Sorry!

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I am being slow with the holiday blog but I have been hectic. I had my work Christmas Party and have been moving into my new house. I will blog about it all soon when my internet is up and running in the new house.

Soon...I promise!

XOXO

P.S. I went to the Big Brother Auditions today and I will tell you all about that too.

Holiday Blog Part 1: Travelling to New Orleans

After our 2 hour drive to Dublin, 8 hour flight to Chicago, 2 hour flight to New Orleans and all the waiting and travelling in between we were totally wrecked! Of course there were a few "difficulties" along the way.

We flew with American Airlines - Never Again! First of all when we went to check in we found out that Expedia didn't assign our seats together! We ended up having to ask the guys sitting beside us if they would swap seats with us. We were both sitting in the two emergency rows in one window and one aisle behind each other. So I asked the two guys if they would move and of course they refused! One of them said, "Well, if it was an emergency row seat I would." (They were both emergency rows!) The other guy said "I have to go all the way to Mexico!" (We had to go to New Orleans and why would that matter when he would have had exactly the same seat but one row back) I was really ticked off! Who would refuse that???? I just put it down to different cultures, if you know what I mean!!! Although they must just be a**holes. So to be honest my view of those people really coloured the start of my holiday.

To top it all off we had to spend 8 hours on a plane that came from the 60's. There were only main tvs so to watch the only film that was on you had to strain your neck to watch one that was miles away from you. I will never complain about great companies like Virgin Atlantic/Cathay Pacific or any of the others again! At least the staff were pretty decent.

We finally arrived in the "great" old U S of A and then we had to deal with the Taxi Driver from hell! He didn't seem to know where he was going, didn't seem to know what we said, couldn't speak english, was a bit of a perv and drove like a maniac!

The next thing we had to deal with was the Hotel staff. We got to reception to find out that we couldn't get the room we had booked and this was relayed to us by the rudest reseptionist I have ever met! She wouldn't look us in the eye, was visably annoyed and seemed to be bothered that she had to deal with us at all. She didn't smile the whole time she spoke to us...but with all the one word answers she was giving us I assume she was just a miserable kind of person. Marie and I were sooo tired that we just took the room and went on our way. Thank god the room was decent or I would have blown my top and started complaining to the management. Marie doesn't like it when I complain so I have to hold back when she is around unless it is totally necessary.

So let's just say our holiday didn't get off to the best start! We were hoping it would get better.

Holiday Blog

Hey guys,

So as some of you might know I am just back from 2 weeks in the States. I want to tell you all about it but it might take a while so I am going to blog it in a few different parts. Don't worry I will put some photos on there for you to have a look at. There are probably too many photos of me eating but you know that's what I love to do. Have a read, post a comment or email me if there are any parts you find funny or interesting. It was a very "different" trip but it was fun!

Such a long time

Sorry for not posting in a while. Between changing jobs and going on holiday I haven't had the time to blog but I do have an awful lot of news and photos that I will be posting soon. For the meantime I will post the video of my favourite song of the moment. It has to be Take That - Rule the World. Marie and I listened to it non stop on the road when we were driving in America. Enjoy!

More Sleeping Pics

My mate Jackie just updated her album of sleeping people. There are some crazy photos but they are all so hilarious.

Check them out! Jackie's Sleeping Pics

Marie passed her driving test!

Marie passed her driving test today. It's great that I don't have to drive her around anymore. It's even better that she did it all herself and it has given her another confidence boost. So, I'm dead happy for her. She got straight into the car after the test and drove herself to work. There was an article in the paper the other day saying that it was really hard to pass the driving test in Belfast compared to the country test centres and that Marie's test centre had the lowest pass rate. She was the only one of four people to pass in her time slot. Lucky girl!

For those of you who don't know...the learners begin with an "L" plate to show they are Learners and then change to an "R" plate showing that they are restricted drivers for 1 year after they pass the test.

Dad's on holiday at the moment so I took these photos for his benefit really but it was funny to take the mikey out of Marie too. I took some videos too but haven't put them up yet. Might do that later.

*No photos sorry! Marie made me get rid of them...lol.*

New Boy Bands!

I'm so happy...lol. I found a new korean boy band that I am loving! They are called Big Bang. I don't know much about them yet but I am loving as much as I know...hahaha.

The next group is a group I already knew about but didn't have any of their videos. Now I have!

Unemployed Again!

Life sucks sometimes...that's what people say. For me I think it sucks ALL the time.

I was offered a job with another politician and was really excited about the opportunity but it has all fallen through because he offered me a really poor salary even though he had promised to pay me more than I was getting in the temporary job. I was unhappy with the offer and he then came back to me with a "better" offer which was still less than I was getting in the other job. So basically in the end I turned the job down.

So I am back to being unemployed and miserable. I could have been searching for jobs but thought this job was going to go ahead. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket! It was very silly of me to believe it all and not ask more questions at the time. I suppose at least I have learnt something from it. Unfortunately it is still an ongoing saga because he is a friend of the family so it is much worse.

Also I am single again! I broke up with the guy I was seeing because I wanted to be on my own and be single for a while. I starting seeing this guy just after I had recovered from the breakup with my ex from Japan so I had no time to just breathe and be on my own.

Hopefully now I will be able to get my head clear. Wish me luck!

Sleeping on trains

Sleeping on a train was something I was never able to do but this guy has a skill!

I was never able to take photos of these people but my mate Jackie sent these photos to me...bloody brilliant!

Quote of the day

Love many, Trust few, Hurt none.

This is a quote from a cool old dude called Yau Man who was on Survivor Fiji the reality TV show in the US. He was robbed from that victory!

Busy Times

I have been so busy recently and haven't really had time to let you all know what I've been up to. So here goes....

I've been working for a local politician for about 2 months on a temporary basis. My contract is up at the end of June but I might be staying on for another month to help out. I had applied for the permanent job but decided to withdraw from it.....it's a very long story.

Haruji came to visit for a few weeks. It was great to see him but I was so tired when he left. My brain was tired from speaking Japanese so much. I have some more pictures to put up here soon...maybe with this post...lol

Life has been revolving around politics recently and it is really quite suffocating. I need to take a break soon!

I have been dating someone for a few months now and it is going well. My ex and I split on good terms so thats ok, we still talk sometimes but I have moved on. Realism is definately something I have learned.

I am planning a trip with my sister to a book convention in New Orleans in October...sounds so nerdy!!!! Might go to Japan or Hong Kong before that though. I really miss Asia :(

Anyway, hope to talk to you all soon. XOXOXO

Visitor

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I have been uber busy recently. Not only is work busy but I have loads of other things to do.

To add to that Haruji has been visiting and I haven't been able to get any time off work. So, my dad has been looking after him during the day and I have been taking him out for dinner at night. Here are a gew pics for you to see.



Haruji playing some traditional folk songs for the family.



Haruji in the old school master's chair in the Ulster American Folk Park



Me and Haruji in the rain in the replica street. It is a really fun place.

Sorry!

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been writing on my blog in a long time. I have been soooo busy. I have started a new temporary job as an assistant to a local politician. It is pretty good apart from my nasty co-worker but hey what can you do? I am enjoying my work and am still getting used to it really. Check out the picture of my work place. Yes I actually work inside this building!




I will take some photos of my own when I get a chance and you can see it a little better.

Well I am off to my bed now but I will talk to you all soon and tell you more stories about the things that have been going on recently.

Korean Pop

Most people wonder how I got into Korean Pop and I thought I would finally explain.

So my family and I went on a trip to China and the only station that had english apart from CNN was a Korean Station called Arirang. It's a great station mostly in English and it has programmes about Korean Culture, Food, News..everything really. The best thing about it was the Music Programmes. My sister and I fell in love with a song by Wheesung and when we saw the video we thought it was genius. Take a look...this is how it all started. (above)

Then we caught sight of Shinhwa and that was it! Gorgeous men with great voices...i was hooked. (below)

Nippon

So, I went to see the Under 19 Rugby World cup the other day. I went along to support Japan in their match against Samoa. They were beaten pretty badly in previous games by Argentina and New Zealand but they came out fighting in this match and started off really well. The wind was against them but they fought hard and scored first but missed out on a conversion. They started to fade a bit and conceeded a few points. Overall I was impressed by their courage and fight and even thought they lost the score wasn't too bad (28-12). They were so miserable and dejected after the game but they came to thank the japanese supporters. Some of them were really cute. I loved it...lol.

They are playing Ireland on Tuesday so I will try to go and show them some support. It's over at Shaw's Bridge at 7.30 so come along if you can!

Freaky Upside-down Photo

I took this photo the other day when I was out walking with Stephen. I was trying to get the reflection of the branches in the water and it turned out pretty well. Then Stephen looked at it upside-down (by accident) and realised that it looked really cool. It looks like a freaky night time/day time picture. I think it looks great (I'm so modest..lol.) If you want to see the original photo...tilt your head to the side..lol.

Summer is coming!

The weather is getting nicer and it makes things seem so much better. People seem happier...maybe..lol.

We had a party a while ago and we made the pavlova in the picture. It was dead easy to make though. Thank god for shop bought meringues.

Anyway, I have been taking photos lately and am planning to put them on flikr soon so I will post link here for everyone to have a look.

Talk soon, Clare.

Victory...well not quite!

So the election is well and truly over apart from the party on friday to thank all our wonderful volunteers.

How did it go? Well, overall the SDLP didn't do very well at all but personally Mum did pretty well. Her first preference votes were down 0.4% but her overall vote after transfers was up by 1%. Doesn't sound like much but it is great considering the area is mostly a Unionist area and the overall SDLP vote in Northern Ireland was down.

I supposed I should explain a bit more for my foreign friends. Basically this was a PR Election which basically means you vote for more than one person in a 1, 2, 3, 4 ..... order, with your favourite first. You don't have to vote for everyone but you can if you want to. Our number one votes were only 816 but then we were able to get votes from other people when they were elected or eliminated. For example we received 203 number 2 votes from a candidate who had been elected. So overall we reached nearly 2000 votes after all the votes were counted.

We had our first minor victory at about 8pm when we realised that our original 816 votes had risen to 1097 votes. This number led us to this first victory as we beat our closest rivals, Sinn Fein. That made me reallllllyyyyy happy! By the end of the count at about 2am we were the last to be eliminated and we had increased our overall vote which was another great little victory for us. It shows us that our work wasn't in vain and that we have more overall support in the area than we had thought. It means that we should be able to do more work and gain more ground in the future. Fingers crossed! It was also great that Sinn Fein were elimated first and that we beat them so substantially. Fantastic!

The election period, including the election day and count day, were very interesting. I can talk to anyone and even if I don't agree with their politics I can grin and bear it, smiling through gritted teeth. I was introduced to some hardliners and terrorists. I even met my aunt who is connected with an extreme political group aka dissident republicans aka murdering scum! I couldn't believe she would be so stupid to be involved with people like that but that's her choice and even though I don't agree with her I respect her right to choose. That is if she actually did make that choice herself. If I ever get married she won't be on the guest list...lol.

Seriously though it was an interesting time and I think I made a reputation for myself because I didn't even have to introduce myself to some people...they had already heard all about me...weird eh? I was quite taken aback but still don't know if it's a positive reputation or not...lol. I think a few old dudes were even trying it on with me...lol.

Overall it is a sad day for NI politics as it has descended into extremism. It is sad because the most powerful political parties are criminals and murderers. Question...If Saddam Hussein had turned around and said that he had changed his ways and wanted to be a democrat, would he still be alive? Would anyone have let him become a legitimate politician? I have no idea why the majority of voters here support criminals and mass murderers. I am still in shock! I really wish people would have some sense.

I will let you know about any developments in the future. But lets hope that things change in the future.

Hospital, Sickness and Feeling Crappy!

So, I went to the hospital at the beginning of the week for what was supposed to be a routine kind of check/test thing. I wont go into details because most of you would cringe but lets just say I think I had a bit of a reaction and have ended up with the most awful stomach pains. I have been feeling really miserable especially the last few days. I have been feeling like puking but haven't yet, thank god! Hopefully I will get better in a few days. If not it will be a trip to the doctor's for me.

On a more positive note...I have been feeling more positive about the job situation.

Maybe I should recap a bit.... When I first came back I was applying for jobs and asked my old company in Ireland to give me a reference which they said they would. When a company I applied to got in touch with them they said their company policy was to not give anyone a reference! So because of them I lost the job that I really wanted. I had been successful in the interview but when I couldn't get a reference I wasn't offered the job.

It all descended into a horrible mess when the company refused to return my calls or apologise for their mess up. I had to talk to a Labour relations group who advised me on what to do. I was about to go to a solicitor to seek legal advise but I decided to give the company another chance and I called the HR Director. I finally spoke to a live person! I was able to sort everything out and they have retracted and are now going to give me a reference,

It was a pretty horrible time for me. I felt totally depressed and useless and was feeling sorry for myself, feeling that I was never able to get a job and that I had wasted my time in Japan and was left with nothing to show for my life. One of those stinky times when nothing goes right at all!

I have applied for another job this week and I am waiting to hear if I got an interview. I hope I can get a job soon because I am so miserable at the moment. Feeling better but still...I hate being idle and like to work. I have been helping with the political campaigns but it isn't really enough right now.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The Family Politican

No, it's not me! The family politician is my mum. She is standing again in the Assembly Elections in Northern Ireland. I thought I would put up some of the leaflets for you to see. If you look closely you will see Mum with Bill Clinton...lol. He looks very suave!

Happy Belated Valentines

Hey Everyone,

Happy Valentines....Sorry I kinda forgot about it. It was kind of a non event here. I babysat for my friend which was easy because her baby will sleep through almost anything.

I also did absolutely nothing for my birthday. I had a civil service test the next day which was 6 hours long and really difficult so I had to study on my birthday...sucks.

Although I am feeling a bit old now so I didn't really want to celebrate anyway....urgh. I'll need a zimmer frame soon.

Kit-Kat

Passion Fruit Kit Kat

This post is for all my friends who have never lived in or been to Japan!

I have told some of you about the huge amount of weird flavours of things that appear in Japan which are bizarre compared to the few choices we have over here.

My mate Glen has put some excellent examples of this on his blog. Thanks Glen.

How many Kit Kat flavours have you seen!!!!! Check it out!


http://tokyofox.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!96C35C83D3D240AF!2892/

Big Brother

So I auditioned for Big Brother last week. It was fun but a bit odd.

Started out pretty early. I woke up at 5am and took the 7am train to Dublin. There haven't been any auditions in Belfast for the last few years so everyone has to travel to Dublin or one of the other big cities. Saw 2 guys at the station in belfast and they asked me about the train. I instantly knew they were going to the BB auditions but didn't say anything. I saw them as I was getting off the train in Dublin and asked them if they were going. They said they were and I asked if they wanted to share a taxi. They needed to get some breakfast so we all decided to eat at Mc Donalds...such a healthy start to the day...lol.

After chatting over an egg mcmuffin they told me that only one of them was auditioning and the other was just coming along for the craic (fun) but we tried to encourage him to do it. He said that he just wanted to have a few pints and relax. I thought he would wait in the pub but he decided to buy some booze and drink it on the way. (That's right...you can buy booze at 9.30am in Dublin..lol!)

We finally arrived at the venue at about 10.30. Luckily it wasn't starting until 12 and most people turned up late so we weren't too far back in the queue. I think there were about 50 people infront of us but about 500 behind us...if not more! The guy who was drinking was just a bit tipsy at that stage. We waited in the queue and met a few other people. There was a girl in front of us who was wearing the stupidest costume...a maids costume over blue jeans! Her boobs were almost popping out of it. She wasn't a skinny girl either so it was no surprised that all the camera men, tv/radio crews where taking her picture and chatting to her. Me and my new friends in line were just laughing at all the weirdos.

We finally got to the audition. We were in a group of 10 together and we had to play a warm up game which was just passing a plastic ring (like a cheap version of a hula hoop) from the ground up over our head and then on to the next person. It was a like a race with another team. Luckily we didn't have to do that for long and we went on to the next stage.

The next stage was talking to two girls from the production team. They asked the goup about a moral issue...lol...basically something like "Would you tell your friend you hate their boyfriend?" Things like that. We all had to answer that and discuss it with the group. Then we had to get into pairs and find out things about our partner and then introduce our partner to the group. All this time the guy who was drinking was getting really drunk and he started being argumentative with the production girl. She was getting very defensive and had her arms crossed. I was the only girl in the group and was hoping she would be nice to me. When it came to our introduction she was not nice to me at all and even though she asked everyone why they wanted to be on BB she didn't ask me and I was the only one with a decent answer. All the fellas said they wanted to do it for fun! I was pissed but thought the best of it and tried to be positive. When everyone had finished introducing their partners they told us to talk amongst ourselves and they would decide who would go to the next stage. They then asked us to stand holding our hand up and they would stamp who they wanted to go through. They ended up picking one of the guys I met on the train (the sober one) and another guy. They were the two good looking ones. So at this stage I knew that i was never in with a chance because they wanted the 2 good looking fellas. The girl was a real nasty type but in retrospect I should have said something to her.

Anyway, I didn't get through but the busty maid did get through...lucky girl. Maybe I might wear a costume if I apply again next year...lol. There are online applications this year so I might make a video and put it online...who knows.

Well that's my Big Brother story. Hope it was interesting for some of you BB fans.

Photos

These are some of the photos I took when I was on my long walk the other day. The story of the walk is in the previous post.
Enjoy!


We decided to go off the main track. The Irish equivalent of a bamboo forest...lol


We had really great weather until the end of the walk. The sun was nice but no help for the cold.


The scariest, most dangerous looking tree!!!!


A beautiful sunset at the end of the walk. We knew it was getting late when we saw this.

Sore legs

Liza and I went for a walk today with her son and two dogs. We walked for about an hour along the river and through the forest. When we got back to the car we decided to walk a bit further along a path we hadn't walked before. What a mistake!!! The path went on forever and we kind of got lost. We kept saying we would turn back but then thought that we could keep walking and get back to where we were. An hour later we finally got back to the carpark. Poor little stephen was so tired and miserable and Liza and I were dying to get home, eat, rest and go to the loo. The weather was lovely right up to the end when it started raining and added to our misery...typical. I got home at about 5 o'clock, changed clothes and tried to thaw out.

Unfortunately I had to go out again...2 more hours walking. With elections looming I went out with Dad, Stephen and Sheila and we deliver a SDLP newspaper. Up and down driveways, steps, hills....what a nightmare. At least it didn't rain though so that was something. But I will tell you something.....my legs are killing me!!!! I doubt I will be able to walk tomorrow. After 3 months of being lazy and getting no exercise to 4 hours walking in one day...my poor body.

Will post some nice pics of the river and forest soon.

Celebrity Big Brother and Collusion

Strange mix eh? Well that's the news over here in the UK.

The Race issue in Big Brother has been a national and even international headline over the last few weeks. One of the Celebs is an Indian (Bollywood) Star and she was bullied and racial abused by some other less talented, insecure, nasty, ignorant Z-listers. It was very uncomfortable viewing! The good thing that has come out of it and one of the reasons I love Big Brother as a concept, is that it has been the ultimate social experiment and has brought a few serious issues to the public who have been able to speak out against issues that have needed attention and have gone nationally unvoiced for years. Often bullying and rascism are issues that are objective by nature and it is a he said/she said kind of situation. Often the bad guy of the piece escapes justice for whatever reason. Big Brother lets us see both sides of the story and the beginnings and endings. It also lets us have a say in the consequences. A similar thing happened in last summer’s BB with Grace being vilified as the “Bitch”. Let’s hope bully Jade isn’t able to recover from the nasty things she did which have murdered her pathetic career. I personally have boycotted her and her cronies.

The second big News Story is the Police Ombudsman Report into the Collusion between the Police in Northern Ireland (now called PSNI) and the Informers/Terrorists they were handling in the 90’s. It is an ugly issue and a problem that has been talked about for years but not totally proven. The report says collusion is a fact but further investigation is needed before anything will be done in terms of prosecution. Basically details and names are being withheld until investigations start into murder investigations, which have been hampered or affected by the police. I think it is despicable that we had/have a police force full of dirty cops. It is unfortunate and something the Nationalist community have talked about for years. It is something, which comes at a bad time for local politics. An election in March is the chance for us to move forward and have our own government and our own rights but in light of these findings I fear we will be thrown into the past again and will be locked into bigot wars. The past is the past and I wish we could all try to look past it and think about the positives like the investment coming from the Republic of Ireland, which could benefit us all. Lets hope extremist politics don’t last forever and the bigots will stay in the past where they belong.

Fingers Crossed!

Reality TV

Anyone who knows me knows I love Reality TV. From Survivor (thanks to Heath), to America's next Top Model, to the ultimate....Big Brother. I am currently watching Celebrity BB in the UK and it is proving to be a little strange. The first few weeks are always a bit slow but these few weeks have been filled with arguments, tantrums, celebrity break-downs and escapes. I love it! Can't wait for the summer BB!

Quotes

"A true friend stabs you in the front"
(Oscar Wilde.)

I came across this quote in a film the other day (Can't Hardly Wait - cheesy teen flick) and I thought it was a very interesting quote. I don't know the context of this quote but I have been wondering what he meant. Does it mean that a friend will be more honest with their deceptions or that they will damage you more in their deceit. I am heading towards the latter as the most logical or the two. Anyway, feel free to give me your opinions.

I might add a quote of the week bit to my blog....either to sum up my feelings or just for general interest or....for an easy blog...who knows!!!!

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2007! Are we all feeling a little older??? I hope everyone got drunk and snogged some stranger. If that doesnt float your boat, I hope you had a good time whatever you did.

I wasnt feeling too good and decided to stay home. So, I ended up trying to keep Diesel (our lovely dog) calm because he was freaking out due to all the fireworks that were going off. Poor Diesel was scraping at the walls, trying to get behind the tv, hide under tables and generally panicking. It took about half an hour and his favourite food...cheese!....to calm him down. So, as you can see it was a wonderful end to a wonderful year for me.

To be honest I am very glad this year is over. There are so many things I would like to do differently or things that I wish I could have done. I kinda feel like the last 3 years were a bit of a waste of time. But! No regrets! It is done now and all there is to be done is to move on and start something new.

I have a job Interview next week so fingers crossed I will get this one. I didnt get the last one but as my mum and my lovely friends said "You are overqualified for that job". I am hoping that's it...lol.

Anyway, make your resolutions! I have the usual resolutions and a few others that I still have to think out but I'll let you know how I get on soon enough.

I wish you all the best for 2007! Do everything you want and don't let other people get in your way.