Pub Scene

last night my roomies and I went to a pub and watched our first world cup game! I know, I have been dragging my feet to do it. but it going on all month, and I have all of scotland...
anyhoo, we got to the pub and Sweden v Paraguay was just about to start. it was an awesome game! we decided to root for Sweden because they had more fans in the stands. you know, since the world cup is in Germany...and Paraguay is on a different continent. nobody scored for the first 85 minutes of the game! talk about exhausting. I am so out of shape that watching grown men running back and forth for 90 minutes left me winded. Sweden had so many missed goals, and the Paraguayan goalie was amazing! he saved so many shots, and was jumping and diving. soccer is such a rough sport I am shocked that every player didnt leave with a leg torn off. seriously, there should be limbs strewn all over the field. these guys are vicious.

after the game we were getting up to leave the pub when we heard music coming from another room in the bar. we got into that room and found traditional irish music!! I had a tour guide tell me that true irish music is started up spontaneously and in between songs the musicians drink and make jokes.
I found it! I found real Irish music! we got into the room and there were already 15 musicians sitting around a table! multiple fiddlers, guitarists, flutists, and three accordian players! in the time we were there, about five more musicians just walked in with their instruments and pulled up barstools and joined in the songs.
each song was started by one musician and as soon as the others recognized it they all joined in. it was amazing!
one Irish guy near us, told us that this was very unusual to have so many musicians together. most pubs would get maybe 4 or 5 people playing music, and he said that it wasn't really done much in Dublin either. so we hit the jackpot! I took a 15 second movie on my camera to record some of the music. apparently it happens every thursday night. yeah, I am feeling pretty cool right now.

today is Bloomsday!!

what? what do you mean you have no idea what Bloomsday is? it is only one of the biggest literary celebrations in the world. sheesh. ok, actually it is only celebrated in Dublin. but...
every June 16th Dublin has daylong festivities centered around James Joyce's book Ulysses, commonly described as 'a day in the life of an ordinary man.' the novel, a mere unreadable 800 pages, takes place on june 16th, 1904. it follows a couple characters actually, and it loosely based on the Odyssey. loosely. so far all the Irish people I have talked to have said that it is a time to see some freaks, and all of them have attempted the book, but none have read it through. hahaha

I am going to an evening performance of some key scenes in the book. it should be a nice way to end my time in Dublin. today is my last day here.

so, some housekeeping issues: I may or (more likely) may not be able to post tomorrow, or sunday. I don't know what time we get settled in Edinburgh tomorrow, and I don't know if they have computer labs open on sundays. hopefully I will have access pretty quickly though.

have a grand weekend all!