On the wings of my dreams

Speaking of 80s sitcoms (someone, somewhere must be doing so at this very moment) yesterday at work I had been emailing back and forth with one of our supplier reps named Jonathan, and every time a new email came in, I did my best Micelli and said, "Jona-TIN! Sah-man-TA! Mo-NA!" None of my co-workers got it at all. They've never even heard of Who's the Boss? Isn't that kind of sad? If you do an impression of Tony Danza and no one there gets it, did you make a sound? The answer is yes, and it's embarrassing and everyone thinks you went temporarily insane.

Also yesterday, a co-worker said, "Isn't it sad that so many young celebrities are dying lately?" And I looked at her computer and she was reading about Andrew Koenig. I said, "Oh, yeah, Boner from Growing Pains!" A few people gave me odd looks and she was like, "Um, I guess?" (It was a good reminder to always be careful when shouting "boner" at work, no matter what the context.) So I clarified: "That guy, the one whose dad was on Star Trek that you're reading about, he was on a sitcom and his name was Boner. Have you ever seen that show?" And she just said, "No, but doesn't it feel like more and more celebrities are dying really early? Heath Ledger died, then Brittany Murphy, now him." I smiled, loving that Boner got equal billing with that company.

Oh, and the other night, I we went out with some people from work and were talking about our favorite drinks and of course that got me on the subject of champagne. And I mentioned that the best way to drink champagne is at a slumber party in your PJs watching episodes of Saved by the Bell. Blank stares. Europe just has no idea this show even exists. So now in edition to bringing the Electric Slide to Ireland, I know have to the whole gang from Bayside. I feel like I have my work cut out for me. Even St. Patrick only had to bring Christianity.

Yi Yi

1 Thing I Like About Ireland: They edit American Idol's 2 hour shows down to about an hour. They get rid of half of the commercials (Ryan says, "We'll be right back" and then is immediately introducing the next singer!) they edit out all the instructions on voting and the annoying parts where the contestants hold up how many fingers it takes to vote for them, and they edit out all the clips of their journey so far. It's just the songs, and the judges' comments. It's exactly what everyone wishes American Idol would be.

1 Thing I Dislike About Ireland: My washer/dryer combo is not very good at the drying part. Don't get me wrong, the clothes aren't wet when it's done, but they're wrinkled as all get out. And I don't like ironing. But I have to iron practically everything that comes out of that bitch except for underwear and socks. Have you ever ironed jeans? It feels so wrong. It also doesn't help that I don't have an ironing board and have to iron on my glass kitchen table. But if that's the biggest dislike, then I'm in pretty good shape.

Time for bed. I've got to catch a plane to London tomorrow to celebrate Brian's 7 1/2 birthday.

Rosey Rosey Red Red

So today I got creepy in Ireland using my weird ability to accidentally come across as a pedophile.

I haven't gone to a movie yet in Ireland, and today was a lazy day so I decided to go see Ponyo-- it was the closet start time of the movies I wanted to see. But it wasn't starting for 30 minutes so I figured I could run across the street and grab a sandwich. I went into the Subway and immediately heard children shrieking. Not a normal Subway sound. Before I even saw the bread choices, I saw a ball pit. There was a wall painted with Sponge Bob characters and a row of skeeball machines. There was an Agrocrag-esque structure with a sign above it stating "Space Kidz". Apparently this Subway is attached to Cosmo's Fun World. So I'm alone eating my sandwich in the middle of an Irish Chuck E Cheese feeling really awkward because due to the layout of the building the only thing to look at is either a wall or a playing child. I ate quickly and headed to the theatre.

This movie was, unsurprisingly, filled with children. Again, I'm the only person by myself, clearly here to watch children watch a morphing goldfish. As I walked up the stairs, one child looked at me and said, "Daddy?" And her mother said, "No no no" and sat the child in her lap. But during the moments when I wasn't self-conscious, the movie was quite good, especially the techno remix song by Bonus Jonas and Bonus Cyrus over the credits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bka5u3nPCWI

At least I wasn't actually accused of being a pedophile, nor did the police have to get involved. That only happens in the US when I accidentally wait for a friend to get home, parked across from her house which also happens to be an elementary school bus stop.

Meine handy

I'm watching the BAFTAs live. Weird. But I guess this will have to be my substitute since the Oscars are ultimately going to play at 1am on a school night for me.

I just wish Stephen Fry were hosting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WIscxut_ak

Marcia Marcia Marcia!

I don't know what it is about the Electric Slide, but I recently came to the conclusion that it makes me immensely and inexplicably happy. Maybe it's because it's an easy dance that I know how to do and thus am not too embarrassed to perform in public. Maybe it's because in 3rd grade, my entire school (K-5) took weeks learning the dance during gym class and at the end of all that practicing we all did the Electric Slide together in the parking lot, and that was the first time I felt like I was a part of something important, something big. Whatever the reason, it's my jam sandwich and I love it.

I have also recently been having epiphanic moments of joy realizing how lucky I am to be in Ireland and what a great experience this is. Let's be honest, it's ridiculous how I got here and it's ridiculous that it happened to me. But I won't complain. I've already had some great visitors (shout outs to Sho and Christine for giving me 2 weeks of intense fun!) and at least one more lined up on the horizon (7 1/2 birthday party for Brian in London, holla!)

But now I want to combine these two joys. I want to do the Electric Slide in Ireland. I wonder if they even know that song over here? I need to ask some true Irish folk. If they don't, then this will be my one positive imperialist act: I will teach them, teach them, teach them, I'll teach them the Electric Slide (boogie woogie woogie).

Oh my god, I'm pumped just thinking about this. Is this the dumbest thing to ever get me excited?

I don't wanna be friends

Tonight we were bar hopping and ended up at The Stage Door. This is the Galway gay bar, and as we entered we realized that the place was extra crowded because it was hosting the "30th" birthday party of a local drag queen, catered with sausages and chicken wings, and they were playing Alexandra Burke's "Broken Heels" (a super popular female empowerment dance single from the winner of the X Factor, basically, the UK version of "Single Ladies") and two guys had jumped on stage and were doing a choreographed dance to the song (they hadn't planned it in advance, the song is just so popular that they had both just independently memorized the dance moves from the music video). And as I watched this scene, all I could think was: Man, I wish Chrissie were here.

Lightning Rounds

I am so good at Guess Who?! I think I went 5/5.

But Sho is much better than me at Connect Four. I don't know if I won a single game.

The Irish love the Dire Strait's song "Romeo and Juliet". It's played on the radio every day. I'm not joking. And I've heard it out at bars multiple times. I've been in Ireland now for 27 days, and I think I've heard this song at least 26 times. The only song they play more often is that stupid Owl City song "Fireflies" which gives "Drops of Jupiter" a run for its money in the worst lyrics ever department.