
And not only have we Katie to cheer for but we have two other medal contenders in the male boxing competition...we are really living up to out 'fighting Irish' legend!
But I'll get off my soap box now and I'll even wish them luck. It's great to see all the support and the tri-colours in the audience. I'll even join in the party that's been organised in work tomorrow, I'll take my place in the training centre where the TV is being placed, I'll drink the coffee and eat the cake provided. And I will cheer Katie on along with the rest of the country, and I'll be proud and probably shed a little tear...
Maybe when (?) she wins the gold tomorrow she will retire from boxing and take up a more lady like sport, like....wrestling....or shot putting....or weight lifting...! Have you seen those women, jeez, all that Lycra....
I have my fists clenched tightly and I'm holding them in front of my face...
I am dancing and shifting my weight from foot to foot...
I'm dipping my shoulders and moving from side to side...
I'm doing that backwards/sideways shuffle...
I don't get it!
What does that lovely little girl from Bray see in the Sport. She walks calmly and quietly into the arena, she waves shyly but somehow confidently to the crowd, she smiles, she listens very carefully and respectfully to her trainers, she puts on her head gear and gum shield, she smiles again, she gets into a ring with that pretty little face and humble demeanor, and then, she BEATS the hell out of her opponent!!
I'm all for women having equal opportunities, especially in sport, but really, boxing? I don't like it as a mans sport. I know it's very technical and skillful, but still, to me it just looks like two people beating the pulp out of each other.
And not only have we Katie to cheer for but we have two other medal contenders in the male boxing competition...we are really living up to out 'fighting Irish' legend!
But I'll get off my soap box now and I'll even wish them luck. It's great to see all the support and the tri-colours in the audience. I'll even join in the party that's been organised in work tomorrow, I'll take my place in the training centre where the TV is being placed, I'll drink the coffee and eat the cake provided. And I will cheer Katie on along with the rest of the country, and I'll be proud and probably shed a little tear...
Maybe when (?) she wins the gold tomorrow she will retire from boxing and take up a more lady like sport, like....wrestling....or shot putting....or weight lifting...! Have you seen those women, jeez, all that Lycra....
Thursday, August 2, 2012
On the road again
I'm on this bus again...
My training is over and I'm headed for the airport.
Today I had an off road experience. No, I didn't run a car off the road. 'Off Road' is what they call it when they put you in a 4x4 vehicle, put some traffic cones in lines and curves and make you drive at high speed through the cones avoiding puddles and any other objects placed in your path. Well that's not really off road either, but that's as contrived as it got today. It was fun! For once we didn't have to worry about hitting or running over anything or doing an emergency stop. They made us do all that stuff. So I now know how to handle a very large 4x4 when driving trough strategically placed cones, puddles and barriers, with a car full of testosterone fuelled salesmen and all the safety equipment they could get on board.
Somehow, I don't think I will get the same result at home from my little Ford Fiesta with my first aid kit and Rusty (the dog) in the back...
They also put me in the front seat of a jeep and drove it up to a great height on a flimsy steel construction at a very sharp angle, I couldn't see anything on the way up except the sky! Then we went over a controlled see-saw thing at the top, and then, down the other equally flimsy side at an even sharper angle. I was very brave and only screamed once, when the driver insisted on reversing back up the steel rigging just when I thought it was finally over! Thank goodness for seat belts, I was literally suspended in mine hanging loose from my seat looking down through the windscreen at the ground below. With a smiling driver explaining how the whole thing worked. Who cares how it works, let met off!!! That was more of an 'out of seat' experience for me than an off road one, and I definitely wont be trying that at home. I'm still not the better of it.
Anyway, another airport, another flight...
But!!
I'm not flying back to Dublin with the rest of the bunch. No, I'm flying to Barcelona for a few days well earned rest!
I know I'm in Schonfeld airport, but As far as I am concerned it's heaven! for much to my delight I have found a shop that just sells chocolate bars. There are so many varieties....Brazilian pepper....Candied Violet....Rose....Tea Blossom Leaves....Wild Berries...Dark Lemon and Pepper....Red Wine....Coconut...and even Salt! It took me twenty minutes to choose. I chose Candied Mint and Fitness (!!) bars....
My flight's delayed. Damn! Oh well, It must be time for a comfort break...hmmm....wonder can I substitute the cake for chocolate? :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)