DarrenByrne.com

I’m having an odd sense of déjà vu. At the exact moment I clicked on the ‘Write New Post’, something triggered in my brain and I felt as though I had done all of this before – all of this, in precise detail…the same bunch of links open on my desktop, the search for a ‘milestone’ image, the bloggery. I feel certain that I dreamed all of this, maybe years ago.

I know what you’re thinking and I haven’t gone mad, nor am I drinking at the moment. I really am having some king of Matrix moment.

Perhaps it has something to do with the subject matter of this post. I have been thinking back over the past two months of blogging, as this is an important post for me (is it possible to be nostalgic over the immediate past?). This is my 100th post!!!

At the end of February, Mr Doyle informed me he was dragging me to the Blog Awards, and I caught the bug. I wasted no time in opening my life up to the online world, discussing my adoption, my theatre going, my college worries and my thoughts on blogging.

More importantly, I discovered I was not alone. Grannymar, Grandad, Alexia and the Lionesskeeper; Ken, Ross, Anthony and Ben; Laura, Elly, K8 and another Darren; all bloggers in a landscape that seems to change and expand for me everyday.

It’s been particularly pleasing to meet a few of my fellow bloggers at the Big Yellow Helium Balloon Night Out (and the bits I forgot) and at Ellybabe’s Birthday. I hope to be able to get to Alexia’s Bloggers’ Night Out on Saturday too.

In recent times, Lottie has even picked up her quill (or whatever the www version is) and this week sees Andrew open up his life on his blog, Chancing My Arm. A very funny and inciteful insightful guy, I recommend keeping an eye on what he gets up to.

So, what of the future? I’ll keep reviewing movies and any new music that comes my way (I’ve just downloaded Band of Horses, under Andrew’s recommendation, so we’ll see how that goes). I hope to talk more about adoption – my experiences, those of parents who have adopted and also those of people trying to adopt at the moment (Siobhan White writes an excellent piece in today’s Indo). I’m going to talk more about my creative journey – I WILL LEARN TO PLAY THE GUITAR!! And I’m looking forward to giving my first post as Gaeilge (we start our Irish lessons in two weeks). Oh, I’ve been working on my first podcast too, Ken will be delighted to know.

So, thank you very much to everyone who has read my blog across the last 100 posts, and especially thank you to those who commented. The biggest thanks must go to the miniscule in stature, but huge in life Darragh Doyle. So, raise a glass to my next 100 posts and please, spread the word.

If anyone want to drop me a line, email me at mail@ my domain or just leave a comment.

It’s tough to admit, it’s a dark disturbing and, some would say, sickening secret – I’m a Eurovision fan.

Some of my fondest memories of being a child include being gathered around in front of the TV excitedly watching the results of the Eurovision each year. We would shout at the screen, place bets (I won over three pounds one year!!), and laugh at the awfulness of most of the songs.

As I’ve gotten older, my interest wained and I missed the show entirely for a year or two, but in 2006 I got hooked again.  It’s criminal that LT United’s We Are the Winners didn’t win, and wonderful that Ireland was the only country who got the humour enough to give it 12 points.

This year, however, humour, irony and social commentary are nowhere near good enough reasons for putting that awful piece of shite, Irelande Douze Pointe, into the competition.  I, for one, will be hoping we don’t even make it to the final.

It won’t stop me watching the show though!!!

Finding time to write these blogs can be tough and I do wonder how so many bloggers can write at such length while also having a social life.

Running for the bus on Friday after work, trying desperately to get home early (knowing we had a long journey ahead that evening), my mind was attempting to formulate its thoughts on TodayFM, some old movies and the influence of blogging on the lives of the common man. I used the hour’s bus ride home to write a couple of posts for the weekend and when I got home, I set them to publish at intervals over Saturday and Sunday. Is this how other people do it? Maybe I just need to find my rhythm and routine.

We finally set off (Lottie, Mary and I) at 8 o’clock on Friday evening, heading for Waterford to visit R and her boyfriend, Brian. And what ensued was a brilliant weekend of copious alcohol intake and long conversations (some meaningful, most meaningless) deep into the night. In contrast with many of our weekends away with friends, MarioKart, Singstar, Karaoke, even the TV barely featured. It was a good old fashioned talk-a-load-of-crap sojourn.

R is a girl I was friends with many years ago, when we were all praying for an end to our school days. We met when our two groups of friends combined for nights out and always got on very well together. In 2000, when Lottie and I abandoned Wicklow in favour of the Big Smoke, I lost touch with even my best friends at the time, so it is hardly shocking that my associations with R fell by the wayside too. Early last year, thanks to the forums I frequented, I began chatting with an argumentative, feisty and brilliant girl. It took us a very short time to recognise each other and instantly renewed our friendship. No, we formed a new friendship, in fact. Void of any pretence or veiled intentions – she became one of my best mates.

Last August, I think, she began seeing Brian, a truly lovely guy, who I immediately clicked with. He’s odd, attention seeking, nerdish and bookish and loves his movies – we were destined to hit it off.

So, Saturday night saw us dine out in a wonderful Asian restaurant in Waterford city (it is a city, isn’t it?) to celebrate Brian’s birthday. The food was wonderful, the drink flowed freely and the company was perfect.

Happy Birthday, Sir, and thank you both for having us down for the weekend.