Sorry for the Silver?

On By auntyamoIn HumourLeave a comment

I’m sitting here watching two rowers cry. They’ve worked as hard as they can. They are hardly able to speak, but the few words they are managing to get out are apologies. I couldn’t work out everything they said but it was something along the lines of, ‘we really tried… we just couldn’t… we’re so sorry… we wanted to do it for everyone… I’m sorry… I can’t….’

I’m looking at these two men and suddenly the ‘spirit of the Olympics’ is lost on me. These guys didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t cheat, come last, fall out of the boat, forget to bow before their monarch. They came 2nd! Not in the heats. In the final. They won Olympic Silver and could barely speak with the exhaustion and upset.

Now I am NOT criticising these guys. Well… maybe I am a tiny bit. But I want someone to explain to me why getting silver isn’t FANTASTIC. What is the point of 3 medals if only 1 is worth winning? And why do these guys feel they have let their supporters down?

I watched all the Olympians stride in to that arena with pride at the opening ceremony. It was enough for them just to be there, just to have made it that far! Well it looked like it was. But time after time I’m seeing athletes crying and saying how sorry they are to the fans for not getting a medal, or for getting a medal but not getting a gold one!

Are we not proud enough of them? Are we expecting too much of them? Or not enough?

The motto of the Olympics this year is “Inspire a Generation!” and the definition of Olympism – which is at the head of the Olympic Charter, is “A philosophy of life, which places sport at the service of humankind.” It’s starting to feel as if some of that is being forgotten.

Bert Le Clos. (C) of the photo remains with the BBC

Did you see Bert Le Clos gush over his son’s gold medal!  It was amazing. And it’s ok for the elation to be a tad less for silver and even and little bit less than that for bronze. For those who’ve worked hard for the last 4/6/8/10 years and have missed out on a medal, it must be really tough.

But they shouldn’t apologise and they shouldn’t feel they have to.

I’m not saying we should all sing The Fields of Athenry for an hour, even if our own Katie Taylor doesn’t get anywhere. But she and the rest of the Olympians should know that they’ve already made us proud!

The End of an Error! Oh… sorry…. I meant ‘Era’

On By auntyamoIn Random Ramblings1 Comment

Never been a fan of change. Well, I’ve never been a fan of change to things I like. Please feel free to take all the things I don’t like and change them. Go on… off you go… 🙂

New filing system… 🙂

This post is really a tribute to former workmates. For the last few months I’ve been working from home. We’re in the process of packing up the office and the other day I got a pang of… ‘ohhh I’m gonna miss these guys.’ Don’t misunderstand me. I’m a big fan of my own company… I can regularly be found laughing at my own jokes and musing on my own hilariousness. (One of these days it’s going to get me into trouble tho…!)

So in honour of the last 5 years I wanted to send a tribute to the Dublin West Community Church folk that I’ve shared office life with.

Mervyn – (my boss for most of that time) Merv thanks for letting me boss you around and correct your spelling and grammar. I loved (and equally detested) your ability to sing the same one line of a song at regular intervals through the day. Highlights include “I am the one and only”, “Johnny’s got a boom boom,” and “It’s beautiful DAAAAY”! It was a special privilege to pray with you and see the providence of God lead you and Gladys to adopt Buhle! (After that, your one-liners went on to include… “ H R Puff n Stuff”!)
Weak Tea, with too much sugar and lots of milk coming up… 🙂

A real life, living, breathing, cute and precious answer to prayer! (I’m talking bout the one in the middle :D)
Visit Third Space in Smithfield. You won’t regret it! Either will I… when I eventually get there…

Seán – You made me think about so many things I can’t actually list them. I’d have gladly sat and listened to you all day – even though I often disagreed with you! 🙂 Thanks for lending me lots of your books and when you moved on to other things, GIVING me lots of your books. And thanks for answering my questions, lots of which were stupid. I’m sorry I’ve never visited @thirdspace; but I will. Delighted that it’s going so well.

Rosemary – You weren’t there for very long after I started. But while you were there, things were very civilised. We used to stop and have lunch together at the table. It was very organised and calm… and all kinda fell apart when you left!!! Thanks for making me feel so welcome.

Dawn – I was sad when your weekly visits stopped. It was great to get to know you as a Dublin Westie as well as via the IBI connection. Thanks so much for taking time to share your Quickbooks wisdom – especially as numbers are the equivalent of a second language to me. Only for you I’d quite literally be lost.

Fraser – Da Frase! I don’t know whether you meant to or not but you regularly made me laugh! You sing out of tune! Your hair isn’t nearly as nice as David McWilliams’! You talk too loud when you’re doing your speech-type thing… “the grace of God, the GRACE, GRACE, of God FULL STOP, return return….” But it was a total hoot working with you. Especially during the ‘quote of the week’ phase we went through… my favourite is of course the legendary… “Jaaaaaaaney lads, it’s a disaster!” Oh and you sound like you’re from D4 but claim not to be… very suspicious…

Claire – I just love you missis. I wish I could put down here the subject matter of our conversations and how you’ve encouraged me, challenged and driven me around the bloody twist 🙂 Thanks for being at my grad and at my 40th – I love that you turn up when you say you will! I miss the craic with you. You brought some much needed oestrogen to the office but a surprising amount of testosterone too! I know we share some of the same demons! But you definitely have one or two I don’t have… and vice versa 😀

Dave – I will miss you mostest!

I think I shared office time and space with you more than anyone else over the last 5 years. You’re another one that taught me many things. But mostly about computers and music – I never managed to master your ‘running man’ moves tho. Our recording sessions in your gaff were brill. When I’m famous I promise to share the profits 🙂 Your heart for people is a blessing and a challenge to watch. When I was scared, awkward or just too busy to deal with the random folk that would wander in to the office, you made tea and sat with them and chatted. You’re a good man Dave, even though your daughter insists you are a ‘smelly Daddy’ 🙂

Other regular visits from Dublin Westies including Carolyn, Steve, Tom, Maro, Mark, Gwyneth and Aunty Anthea made for a great working life.

Thanks a mil Dublin West Community Church.
God bless the work! xx

Armchair Olympics

On By auntyamoIn Getting to grips with God stuff, Health, weight & wellbeing, Humour2 Comments

So there I am with a large mug of coffee and a packet of chocolate digestives criticising the gymnast cos her triple somersault wasn’t perfect…

They have to keep their legs straight – how many times do I have to say it?!?!?!

Anyway…. I suddenly have a moment of crisis. Am I really committed to anything?

There have been lots of ads on the telly lately, focussing on the commitment of athletes who have made it to the Olympics. Not just the last four years, but a life time of early mornings, hard work, sacrificing time and money – committment!

Am I actually committed to anything? Other than getting to the bottom of this packet of biscuits?

Anyone familiar with the Bible will know that themes of perseverance and running the race are used to help explain the Christian life. There’s also a lot of farming analogies, which make much more sense to me now that I live in a rural community. Just last week I was chatting with someone about arranging a get-together but we weren’t sure if it was possible. I was asking what time some of the farmers would be finishing work.  The answer came… “As long as the sun is shining the lads will work.”

“Yeah Amo!” I thought, kicking myself “like they clock out at 5!  helloooooo?!”

Suddenly it dawned on my that ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ is not just an old adage – it’s a work ethic!

I think the problem is that all this running and jumping over things is highlighting the fact that the things I’m passionate about and committed to are in my head and my heart. I can’t think of one that I need to get out of my chair for! Which is a bit worrying really!

Don’t get me wrong. I do move. I had to go all the way over there to get these biscuits. But I’m not committed to moving.

Maybe I should combine my thinking with some athletic efforts! I could record my blog posts with my handsfree kit as I run around the carpark outside the apt. Or maybe I could get a bicycle and a loud haler; go cycling around Kildare shouting, “Here’s a list of the people I love… ”

Yes! Yes, I think this might work you know… all I need to do is get my favourite Bible verses printed on a leotard (might not be room for ALL the Psalms…) and then I can show them gymnasts how it’s SUPPOSED to be done!

That’s it! That’s what I’m going to do. Just one more biscuit tho eh?

Discarded & Unnamed

On By auntyamoIn Getting to grips with God stuff, Random Ramblings3 Comments

Most of the time it doesn’t hurt anymore.

I go about my day to day life and I don’t even give it a thought.

Get the odd twinge, when I hear of pregnancies  but in general, not having children doesn’t often cause me much pain anymore. Usually I’m just so delighted that there’ll another little person in my life that the joy outweighs the sadness.

But today it’s tough. Today it is painful. Today it feels REALLY unfair and the whole world feels upside down. Mainly because of an article I read in the online version of the Telegraph [1]

248 human foetuses were found in a Russian forest. 248 little tiny people whose lives ended or were ended. When I read the article it was almost crushing.

I’m not going to rant about abortion or stem cell research. I disagree with abortion, anyone who know s me would know that. But I don’t have a fight in me at the moment. All I have is a pressing sadness that for some reason I don’t have a child and 248 tiny humans were packed into plastic containers and dumped in a forest.

LORD, I don’t understand. Help me not to despair about the total upside down nature of this situation. Which is mild and could be thought as nothing compared to a lot of other imbalanced and unjust situations in the world.

248… discarded and unnamed…

And I am sad.

 

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9423324/248-human-foetuses-found-in-Russian-forest.html

Put up your dukes! I’m fighting for my writes!

On By auntyamoIn Writing, Blogging etc1 Comment

I’ve no idea what to blog about this week! Actually that’s not true, I’ve plenty of ideas  – just this evening I was comtemplating  writing a short biography on someone I only met about a month ago! I’ve had to put it off though, he’s not sure he’s up for being my ‘blog fodder! 😀 #youknowwhoyouare!

It’s not that I can’t think of anything to write about, it’s just that I’ve been reading all these articles about blogging and not blogging and why you blog and how to blog and what to blog and what not to blog and blog views and readers and followers and unfollowers…. and whaaaaaat? Is it that complicated? I’m not sure if I know how to blog now! 😦

Since I decided to enter the Grafton Media Blog Awards Ireland my nerves have been in shreds. The stress, the tension, what if I don’t make the shortlist? What if I DO make the short list? What if all I’ve done is bring people to the blog only for them to rubbish me? What if I AM rubbish? That’s it I’m rubbish… I can’t write! I’m deleting this blog… and the other one… and everything else I’ve ever written. And here… throw that laptop in the bin… NO burn it! BURN IT ALL!!!!

Those voices that cause the above mental anguish are very loud and very persistent. You know them don’t you? The ones that tell you how rubbish you are at the thing you dare to hope to be good at. And as time goes on it’s getting worse. So much so that each subject I’ve contemplated blogging on this week has been swatted like a fly on a Louisiana porch.
It started like this…

Maybe I’ll write about that fantastic gig I went to last Friday
“No one would read that!”
Sorry??? who said that?
“You did! You said it yourself, you know well no one would read it. You love music but you’re no expert. And who’s gonna want to hear your opinion on music anyway?”
oh.. eh.. well yeah… true I suppose. I could write a post about the weather – a funny one.
“You’re not funny.”
Huh? What?! I AM funny, amn’t I?
“Come on, if you were funny you wouldn’t have added ‘amn’t I?’ Anyway, the weather is old news. You couldn’t possibly say anything that hasn’t been said that would make ANYONE laugh.  Just don’t blog”
Whaddywhawha? Why not?
“There’s no point, just don’t bother”
Oh… ok then :/

The increase in the desire to and love for writing is directly connected with the increase in the power of the voices. Now you know I believe in God but I’m not saying this is some sort of spiritual attack. However, I do believe there is a Devil out there who’d love to destroy me, but most of the time he’s happy enough to annoy me and make me doubt myself. But whether it is external evils, or my own inner ones… it feels like there’s a battle going on.

And it’s a fight I’m willing to take on. This is something I want to do and get better at.
It doesn’t matter if at this stage I’m merely ‘ok’ at all this, or not even as good as that. I can learn and practise and learn some more. And get better.

And in the mean time… bring it on! I’m going to keep up the fight. And I’ve got some ‘suggestion swatting’ of my own to be doing! Starting with the negative ones!

More Odes to… Twitter followers

On By auntyamoIn Humour, Silly SongsLeave a comment

These are fast becoming my favourite things to write 🙂

In order to curry favour and get more Twitter followers, I’ve started to offer a personal ‘Ode to’ every 25th one…

Ode to follower #300 @booksmusic72

Number 300 subscribed! How can he best be described?

Whirling & tranquil? English & Thankful…

t’was a Scot lost the tennis & cried?

 

Ode to follower #325 @aDublin Bus

Being followed by@ADublinBus is not so very curious

Whatever number he may drive he’ll always be my 325!

But will I have  to choo-as, twixt him & @aDublinLuas?

 

So who’s next? 🙂

Amo’s Believe it or Not!

On By auntyamoIn Humour, Writing, Blogging etcLeave a comment

I’ve decided to dabble in fiction! Yes, the truth it seems is not enough for me now. I’ve developed an itch to try my hand at a bit of story telling. I know… hard to believe!

(this stuff writes itself really…)

One of the more nagging things about the Christian life for me is the ‘insistance’ of truth. Now I don’t mean the ‘I’m right and your wrong’ type stuff. That’s a whole other rubik’s cube of delight :/ No I mean that the individual should live a life that is true. No telling lies. Accepting a situation as it is. Loving people as they are. Believing that God is real and present. There’s plenty of room for dreaming and envisioning what could be, but it’s vital to have honesty in the ‘now’. It took a long time to get used to that because I daydreamed a lot as a kid.

I didn’t have imaginery friends. I pretended that real people I knew, liked me more than they actually did, or thought I was cool, or wanted to hang out with me or go out with me.

I used to imagine complciated scenarios where I’d be rescued by famous people. I’ll only tell you this one and you’re NOT to laugh! But… I had a fully scripted imaginery scenario (on repeat in my head) that the drummer from Frankie Goes to Hollywood (yes the ugly guy with the perm and the tash) ran to my rescue at a Frankie concert (which I never went to) cos some other fans were trying to steal from me. I got a VIP pass to the after party which had lots of St. Ledger (it was all I drank at the time!) and crisps!

Yes my friends, the inside of my head did and continues to hold a menagerie of nonsense!

Anyway… welcome to Ficticious Amo! It is my new blog where I will make stuff up. I’ve only posted a couple of things. I’ve a couple others that are entered into comps so they can’t go up yet. I will add more soon.

Would love love love, some suggestions, scenarios – funny or otherwise to get me rolling with this stuff.

I did spend a short time wondering if ‘making stuff up’ was going to be good for me. But then I thought hang on, if it sheds a few pounds it’s GOT TO be good for me! All I have to do is choose the weight I WANT to be and make sure to post it in the right blog 🙂

But you know the ironic thing about all this… there are people who thought I was WAY cool and I never noticed. I only found out a few years ago that one of my nieces took ‘Annmarie’ as her confirmation name  cos of how cool I was. I’ve spoken to people who would have loved to hang around but me but didn’t cos they thought I was too popular and ‘zany’ to want them to talk to me.

I spoke to one guy who is STILL single cos he chickened out of asking me out at a school disco and hasn’t fancied anyone else since!

I made that last bit up by the way! This fiction stuff is a doddle! 🙂

Put the calories on wallpaper and I’ll re do my kitchen!

On By auntyamoIn Health, weight & wellbeing, Humour1 Comment

I am someone who struggles to make good food choices. I know I have a problem with food. And it’s not ONLY that I have two hands and just one mouth. Although that is a shame… 🙂 But I do wrestle with food issues and often lose the match. So I think the idea of putting calories on menus is a great idea.

Twitter is abuzz with differing opinions. Restaurants fearing the worst, nanny state gone mad with food policing. Then there’s comments about empowerment and best practice. There’s also a lot of talk about the fact that calorie counting is a thing of the past and that it’s the saturated fats (or the carbs – depending on what side of THAT argument you sit on!) that need to be counted.

I’ve also read comments about how fine dining is an indulgence and it would just ruin it for everyone. Apart from the fact that it would cost the already struggling restaurant owners a fortune!

You see from my perspective, I believe I have an addiction. Don’t misunderstand me. I think alocohol and drug problems are a much much bigger struggle for people and they have far more issues to cope with. But I’m a comfort eater who became a compulsive eater. But I can’t NOT eat ever again. I would love to be able to cut food out of my world, but I can’t. So anything that would help me at the moment of decision, is a help to me.

Going back to alcohol – there are %vol alocohol labels on wine bottles and I’ve never read one before buying a bottle of wine. Even if I did it wouldn’t affect my choice. (My wine choice is usually based on 1. is it Merlot? 2. is it under a tenner?!)

Let’s face it these days eating out is a treat. Not like a few years ago when it was almost commonplace! But for those who do spoil themselves a bit and maybe spend a few more quid than they really have on a meal out… they don’t want added guilt of the calorie count – I get that. Neither do I frankly!

I’ve only seen calories on a menu once. It was in the Kudos Bar in the Clarion Hotel in Liffey Valley and it did inform my choice. One of the dishes had a coconut based sauce (I think) and it was considerably higher than the other dish. So I opted for the lower one – it was fantastic, I really enjoyed it AND I had the benefit of feeling good that I had made a good decision.

So restaurateurs and food fans, you go fight the good fight if you don’t think this is a good thing. But I’m all for it.

After all I’m just a fat girl… sitting in front of a restaurant menu…. asking you to put the caesar dressing on the side!

Normal Service Resumed! Here’s another Ode…

On By auntyamoIn Humour, Silly SongsLeave a comment

OK after yesterday I’m back to normal. Enough now of the ranting! I’m going back to what I do! I mean that’s what you’ve come here for isn’t it?

You’ve come for the funny! Right?

*silence….

*tumbleweed…

*small frog ‘ribbits‘ in the distance…

#theawkwardmoment when you’re forced to start a sentence with #theawkwardmoment…

OK then, well here goes…

My Ode to Twitter follower #275 @irishtonyo who hails from Wexford 🙂

Ode to #275!
@irishtonyo now follows me ye’know!
I thought I’d have to strive, to get 275
But tony saved the day, though Dub beat Wex today!

A(n im)politic rant – very unlike me! (I’ll probably regret it in about 7 minutes!)

On By auntyamoIn Getting to grips with God stuff, Random Ramblings2 Comments

Now it’s a bad day when I start commenting on politics but I’m not a little irked at Eamon Gilmore’s comments over the weekend.

So let me rant for a bit… my faith is not a handbag that vaguely matches what I’m wearing on a particular day. It is at the centre of my life. Being a Christian is not a badge. It means to follow Jesus on a journey to be Christlike. (I haven’t gotten very far but that’s what some of the other blog posts are for!)

I really don’t like public representatives deciding and proclaiming that the most important thing in MY life should be pushed to one side so that this country can be governed without matters of faith being in any way taken into consideration.

I know we live in a democracy! I know that lots of people feel differently to the way I do. I also know that referenda will be voted on and things will change.
But I don’t believe that Eamon Gilmore and the Labour party have the right to move faith to one side. He mentions the “the interconnectedness of the views of one Church, with the laws of the country”. I’m not Roman Catholic, so if and when this disconnect comes how are the things that I hold dear taken into consideration?

He talked about “a positive vision of society – one where every person, regardless of background, gender or creed, is free to flourish.” I don’t believe I will be free to flourish if the foundation priniciples of my life are considered irrelevant and ignored when decisions that affect my life are taken at a national level.

It has long been unacceptable to ignore the voice of the minority. If that’s where believing practising Chrstians are then thats where we are, but we’d like to be extended a similar courtesy.

Me dander’s up big time!