Factgirl

 Dear Security,

Why even bother? I could have smuggled a bomb full of cocaine snakes in my bag with the check you did. Just let us the hell in.

Your pal,

Facty

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Dear Bat for Lashes,

You guys did a very great job as an opening act. Your lead singer girl is very pretty and charismatic and sounds a lot like Bjork; a little too much for Fhwrdh, but he still liked you ok. I particularly liked your stage costumes. You just may bring the poncho/smock (smoncho?) into fashion.

The part of your show I liked the very best was when you started playing the big drum and the tamborines.  At first I was a little upset because it sounded like you were going to play Venus in Furs, but you didn’t. Then Jose and Fhwrdh started singing Baby’s got Back to the beat and I just about laughed my head off.

Thanks for being a sweet opening act.

Facty

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Dear Guy who used the Port-O-John before me,

I am going to call you Drippy O’Splashy. Did you even get any pee IN the toilet?

Stay gold,

Facty

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Dear Radiohead,

You made 2008 the best year of the decade. In fact, your show was so good, it improved the entire aughties!

The train to Malahide  took about an hour, and looking around at our concert-commuter-mates Fhwrdh and I were a little worried about the Dublin crowd. Were they going just for the outdoor summer festival venue? Would they just be screwing around, talking loudly on their mobiles, holding their stupid girlfriends on their drunken shoulders, pissing and throwing up in inappropriate places?

I needn’t  have worried. Not a bit.  The summer crowd was in a great mood.  There were smiles and thanks and pardons.  Cameras were held up for a photo and put down again so no one was blocked for the whole show. Dancing drunk guy next to us didn’t pick a fight with anyone. Everyone moved to the music, not like in LA where everyone folds their arms and dares the band to make their head bob to the beat. These people were glad to be there, singing along, dancing.

From the opening song, 15 Minutes, I had goosebumps. I was amazed at how great the sound was. Not just the musical-melody parts, but the SOUNDS that make a Radiohead song so multi-layered and interesting.  I could have enjoyed the entire show with my eyes closed.

I am glad I didn’t close my eyes though, because the stage setup was so amazing. Little cameras set around the stage gave a close up view of each of you on the giant screens behind and on either side of the stage. Thom never forgot that he was performing, and his performance was riveting. I felt like the entire band loves the music as much as the fans do, which I think is especially wonderful after so many years playing.

Thank you for playing my favorite, The Pyramid Song. I was so happy when you started it. With so much material to choose from, you could have played just as long a show without it, or National Anthem, or Everything in Its Right Place. I wouldn’t have even minded - the newer material is so great. But thank you for playing some old songs too.

You would have been really proud of  some people in the crowd. There was of course Coco, who was at her 100th show (it was really nice of you to dedicate a song to her) and Drunk Guy next to us, who was a genial and sharing fella, if a little on the staggery/bumpy side; Steve from the USA who came on a whim for his 40th birthday - used to follow The Grateful Dead and now has tethered himself to you; the couple form Denmark Street in London - see I didn’t forget; and finally all the fellas peeing in the forest on the way out. Way to save water!

In closing Radiohead, I would like to share my thanks to you for making my first show in a very long time one of the top three I have ever seen, ever.

Love,

Facty

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Dear Cab Driver from Dublin City to home,

I hope I answered all your questions appropriately. I couldn’t understand a word you said.

Slan,

Facty

I already Twittered this but Fhwrdh and I lucked into Radiohead tickets for tonight and I am beside myself with excitement. I realized this is my first live music show since having kids.

Just for perspective, Jelly is ELEVEN.

_____

The other day Birdy was skipping around singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I noticed the words were different and remembered how we used to sing it when I was in grade school.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school. We have tied up all the teachers and we’ve broken every rule.

My goodness if you sang that today you would be brought up on terror charges! Anyway, I asked, “What are you singing?”

“The ManU fight song!”

Note: Manchester United is a very famous soccer team from England. Not only does my precious little baby not know she is singing an American Civil War tune, she is supporting ManU? Even when they aren’t playing Chelsea? Ugh.

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Birdy has a new little post up over at her little nest. This one she typed all by herself! Yay!

Oh wow it’s been a long time. Sorry for that but no excuses here. I blogs when I feels like it.

So much is going one this might ramble a bit. Firstly I will hit the poker update because I know that where my bread and butter and marshmellow is:

Poker. Is. Awesome.

I made a few final tables recently and was itching to blog them. Most notable was the $9,500 guarantee at Full Tilt.  I made the final table and just knew this one was mine. Though there was another great player at the table: Rex55. She is also a blogger so check her out - She is exactly the kind of player/blogger I admire. She has a lot of fun at the tables while wielding a ruthless game. She is cordial and had a LOT of railbirds. She ended up going out third or fourth but I totally thought is was going to be us heads up. My payday for winning the whole mess whas $3,100. Not too shabby!

I am feeling focused and ready to play with the intensity the game deserves. I will try to keep you up to date.

We are about to move again. Not back to the USA, just two miles down the road. While I will miss my view of Dublin Bay, we will save a little scratch and be closer to Fhwrdh’s work.

As I try to get the house ready for landlord inspection, I have used all my housewifely wiles and come up with a list of stuff you need in your house if you have kids:

Dryer Softener Sheets: If you get them wet, they will clean gum out of the dryer better than anything ever invented.

WD40: Not only will it fix the creaky car door, it will get Silly Putty off the carpet.

Ice: Freezes gum so you can scrape it off fine furniture.

A Tupperware Cake Holder: to throw up in.

A Lice Kit: A metal comb and some poison. Buy it now. Trust me. When you find your child has head lice will be Sunday at midnight.

Secret Chocolate: Hidden somewhere the children will never find it. For PMS.

Thats all I can think of now. Watch my Twitter feed for more.

I wish we were heading off to Vegas to be with the rest of you crazy bloggers. We will miss you way more that you miss us I’m sure! For my birthday/our anniversary (14 years!) coming up, Fhwrdh is taking me on a trip to… somewhere. No idea where we are going, though Fhwrdh keeps joking that we are going to Port Laois (where the National Prison is located). I am hoping against hope that wherever we end up is more romantic than prison.

That’s it for now - but I promise now that I can log in I will post and post and post. Unless I cant find my PMS chocolate.

Wordpress let me in again - joy! I will make the best blogpost ever!

Tomorrow.

Dublin is alight with color (or colour)  and merriment and tourists.

We dove into the city yesterday morning for the big city-wide scavenger hunt sponsored by Denny Sausages. Denny is the biggest brand in Ireland and even appears in James Joyce’s Ulysses. As a girl reared on Oscar Meyer Turkeydogs, I cant get used to the texture of the Denny Pork sausage, but if they want to sponsor a scavenger hunt, I’m all over it.

Right away we saw teams of people with their scavenger packs, many in crazy costumes, running to and fro, and getting quite soaked. Did I mention it POURED yesterday? No? Well my friends, it POURED yesterday.

Just a note about the weather in Ireland: the Emerald Isle is famous for being a rainy wet bog of peat moss. Though it does rain here, and, unlike Los Angeles, there are four distinct seasons, I have found it rare for it to rain all day long. My husband likes to say we get all four seasons every day.

Of course, yesterday, it  rained all day long. We looked at the locations the hunt was going to take us to and quickly decided that winning all that great Denny Sausage merchandise wasn’t worth getting soaked and tired for. We stuffed the papers into fhwrdh’s backpack and tried to find some lunch.

Tonight we have a babysitter and are going back into town for fine dining. Or, as I like to call it, foin doining.

Happy St Pat’s to you and yours. As you might have heard, the day is kind of a big deal around here, as Ireland is one of only two nations that have the day as an official holiday. Thats right, all people who live in other countries besides Ireland and Montserrat, we get the day off Monday! How ya like them potatoes!

Last year we spent St Patrick’s Day in Venice, Italy. We would have stayed in Dublin, but the trip was to make up for the time my back went and the Brimleys had to take me to the hospital. They made us miss our flight! So we had to go on the next holiday weekend - St P’s.

Not this year! My back may be killing me, but we are doing St. Patrick’s Day right. First, Saturday morning we are heading over to register for the Denny Treasure Hunt. I expect our team, Potato Fiesta to do very well, with the logic skills of fhwrdh, the reasoning prowess of Birdy, and the crazy fun-bringing of Jelly.

Sunday is a family day out with a fun fair and all, then Monday is the Parade! Yippee! I will be sure to critique all the floats and marching bands for you.

Have a great holiday!

Did you know Bodog runs a Poker Tournament for bloggers? The first series just started! It runs every Tuesday until June 3rd for the final table round.
The winner will take a seat at the WSOP along with a huge prize package.
Thanks Bodog!

Poker

Had a great day at the rainbow magical world of Poker the other day - though it started out crappily. I sat down to play poker after an incident-free session of vacuuming and laundry. My favorite new tourney has been the Deep Stack Knockouts the Full Tilt recently added. Even if you don’t make the $ you can usually out knock a few suckas and at least cover your rake. Anyway, I saw that a $3 90-player SNG was filling up and joined in. Second hand dealt KK, all money in before the flop, A-10 straight fills up on the river and I’m out. I owe you a buck.

Not to be deterred, I see that a $10 90-player SNG is getting ready to start, still within the budget, so I sit. This time AK gets me no love and I am Gigli! AAAAAAAAA

Now, readers, I think you know how hard it is to tilt me, but that day for some reason, I went off. I went back to the lobby and saw a $24 90-player SNG and hit REGISTER. This is definitely NOT in my budget. We’ve all done it, I bet. Either taken a shot or steam-joined a table beyond our bankroll. Usually we get spanked and drop down to where we belong. But sometimes…

…you actually play like the champion you are and it gets rewarded (read: you play solid a little, you get lucky a little, and you make a final table just when you need it). So I came in 3rd, $252. Rock.

Usually after a finish like that you are on such a winner’s high, you join another tourney only to find out you don’t have the stamina for two tournies in a row, or you join and play the first table like it’s the final table and you end up giving back a portion of your proceeds. But I took a break to pick up kids from school and help them with homework and all. THEN I joined another tourney. But I rocked that out out too! It was a little $5 knock out. I ended up knocking out 12 people (at a buck a pop) and then taking fifth for another $109. Good day.

Papers

Remember how I voted in the primary election the other day? Well, while I was there a news photographer asked if he could snap my pic while I put my vote into the black box. I said ok even though I didn’t have any make up on - and guess what? I made it into the newspaper! From the Irish Independant:

Here is a close up of that goofy pic:

and finally,

Popcorn

I got nothin. Popcorn looked good in the title. I almost used Pickles but didn’t want anyone assuming I was pregnant. Which I am not. I’m done with that noise. Recognize.

What did I do today that you should do too?

VOTE! (obvs this is for those of you who are from the USA)

I voted in the USA primary today, in persona and as Irish tradition dictates, at a pub!

For those of you who are American Expats here are some links:

Democrats Abroad - The Democratic National Convention considers those of us living outside the USA their own state and will get their own delegates. If you are one of the many of us in Ireland, you can vote in person until 10pm tonight at O’Niell’s Pub on Suffolk Street (at the far end of Grafton across from the Dublin Visitor Centre). You don’t have to be registered, just bring your passport and proof of foreign residency.

Republicans Abroad - Republican expats get the shaft from their party. There is an organization, but no delegates are allotted for the primary; consequently, if you wanted to vote in the primary, you had to file an absentee ballot by January 31.

And if you are one of those Ron Paul supporters, I don’t know what to tell ya, shine on, you crazy diamonds! (yes, I am calling you crazy. In the nicest way possible.)

You know I love products and use the nearly every day! From my Biolage hair conditioner to my Oyster Bay Savignon Blanc, I know what is delicious or fabulous or lovely. Well today you are so lucky because I am going to bestow some reccomendations to you! In no order:

Internet: 

Tripit.com - you can forward all your confirmation emails from airlines, hotels, tours and restaurants and they build you a single elegant itinerary. Still in beta but I send you there knowing its good stuff. Try it!

 To Wear:

Secret Platinum Vanilla Chai Scent - OMG I want to eat my armpits! Ew! Mmmmmmmm. Ew! Mmmmmmm.

To Elect:

Barak Obama - You might call him a dangerous hope-monger, I call him a brilliant orator, a classic statesman, and a leader who could make the USA respected again. Plus he’s cute.

To Eat:

Tesco Strawberry Crisp - They are out of it a lot of the time because everyone loves it so much. Thats why I buy 4 boxes at a time.

I still hate Dr Pepper in all its evil forms.