sometimes i think gravity is a pity.

So, here I am. It's past midnight and I've just gotten home from a most enjoyable night at The Crane, and I'm listening to the Gettysburg soundtrack. I don't often stop to ponder the Civil War. It's a little past where I seem to have landed myself in U.S. history, but I remembered, for some reason, putting the title theme on my graduation slide show. Here it is if you're interested, but, I should warn you before you get the wrong impression, my graduation was not rife with hardship and drama. It was actually wholly undeserving of such an epic song, but my 18-year-old brain worked in weird ways.

Anyway, what is the purpose of this update?  Well, there are a few things I've done recently (in no particular order) that haven't made it into a big update, so you'll have to make-do with a photo-dump.  Listen to the Gettysburg theme while you browse if you want.  Maybe it will make me seem even more adventurous.

On Friday, I went to the Galway Atlantaquarium with Jessica.  The sun was shining and it was warm enough that I could wear this dress without a sweater, and I even got a little sunburned.  The mood was one of general merriment as we gushed about the ray pool, brought our fierce to the big tank, watched eels be fed, and held A SPINY SPIDER CRAB!

On Saturday, Amy and I went on our Castles field trip, which was really quite amazing.  Since our professors are BAMFs, we got access to cool things otherwise closed to the public.  Like this building.  Right now you're looking out over the bawn of Pallas Castle and I am standing on the battlement of the tower house.  Built in the 1500s, it was a stronghold of the Burke family.  To the right you can see the gate house, and to the left one of the turrets that allowed defenders to fire out along the curtain wall.  In the tower house, many cool defensive features existed--my favorite: the murder hole.  No joke, guys.  It's a hole right above the door, so as invaders are coming in and making that split-second decision of left or right, you're dropping heavy, lethal stuff on their heads!!  Oh, it just gets me all in a tizzy!  Next to the tower house was a later addition, which was cool, too, because it was kind of like when you take away one (in this case, three) walls in a doll house and can see the skeleton of it all.  So cool!

We also went to Clonmacnoise to visit the ruins of a castle there, precariously perched on its impressive earthen defenses.  Again, professors = access.  We actually climbed under the fence this time through a little hole, and then we stormed the fortress!  Well, we tried anyway.  It's incredibly difficult getting up these things, and I thought I'd have the advantage, with all that motte-conquering I did in Kilkenny.  Alas!  By the time I'd run up the side of the hill, I was so tired at the top and had so much momentum when I finally got there that I almost fell flat into the fosse, which was just as deep as the embankment was steep!  Thankfully, I didn't, but I did run down and then back up again.  Such hard work!  Thankfully I could rest beneath smiling (and somewhat disapproving?) saints under the Arch of Amorous Nonsense at the monastery a bit down the road (see below).

Oh, yeah, and a few weeks ago, IFSA Butler took us on an organized trip to Killary Adventure Center, where I fell through the air more times that I was comfortable with, but what matters is that I did it, even if it meant the death-grip for whoever did it with me.  Plus, the weather was great.  (No sarcasm intended!)  Sunny one day, and it snowed the next!  My two favorite weather patterns in one weekend!

Alright, well, it's probably time for me to head to bed.  If I'm lucky (slash if I get this paper done before the weekend) I may take a short break in Dingle this weekend, or perhaps Kerry!

Chowder, folks!