Melancholy Man - 9 Questions

1. Are you more melancholy on occasion?

I don't believe I am more or less melancholy than most people. Especially not in the last few years. There were times when I seemed to be feeling down for a long time. I have my moments though, I get emotional, I worry about things. But generally, I seem to be happy. Despite any problems I might have.

2. What did you think you looked like when you were a teenager?


I was fat! I was! At about 16/17 years old, I weighed about 18 stone. I wasn't a very happy or well adjusted teenager and I ate those feelings away. I weigh between 13 and 14 stone now, not ideal but no where near as big as I used to be.

3. Whose advice are you least likely to listen to?


When I need practical advice I usually go to my friend Paul, he is a solicitor and he has a good head on his shoulders and he can usually put things in perspective. When I need comfort or just someone to tell me how right I am, even if I may be wrong - but I need cheering up, I go to my friend Ali or Michael. I love Michael's advice it is usually practical and hilarious at the same time.

4. Tell us about a job that you liked when you were younger.


The best job I ever had was working at McDonald's. A lot of people rag on the whole McJob thing but most people who work or have worked there will say the same thing. They are awesome places to work. I started working there when I was 16, I worked in the evenings and weekends. I had so much fun and I made so many new friends. This was when the weight started to fall off. I worked there for about 3 years and when I left I was a shift manager. The only reason I left was due to the fact I was moved to another restaurant that was not ran very well, did not have the same atmosphere or sense camaraderie. It was the staff versus the management team and morale was so low. I sometimes think it would be fun to go back.....

5. Would you lie to someone if you knew the truth would end your friendship or relationship?

Yes, I probably would. It would all depend on what it was I knew. I can't think of any examples because I haven't really been in that situation.

6. What do you have little or no patience for?

I have patience for most things but I suppose, people who lie or make up situations or circumstances which make them seem more exciting. You know the ridiculous type of stories which make no sense and seem to happen to them all the time.

I have known people who seem to have been mugged, raped, not paid correctly from work when money is owed, not been paid at all. Have met countless celebrities and seemed to have the craziest adventures, without a single photo or scrap of evidence.

7. What is there never enough hours in the day to do?

There is enough hours in the day to everything. I am not working at the minute so for me, it seems like there are too many hours in the day to keep myself occupied.

8. What is the most productive thing that you accomplished in October?

Ermmm, I had an awesome Halloween party? does that count?

9. What have you always wanted to learn but haven't yet?

To play the guitar. I will do it, I will.....

Christmas Dinner

Here is a picture of the Christmas dinner I prepared for some of my friends. I am quite impressed if I do say so myself. Everyone enjoyed it. We are all sat now, stuffed, watching Annie.

I had only planned to just cook a dinner for my housemate Tom and I. But my friends Shane and Josh, both from Somerset, were not going home for Christmas either so I thought it would be nice to invite them around too. We had both enough food to feed us all.

The table cloth is actually a curtain and whilst I was rooting around for dishes, I found a pack of Christmas Cards and wrote one out to each of them. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Home Sweet Home

I have been home two days now and surprisingly I am feeling rather optimistic about it, I haven't cried once. When I have left Manchester previously, for long periods, I have cried, moped about and generally felt depressed for the first few weeks, missing my friends and the freedom the city had given me.

However, it's 3.30am and I am feeling reflective, looking back at photo's, thinking of memories, fun times, people I have met, friends I have gained and lost. I returned to Manchester in November last year after a few months of ups and downs. In comparison, 2011 was a much better year than 2010 for me. It seems to have flown by in a year of parties, alcohol, drugs and new experiences.

I thought it would be a good time to talk about why exactly I decided to leave when I did. A hard year of excess had started to take its toll on me. I had gained weight, I am looking pale, I am feeling older and I was tired. As I have documented before, I am always conflicted between the two cities. But in speaking to my family these past few weeks, everyone seemed to be in a better place. The family unit seems to be closer, after a couple of years of being so fragmented. I didn't want to miss out on that.

There are certain worries that being back in Dublin carries, I have always shared a volatile relationship with my Mother and although absence makes the heart grow fonder I am apprehensive that we will revert back to previous conflict. Being under the same roof as her medication will also be difficult and will further test our relationship. We can only take it one day at a time and see how things go.

The past few months back in Manchester had been filled with so much worry, money worries had really started to get me down and being at home as felt like a weight has been lifted of my shoulders. It's been a major stress reliever and I have spent most of yesterday and today, just sleeping away those stresses. I needed the break.

I don't know if I will ever want to go back to Manchester, I don't know how I will feel in a few months or a years time. I could meet someone...Anything could happen. We will just have to see how it goes.

But I am optimistic about what lies ahead. I am not regretting my decision.

My Birthday Celebrations

I wasn't looking forward to my birthday this year, for a number of reasons. I hadn't seen my family in months and I was broke. Last year, I had only been back in the UK a few weeks by the time my birthday came round and I was all for celebrating being back and having a great birthday.

I didn't make a fuss of it this year and at it didn't seem anyone else was either. My friend Ali arranged a party at his apartment on Saturday night and if I am honest I wasn't much looking forward to it. However, with everyone on board, I gave it as much as I could. Although my birthday wasn't until the Monday. My best friends Paul and Ben had also celebrated their birthday's this month and Ben had gotten us all a rather unusual present. A photo shoot.

When I heard about the photo shoot, I was nervous. It's not really my scene. To put myself out there to be judged about how I look or to appear to be arrogant or conceited about it. In order to combat that nervousness, Paul and I thought it best to be as drunk as possible. When they arrived the in the morning to pick me up, I had a bottle of wine and some drinks in a cafe/bar near the photo studio.

For the shoot itself, we brought several outfit's to change into and pick from, we bought some beers and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We took shots together as a group and obviously some solo shots. I had some taken of my tattoo's and Paul had some topless shots taken. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we were having.

Later that night, once Paul, Ben and I parted ways. My friend Ali came round so we could drink whilst I got ready. He was late and I was worried about all the guests, waiting and getting impatient at his house whilst we got ready. Before we were set to leave, my landlord called to ask me to pop over to his house so we could talk. My landlord lives just across the street from my house with a few of my friends. When I got the call, I was a little peeved. I assumed he wanted to speak about the overdue rent and I couldn't believe he picked today, of all days. Ali and I walked over, knocked on the door and waited.

He answered the door, greeting us with a friendly smile, this was nothing out of the ordinary here, he was usually pleasant. Until he had money to ask for. I walked into the hall and turned into the living room and BAM!. Everyone was there! All my friends, for little impromptu surprise birthday party.

We stayed there for a few hours, drinking, playing games etc, before going out to the Village. The night out was fucking amazing! I stayed out till the Sunday afternoon. Hitting one of the after hours clubs and then back to the location of the party for more drinks.

All in all, a pleasant birthday with a few surprises.

Paraguay vs. Venezuela

October 10th, 2009

I watched the game with some coworkers in their house out in Barrio Primero de Enero (1st of January). Lot’s of neighborhoods, towns, football teams, soccer stadiums, etc...are named for their founding date...again the creativity issue.

Anyway, when I walked into the house I saw an alligator skin handing from the wall. My friend from work, Oveshai (lamb) said he hunted and killed that. They say gator meat is great. I looked over to the table and there was a taxidermy armadillo. He said it killed that too. We walked over to the big ice-chest style fridge to store the beer, and he had to reposition the beer around a cow’s head and pieces of carpincho meat. I tried not to think about drinking from the lips of bottles that had been lying against raw cow and carpincho meat and told them I wanted to go hunting with them the next time they went.

For reference, this is a carpincho.



The game was pretty boring as we were already qualified and easily handled Venezuela 2-1. Nevertheless, it was still fun hanging out with some of my coworkers and seeing them in their natural environment. After the game we just sat around for a while talking about a future fishing trip they want to take me on. They told me it would cost us around 100,000 Gs ($25) for a day of fishing including gas, lots of food and drinks, and all supplies needed. We both know that isn’t much, but I tried convincing them that was really high and I didn’t know if I could afford it. I’m trying to combat the common perception that we must earn a lot of money since we chose to leave the States to come here.

Other topics included, let’s see what is pretty much the only topic Paraguayan males discuss with me?...oh yeah girls.

We threw my bike in the back of a truck and headed back towards town. When we arrived we were surprised to see a ton of people at the town plaza watching the motocross racers doing wheelies in the middle of the plaza. As we first drove up, I saw one of them suffer a nasty crash, and with that our attention was caught so we parked and joined the excitement. Music mixed with the loud revving dirtbike/moto engines to make for a pretty loud atmosphere. Smoke filled the air and people were everywhere. The next day’s racers were popping wheelies all over the place.

Coop Football Championship & Disco

September 19th, 2009

The next day was yet another eventful day in San Juan Bautista.

Around 6:00 PM, I went to Analia’s house to meet up with Anne, Claire, and John (fellow Volunteers) and Analia and Yaz (Paraguayan friends).

We played “Bullshit” (couldn’t be avoided...that’s just the name of the game) while listening to Analia’s iPod for a few hours.

Around 9:00 PM, I met up with Peke and went to the 24 (the name of a local soccer team) indoor soccer stadium where employees from my cooperative played in the inter-organizational tournament final against the jail staff. The team from the Jail were, probably logically so, huge, aggressive, and fiercely competitive but the Cooperative was fast, smart, and patient. You wouldn’t think so, but this game was a big deal. The Jail fan following was humongous. They set off really loud fireworks, had their own Mariachi band, and took pictures in front of the goal as if they had made it to the World Cup final.

The Jail went up 2 nothing quick-like in the first half, which really depressed and flustered the Cooperative team and fans. There was almost a fight, in which this huge dude would have surely pummeled the old, skinny, professional Loan Department manager from the cooperative. I have no idea what they were fighting about, but judging by the intensity, you would have thought it was a high-stakes, big money on the line, National Championship instead of a local town inter-organizational tournament final.

I’ve come to realize that, while Paraguayans are generally very nice and tranquil, when it comes to competition, they are very prone to cheating, fighting, and fiercely arguing.

Side Note: I had to move halfway across the stadium because this drunk wouldn’t stop pestering me in Guaraní. He was being very aggressive, was very drunk, and really annoying...not to mention the fact that I couldn’t understand a word coming out of his mouth because he was speaking in slurred Guaraní.

Anyway, the Cooperative came back strong in the second half, quickly tying the game up. We went crazy with each goal scored. Near the end of the game, the Cooperative scored again, making the score 3-2 in the Cooperative’s favor, and before too much longer the whistle blew making the Cooperative the official Champions of the local inter-organizational tournament! My colleagues from the Coop and I went Ballistic! We jumped up, screamed, jumped around, slapped high fives and rushed the field. Everyone met in the middle, jumping up and down, chanting, “hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.” Then we took a lap around the stadium, and finally met in the middle again to receive the trophy. It was a glorious moment, and I was very proud to be part of the winning team.

Funny Story: We’re all crowded around the trophy after the excitement had died down and this drunk guy came up with a beer and poured it inside the trophy (it’s the big cup style trophy instead of the figure style). Some of the coop team members tried to stop him right before he did it but were unsuccessful. Party Foul! The bear immediately spilled all over the gym floor (because it wasn’t sealed at the bottom) and ruined the lettering on the base. What an idiot! Haha.

Afterwards, I went back to Analia’s house where we wasted time before going to the club. We passed the time by playing MASH. Remember contemplating your future by playing MASH as a kid? So according to MASH, I’m going to marry Analia, live in North Dakota in a shack, earn a million dollars a year working in the local circus, and drive an Aston Martin...not too shabby.

After all that stimulating conversation (sense the sarcasm), we needed to rest our minds by dancing our hearts out so we headed to the local club. We danced the night away, and then I called it night, walking the 100 yards or so to my house. Yeah I live super close to the club so every Saturday night I hear the constant beat well into the early morning.

Paraguay vs. Argentina

September 9th, 2009

I know most of my readers probably don’t fully appreciate how huge of a deal fútbol, or soccer, is in Paraguay, and specifically how HUGE the Paraguay vs. Argentina game is and was, so allow me to educate you...

First of all, I would be comfortable in saying there are more people in Paraguay who go to soccer fields around the country than Church on Sunday. Fútbol is a major deal in Paraguay, as in most other Latin American countries, and indeed other countries around the world.

Up to this point, Paraguay had only ever beaten Argentina once. Argentina has historically had very successful soccer teams and is the single most hated rival for Paraguay. The fact that Argentina usually has a great team and has beaten Paraguay in all but one contest combined with the fact that Argentina is the dramatically more economically successful next-door neighbor explains the roots for such a heated rivalry.

So now that I’ve set the stage, allow me to explain the happenings of September 9th, 2009, yet another day that will live in infamy in the minds of the fanatical Paraguayan soccer following.

Peke, my best friend in site, my host sister, Tati, and I were all huddled around a small television in Tati’s apartment upstairs. It was a great game. Paraguay scored a goal in the 29th minute, and nearly scored twice more in the 1st half, hitting the posts each time, which had Paraguayan soccer fans around the country jumping out of their seats. After that, it was a long defensive struggle. Even though there was only one goal scored, it was a classic game. We were on the edge of our seats as Argentina nearly scored several times in the second half, but in the end, Paraguay held the hungry Argentineans off and edged out the victory, securing their place in South Africa for the World Cup!

As soon as the whistle blew, Paraguay, including my town went CRAZY. David had beaten Goliath. Paraguay had beaten Argentina for only the second time ever. Peke and I jumped up and started high fiving, screaming, chanting, “Paraguay, Paraguay, Paraguay.” We ran to the window and started shouting as bombs exploded all over the city. Within minutes, there were hundreds of cars and motos parading through town flying Paraguayan flags, playing loud music, and honking. People were out in the streets dancing, jumping up and down, giving high fives and thumbs up, cheering, setting off fireworks, and chanting in celebration of Paraguay’s big victory. After the big parade, we headed down to the town plaza where we hung around watching as people revved their motos, drank, and generally socialized and celebrated. It was an amazing atmosphere. Oh the simple joys in life...

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