The Party is Over

Well, the party is over and I enjoyed myself tremendously. I won't go too much into details, but in the end a few people I was hoping would make it didn't, so I'll have to say goodbye to them another time. Other than that, AK's family and a mutual friend of ours (WM) were there and I have to say that they are lovely people, friendly, funny, interesting, and as I found out later on, quite musically talented too.

We had a lovely buffet style meal with some very fine food, including a piece of smoked salmon brought all the way from Canada by me. Though two things did surpass the food; the company and the sing-song afterwards. I caught up with WM, gave him his invite to my wedding, and discussed his work (like myself, he has been known to programme and dabble more than a little in C#). It's always great to get to bounce ideas off of AK and WM as they're both smart guys with interesting perspectives on technology.

The sing-song was a laugh with everyone joining it, including AK's 90+ year old grandmother. The instruments were brought out, the voices primed and the house rang to the throng of merriment. There was a harp, a fiddle, a concertina and a piano and the tunes were anything from traditional Irish ballads to some John Denver with some pop and rock 'n roll thrown in for good measure. It was a laugh and the only sad point was that Dyani (my fiancée) wasn't there. She would have loved it. As would our boys.

Anyway, AK's Mom (MK) put me up for the evening in the spare room and I have to say, this lady's hospitality seemingly knows no bounds. She fed me, provided me with a bed for the night and made sure that I've wanted for nothing. It's a life that I could really get used to. Anyway, soon I shall be on my way back to Dublin, probably leaving Galway for the last time for at least a year, but more likely a lot longer.

Galway's a beautiful place, full of character and characters. It has a sort of permanent party atmosphere; friendly, alive and never dull. I'm sorry to have to move on, but I'll never forget the good times I've had here.

Anyway, I've just learned about an interesting sort of reality-show for software developers called Career Factor. It looks very interesting and could be just what I need to kick start my career in Canada. I'll get a résumé drawn up, fill out the application and record my video. Since today is a bank-holiday here, I think I can afford to spend it getting the application done. It'll be a bit of a laugh if nothing else.

Just before I go, I found an interesting site with some useful skills:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/4284709?page=11

Until the next time, Slán,
Neil