International liebe

So I realised that I hadn't put up in a post in a while. That's because I was away in Germany this week and I just came home so this post is going to be a bit different to the other ones, might be a little sappy but oh well, mixing it up a bit!

I'll explain why I was in Germany. Last year, near the end of June, our band took part in this programme and a German band called Spielmannszug Hattstedt came to Dubin and stayed in our band hall with us. It was like having new additions to our band so we had a great time. In just one week we managed to become really close to each other and it was like they had always been a part of our band, so when they left last year we couldn't wait to see them again. Now a year later and our week with them has come to an end and saying goodbye to them was so hard. It was like saying goodbye to someone from your family. It's amazing how with only 2 weeks of actually seeing each other face to face that we have managed to become as close to each other as we are now. It's like they're a part of our band and we're a part of theirs. I can honestly say that being a part of it was one of the best experiences of my life. Any trip away with the band is always with great but this one was something else. Our band have become a lot closer because of the two trips. We'll continue to keep in touch with each other and we'll see each other again some time, no doubt about it.

Ever since they left Ireland we worked much harder on our marching, making sure everyone was in step, trying out counter marching. A lot of work was done. We even took part in a competition in Germany and worked hard on a routine for it. We're not a competition band so this was completely new to us but we gave it a go anyway. There was also a concert competition and we played The Second Waltz, The Lord of the Dance and a Coldplay Medley. The Coldplay medley was only a new piece that we got a few months ago so it was a bit risky doing it. One of the parents that came with us recorded it and after watching it back it actually sounds really good, very impressive. Here's a link of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0P3RmBRUSM

We spent a good few weekends going over the routine and everyone knew it. My recording of it isn't great so when someone else puts theirs up I'll share it on Facebook. When we were at the festival we watched all of the other bands and some of them were really good. Spielmannszugs routine was excellent, especially the drum solo. But when all of the bands went back onto the field to see who had won what and I don't think we were expecting anything. We never did competitions and we were only taking part in this one to see what it was like. We ended up winning 3rd place trophies in the concert and marching competitions! We were absolutely delighted! I'm so proud of our band for all the hard work we put in so if any of them are reading this well done guys and a huge thanks to Liam our conductor, wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for him and everyone in the band. There may have been a few setbacks when we got there but we did it anyway. Our CCYB family and German family will meet again some day. As always I'll end with a quote, this one comes from Lilo & Stitch, "Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind" / "Ohana bedeutet familie, familie mittels niemand hinter wird links"

Game of Names

Today's title is inspired by Game of Thrones (I'm nearly finished season 2, please don't ruin it for me!) I remember when I was in the first season of it and I got so confused with who's who and what they're names were. And then today I was talking to a few people about doing stuff with other people and we were naming them off when I realised that I know so many people with the same name and out of nowhere I've somehow developed a system for when I talk about them.

I'll start with my name. Now I don't know what was going on between 1992 and 1994, maybe there was someone famous called Aisling at that time, maybe she was inspirational, maybe that name happened to be in the first few pages of some baby name book. Whatever the reason there are a lot of people named Aisling with a variety of different spellings for it. In my year at school there were 7 people with that name. Wouldn't you know that 3 of them become friends and end up in the same form class together making life that bit more difficult? Our group had nicknames for each other though so that was fine. I have a good few nicknames, Ash, Ling, Smurph, Smurphy, Murphy, there's another one but I can't put that up because out of context it sounds so wrong! There is a story behind it and if anyone really really wants to know then just ask, I don't mind telling it because it is actually a funny story! One of my friends who came up with that name has a blog too so you should all have a look at that, it's really good -  http://werunwiththedevil.blogspot.ie/. But anyway, if anyone just called out "Aisling" the same response would come out all the time : which one? Now since coming to college I have found many more Aislings. One of them from school happens to be in my music class so it's even more confusing! She has a blog too so go check that out -  http://playingawaitinggame.blogspot.ie/. The name is everywhere!

Anyway there are going to be people with the same name it happens. It's better than getting some ridiculous name. I heard of some baseball player calling their child Diesel. Seriously? Diesel? If you're going to get inspiration from Thomas the Tank Engine at least don't take the name of the bad guy! Also for anyone that used to watch the show they have changed the Fat Controller to Sir Topman Hatt. What is this?! I loved that show. Anyway, it is also typical that you'll have friends with the same name or one of your friends knows someone with the same name and you think they're talking about your friend but you're not. I have the perfect example of this. Christina if you're reading this I hope you don't mind but you're getting mentioned! We both have friends called Joe, hope you don't mind but you're both getting mentioned too! We know of each others Joes so we'd know who we were talking about but there were times when one of us just mentioned something like "oh Joe might be coming too" and it is because of this that I have gotten into a habit of saying  my Joe or yours or using someone elses name. Speaking of which, my Joe has a blog so you should all go read that! http://hamletdroveachevy.blogspot.ie/.

There's also people out there that you know but you may not know their names. In one of my lectures for about 4 weeks one girl would come up and talk to me, she was lovely but I could not remember her name. I'd always try to think did we even exchange names, how do we keep talking without not knowing each others names? For a while I thought it was Sarah but it turns out it wasn't. Not even close to it. I only found out her real name when she added me on Facebook. Thankfully I never actually called her Sarah. I will never forget her name now though! I'm not the best with names anyway. Like I've lived on my road ever since I was born and I could probably only tell you 2 names of my neighbours. But I have techniques for when they are being referred to. Across the road and to the left is Frenchy because they're French, next to them is green door, next to them was poodle lady before she moved, next to them is sky blue because of the colour of the house, and on the end is psycho dog. Next to me on the right is the garden tools, to my left have only moved in so I need a name for them. I have names for the others too but I don't want to go on too much about them.

Well I've run out of things to say so I guess it's time to end it here! Also, there was no subtle way for me to mention my friend Denises blog like the others but she's getting mentioned anyway, go check out her blog too - http://itsallaloadofgobbledygook.blogspot.ie/. If anyone else has a blog that wants to get subtly mentioned then let me know and I'll see what I can do. Hopefully this was found interesting, maybe not but ah well. I needed something to do seeing as the sun is hiding behind all these dark clouds. Anyways I'm gonna head off for a jog before it starts to rain so I'll have to love you and leave yous once again but I'll end with a quote. This one is a lyric from The End by Kings of Leon, "I'll forever roam"

It's time to begin again isn't it?

So it looks like I found something to write about today! Like my description says I'm an imperfect perfectionist, I can't tell you all how many times I've started this second post and then deleted it because I wasn't happy with it! But yeah I've finally decided what to write now and I'm all good with this topic. I've decided I'm gonna be creative with all of the titles though, mainly because it's fun and what else would I be doing. I've taken a lyric from It's Time by Imagine Dragons but I've altered it for two reasons. 1- Seeing as it's my second blog post I'm beginning again so it made sense to add again into it. 2- I'm gonna talk about time.

Today is one of the few days where I pretty much did nothing. I had a few errands to do (when do I not?) but not much. I was out last night so today was really a recovery day. I wasn't recovering from a hangover, just pure exhaustion. Last night myself and my friends went to Workmans. I danced a lot, I drank a lot, a lot went on but sure it was a fun time! Anyone who knows me, feck you don't even have to know me just look at me, will know that I'm ridiculously accident prone and unfortunately clumsy and I don't have the best balance. Like I can't even walk in a straight line sober never mind trying to keep my balance after a few drinks! But anyway, we were in the smoking area and I think I was either going to get a drink or going to the bathroom and I didn't see that there was bench beside me. However my right leg definitely felt it. Yep I managed to walk into a bench. What's worse is I can't even blame drink because I didn't have that much at that time. I must have given it a good whack though because it's really bruised and it still feels like I just hit it. Anyway after I finished all those errand today I drove to spar and got a chicken fillet roll because it's just something you have to do the day after a night out. I also got a coke with the name Adam on it, I didn't want to look for my name again, (I managed to find one last week!) I figured maybe being Adam might make the day more interesting (it didn't). The girl at the counter even looked at  the bottle where the name was, then looked at me with a very confused expression, shook her head and went on scanning anyway. Being Adam was not off to the best start.

Anyway I got home and then thought what I'm going to spend the rest of the day doing and then I thought about ways to spend my time (hence the title) I went online, watched tv, sat out in the sun for ages reading and listening to music, exercised. Exercise didn't help though because I was so tired and my first thought after it was "I wished McDonalds delivered" But I denied myself to have a tubby Thursday. Tubby Thursday is just me using a clever excuse to get food that I shouldn't get and board the fat mess express (chew chew chew!). But I got to thinking about all the ways there are to spend time, how it can go fast when you're doing something fun or if you're out somewhere, how it can go really slowly if you're doing an exam. It was about 3 and this stage and I realised that there were students doing English paper 2 at that moment. I thought how they would be racing against the clock while I was watching Friends where Joey is on a gameshow guessing what's in a fridge "Paper, snow, a ghost!" Phoebes bachelor party is going on and Danny DeVito is a stripper. The best bit is at the end though where Monica realises that her first kiss was with Ross. "You were my midnight mystery kisser! You were under the pile of coats? I was the pile of coats!" Such a good episode. But yeah I was thinking how weird it was that time was going by quite slowly for me because I wasn't doing anything important and then there were people doing exams wishing that time wasn't going as fast as it was. Mad isn't it?

Anyway I hope that you enjoyed this post, I'm having fun writing the blog anyway so even if you're not enjoying ah well. To all of you that are doing exams best of luck, I will fill you in on all of the episodes of Friends that you're missing. Also thanks for the exam weather, I have to say it's excellent this year. At least last year for my exams it lashed rain for most of them! For now I'll have to love you and leave you again but like the Terminator "I'll be back"only I won't be a cyborg assassinator. Goodnight guys!