Spotted: Outdoor Table Tennis in Dublin City Centre
These look like fun. Spotted in the small park at the corner of Lower Gardiner Street and Lower Sean Mac Dermott Street. I remember there being one of these in Wolfe Tone Memorial Park (near Jervis Street) a few years back, but it didn’t last. A real pity too. Time to get my paddles out. Anyone fancy a lunchtime challenge?
Spotted: Some Fluffy Badge Love
My Fluffy Badge (thank you Damien) finally has a home - on my bookshelf. It’s a bit of a nerd alert though, so shield your eyes!
Bonsai Tree Love
Some time before Christmas I picked up a Bonsai Tree from Aldi for €7.99 - part of me thought “This could just be a trial run” as I had always wanted a Bonsai Tree, but had this preconcieved notion that they were too expensive (and that if I was unsuccessful in looking after it I would be rather annoyed with myself for wasting hard earned Euros).
Although I opted for the cheap route, I’m very happy with it because the plant I got in Aldi is absolutely flourishing. I’m so delighted! Take a look at the before and after picture, to see how much it’s grown in a month. At the moment it’s pruned in an informal style as I’m only just reading up on all the different methods to go about this. Lidl are selling them at the moment, pick one up if you can (pity the pot is so garish though).
Picking the perfect spot for it, and figuring out the perfect amount/frequency to of watering is certainly hit and miss (the first week I over-watered and it developed some mould on top of the soil) but once you figure it out it’s plain sailing from there. Mine is on our kitchen table (because the kitchen gets lots of sun, but you can’t put it in direct sunlight) and I water it once a week by submerging it up to the first branch.
This is my sweet little Bonsai, I love it because it simply is… a teeny tiny baby tree!
New Bonsai - 23/12/07
I love my Bonsai! - 04/02/07
Spotted: Politically Correct Toilets
The toilets in Marks and Spencer’s (Jervis) aren’t just Male, Female and Mother&Baby - they’re also for skinny girls, frumpy girls, rugby boys, fat boys and headless babies.
Items now in my possession.
Thanks to Eirn at Celestial Ring I’ve got this brand spanking (and still shiney, as you can see from the pictures below) star tattoo on the back of my neck. It’s my first (emphasis on the first! I’m planning my next one as we speak) tattoo and I really enjoyed the experience. It’s healing really well, the only trouble I’ve had was a slight allergic reaction to the surgical tape I was using to stick the clingfilm-cover onto my skin. I’ve learned my lesson, next time I’ll choose something less irritating… blue-tack perhaps.
The other item now in my possession is a Retro LED Watch. I’ve had my eye on one of these ever since I saw one in a gadget shop in Dublin City Centre and thanks to my new addiction to Ebay, I managed to snap one up for half price. It’s a really simple watch - it tells you the time and date, that’s it. It also lights up, really brightly. I like how uncomplicated it is, I don’t NEED it to do anything else, but I also love how much it reminds me of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. It’s so 1970’s, I just love it.
New camera, same old lovable Ben.
Since my last post I have officially graduated from college, you can see all the embarrassing photos of myself and my classmates in our graduation gowns and caps over on my bebo page. I spent some time in cork working/training in the 3Store on Patrick’s Street, and other than that I’ve just been playing around with my new toy. I finally got my dream camera - the Fuji Finepix S5600 - it was a graduation gift from my parents, and by gift I mean they handed me money and said “We were afraid of getting you the wrong one.”
So far, I’ve yet to master the finer “complicated” functions of the camera, which is frustrating but also makes me realise that for once in my life I should probably read the manual. The camera takes fantastic photos and it’s really quick, making multiple shots very easy to take. The 10x zoom is incredible, it makes you feel like a spy. It’s a lot of fun. Getting clear close-up shots of small objects isn’t easy though, having tried to take shots of a bearded dragon at the weekend I’ve come to the conclusion that I must (yes, must!) purchase a fisheye lens and macro, for panoramic and close-up shots. I don’t have any other negative comments, I’m very happy with my purchase, I did have one small problem with it though.
After less than a week of it being in my possession there was one very annoying problem – the additional memory card I purchased with it was faulty. I lost all of the photos I took at the weekend. However, I was pleasantly surprised to come up against no hassle whatsoever in Pixels, where I purchased the camera. When I explained the situation, they simply gave me a new memory card, none of the usual arguments or “I’ll have to talk to the manager” bull that I’m used to from sales people.
So, to make sure it was working perfectly with the replacement card, I took some shots of my dog Ben, who is definitely no stranger to the camera, in fact he is quite the little poser as you can see below.
High Heeled Keys
Happy July, by the way. I’ll miss you June.
Below is the poster I made for an upcoming showcase gig for a friend of mine, Stacey Kavanagh. Check out the gig, she’s a great singer, piano player and songwriter.