Day six

Not much happened on this day. We had a bunch of free time and I went shopping.

Night was kind of chaotic... I'm losing my work ethic because I've gotten to talk to you so much.

Day five perhaps?

It's really hard to write when I actually get to talk to you, but I want to keep my work ethic up.

So waking up this morning was difficult, and Emily was talking to me at the beginning, but stopped after breakfast. She was being very cold and uninclusive for most of the day. Ah, Blogger, I know that's not a word.

So breakfast was pretty much the same, and then since I was in the second horseback riding group I slept in the lobby. I really liked my horse; her name was Pepsi and she was kind of lazy, but once I got her into it she was really great. I forgot how great riding is because I haven't done it for such a long time, and I kind of want to get back into it.

So after horseback riding was Blarney Castle which I explored with, actually, the same group of boys I explored Bunratty Castle with. Well, just about. I couldn't manage to kiss the stone because I was too scared, and it was terrible how everybody made fun of me... in a way I felt bad because this woman lent me her coat so I could go and not be absolutely freezing, and then I didn't even kiss the stone.

But anyways. I forgot about lunch! We only had 20 minutes to locate and buy lunch after horseback riding, so Sophie, Birdie, Mary and Chris's mom and I all went to a Costa. I got a chicken salsa panini and a really delicious almond raspberry type pastry and a Fanta. The soda didn't really go all that well with the spicy sandwich, but whatever.

So the hotel stuff was awkward... which I told you about. It's cool, though. I'll be alright.

Told you a lot about dinner too, it's not that important or memorable, so again, it's cool.

And... going out with Jake and Chris was awesome! I really enjoyed it. We saw a lot of beautiful sights and talked about interesting things... now I know who to hang out with if I want to go about in the night and not get drunk. It's weird, because at this trip I seem to be gravitating more toward hanging out with the boys rather than the girls.

And now Emily wants to check her e-mail and hopefully all she needs is space.

Day four? Is it really?

I'd originally written an entry to type up, but it was an absolute beast and had some semi-private information that I really shouldn't let exist physically let alone put on the interwebs, so I'm just writing this on the fly. It'll probably be pretty short.

So, after I came back to the room last night and took a shower, I came out to Emily still awake in her bed. I was afraid I'd woken her up, but it turned out she simply wasn't tired... and I wasn't all that tired, either, so we stayed up and talked for 2 or 3 hours.

It was a really fantastic conversation -- I'm really glad we had it. I don't think Emily's ever talked so candidly to me, and I really learned a lot about her. I think it was really good for our friendship and understanding each other, and perhaps for Emily to further understand herself. We talked about all manner of things, from relationships to how cute the wallpaper in our room is. I don't know how late we went to bed, but it was pretty ridiculous.

Then we woke up at 7 to a wakeup call, as usual. Emily actually asked me if I would wake up so she could roll over, but I was so tired that we both ended up falling back asleep. Thankfully it was only for an hour, and then I forced myself up and woke her a few minutes later.

Breakfast was nothing fantastic, but I did manage to snag a grapefruit, which I enjoyed thoroughly. We sat with Freddy and Gordon again, but nothing much interesting happened.

Then, we began our activity of the day. Touring the Ring of Kerry. I'd been under the impression that it was a real place rather than sort of... an area. Really, what we ended up doing the whole time was driving around to see the scenery. It was nice, but it wasn't that interesting.

We stopped at a cafe where I got some delicious (and semi-expensive) chocolates, and later at an inn for lunch. I got a nice shawl there, and some curry for food. It was a weird place, though, because they essentially didn't let you handle your own tray and would have waitresses stand in front of your tray and hold it and everything. It was confusing at first, I thought someone was taking my food away from me.

So, after that it was back the the hotel and Emily and I went shopping. She got a lot of gifts for her family bought, and I got a pimpin' shirt for my brother which everybody agrees he would have to be stupid not to like.

That was pretty much it. The concert was pretty good, but the altos still had the same problem with We are the Choir and fixed one note in Shoheen Sho and then messed up on a different one.

Dinner was good, too.

You know what happened in the night... anyways, yeah, someone's waiting behind me for the computer so I'm just finishing this up really quick. I'm not using mine because it's already all packed.

Okay. Yeah.

Day three (it feels like longer)

August 16
Duration of day: 8:00 AM Ireland time – 10:20 PM Ireland time

Written on the bus to the Ferry/Hotel/in hotel Room

I changed our wakeup call to 7:30, but it still rang at 8, which was really annoying. Emily rolled over again, so I got up. All my stuff was packed except morning hygiene things. After that, I went downstairs to see if the internet was back yet… it wasn’t, which was irritating. I really hope it’s working at the Malton. It already annoys me that I’ll have to post 3 days on one day.

Breakfast was the same, uninteresting. We’re going on a ferry across the Shannon River today, and apparently we have a lot of free time, which is good. It’s funny how, when you have a busy day there’s more to write about, but less time in which is write it, and on a mellow day there’s lots of time to write but little to write about. Also, I managed to sleep a little but on the way to the ferry, which was nice.

The ferry was nice; it’s been a while since I’ve been on a boat. Apparently there were dolphins, but I didn’t get to see them. I got some “apple soda” at the little shop, but it turned out to be fermented apple soda. Yuck. The woman repeatedly told me that there was no alcohol in it, but it tasted like alcohol. I found someone else who wanted it though, thankfully.

Oh yeah, and I sat next to Chris on the bus and we had a lot of really good conversation. It was nice.

We went to the Muckross House and Gardens from the ferry. The gardens were gorgeous, and I took a lot of pictures. We had lunch at the cafeteria nearby, which was pretty good – it was the first time since we got here that I’ve been able to choose what I want to eat. We also toured the house, which was intense. It was apparently given to the state when the bride of a pair of recent newlyweds died. The house (along with 11,000 acres of land) had apparently been their wedding gift. I keep calling it a house, but really, it was a mansion. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, though.

The hotel is ridiculously nice. Really, I think it’s the nicest hotel I’ve been to. I should take some pictures. It’s just awesome. Emily and I have a room on the first floor, which is also pretty dope. I’m beginning to talk like Gordon.

Dinner was pretty good; I sat with Emily, Freddy and Gordon. Dessert, though, was AMAZING. Freddy and I got two desserts to share – one was crème brûlée. It was incredible.

After that, I went downtown. Pretty much everything was closed, though. I bought some freakishly large (and awesome) notebooks for school, as well as some colored fine-tip pens and cranberry-black currant juice. Then I went to the grocery store and for a 2 liter bottle of water for 99 euro cents and also some “Happy Hippo” biscuits. Hardcore. That’s all I can say.

Don’t really think anything else is gonna happen tonight, so I’m just gonna go ahead and post. It anything of interest happens, it’ll be on tomorrow’s post.

That is, with the exception of Emily coming to give me her iPod to charge and tell me that the number one weapon in the top ten kung-fu weapons on discovery channel is the flying guillotine.

Day two

August 15
Duration of day: 8 AM Ireland time – 2:30 AM Ireland time

Written on the bus to Rehearsal/the Hotel/the hotel Lobby

This morning Emily and I woke up at 8 to the bizarre ring of the telephone for our wakeup call. I was going to just roll over for an hour, but then Emily rolled over so I forced myself up. After taking care of the usual morning hygiene, though, I was feeling much more awake.

After Emily woke up, we went down to the lounge for some internet action and I was able to make 2 posts… it was really irritating, though, because I spent about 15 minutes trying to format the itinerary post so all the text was the same size, but it just refused to cooperate. Everyone wants to use my laptop to check their e-mail, but it’s okay… maybe I can rack up some favors that way.

Breakfast was only okay. There was some really good black currant jam, though.

The first thing we did was go back to the castle where we had dinner last night for a tour. It wasn’t too interesting, but it was fun to explore all of the little stone spiral staircases. They were a little scary, because they were so thin. I went all the way to the top from two different staircases and the second time I took some really cool pictures. I’ll post them if I can…

It was really difficult to keep track of people in the castle, so I ended up switching groups a bunch of times. Towards the end, I was with Freddy and Jake, but then they decided to go pet the miniature horses (they are different from ponies), so I spend some time with Hannah, Bryce, Chris, and Chris Laux. It was really hilarious, because Freddy ad Jake were sitting two or three hundred feet away from us, sitting on the stone wall next to each other and petting the horse. Somehow, it looked like a romantic moment, so we took incrimination photos (you’ll see them on facebook within the next few days). It was all very amusing.

After that, we went to a farm for lunch. It wasn’t very substantial, but we had a good time. I sat with Hannah, Maria, Reed, Chris and Chris Laux. We had some very… interesting conversation and Reed managed to spill all of his coffee through 3 different incidents, as well as get sugar all over his hair (which still mystifies me). At one point, Maria made an extremely perverted comment, which earned her criticism, but caused the conversation to go downhill from here. (By the end we were talking about Reed selling his “white sauce” at the market, and how his face on the bottle would definitely boost sales. It was a fun time. We were forced to tour the farm, which was not so interesting (I mean, a farm’s a farm, wherever you are) and then made our way to Ennis. Oh yes, and I suspect Bryce likes me a little, but that could just be the way he is.

We actually got to explore Ennis a little, which was awesome because we haven’t really done anything unstructured so far. Gordon’s been whining about wanting a cheeseburger since we got here, and he finally got one. I went to the bathroom in the restaurant and it was up like 4 flights of stairs. It was a hike. On the way back to the bus I saw some bright green sparkly Hello Kitty flats, and I was really sad that I didn’t have enough time to see if they had any in my size. I took a picture, though.

We then went to rehearse and have dinner, Apparently there are actually 4 alto twos instead of 2, so I was pretty happy about that.

Dinner was alright, but the knives were really not sharp enough to cut the food so it was kind of a pain. The dessert was amazing, though. Halfway through dinner I got this really sharp pain in one spot on my stomach. I immediately thought it might be me ovulating, but it’s only been about a week since my period ended and it was a little too high up… it was really worrisome. My cheeks were really warm, too, though not my forehead. It would really suck to get sick.

We changed into concert attire in the hotel and made our way back to the church. The concert was extremely disappointing. Only about 5 people outside our group showed up, and one was required there. The altos missed one note in “Shoheen Sho” and half of them still don’t know the correct notes for “We are the Choir.” It’s really irritating. I talked to Madelyn about it afterward, though. Also, Freddy sang his solo and I really can’t believe how he didn’t take into consideration any of Jenny Cook’s suggestions from SYMS. He sings really nasal for a bass, which is odd because basses sing in the male voice, or chest voice. Nasal singing is in the female voice, which is the head voice. Also, his “a” vowels are really odd. I’ve actually sing the same song for a recital and a competition, so I’m really familiar with it.

We don’t have a performance tomorrow, so we didn’t have a bedtime tonight, which was pretty awesome. It meant I got to talk to you a little bit! What was not so awesome is how like 5 people wanted to use my computer, and just when I got to talk to you. Also not awesome is how the power went out. Yeah, sorry about that. The power came back on, but I think it’s coming from a generator the hotel has, and the town still doesn’t have power. Which means that wherever we’re getting internet from doesn’t have power. I feel really bad for Madelyn, because she was using the computer when the power went out, and her reason for checking e-mail is that her aunt is sick or something, and she is just hoping that she lives through the night.

Typing this all up is so tiring! But part of the reason is because I had to type up yesterday and today. The next hotel is the Malton, so I know I have internet. After that we’ll be in uncharted territory.

I hope you’re on late into your night! Then you might actually be up when I get up, and we can talk. I feel so bad that I can’t get back to you tonight; I hope you’re not worried.

Oh well. Up to bed. We’re leaving bright and early, unfortunately.

Day one

August 14
Duration of day: 10:30 AM Ireland time – 12:30 AM Ireland time

Written on the bus to Falls Hotel

Customs was a cinch when we got off the plane. No long line or anything. Unfortunately, Gordon’s bag was lost, though. We’re hoping it’ll be sent to us within the next few days.

Instead of going right to the hotel, first we went to the Cliffs of Moher. It’s nice and everything, but I’d really begun to run out of steam. For a while the hour bus ride was exciting, talking about the scenery with Leah, but I started to fall asleep.

The cliffs were beautiful, but also got old fairly quickly. Leah and I wanted to go into the area of the path past the sign that warned of “extreme danger,” but Emily didn’t want to at all. She ended up walking off a bit angrily, even though we didn’t even spend 5 minutes there (because it was, in fact, dangerous). But so Leah and I went after Emily and she was still not pleased at all, so I decided to give her some space… and Leah decided to follow her. I walked around, a bit frustrated at Emily and in an increasingly sour mood… you see, my camera wasn’t working at all and I couldn’t figure what the problem was, and my cell was no longer in my pocket, meaning it was either a) on the ground near a cliff, or b) on the bus. I decided to check the latter first. On my way back to the bus I saw Emily, and she’d decided to be friendly again. She fixed my camera, somehow, and accompanied me to the bus to check for my cell. It was there, thankfully.

We then took off, after waiting for a few stragglers. I was under the distinct impression that we were going to the hotel directly from the cliffs, but it turned out that we were driving about to random places which had rocks that were somehow deemed interesting or historical. Leah and Emily got off the bus at every stop, while I tried (with little success) to sleep. I’d been awake far too long at that point.

Finally, we arrived at the hotel and got to take showers and naps. I’d been extremely worried for a little while, thought, because I realized that the plug sockets for my converters were for two-pronged plugs and that my laptop’s plug was three-pronged. I’m actually surprised that I didn’t freak out a whole lot, but, thankfully, it turned out that Emily has the right kind of converter for me to use. We owe her.

I felt really refreshed after the nap, and then it was time to leave for dinner. We went to Bunratty castle for a “banquet”… it was… interesting. First, we were entertained in a kind of “lobby” in the castle, and the minors were given juice while the adults were given mead. During the banquet, there was mead and wine on the table the whole time. Madelyn had told us we could try it, but not to go overboard. I had to fight with myself not to – I’m curious, but I know, specifically for me, it would be wrong to drink alcohol. We were first given a delicious potato soup, and then some sort of off pork rib dish. Emily and I opted out, so we got melon instead… and forks. It’s supposed to me “authentic,” so the only utensil we were originally supplied and allowed to use was a “dagger.” Then, we had chicken, and Emily and I had the wonderful advantage of being able to use forks. One of the jesters came around and took Emily’s fork, though. Thankfully, he seemed not to notice mine. Once again, I ate too much.

The whole time there was this odd, audience participation roleplay in which Madelyn’s husband was the Earl of the castle. At one point, as Earl, he forced this odd southern man (from the audience) to sing “Whiskey in the Jar.” Some of it was too outlandish for my taste.

Oh yes, so I mentioned the mead issue, yes? Sorry if this post is a little jumbled; I wrote most of it when I was very tired. So, at any rate, mead is not quite as obvious as a color as red wine, so I was having trouble toward the beginning of the night with telling which pitcher was water, and which was mead. The boy sitting across from me had about two cups of water before he decided he would deliberately go against Madelyn’s wishes and nearly drank the whole pitcher. At one point, being nearly out of water, and having just seen him pour a fairly clear-looking liquid into his cup, I asked him for some. I took a sip and it was terrible – they’d talked a lot about how mead has honey in it or something, but it’s just as terrible as vodka.

I don’t know how Max drank so much of it. Alcohol is ridiculous. It tastes bad and it’s bad for you – it says really bad things about people’s psychological state and our society that anyone drinks it.

After dinner some people dressed in medieval costumes sang some madrigals. There was a harpist and a violinist, too. The violinist looked a little like a brown-haired Snape and looked very meek and confused. We learned his name was Seamus, so when he played we cheered and clapped extra loud for him. He looked so unsure, but he really was a fantastic violinist – he had very good form. I’m afraid he thought we were taunting him. I wonder if it was his first day.

Then we went home, and I was really looking forward to getting online to see if you were on and make a post, but since we have a concert tomorrow Madelyn ordered us to go to bed right away and even had a bed check. I couldn’t spend any time typing, either, because Emily wanted to sleep.

We’re not even really going to have any free time tomorrow, either.

If you look at the itinerary, this is technically day zero

August 13
Duration of day: 8 AM Eastern time – 10:30 AM Ireland time

Written on the plane to Shannon

I wish I could type this on the laptop, because I type so much faster than I write. …it’s been a while since I’ve really written anything, though. I haven’t seen my own handwriting for quite a while.

Today was… uneventful, I guess. Sherry and I were nearly late for the flight from Boston to JFK, but we got there all right. The flight was so short I wonder why we even bothered – you see, we had a 35 minute flight down to NY, and now that we’re flying back over Boston to get there. Although the ridiculous 7-hour layover was fun at times, it’s a little irritating to know it probably could’ve been avoided.

I sat between Freddy and John on the connecting flight, and both of them were pretty quiet. Freddy was working on this summer reading, and both the books looked pretty interesting. Both nonfiction. I never pictured myself becoming a nonfiction geek.

At the airport we went to eat almost immediately… I was really hungry, but couldn’t really afford the overpriced airport food. I ended up getting a really good meal, though – I ate Chris Laux’s pizza crusts, some of Hannah’s garlic bread, the rest of Maria’s ziti and the rest of Emily’s rice. All for the low price of nothing. I love mooching.

I couldn’t access the internet, so that was pretty disappointing.

Now I’m writing with chips on my paper. Thank you for the chips, Freddy.

I don’t know how we whiled the hours away at the airport, but with about half of the layover to go, our gate was changed from gate 8 to gate 27… all the way at the other side of the airport. There was a Wendy’s over there, but I knew it would be too much for me, especially considering what I’d eaten earlier.

I got to talk to you before the flight, which was good – it actually did calm my nervous stomach.

Once we got on the plane we ended up having to wait an hour and a half until takeoff. There were 18 planes ahead of us – it was annoying. Poorly planned our schedule, Delta.

The first half of the flight wasn’t so bad; I sat between Karen and Emily, and they mostly slept. The dinner provided was pretty good. I ended up eating way too much… but it would be absolutely terrible to end up delirious and xenophobic like the last time I went traveling and didn’t eat or sleep enough.

Around the 3-hour mark things started getting really rough, though – I wasn’t able to sleep no matter how hard I tried, and, did I mention? We basically had the worst seats in the plane. We couldn’t recline (or at least thought we couldn’t) for most of the flight, and my back started to hurt really badly. You know I’m no stranger to back pain, and my usual tactic is just to bear it and complain every once in a while. I’m used to it and it’s annoying, you know? But the pain I started experiencing and my inability to relieve it in any way made my cry. I rarely cry due to physical discomfort, so it was really terrible. I cried for at least half an hour. Emily was very accommodating, though. She gave me Advil and switched seats with me and asked a bunch of times if she could help me in any other way (I told you she’s really nice).

Eventually I calmed down some and watched 21. I forget – you’ve seen it already, right? Towards the middle I didn’t think I’d like it too much, because of how much the main character loses himself, but by the end it’d redeemed itself. One thing I found funny, though, was that he wanted to go to Harvard Med School… see, MIT students shun Harvard. The badmouth Harvard kids and the institution a lot. There’s a rivalry. The MIT kids believe they’re superior because in their opinion, it’s far too easy to et into Harvard based on money or connections, as opposed to pure academic prowess. I just found it funny that they made such a huge deal out of “Harvard” when the guy’s from MIT.

I had three bananas for breakfast, and Emily ate my croissant.

Now we’ve landed and it’s another day. The cliffs looked amazing from the air, and we saw plenty cows and sheep! They had those funky energy windmills, too. Smart Irish – they don’t care if they disrupt the scenery for bona-fide renewable energy.

Ireland Itinerary

I figured this would kind of give you an idea of what's going on, and help me in case I forget what happened on a given day so I don't forget about it in my post.

Day 1 Thursday 14 August 2008

0945 Arrive in Shannon DL102

Meet Driver Liam Finnegan in the Arrivals Hall

Liam will have a sign: New Hampshire Youth Chorus

Liam’s number: Tel: 086 2585656

Farrelly’s Coaches Tel: 043 22222

1200 Visit Cliffs of Moher

Travel Through the Burren

Check into hotel

O/N Falls Hotel Tel: 065 7071004

Ennistymon, Co. Clare Fax: 065 7071367

1900 Depart for Bunratty Castle Banquet

2045 Banquet in Bunratty Castle (2 extra tickets booked) Tel: 061 360788

Day 2 Friday 15 August 2008

0900 Breakfast

Morning free in hotel

1100 Visit Bunratty Castle Tel: 061 361511

1300 Visit to Beef and Horse Farm, Newmarket-on-Fergus

Lunch at this farm

Contact: Noreen McInerney Tel: 061 368358

1700 Rehearsal at St Columba’s Church in Ennis

Contact: Rev. Bob Hanna Tel: 065 6820109

1800 Dinner in Auburn Lodge Hotel Tel: 065 682 1247

Galway Road, Ennis, Co. Clare

2000 Evening Concert in St Columba’s Church in Ennis

O/N in Falls Hotel Ennistymon Tel: 065 7071004

Ennistymon, Co. Clare Fax: 065 7071367

Day 3 Saturday 16 August 2008

0900 Breakfast

1000 Depart

Depart for Killarney

Travel via Shannon River Crossing by Ferry

1700 & 1710 Visit Muckross House and Gardens

1915 Dinner and O/N in the Malton Hotel Tel: 064 38000

Killarney, Co. Kerry

Day 4 Sunday 17 August 2008

0800 Breakfast

0900 Depart

Circuit of Ring of Kerry

1800 Dinner and O/N in the Malton Hotel Tel: 064 38000

Killarney, Co. Kerry

2030 Evening Concert in Killarney in St Mary’s Church in Killarney

Contact: Sven Nolke (weekdays after 5.30pm) Tel: 087 9921195

Day 5 Monday 18 August 2008

0730 Breakfast

Depart for Killarney Riding Stables, Ballydowney Tel: 064 31686

0830 Depart First Group 18 pax

0900 Arrive First Group

0930 /1030 First Group

1000 Depart Second Group 18 pax

1030 Arrive Second Group

1100 / 1200 Second Group

1130 Depart Third Group 17 pax

1200 Arrive Third Group

1230 /1330 Third Group

1330 Depart for Cork

1530 Visit Blarney Castle

1900 Dinner and O/N in Imperial Hotel Tel: 021 4274040

South Mall, Cork Fax: 021 4275375

Day 6 Tuesday 19 August 2008

0830 Breakfast

Free time in Cork

1730 Dinner in Imperial Hotel, Cork

1830 Depart for Crosshaven

1930 Rehearsal in Crosshaven

2000 Evening Concert in Holy Trinity Church of Ireland, Templebreedy, Crosshaven

Contact: Rev Daniel Nuzum Tel: 021 4831236 / 087 6783118

O/N in Imperial Hotel Tel: 021 4274040

South Mall, Cork Fax: 021 4275375

Day 7 Wednesday 20 August 2008

0800 Breakfast

0900 Depart

Depart for Waterford

1000 Visit Cobh Heritage Centre

Visit Cobh Cathedral

1545 Visit Waterford Crystal Glass

1900 Dinner and O/N in Days Hotel Waterford Tel: 051 877 222

1 Merchants Quay, Waterford Fax: 051 877 229

Day 8 Thursday 21 August 2008

0800 Breakfast

0900 Depart for Kilkenny

Free time in Kilkenny

1200 Lunchtime Concert in St Canice's Cathedral Kilkenny

Contact: Elizabeth Keyes (Administrator) Tel: 056 7764971

Depart for Kinnity Castle

Early arrival in Kinnitty to appreciate Castle and surroundings

1900 Dinner and O/N in Kinnitty Castle Tel: 057 9137318

Kinnitty, Co. Offaly Fax: 057 9137284

Day 9 Friday 22 August 2008

0830 Breakfast

0930 Depart for Dublin

Dublin City Tour

Visit Trinity College and the Book of Kells

1500 Visit Guinness Storehouse

1900 Dinner and O/N in Wynn's Hotel Tel: 01 874 5131

Lower Abbey Street, Dublin Fax: 01 874 1556

Day 10 Saturday 23 August 2008

0830 Breakfast

Morning free in Dublin

1130 Depart for St Patrick’s Cathedral

1200 Rehearsal

1300 Lunch Time Concert in St Patrick’s Cathedral

Afternoon free in Dublin

O/N in Wynn's Hotel Dublin Tel: 01 874 5131

Lower Abbey Street, Dublin Fax: 01 874 1556

1830 Depart for Farewell Dinner and Irish Night at Merry Ploughboys Pub

2300 Return to Hotel

Day 11 Sunday 24 August 2008

0600 Breakfast

0700 Transfer to Dublin Airport

0930 Depart from Dublin Airport DL165

I'm not gone quite yet

It's unlikely that I'll be able to spend too much time down in the lobbies of the hotels I'll be staying in, so I thought to set this up.

While it'll be my way of communicating with you (and possibly Zen as well), later it can serve as a journal of my experiences in Ireland. I usually suck at keeping journals when I'm abroad -- maybe this will change that?

T-36 hours and counting! Then I'll be on a plane bound for New York, then Shannon.

Wish me luck.