catdlighthouse

Passed my test last month. The biggest car nerd in most of your lives (seriously, I'm a total geek about them) is now looking for his first voiture.

Trouble is, I'm fussy. And not as rich as I'd like to be. Let the autotrader trawling continue.


Anyone else quite disorientated by this clock shift this morning?

Hi everyone!

So, I've been in UK for a year in 3 weeks. Weird.

Work's going well, despite being given a seniour engineer's job since Christmas. I fucked it up regularly, but got through, and got my name known within the company, if not pronounced correctly.

The future of the sensors on the powertrain on the future baby range rover is now in the hands of people who know better what they're doing and I'm gladder for it.

Social life has been hectic since I got here; Jaguar Land Rover hired me as one of 150 graduates, all of whom found themselves in a new part of the coutry at the same time. If that's not a recipe for instant new friends, I don't know what is.

Still learning to drive, test's booked; Irish people will have no pity, but the 2 month waiting list is pissing me off.

But yeah, life is good, life is great. I've still got my girl, faraway though she may be. Had a great couple of weeks in the US with her last month, and am still very much in love.

Give me a shout here, on facebook, gmail or skype if you fancy a chat; just search for my full name, it'd be great to hear from people.

Also, back in Ireland next weekend. Details to follow...

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope, all my brothers were, my parents just liked my name.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Saturday, my girl was leavin again :( As was I.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Occasionally I look and it and think 'cool, it's a secret code only I can read', usually I don't though, it's very messy

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Pastrami

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No. Tiny people are awesome though.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I dunno, I get a bit intimidated when large men are as friendly as I usually am. Bit hypocritical really.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Yes.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No, the engineer in me says: it's safe. He also reminds me how often things go wrong.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Hmm... possibly Raisins, Oats and More. But you wouldn't like them. (advertising works, apparently)

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No. Except my giant safety shoes at work, they don't come off without untieing them.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Cheesecake brownie from B&J.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Size. I'm pretty heightist.

15. RED OR PINK? Red.

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Lack of drive/ being a sycophant.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST ? My Ainey.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? Sure, always good to see what's in your friends heads.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? No shoes, just black socks. And blue jeans.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Something sometime by General Fiasco. Fantastic song, check it out: http://www.myspace.com/generalfiasco

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Jolly giant Green.

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Hard earned sweat.... :P

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? A conference call about the tooling for an engine ecu bracket made in Sweden. Work is sooo exciting.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Kinda nicked it, but she's my favorite person I've gotten to know in the last year. That's saying something, I moved country and met an awful lot of people in the last year, but reckon she tops it.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Fencing. Not often on telly though.

27. HAIR COLOR? Brown. And white.

28. EYE COLOR? Blue!

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No, glasses full time though. Thinking of getting contacts for fencing.

30. FAVORITE FOOD? Most things made of decent lamb. And naan bread. And proper (lookin at the Slatterys of the world here) meatballs and pasta.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Watchmen - and I'm still not sure if I liked it.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Red Leprecon shirt, the classy machine one.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Used to say winter, but 4 years with the pav gave me a love of good weather and a good pint.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Good creme brulee, bread and butter pudding, sticky toffee pudding. Mam's apple pie.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not sure.

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not a breeze.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Good Omens, two of my fave authors writing a book together :D.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Think it's an ad for a sensor supplier.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Top gear on Dave.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)? Music and the burble of a V8. Or the whine of a V12, but we don't make those.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Stones

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Canada.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Hyperflexibility.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Dublin.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Anyone who feels like answering!

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER? Fencing, 2nd year college.

49. IS THE CUP HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY? Twice too big.

50. IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN TO DINNER WITH FIVE PEOPLE WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE? Ian McKellan, AIne, Matt Bellamy, Terry Prachett and Jeremy Clarkson. Although Aine'd kill him. I'd say Alan Moore, based on his writings, but he's a scary lookin bastard.

1.  

   ( 2008 meme )

    

Good fun:

The Meme

1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Create your album cover and post it.

Questions answered here....

Starting in September I will be a design engineer with Jaguar/Land Rover. Life is good.

Hi everyone, merry Christmas, hope you're all having a good day.

Mine's been pretty good, comprising of booze with the neighbours before midday, a fantastic lunch, an afternoon playing UT3 (which rocks), turkey sandwiches (which I love almost as much as the dinner, wierd, I know) and general merriment. Other than the fact our central heating's busted, which is why I write this from inside a cosy sleeping bag.

On sunday went out to celebrate the season with old classmates from college and upon leaving the restaraunt realised I had forgotten my scarf. On returning I was told a long winded story about hobos stealing it. Sorta shit you can't make up, so I let it lie., and the waiter was deadly, so even if he kept it, he deserved it, we didnt tip enough, and they didnt charge us for the 2nd bottle of wine, always a nice show of appreciation.

So yes, another year over, a new one just begun. Let's see where it leads us.

Title says it all.

Well, if you don't speak Irish it says gibberish.

I've been given a 6 week position teaching junior cert Irish classes. As a mechanical engineer, this is quite strange. More worrying still is the fact I'm enjoying it. I've been subbing for 2 weeks now, and found that I still have a damn good knack for technical drawing, and passing it on. The number of students that have asked me to off their regular teacher so I can steal their place is, worryingly, countable on 2 hands.

I'm in the school I attended until 4.5 years ago. All the 'sirs' and 'misses' now have names like Malachey (Heffo), Timmy (the Block), Gail and John (Gobbo). It's rather odd. But fun.

And the pay is a ludicrous hourly rate.

In other news, I am happy again, in general. This is due to my little lady (who sees tall people) returning to Ireland, although she's having problems with stupid Trinity beurocracy, which ain't good.

Scanno/CatScan/Cathal/ Mr. Scanlon out.

So, I'm still a bum :(

A few questions to answer from the lovely vuirneen.

Here're the rules of engagement:
* DIRECTIONS: Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random. Whatever you like. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions. Include this explanation. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

Without further ado, here're my questions and answers:

The story of my first car crash follows;

Some of you may have heard me wax lyrical about one of my local pubs up on a hill, so small that the toilets are in, essentially, an out house. There's still a bar and lounge inside (ie, one half has a couch against the wall. And a pool room, which is so ludicrously small I did my funny bone in on the edge of the shelves for drinks that are six feet off the ground.

So, my friend Fi came over for the night to chat and talk and plot and lament as we always do, and I decided to show her this place. My brothers came too, one even drove us up and didin't drink so Fi could have a couple (although she didn't in the end). Leaving at a respectible 11.15 or so we were on our way home. A bit too fast. Coming up to a deceptionally sharp bend we went onto the grass verge and the car flipped.

None of us are sure what way it went, me and Fi are sure it went onto the roof at some stage, the brothers say it was on its side and nearly toppled. Don't think we'll ever know. I know it was friggin scary. The others all say it went very slowly in their heads. No such thing for me. My corner (the front passenger seat) took the worst of it;; just saw blurs of green in front of me. When I realised we were kind flying I thought 'Shit, I';m too tall for this car, I'm going to hit my head off the ceiling. And I did. And it hurt. A lot.

Next thing I knew the car was stopped on its side (mine). 'I'm ok, is everyone else?', three yesses reply. Brother driving winds down his window and unclips his seat belt and climbs out the top of the car. The front of the car must have been on a ledge, because the two in the back climbed through the left hand side window. My arm wsa against the ground. Not a window, which was shattered. I think my elbow broke it. I unclipped and climbed out the top window of the car, using the seat as a ladder. Some locals had heard the noise and come out to check what happened. My arm was covered in blood from the glass, so myself and Fi went off to clean it up. Noone else was injured.

Not much else to say. I was woozy from the whack on the head and my neck hurt, so the others went home and to bed, and I went to A&E and got checked out. Nothing wrong except a bit of swelling and a bang on the knee where it went into the dashboard.

Two days later the only thing wrong is a stiff neck, and my brothers car might be a write off.

In other news, I'm still a bum. Had an interview with Cadbury's on Thursday, hopefully it went well enough to get me the job.

Got my results today; 2.1.

The least deserved 2.1 in history. As any regular to the gamers room will testify; I was quite a regular in the room this year. Me and Clone once spent a whole afternoon/evening playing 6 games of Mordeim in a row. Any regular in the pav will tell you similar things there (without as many toy soldiers). I went to New York for 3 weeks of my Christmas holidays.
I started studying for the bulk of my exams the evening before they were on. I drank copious amounts, and fenced 6 hours a week for a lot of the year. And yet Trinity give me the second best degree possible.

Life's weird.

In other news, my little brother turned 21 2 hours ago. As did my big brothers gf.

Life's weird.

My gf is in America. I am not.

Sometimes life sucks.

I'm spending my days with friends, or painting toy soldiers, or playing BF2 online, my new crazy heroine-like addiction.

Life is overall pretty good.

So, in the middle of exams at the moment; got Tribology (the study of lubrication, friction and wear) on Wednesday. Nothing catastrophic so far; 2 down, I'd say 2.2 average only :(

Kinda hate myself (well, in a non emo-kid way, I just bug me occasionally) for how much my work ethic has died in the last four years. I'm in the middle of my finals. In 39 hours I have an exam I haven't even begun to revise for. I sat an exam today that I started revising at midnight last night. The worst day of my acedemic career was the day I realised I only needed a B average to get the course I wanted.
I was the top achiever in my school, yet I gave up on working to get the results I needed that day. There wasn't much of challenge in the leaving cert. Or first or second, or hell, even third year college. There was a hell of a lot of stuff I never understood, but there were easy ways around it. The one time I truely truely deserved to fail (I didn't attend a maths course all year, other than the first 3 weeks of 24), I got a sample paper, learnt the solutions by rote in 4 hours and got a 2.1, because the lecturer didn't know how to mix it up a bit.
I'm just a bit worried because I finish college in 2 weeks. And I'm supposed to know enough to be a professional engineer. Life's weird.

Speaking of weird, here's a song by a Canadian band who almost exclusively sing about lovecraft. Here they sing about maths. Can you work out Y?

 

( Read More... )

Righto folks, that nice chap KB asked me these questions on condition I'll ask whoever wants me 5 questions. Just post a comment stating so, and it will be done!

1) How did you get into fencing?
I always wanted to learn an armed martial art, but am not a katana fanboi nor do I have the patience to learn an eastern art and all the meditation it invloves. Fencing was there at freshers week and I joined and it has brought me much happiness.
2) Ditto gaming.
I am a nerd. Someone brought toy soldiers to school. I was intrigued. I played wargames throughout secondary school, and joined gamers in college, where I got into other stuff.
3) Name one game that you've no desire to play, ever.
Spoils. CCGs don't do it for me, especially not ones trying to be funny.
4) How many fencing swords do you own?
Only one at the mo. Used to have 2, but I broke one over a teammates head in training :(
5) Which way is the enemy's gate?
Always down, according to my nerdy-in-her-own-special-way girlfriend.

.... but it's ok cos I'm:

Hi all, have y'all missed me?

It's been a number of months since my last uninteresting meme. There's another below. I got a sabre or rapier! Who knew?

In real news; final year is a chuggin on by. Was terrified of the whole "60 page thesis" thingy. Started working on it just a second ago, and it looks like 60 pages isn't going to be all that unreachable a target. It has to be double spaced ffs!

Fencing 4th year has been and gone, I reckon I'll be lucky to hold a sword again before the exams. €130 for a couple of months of fencing when I'm not studying seems a bit steep (new gym on campus). We lost the varsities, yet again, UCD beat us by 2 matches. When every team fences 48, loosing 45-43 ain't half bad, especially when 3rd gets about 30, but it's still not first :(

Not much else going on at the mo; had my final presentation on the robot arm of doom on Monday. You all missed seeing me in a suit and tie! Wow! I hear you say. It went well, presented in front of 8 classmates. People I hadn't talked to in months came over to congratulate me on a great presentation later, when they weren't even there! Apparently I'm that damned good ;)

Anywho: meme!

Short Sword You preferred a weapon with 29% power over speed and 9% range over melee.

You use a Short Sword. Stylish and deadly, a short sword, sabre or rapier is your weapon of choice. You are well aware that an edged weapon puts you a cut above the rabble, but you also keep your blade relatively small to give you the quickness you need to stay on top. Your opponents seldom see your attacks coming, and by the time they could have regained their senses, they are all dead.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on power You scored higher than 99% on range

Link: The What's Your Signature Weapon Test written by inurashii on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

This is.... interesting. Apparently Aine is not the only one who thinks I'm "cute". The internet does too.

Disorder	Your Score
Major Depression:	Very Slight
Dysthymia:	Very Slight
Bipolar Disorder:	Very Slight
Cyclothymia:	High-Moderate
Seasonal Affective Disorder:	Slight
Postpartum Depression:	N/A
Take the Depression Test

"I need ram that'll work in my computer

Hmm, that's the old chip, yep we have that.

And it'll work?

Should do, if that's what's in it.

Will it?

Well, if it's the same stuff as is in your hand.

If it doesn't work can I bring it back?
( this takes a while... )

Fuck I hate customers. The actual conversation was much longer with more expletives (on his part) and more yelling (on both our parts). Ruined what had been a good day at work, and I'm still pissed off about it. Worst thing was, he started talking to me after a colleague had already told him we don't refund ram, and he wanted me to say otherwise. Wanker.

I have no news. Life is rather boring of late.

(Click here to post your own answers for this meme.)

✓ I miss somebody right now.	× I don't watch much TV these days.	× I own lots of books.
✓ I wear glasses or contact lenses.	✓ I love to play video games.  (Neverwinter ahoy)	✓ I've tried marijuana.  (Too drunk to notice the effects though)
✓ I've watched porn movies.	× I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.	✓ I believe honesty is usually the best policy.
✓ I curse sometimes.  (sometimes?)	✓ I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.	× I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.

( it goes on... )