So, I’ve… er… decided to go for it!!

After having the idea of flying away on a sun holiday and not coming back – finding a job over there and staying for the summer… I’ve actually gone ahead and booked flights and will be heading out on Saturday June 6th (just over a week away) with a return flight booked two weeks later.

Unfortunately, there were no full packages left for the dates I wanted (I wanted to go as early as possible) and therefore I have flights only – no accommodation sorted out … yet!… although – from what I’m told – that won’t be difficult to find, once I land.

My destination is the Greek island of Zakynthos (or “Zanté”). I chose it because I’ve been there before and it’ll be somewhat familiar to me – and because there’s plenty of bars there (including a good few Irish bars) so finding a job over there might not actually be all that hard.

I’ve been chatting with some people who are over there already (including a girl working in the local radio station) and it’s all been very encouraging so far – with the possibilities of jobs looking like being either a a barman, or – preferably! – a resident DJ in one of the hundreds of bars there (… oh, or both, of course!)

So … yeah! Here I go on an adventure… whether I get to “accidentally on purpose” miss my flight home and it lasts the whole summer has yet to be seen. I already know that if it does, I won’t have a job to come back to – so staying there will have to be worth it, and I’ll have to be able to save a few quid…

Hell, I COULD just spend the two weeks purely a holiday – hop from resort to resort, staying somewhere different every couple of nights, make the usual day-trips (I definitely want to take the boat trip from Porto Vromi to Smugglers Cove beach, and a trip to Zante would be wasted without seeing Kefalonia again)… but doing it PURELY as a holiday… that’s kinda boring! Been there, done that… If the opportunity comes up to stay and work there for the whole summer (and you know I will be looking!)… I’m gonna grab it.

You only live once, and – for once – I’ve nothing to hold me back!

Here’s an idea… now it might be a little bonkers, but bear with me, ok? Thanks… Right! Ok, so I haven’t had a holiday since December of 2007… and that was only a drive down to Westport and back with my then fiancèe who dumped me two short months later.

Since then, I’ve been working hard and studying hard. I could really do with a break away – hell I deserve one!… but I’ve nobody to go with… not that I’m going to get all “boo hoo” about that – it doesn’t matter… I’ll go alone.. but that’s not the bonkers bit… hang on a sec.

My original idea back a few months ago was to go off to Canada or America on a working student Visa (the ould J1) but, for various reasons – including the fact that I’d left it all a bit too late – what with the paperwork and red tape and all, it doesn’t look like that’s a runner.

I gotta admit… I’m a little bit addicted to twitter… although WHAT a useful site it’s turned out to be after all…

Yesterday I headed into town with a short list of things I had to do and buy. Top of the list was getting a new eye test and glasses, getting copies of the key to the office in work cut and printing up business cards. I went in without a plan, not having an idea of where was best to do what… but twittered once there, asking for recommendations on where to go – and my twitter buddies didn’t fail me. I’m only going back into town today (on the next train) because I didn’t get a chance to go to the place that I was recommended to get business cards from (oh, and I realised I need to get new speaker cable and a couple of other little things for my DJ gear).

Last couple of days have been kinda mental… apart from Christmas Day when I just chilled out and spent some quality time with the family and no-one else – as it should be. On St. Stephens’ Day, it was fairly busy in work – and we nearly ran out of beer due to a gas compressor problem! (only nearly… it was fixed)

Yesterday I was DJ’ing a pretty big house party in Ardee (a “housecooling”- clearly the opposite to a housewarming – they’re moving out). I started at about 7.45pm and finally wound down at roughly 4.45am (yes… a full 9 hours later!) Everything got played – from hip-hop to dance, punk, country, alternative, metal and even some slow smoochy numbers and a bit of trad. At 5am, someone got a guitar out and the party continued for another 2 hours or so until I went and passed out in a bedroom until 2pm. Now I’ve work at 5pm… Oh joy.

Hope all your Christmasses were all you wanted them to be. Mine was a blast in some ways – but, most importantly – was time well spent – with family and good friends.

I’m not one of those bloggers who writes every day whether he has something to say or not. I don’t compile lists of links to interesting sites (well, not any more) and I don’t tell people how to live their lives so I guess I’ve got less to say than some people do.

Also, I don’t dedicate as much time to the creative process of writing or graphic design as some people seem to do (and they’re bloody good at it), so I guess I only say something when I have something to say (and mostly not even that often)… which makes this post look a bit strange, I guess… as I’ve very little to talk about.

Life is gone a bit quiet for me at the moment. I’ve a new toy to play with (better get a few more gigs now) and I’m working away as a bar manager in a bar only 2 or 3 hundred yards from home (how handy is that?) and saving to go back to college. Still hoping some commercial radio station gives me the call in the meantime of course!

I guess I’ve lost most of whatever independence I had as since moving out of Dundalk (when my ex-fiancèe dumped me). I’ve been living with my family back in Dublin, mooching off their broadband, zoning out, drinking lots of beer (half considered doing what this guy is doing, but then thought again…), watching lots of telly, – working hard though and trying to get back on my feet financially – but, assuming I do go back to college, it looks like I’ll be living with them for some time yet,- probably for another year at least.

It’s just as well that they’re a great bunch of folks.

Anyway, as I’ve little or no more to say, here’s Soundgarden with their song “Nothing to Say”. Peace out, or something.