St. Patricks Day In Dublin, Ireland

Arrived back to Dublin this afternoon and the city is abuzz with St. Patrick's Day parades and parties.  I met some really fun people and was having a good time as I made my way home.  When I got home Gareth was at work, but I was happily greeted at the door by our cat who didn't even wait for me to sit my bag down before jumping up into my arms and nuzzling my neck.  

I'm fighting off a bit of a sore throat and felt a bit sweaty, so I decided to head straight to the bathroom.  I stripped off my clothes, gargled with some mouthwash, popped a couple cold pills and took a long hot shower.  After brushing my teeth and putting on a pair of black shorts and my lucky green Ireland rugby shirt I'm now plopped on the couch eating a snack and watching the Ireland-England rugby game. 


Gareth will be getting home in another hour and we'll be going out tonight to meet some friends for dinner and a few drinks before heading off to a few of our friends parties.  Wishing everyone a Happy St. Patrick's day.  It's the one day of the year when everyone is a little bit Irish.

My Irish Evening

It's early morning now, most of Ireland is fast asleep.  I would be too if I didn't have to get to the ship this morning.  Our first voyage of the season is upon us.  Lots of hard work went into getting the ship ready and now the real hard work begins.  I was ready to do this for weeks, but now that I sit here in this quiet dark house with Gareth and our cat sleeping it's hard to leave. 


Earlier tonight we made a nice steak dinner together and shared lots of laughs and joyful playing around with each other.  We especially laughed when we went to bring the food to the table and found our cat already sitting in one of the chairs patiently waiting for his piece of steak.  When Gareth questioned what are you doing at the table, he boldly let out a loud meow of defiance and stiffened his feet in his chair while licking his lips.  Since we were shown who was the actual master of the house, we quickly cut him some steak and the three of us had a nice dinner together.  We joked that we were a happy little family and that the cat, our son, got my looks and attitude, but has Gareth's hairiness and appetite.     

After eating the cat took to his chair to clean himself before settling in for a nap as Gareth and I washed and dried the dishes together.  The thought of my leaving was not far from our thoughts and our conversation turned from laughter and fun to confirming if I had this or that packed.  I told him I had everything I needed.  I reminded him to pay this bill or do this errand and he replied he had it all taken care of. 


After the dishes we tried to watch a few programs, but neither of us were really focusing on what was happening.  So we turned it off and put some music on and just sat on the couch as I leaned back onto his chest and across his lap.  We sat silent except for the noise of the music, letting our fingers intertwine.  Our wedding rings, symbols of our commitment to each other, glistened in the light of the candles. 


I laid my head on his chest and could feel the warmth of his body as I listened to the sound of his heartbeat and each breath he took.  At that moment I would have given up everything if he had asked me to stay and never leave his embrace.  But that's not how life is and eventually the night ticked away until I am where I am now, sitting here in the quiet darkness of the living room already missing my family.  

When daylight comes and the ship is out at sea, I'll be doing better.  But for now I need to go wake up Gareth to drive me to the pier.  I'll sit on the edge of the bed and watch him sleepily get dressed.  His hair will be tosseled and out of place, which it usually is even five minutes after he combs it.  He'll pull on his pants and a sweater and then sit on the edge of the bed and fumble with getting his socks and shoes on.  He always does when he leaves in the middle of the night when called for work or to take me off on a journey. 


All my stuff is already on board, so I'll just grab my cat and wrap him in a blanket as Gareth puts his coat on.  We'll drive to the pier listening to the early morning talk radio programs, avoiding any music where a sad song could make things harder to say goodbye.  We'll sit in the car at the dock for a few minutes kissing and leaning into each other.  The cat will want to snuggle in with us and we'll do a group kiss.  After a moment he'll hold the cat as I get out of the car and I tell the two men in my life how much I love them one last time before I shut the door.


The cold of the morning will start to chill my body as I walk to the ship and Gareth turns the car around and they head back to the quiet darkness of our home.  Knowing Gareth, he'll give the cat his breakfast and then come and sit in this same chair I'm sitting in now.  He'll find the card I left him and he'll read it and smile.  He'll pull a blanket over himself as the cat comes to curl up on his lap.   Before long the darkness of the night will give way to the dawn.  Ireland will start to stir and awake to a new day.  I'll be miles away by the time Gareth sees his first patient and the cat curls up for his afternoon nap and we'll begin to count the days until we're back together again. 

Irish and French Draw 17-17

Dublin At Night

Almost Time To Say Goodbye

Another season at sea is about to begin.  It's going to be a busy time, but I'm ready to get back out to the open waters.  I'm thinking about stopping the blog or maybe changing the blog.  I'd like to do one that shows the side of my life from being out on the ship and the projects we do and the the things I experience but I'm afraid that would get really boring.  I'm not sure what I will do yet with the blog.  My personal life has become pretty routine and its hard to write about it right now so I give you some eye candy to look at as a thank you for stopping by. 

Ireland is close to obtaining a new immigration visa for work with the USA and Gareth has talked of us moving to the states and probably Maryland since I could easily get work on a ship and he can find work at a hospital.  But then he also still talks about going someplace he feels he can make a difference before he gets old.  I'm happy right here where we are, but I know he has the need to wonder off and do things so who knows what he has going on in his mind right now. 


Well, it's another night shift on the ship tonight getting things prepared.  I'm going to go eat some spaghetti and meatballs in the mess hall before I start my work. Go ahead, be thrilled.

Irish Polar Bears

  How cute is this face!

Scientist have discovered DNA analysis that suggests all of today’s polar bears can trace their maternal ancestry to a female brown bear in Ireland. Polar bears interbred with brown bears in or near Ireland between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago.  

Simon Katich - Aussie Cricket

Gareth and a friend of his are always talking and watching Cricket.  I'm more of a contact sport type of person.  Which explains why I get annoyed when I see a soccer player flop all over the field when someone makes slight contact with them.  We had a few drinks with some friends at lunch today and the subject turned to sports and when Cricket was brought up I didn't know anything going on in that world.  So I figured I really need to start learning more about the game so I can partake in conversations and also go to matches with Gareth where I'm not asking dumb questions.  Plus, if there are more Cricket players as handsome as this guy and Luke Pomersbach from my July 2009 post, it could become interesting.

Westlife Interview About Farewell Tour

Westlife was on Alan Carr recently talking about their split and farewell tour.  This interview is very funny and if you want to have a good laugh check it out.  My man Shane is getting them all drunk and then laughing so hard he's crying.  Great fun.

Leap Year Day - Woman Can Propose To men

Today is Leap Year Day where the Irish tradition is that for this day alone a woman can ask a man to marry her. 


It is said the tradition began in 5th century Ireland when St. Bridget bitterly complained to St. Patrick that women had to wait far too long for men to propose.  Centuries have come and gone and that's a problem men still have.
So according to legend says that St. Patrick decreed the women could propose on this one day in February during the leap year. 


The tradition was then taken to Scotland by Irish monks. Back in 1288, the Scots passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their dreams in a Leap Year. The law also stated that any man who declined the proposal in a leap year would have to pay a fine. The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves.

There is also precedent in English law. February 29th was ignored and had no legal status. People believed that traditions would also have no status on that day and that it was possible to have women propose thereby altering an unfair custom that only let men propose marriage.

In the United States, some people refer to February 29th as Sadie Hawkins Day with women allegedly having the right the right to run after unmarried men to propose.

So all of you woman who are reading this get away from the computer, put down the IPad or your phone and go get your man.  At the very least you'll get a nice dress and a pair of gloves.  

The Irish Accent

A recent poll by Parship.ie, an Irish dating service for straight and gay members, revealed that Irish people from County Donegal in the northwest of Ireland have the sexiest accent in the country. 

42% of Irish women and 39% of Irish men have admitted they go weak at the knees listening to the north-west accent.  

I have to admit that my Gareth can make talking about medical stuff sound sexy with his accent.  Sometimes I'll tease him as he's talking about something by sitting on his lap and I'll play with his tie or give him kisses on his neck and forehead telling to him to keep talking.  I'll ask him to repeat a certain word a few times. Then I'll tell him how sexy he makes the word sound.  The first few times I did this he would say the word and play along not realizing while it was sexy I was just teasing him.  It was a good way to seduce him and get him in the mood for awhile.  Now when I do it his face gets red and if he's in the mood he'll either play along or tell me to behave myself. 

The company's dating expert Avril Mulcahy said 'Accents have a way of drawing you in and holding you. It might sound assertive, confident, powerful or just downright sexy.'

The Tipperary accent finished bottom of the list with just 1% of women and 5% of men describing it as the sexiest accent.

Galway born television presenter Grainne Seoige was chosen as Ireland's sexiest female celebrity voice, getting 48.7% of the male vote.

Peter O'Toole topped the poll with a third of Irish women voting his the sexiest male celebrity voice. 

My favorite Irish celebrity voice Shane Filan.

Ocean View

Rugby's Finest - 2012 Calendar

You can thank my cousin in Australia for bringing this Aussie Bum calendar to my attention.

Montgomery Clift

Got home this morning from spending the night on the ship, took a shower and got something to eat.  I tried to take a cat nap on the couch, but the only one sleeping was the cat.  Since I couldn't fall asleep and Gareth was home we decided to watch a movie.  He put in the movie From Here to Eternity with Montgomery Clift.  I'm a huge classic movie fan, always have been all my life. 

Gareth had never watched this movie before and I had to laugh when he mentioned that he never realized movies from that time period could be as sexual as From Here To Eternity is with one of its story lines.  For me, I remember watching this movie when I was just a kid and thinking before I even knew what the word gay meant that I really liked that Pruitt guy.  There was something about him that got my attention.


When I grew up and watched the movie again I finally understood why.  It was also about the same time I was struggling with the fact that I was gay.  As a kid you're shielded from certain comments, but as you get older and you're watching a movie or reading about some celebrity people would make remarks such as "he's so handsome, too bad he's gay" or "What a nice guy, too bad he's gay" and "Such a good actor, but he's gay."  Of course, to them it was just a comment and life moved on.  But my ears picked that up and filed it away.  It also engraved in my mind that every time someone mentioned the "gay" word, it was in a negative tone.  Something to be ashamed of and only whispered about, but never spoken out loud.  So of course that reinforced the belief in me that I couldn't talk to anyone about what I was feeling.

Usually the names being mentioned as being gay were people I wasn't anything like.  Even when I heard names of people and celebrities linked to the gay word, I would think I'm nothing like them.  Most were usually effeminate men and I was definitely not that.  Even when a name like Cary Grant was mentioned as being bi-sexual, I couldn't relate to him because I wasn't the sophisticated, suave man like he was in life and on screen.

Then one day I watched From Here To Eternity with Montgomery Clift on a Sunday afternoon.  I didn't remember much about the movie except I remembered he was cute.  I didn't realize at the time that in real life he was gay.  Even though the story was set at the beginning of World War II it wasn't long before I saw on screen a character that I could relate to what I was dealing with in my own life.  The character in the movie and me in real life were both trying to do the right thing and stay out of trouble and fights.  I was constantly getting into both and after several visits to the school and with police I promised my Dad and Mom I wouldn't fight anymore and try to stay out of trouble.  Both the character and I failed at that attempt.  

It was only after I watched the movie and mentioned to someone that I thought it was a good movie and I really liked Montgomery Clift did someone mention he was gay.  I then went out and got the movie and watched it again.  Even though the character he plays isn't gay, I still related to the character and now knowing he was gay in real life I finally found someone that seemed to be like me on screen.  I remember wanting to know more about this man and when I found out the details of his life and death, I started to wonder if that was the ending all gay men have?  I was depressed for days.  We're we all doomed with a lifetime of alternating between hating and accepting who we are, and only for a brief few moments in between that struggle could we find love and live a normal life? Knowing that in the end we'll fail and are doomed to die sad, lonely and broken.  
 
Fortunately for me, the time when I dealt with my acceptance and when he dealt with his were like night and day.  Now that my life is settled and I've found my place in this world, when I watched the movie today I didn't just see the Pruitt character he played and think to myself how much I could relate to the character.  I saw Montgomery Clift, the man and wondered what was he dealing with inside when he was making this movie?  Did he ever know any happiness in life?  Did he ever get a chance to really love someone and be loved by someone?  Knowing how his life ended, I wanted to reach through the screen and put my arms around him and give him a hug and tell him it does get better as I'm sure his best friend Elizabeth Taylor did many times.  She'll always have a special place in my heart for what she did for boys like us. I can't help but wonder how many others have passed through this world not being able to be who they were intended to be?

In his time you could be jailed for kissing another man or given electric shock to try and reset the brain, or tucked away in an insane asylum, or you could lose your whole career, family, and friends.  Although the struggle he had in life in accepting himself is familiar, we can never know how hard it was for those who came before us.  Yet even today we need a campaign to tell others that it does get better.  We have Matthew Shepard's being left to die alone in fields and politicians using marriage as a political weapon.  Even though we have more freedom now than Montgomery did in his day, we're not there yet.  There is still a lot of work to do to get equality in all fazes of life.  A song just came on the radio here from Gary Alan that sums it up, "Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride."

This is one of my all-time favorite scenes from a movie.  Playing taps after the death of his friend.

A Long Night

It's almost 5am now and we're finally done installing and testing the new equipment.  Since we had to hang out to test the equipment we put the Academy Awards on.  I had all but the best actress picked, but the woman were so good this year it doesn't surprise me that Meryl Streep finally won an Oscar again.  I have to say it was kind of boring but I did get to see Uggi the dog a few times.  I loved when Jean Dujardin picked him up and included him with the winning cast when they won best movie.  Class act Mr. Dujardin.  Going to my bunk now to lay down and get a bit of sleep before morning. 

Academy Award - Movie

My pick for Best Movie of the Year is The Artist.  I am a fan of classic movies and that time in history of Hollywood so I loved this movie.  But I have to say I also loved War Horse, Midnight In Paris, and The Help.  So if one of them pulls off an upset I wouldn't be upset. 

I loved that we get to see war through the eyes of an animal.  We often overlook the hell that animals go through during man's inhumanity to man so I loved this point of view.

I'm not a fan of Owen Wilson or Woody Allen and when I watched this movie I wasn't expecting to like it.  But as I watched it I felt myself really getting into the movie and it's now one of my favorite movies of the year. 

Race issues of the last century have been covered many times in movies, but not from the view of the help.  So while it was somewhat predictable, the acting is what made this movie.  Plus it taught me to never eat anything made by someone who is mad at you.