Sunday, November 21, 2004

Oh My God, I'm Sick of Beer

Ok, I have actually been sick of beer since about March, but it's reaching desperate proportions now. I can't drink beer like the Irish at all. Canadians just don't drink as much beer. Most people in Ireland think it's because our beer has a lower alcohol content, which is not true. In Canada, most people drink bottles, which are smaller than pints. Also, if pints are bought, they're consumed at a slower pace, and most people only have three before stopping. Funny because people in Canada think that I can drink a ridiculous amout of beer, but I'm a complete lightweight here.

It's customary here to buy drinks in rounds. If you're out with three people, it's a safe bet that the 'just one pint' will actually be three pints. Unfortunately, because drinks are bought in rounds, it messes up the round system to order a mixed drink as they're more expensive. So, when I'm out at the pub, I'm drinking beer - whether I really want to or not. It's pretty anti-social to say, 'oh no, you guys buy rounds, I'll take care of my own'. However, for some reason, I just can't stomach it much anymore. I don't know why, and I don't know when this happened. I can only drink about four pints and then I hit a total wall, and I can't consume anything else at all - even food because I'm so full. The first two pints are great, but then I would really rather switch off to something else.

On a related note, there is a new product out on the market here called "Lifeline". It's a hangover pill, but unlike its predecessors, you don't have to take one with each drink you consume (ridiculous and you would never remember), you don't have to take it a certain number of hours before your first drink (because all nights out are planned), and you don't have to take it before going to bed (if you don't always remember your pint of water....). Also, it's available in pharmacies, not just on the Internet, so that eliminates some of the dubiousness of its claims. You take one with your first drink and that's it. The marketing line is, "developed in Ireland for Irish drinkers. So you know it works." Hilarious. I was at the pharmacy the other day, and I saw the display for them but they were sold out. Everyone is talking about them. I'll let you know the verdict.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Grasskicker

For those who know me, you'll know that one of my frustrations about living here is that no one seems to play sports or is very active. There isn't much in the way of social sports for adults, from what I gather.

I had looked into joining a co-ed soccer league, but only found an indoor league run by Aussie expats. It wasn't a positive experience (nothing against the Aussies). Basically, the guys on my team were really young and arrogant. They never passed to the girls at all and were really aggressive. After awhile the girls stopped showing up altogether since we figured they didn't actually need us to play even though two women are required at all times or the game is defaulted. None of the girls on the team wanted to be pitch warmers, ie. stand on the pitch purely so that the guys could play.

There are some women's leagues, but what I found is that you don't join a league and get put on a team, you have to join a club (team). There isn't a real way to do that if you're an outsider. You have to really campaign to get on a team and you basically have to know someone. There is no such thing as a spare list or an individuals/free agent team.

I also found out that the real social sport to play in Ireland is touch rugby. However, the league only runs for nine weeks in the spring, which makes me wonder what people do for the other 41 weeks of the year.

I recently heard that a few of the women at work were trying to put together a team. So, I joined. I was concerned at first because I heard that they have a trainer and conduct practices. I wasn't sure I would be good enough for the team because I've only played on a purely recreational level. When I approached the captain about playing, I started to tell her about my soccer experience. She looked at me and said, "you've played before? That's GREAT! None of us have." I then heard about their first game against the other work team, which was formed on the other office campus. It was described as 14 women running in a pack following the ball - kind of like when you see five year-olds play soccer, minus the two kids sitting down picking dandelions. So, I figured I would either love it or hate it.

I played my first game last night and I love it! Most of the girls have no soccer experience, but a lot of them are athletic and you can tell that they're picking it up. One girl is really good and has obviously played before. Rules are very loosely applied. None of them know the rules actually. There was a big discussion at one point between a goal kick or corner kick. I was on forward and kicked the ball last but bounced it off the defender's leg. So corner. However, she started to argue that I kicked it last. So, we discussed whether it was last 'kick' or last 'touch' (it's last touch). The best part though, is that these women are so enthusiastic about playing. It's really fun. I didn't exactly play full out, which was fine with me considering it was my first game in 10 months. I am also pretty much the second-best player out there, after the other woman I mentioned, who incidentally has the same last name as me. However, it was so much fun to get out there and run around. It was the best.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Ohio is the New Florida - but without chads, election fraud and Brother Jeb

I always kind of knew that Bush would win but it wasn't until it really happened that it sunk in. This time, Americans chose Bush as the President. The people have spoken. After four years of his bungling, Americans decided that they liked him. Americans decided that the election fraud of 2000 was forgiveable, as was lying to one's citizens about WMD to go to war in Iraq - a country not containing Osama Bin Laden. The Iraq quagmire continues, but hey Halliburton got their oil, so that's good right? Therefore, lying about WMD to send America's sons and daughters to war is ok because the price of gas won't go through the roof. Likewise, Americans don't seem to be bothered with the erosion of civil liberties or the tanking economy. They also don't seem to mind living in a thinly-veiled theocracy that has more in common with Iran than with countries in Western Europe when it comes to separation of Church and State. They also don't seem to mind that because this is Bush's second term, there is a republican-controlled congress, and Cheney has already stated that he's not running in 2008, there is little accountability on Bush over the next four years, and he can veer as far right as he wants.

This morning I was convinced that Kerry would fight it out for those 200,000 provisional votes in Ohio. C'mon Kerry, every vote counts. You go. By midday I thought that the world was going to hell in a handbasket and that I didn't really understand Americans at all. I mean, is it really worth selling your soul for a piddly tax cut - unless you're a billionaire, in which case a ginormous tax cut? What about ethics, accountability, responsibility?

By the end of the day, I came across this article on Slate.com.
http://www.slate.com/id/2109079/

I had been surfing intermittently throughout the day, but not often because not only was I busy at work, but also I had the inability to open up a web page without wanting to punch out Bush's stinking, smirking mug. The article is titled "Why You Keep Losing to This Idiot." It drew my attention immediately. The author is right, Bush won because he's simple. In 2000 I made fun of the fact that the CBC found no shortage of people who were voting for Bush on the basis of personality. "He's the kind of guy you can have a cup of cawwffeee with." Didn't these people want the smart guy to run the world's superpower, instead of the affable Joe? Who were these idiots? Well, apparently the majority of the American population. When you look at the State map, the West Coast is blue, the North-East is blue, most of the Great Lakes States are blue, with the notorious exception being Ohio, but I'm blaming that on the fact that it also borders West Virginia and Kentucky (cue song from Deliverance here). The rest of the map is a great patch of red - otherwise known as fly-over country. These are the people whose only source of news is the local TV station and the local paper - highly-skewed and no foreign content (don't want that). These are the people that The Onion was referring to with their headline "Lowest Common Demoninator Drops Further: Network Execs Flock to Fill the Bilge". They made Big Momma's House number one at the box office for one week a couple of years ago, and last time I checked, "Yes, Dear" was still on the air. That's who Bush was talking to. That's who Kerry wasn't talking to. Bush did the better job of convincing people that if they didn't vote for him, Osama was going to get them as they were unsuspectingly shopping at Wal-Mart and if that didn't happen, then the homos were going to grab them, bend them over and rape them of their family values.

The author of that article is right. The Democrats do have their person for 2008 in John Edwards. He's personable, has a 1000-watt smile, is attractive, has charisma and he's from North Carolina. Americans want leaders with a simple message and a great personality. Bush gets that. The Democratic party doesn't. In the meantime it's four more years of a virtual civil war in the US. The hippies/Yankee bluebloods against the southerners/mid-westerners and the rural/suburbanites against the urbanites. Let's hope Bush doesn't do too much damage in the US and abroad in his (thankfully) last four years in office. At least that also means four more years of Bush jokes - don't see them running dry any time soon.