that party last night...

swiss unilateralism

CSI Fly

Did you ever see a fly die a natural death?

I saw a fly once that was death, presumably of natural causes and not of ‘primary cause of death’ getting smashed by an annoyed human. This dead fly I saw must have been the most sophisticated fly on the face of the earth, simply judging by its choice of final resting place.

It was a really hot day in the usually not-so-hot Irish summer and I spent my time at the beach, swimming in the still really-rather-cold Atlantic Ocean.
As was making my way home, climbing up some cliffs – the normal way of reaching that beach – I spotted a fly sitting on a small plateau of rocks, just ahead of me, facing the ocean. Intrigued I inched closer. Even as I had my hand right beside it, the fly would not move, it would not even react as I gently poked it. I came to the conclusion that this fly was either a very good actor – or dead.

I stopped climbing for a minute and turned around to gaze across the ocean when I realised that this must be the ideal place to die. The afternoon sun glowing across the sparkling blue water, a light breeze soothing the skin, the view unobstructed by cars or buildings or other remains of civilisation.

And imagine the life a fly, dead by natural causes must’ve had: Being born, flying around for a while: “Wheee, there’s some meat someone left outside, yum. Oh, what’s that, the brown stuff, that’s nice too… ooh that’s fun, annoying people and all, great. Whew, now I’m tired, I’ll sit down for a moment, hey this place seems really nice…”

gain

April 23 - July 23
800kcal/day
- 30kg

I Like

I'm writing this from my new UK iPhone. And it's nice,that I can say.

delirium?

Tales Of Brave Ulysses
by Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp


You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.


And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses:
How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips.


And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.
And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body,
Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind.


The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.


Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell,
And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands
With tales of brave Ulysses; how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.


The tiny purple fishes run lauging through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

2s2b

too sick to blog

uff

completely knackered, bad cold, but hopefully enthusiastic enough for work tomorrow :)

just a quickie

hey,
need to catch the ferry at 4.
hope to meet jason later on in galway, have a couple of pints and watch england get thrashed.
in unrelated news, i think i'm pretty good when it comes to opening oysters.
see y'all later

island in the... well, grey

hi
I'm on bofin 'till tomorrow mid-day, then galway and sunday back to london.
no working internet in galway and only a darned slow connection out here, so blogging's a pain.
it's all kind of weird spending a week with the parents, weird indeed.
anyhoo, it's been nice to see my mates over here, especially the big j who I'll be meeting to watch the rugby final tomorrow evening.
it's strange, even though all seems fine my mood is a little like the weather, grey.

travels

sittting at dublin airport right now, gate A12 to be precise.
paris was wonderful and now i'm looking forward to see my mates, my parents and my favourite pubs in galway. not sure if the internet is all set up over there, though, so dont panic if I'm not able to let you know what's going on (won't be all that much anyway, it never is).

slainté

late night posts ain't no good.

Sunday in Paris.
It's marvellous here, wonderful weather, nice people and an overall great city. I mean, I wouldn't want to trade it for London as a workplace (although Proximity Paris is somewhere near the bois de boulogne..hmmm) but it certainly is fascinating. Everything seems so much more playful and more effortless than in London.
It's nice to see both those sides and I guess one should not be made to choose between these cities, but simply enjoy both of them in their right time.
à tout à l'heure,
Jean

zut alors!

the french lost to england today... too bad, but i still had a good time.
anyway, i'll know who'll i be rooting against next weekend...

A question of clothing

I like clothes. Good clothes, that is. What are good clothes? Clothes I like. Even though I possess this great knowledge, there are some questions that remain a mystery to me.

I know that horizontal striping lets you appear fatter (I don’t need that) and that vertical striping lets you appear taller (I don’t need that either).

But what about this? Does it let me appear queer?

short update

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.
- Mr Dumby; Lady Windermere's Fan; Oscar Wilde

tommorow Paris. Nice!

equal parts funny and plain stupid

Song For The Perfect Girlfriend - Watch more free videos

poetry I

The Grave of Shelley
Oscar Wilde (1881)

Like burnt-out torches by a sick man's bed
Gaunt cypress-trees stand round the sun-bleached stone;
Here doth the little night-owl make her throne,
And the slight lizard show his jewelled head.
And, where the chaliced poppies flame to red,
In the still chamber of yon pyramid
Surely some Old-World Sphinx lurks darkly hid,
Grim warder of this pleasaunce of the dead.

Ah! sweet indeed to rest within the womb
Of Earth, great mother of eternal sleep,
But sweeter far for thee a restless tomb
In the blue cavern of an echoing deep,
Or where the tall ships founder in the gloom
Against the rocks of some wave-shattered steep.

england v france in paris

hey, i just realised that I will be in Paris on Saturday when England is playing France st the Stade de France in the semis of the RWC 07. Sweet... now I really have to get a French shirt...

ugh, sundays

huh, sunday evenings, not nice. well, better than monday mornings i guess.
hitch on telly, which is alright, washing mashine running, necessary evil.
got some new sweet new shirts and a jacket yesterday, that's about all thats happenend on the weekend, which might have been a little on the dull, but certainly also on the relaxed side of things. i must admit that i really really look forward to my holidays.
got to get my washing sorted,

cheerio

rwc 07

i must clearly express my appreciation for the great sport of rugby. i always like to watch an odd bit of rugby, but since i came to england and was able to see most of the world cup in france i must say that i have become a fan. i even bought myself a little rule book because i didn't have a clue when and why penalties were called (to be honest, at first a match of rugby looked to me like one huge penalty).

sadly however ireland has already been eliminated from the tournament by strong teams from Argentina and France (they're foux about le rugby over there). so now i have to figure out who to lend my support for the remainder of the world cup.

so let's see, england already have (surprisingly to me) defeated Australia in the first quarterfinal and New Zealand are leadig France after currently 30 minutes of play by 13. New Zealand, the all blacks, seem like an obvious choice, they are favourites in this tournament and play attractive rugby. argentina also seem a viable option, even though they defeated my team. they are certainly one of the less known rugby nations, but they play with great determination and have a very talented team (and awesome shirts).

I will seve myself into the retreat of saying whoever is best should win the lot, be it the all blacks because they are a great team and show a nice haka, the french so they can retain the cup in the northern hemisphere or argentina as a reward for great effort. hell, fiji would be alright even though that would be a miracle and South Africa certainly has its chances as seen in the springboks demolition of england. may the best win... as long as it's not England!

Here are the quarterfinal pairings.

Australia v England
New Zealand v France
Argentina v Scotland
South Africa v Fiji


if you'd ask me now I'd pick rather conservative pairings, New Zealand v England with a slightly more risky pick for the second semifinal Argentina (sorry fellow scots) v South Africa. In the final I would pick the all blacks in a close match ocer the springboks... but don't take my word, I'm usually wrong when it comes to predicting...

anyway, enjoy the games
cheers, John

EDIT:
alright, fuck my predictions, france just upset new zealand again (they already did so on several other occasions, most remarkably in the world cup semis in '99) i clearly didn't see that coming again. so it will be les bleus against the three lions next weekend. just where did i put this French jersey...
obviously this probably means you should reverse each of my picks if you want to impress your friends with your expertise