Author Archives: Donncha

About 10 weeks ago my girlfriend and I broke up. I’m not one for expressing myself in a public forum about my personal life so the matter has remained mostly offline.
On the advice of a very good friend I took to writing my thoughts and feelings down in a place where nobody will see them. Dead tree format’s too insecure so I’ve made a lot of use of Open Office!
Now I’m trying to figure out why writing things down helped so much! Maybe it’s just a coincidence, or perhaps it’s because I can write down what I wouldn’t tell anyone? I think it may be because by writing I need to concentrate. I need to face bare facts, and not have half forgotten conversations over a pint in a pub.
Hehe. I used to think my emotions, feelings and motivations were clear to me as I was “master of my own destiny” but the more I explore and examine the more I realise how little I know about what makes me tick!

At first when John pointed me at this report, I thought, “I speak Irish, but how many of my friends do? How many times do people really do business as Gaeilge?”
That’s not the point however. Many Irish people are willing to let our language die but with it will go a rich heritage (and I’m talking of more than Peig!) and culture.
There’s a new generation growing up who’ve gone through the Gael Scoileanna and have a sound understanding of the Irish language. It’s a slow process but schooling is much better these days, and hopefully today’s parents will get over the mental block that old style Irish teaching brought with it.
Conradh Na Gaeilge have almost the same text on their homepage. It’s not likely to stay there indefinetly so use the above link if you’re reading this a year from now!

I can’t comment on the validity of most of the arguments used here but what’s there is disturbing – on both sides. Here’s a counter arguement against the most shocking fact i read there. In the interests of fairness I might as well link to a pro Islam site too..
“It’s on the Internet – it must be true!”

Happy birthday Louise! hehe. Told ya I’d blog this!
Upstairs in Cubins is pretty mad! Wondering now.. when was the last time I was out this late on a Tuesday night? Too long! Just please, don’t throw anything difficult at me tomorrow!

On a more serious note, Ivan Noble was on The Last Word talking about his fight against a malignant brain tumour. He’s gone through a lot and he’s documenting his experiences online. He has links to previous posts up there too making it easy to read back on his progress.
I hope that tumour stays in remission for as long as possible Ivan!