St. Pattys, a week and a bit later

Usually its terrible weather for St. Pattys day in Ireland. My first 3 years here were the same and mimicked old X Files episodes before they moved to LA: cold, wet, kinda dark with long coats and umbrellas ( the good ol' 10 year old dated pop reference.. check) This year though it turned out alright > a complete shocker. Jill, Huong, Sonja, Veloshini, and Becs came over from London and New York to celebrate Jills Birthday... which also happens to be St. Patricks Day. Her middle name is Patricia, and her favorite color is green; completely no creativity.

And although it was complete ludicrousy with rain on the first day, Saturday... my jeans were soaked knee high... the following 3 days behaved and were rain free. It was even sunny bits of Sunday and Monday and Tuesday. So here are notes from the things I learned on the past week (be prepared, in the spirit of Irish Marty, Im going to make fun of Jill lots because she was just here, and she is one of the 3 people that still read this thing):

- Contrary to popular belief, staying in an apartment with 5 other girls is really really cool, apart from the toilet rolls only lasting 5 seconds.
- Girls that initially look Portuguese / Spanish can actually turn out to be German. (Sonja, Huong, Jill stop laughing)
- Girls that sound like they are from California, can actually turn out to be from Gotenburg Sweden.
- Some girls think leprechauns are real. Seriously. No Seriously.
- Jill likes her beer Cold. ( This, her rationale for downing beer quicker than possibly even the Kobayashi Japanese guy who eats 100 hotdogs in 2 minutes)
- If youre in a bar talking to a girl from say South Africa, and youre asking her about her country and whats interesting to visit, and she turns around and says "Well, you should check out the tourist bureau", consider it the biggest burn in the history of female putdowns.
- When Jill travels around, she openly scouts out locations to hide in case she murders someone and needs a place to dissappear to. I wish I was joking.
- Some girls look cool eating with bibs.
- One girl works in a company that has open bars in the office. If that office were in Ireland, it would be bankrupt within a week.
- The awkward combination of being in a Irish bar in Dublin on St. Pattys eve, but with an American band playing live, playing american rock songs; errr? Sounds 100% wrong in theory.. but surprisingly festive in practice. It must be the fact that everyone is drunk anyways.
- The official limit to the amount of times that you can listen to Summer of 69 Bryan Adams before you decide thats enough and leave the bar: 3.
- Germans always know what times their flights are. Canadians Aussies and South Africans.. not so much.
- The Good Cop Bad Cop routine always works. Thats probably why they always use it in movies.
- Repeat calling in London with a Canadian Rogers Cellphone which costs like $4 a minute is NOT a good idea. Unless you are wasted, then you dont care, apparently.
- I love Strada. Even though they broke my charger. And gave me upset stomach.
- LEON is NOEL spelled backwards.
- Just because you live in New York, its doesnt mean a diet solely based on coffee, tea and cocktails is a good idea. It would be called the "Always Hangry" Diet.
- And finally, always ALWAYS ALWAYS check the DATES of the flight you are purchasing online instead of the DAYS. Haste makes waste. But not like that would ever happen to me..

Portsmouth 1 - Manchester United nil

(Im going to start something new: a song I like for you to listen to while reading my blog post. Today its Imogene Heap )

I want to put forth an idea for what Vancouver Canucks fans need to put them over the top in terms of game fanaticism: English Football-type chants. Ive been thinking this for a very long time now, further enforced by the Korea contingent chanting from the 2002 World Cup (like really, they probably show up more to chant than anything else, the games were just an excuse to), and after the match yesterday at Old Trafford to watch Manchester United against Portsmouth... its a no brainer now. Vancouver Canucks need chants. After hearing the 75K plus Manchester home "supporters" belting them out... its simply two words for a visiting spectator: fucking cool. Sure we started Towel Power and the whole fan participation 'O Canada' thing, which Edmonton seems to get more credit for because of their Cup run, but adding this to the arsenal would be something to be really proud of and distinct. And really it shouldn't be too hard. All that is needed is to copy the tune of a bog standard common song, like 'Walking in a Winterwonderland" for example... changing the lyrics a bit to reflect Canucks Fandom, keeping the lyrics simple so drunk people can yell along and not forget the words... incorporate a lot of clapping to rhythm and there you got a chant, done and done. Have 3 or 4 of those to chant out at random during home matches.. ehem.. I mean games.. then GM Place is the best home court advantage in terms of passion. Or an even nicer one, as a seperate item entirely, but equally 'chill inducing' adopting a home song, like "Youll Never Walk Alone" song from Liverpool. A song everyone can yell out before the start of a game, or during a conclusion to a win. A song every one knows. A song that goes to the root of being Canadian, and even being from Vancouver. And the song has to develop organically and grassroots naturally, so it doesnt sound forced or contrived... it wouldnt work out if that was the case. One candidate I can think of off the top of my head is Spirit of the West "Take me Home?", but thats just a starter idea. We should do this. Yes. We. Can.

Anyways had a pretty sweet time in Manchester, although I got caught in the biggest rainfall ever while running to the train station. It was terrible, and all I had on was a cotton Hoodie. I was soaked, felt like a kid again playing in the rain with my jean saturated from the thighs on down. And the fact that I had to get onto a flight in this state was... I dont even have the words. Also Manchester, great shopping city... but alas I am unbelievably skint (poor) so it was somewhat masochistic. There at the Apple Store, I saw the Macbook Air for the first time. Holy Crap thats some light laptop...

The match at Old Trafford was what totally made the trip.. my first Manchester United game. FA Cup Quarterfinal. And somehow they lost. Things is, they almost never lose at home, especially to a also-ran team such as Portsmouth. To be fair, they should of won 4-1. Very unlucky. Its a good thing I dont really support Manchester United anyways. Actually I somewhat quite enjoyed the loss, much like how I would delight in a Yankee loss if (when) I go to Yankee Stadium for the first time.


Pretty Boy and Shrek defending their goals


Cristiano Ronaldo kicking into a Portsmouth wall


Manchester Airport Skywalk


The "Manchester Eye" LOL


Downtown Manchester

Manchester

Flying to Manchester tomorrow. Actually, its 2am in the morning so Im actually flying in about 9 hours. I've only been to Manchester once before and hardly got around at all. So it practically didnt even count. In out, same day job, a blur. With that in mind, somehow Im looking forward to it. And Manchester really isnt that far from Ireland, its throwing distance, for say like a Vlady Gurerro (a baseball analogy. Vlady, he throws reaaally far. Dont know why Im explaining this though. 'adding fluff' purposes, probably) And theres nothing really THAT special about Manchester, in my mind; its one of the premier cities in England I guess, but on the other hand the weather is not nice, for example. But still Im looking forward to this, more than I really should. I havent been anywhere in a long time now, my first trip this year for work, first trip since Helsinki last year, even. I also had a trip cancelled on me in the last seconds just last month, missing a chance to watch the superbowl in Green Bay. So my travel appetite has gone to code red voracious mode (voracious.. my new word, watch me sneak it in a few times in the next few things I write). This 'voraciousness' has transformed a normally innocuous trip to a geographically vapid location to something dare I say it, kinda exciting. Not Disneyland exciting, maybe more like, umm going out for dinner at Mortons type of exciting. Peculiar... at least I think so.

Theres also the pretty decent chance I get to go to Man. United match at Old Trafford on Saturday... I should also mention that.

[this post filed under the 'update me' category... I score it 1.5 stars at best. I struggled with this one. Loads of re arrangments and tinkering. I dont think I pulled it off. Its now 3am, and Im typing in bed with the laptop on my chest...maybe thats why]