Happy Birthday Max!!!!

I have to do this so I know what kind of a pirate I am

Rum and Monkey is a website that I used to waste time on when I was working in a very boring job in Mariano Comense, Italy. I don't know why, but today I saw it again.. I had completely forgotten about it. They have these silly scripts that do silly things. Here is a silly:

La Primavera aka Spring hath Sprung... watch out for flying springs

Since I just subscribed to the Irish Blogs listing, to comme- morate this I'd like to post a pic that I took at last year's Ireland-Italy world cup soccer qualifying game. I call it "la curva cattolica", the Catholic Corner. Check out the Italian and Irish flags. They're so similar. I wonder which one came first? It's funny that I'm practically an atheist, and I end up living in two of the most Catholic countries in the world. Go figure.

A few beautiful, moderately sunny days here in Dublin, and hormones are flying high. It's funny how many lobster faces you see around the city; a little sun can cause a lot of damage to delicate Irish complextions.

At the college all the kids are hooking up and getting distracted enough from their studies just enough to risk failing exams. Beware the secret studiers! I don't know why non of the students here will admit to studying. I know they do it, because otherwise there wouldn't be any graduates, and every fall at convocation there are plenty joyous faces framed in funny flat hats with tassels milling about in the front square, making all us still-undergrads very, very jealous.

I guess though that if you study it means (to Irish students) you're not brilliant enough just to know huge amounts of information off the top of your head, which we all know is just not humanly impossible; hence no one ever admits to studying.

Personally, I am in the doo-doo if I don't start cramming soon....

The Era of Awareness - Alberoni

This was a great article in the op/ed section of the Italian daily, Il Corriere della Sera, that appeared sometime last year.

I'll be translating it for the benefit of non-dagos sometime this week. That is, if I have time in between financial statement translations...

Ciao ciao,
katy

La storia morale del nostro Paese e forse dell' Occidente si è svolta in quattro fasi. La prima è quella del dominio del costume. Alla ragazza che voleva uscire la sera il padre diceva di no e, se lei gli chiedeva «perché?», rispondeva «perché no!». Le trasmetteva l' imperativo ancestrale che non spiega, ordina. La seconda fase è quella della rivolta. I giovani si sono ribellati dovunque e, durante la rivolta, pensavano a come avrebbero impiegato la libertà conquistata. Discutevano di filosofia, di poesia, di cinema, di letteratura cercando dei punti di riferimento nei grandi autori contemporanei e del passato. Sostituivano il padre naturale coi padri culturali. Ma, vinta la battaglia, alcuni di loro hanno confuso la libertà con la sfrenatezza. Ne sono derivati gli anni di piombo e della droga. La terza fase è stata quella del lassismo che dura tuttora. Quegli stessi che si sono ribellati, quando hanno avuto dei figli, li hanno lasciati liberi di seguire capricciosamente i propri gusti, le proprie preferenze senza tener presente che nell' essere umano esiste la tendenza a seguire la strada più facile. Tanti giovani non si sono mai sentiti dire che la libertà è scelta meditata, responsabile. Pensano consista nel seguire l' impulso, il piacere immediato, giudicano tutto soltanto in base al «mi piace, non mi piace» e, in questo modo finiscono per non avere un criterio di giudizio razionale. Buona parte del «buonismo» di oggi è una miscela di tolleranza infinita per se stessi trasferita gli altri. Al compagno che allaga la scuola, agli zingari che scippano per strada, alla ragazza che ammazza la madre e il fratello o al giovane che uccide la nonna perché non gli dà i soldi per la droga. Arriviamo così all' ultima fase, quella appena iniziata, della consapevolezza. La grave minaccia economica, l' incontro con civiltà disciplinate come quella cinese, col terrorismo islamico, stanno spingendo molti a riscoprire quanto aveva detto Jefferson, che la libertà esige una mentalità matura, che conosce le alternative e sa scegliere. Richiede che la nostra mente si separi dai desideri che proviamo, sappia guardarli dall' esterno e, per quanto questi siano intensi e coinvolgenti, possa dire di no. A poco a poco diventano più numerose le persone consapevoli che il vivere sociale ha bisogno di principi morali chiari, di distinguere il bene dal male, di autodisciplina e rigore con se stessi e con gli altri . www.corriere.it/alberoni Alberoni Francesco

Don't ever go to NYC

Your brain will explode.

"Guy: There is this guy who says that men and women are from different planets.
Girl: Oh, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. It's just a metaphor.
Guy: Oh, right. They came on meteors."

That explains a lot.

I like this one, it shows the fire going up the pole in the middle. About to crash. Timber.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

Pyros, revel in it. On Hallowe'en all over Dublin, bonfires dot the landscape. What is it with Dublin and fire? We know Tom Kelly, the Dublin Firechief. Busy guy.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

This pic is from about 25 metres away. It was hot. I tried getting closer but at 10 meters away I couldn't breathe.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

Knackers R us. Kids around the fire. They dragged out an old couch and sat on it until the fire started getting low. Then they threw the couch on the fire.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

From 20 to 50 people at any one time were standing around, watching and drinking, and drinking, watching the fire, and drinking... oh yeah, they drank a lot too.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

Hellowe'en in the Bayside, Dublin 2005. Massive bonfire in the big green behind our house. Kids young and old had been preparing it for days, finding old bits of things to burn. They started it at around 4.pm, and by around 9 it was roaring.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

These are the upside-down Chinese print curtains in my apartment. The Irish are just as ignorant of Chinese culture as the Chinese are of the Irish... probably more so, actually.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

Epicurians R Us

I bet God is the owner of this url.

Crynese

No idea what this says. Plus, it looks like the characters are the mirror image of what they're supposed to be.
By the way... lots of posts about Manglish, but the curtains in my apt. in Dublin have pretty chinese character-print curtains.... with the characters upside-down. pic to come.

meanwhile... more glitter!!!!

Broke his crown

glitter galore

Thanks to a nice lady whose site had a link to Glitter Graphics! They are wonderful!! I am 9 again!!!

Abandon ship!

I like this blog thing, but I want to have a reason for it instead of just blabbing senselessly and posting vanity pictures, therefore I've decided to keep this one as a personal blog and open shop elsewhere and make a food blog. There will be a link to that one on this page, and vice-versa, rest assured.
Happy trails folk(s).

Offroad Luca. Santorini 2004
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

Luca luca luca is my looooove. I am hopeless.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

The London Eye with purty blue lights. Around New year's 2006. Copyright 2006 K. Zei.
as crappy as this pic is, consider it copyrighted.

banner take three
steal this pic!

another banner attempt
steal this pic!

repeat for the benefit of my future possible banner
steal this pic!

Omg, i look like a real archeologist! Indy, eat your heart out. Copyright 2006 K. Zei

The Official Reader's Rights, courtesy of the Bologna library. May 2004.
copyright 2006 k.zei

Some Tartar people at a market in Sudak, Crimea, Ukraine. July 2005. Havin' fun with Hello...
copyright 2006 k.zei

A banner i made for the Ireland-Italy soccer friendly match, 2005. Thanks to il bisteccone.
copyright 2006 k.zei

Some dolphins that we swam with on our first dive to Banco Chincorro, Xcalak, Mexico
copyright 2006 k.zei

Me with Capitano Jorge about to go on first dive near Xcalak, Mexico. Dec. 2005
copyright 2006 k.zei

Okay, so it works

Years ago, I got it in my silly, pointy little head to write to a complete stranger--and give advice! (gasp!) Whatever possessed me to do so I shall never discern. At any rate, I actually wrote some decent things, so I'm going to copy some of the letter into this post to attempt to disseminate the point of view:

START
There are a lot of things on this planet created by people just like ourselves that really really suck. There is a lot of misery, a lot of pain and all in the name of what? Religion. Opinions. Nonsense. We pollute ourselves, pollute the earth, defecate where we eat, urinate where we drink. Have you ever seen rotten.com? It's bloody disgusting. A lot of things about humans don't make much sense. There is a lot of evil.

But it doesn't mean that you have to add to it. It doesn't mean that you have to let it touch you. It doesn't mean that you can't rise above. It doesn't mean you have to try to sink below, either.

There are a lot of things that should be changed about this world, and often a really helpless feeling takes over those who are intelligent enough and can see reason, and therefore want to do something to make it better; improve the lot of everyone -- and their own. It feels terrible being so powerless; it's a horrible sucking feeling that makes you want to kick and scream your way out. But kicking and screaming usually only suck you in further. And wastes energy.

The best thing that you can do is learn to accept the unwieldly amount of horribleness that there is here on earth. This planet sometimes sucks, but it's the only one that there is -- and for now, there is no way off of it. Nor will there ever be, in our lifetime. We are stuck here, whether we like it or not, and useless feelings of anger and dispair just waste energy.

Acceptance doesn't mean apathy. It means something different to everyone. For me, it meant accepting the fact that I am not perfect and learning to be myself around other people, something that was not very easy for me. The more I am myself, the more I am likely NOT to add to the compendium of hate and anger that seems to prevail, that causes people to act in destructive ways against others and against themselves.

Self-indulgence and egotism are often used as defence mechanisms of intelligent people, as a way of dealing with the world and all its shortcomings. But they aren't very effective ones if all they do are make you unhappy. I'm not saying that you should be happy at all costs, and that you shouldn't block out your razor sharp criticism; because we need laser beams like you slicing off the excess fat of the world. But maybe you should give yourself a bit of a break, dude. And giving the rest of the world one might help a bit too.
END

I think that the guy I wrote this to seemed so unhappy he must have touched me somehow, hence the letter. I don't think he got the message though. Bless those who fight themselves and each other, that they may one day stop.

Worst blogger in recorded blog history

I think I should get an award. An anti-award. I haven't updated this blog for simply ages. Put it down to too much life beyond the net. Went to Mexico over Christmas. Tres fun. Did lots of dives, did a cenote dive, even saw some dolphins while diving (about 15 of them, and they're actually pretty scary when they're excited and whipping madly around the sea).

Anyways, this post is to see if I can figure out how this baby works... again...