Friday, August 20, 2010

Begins with A, Ends with E

There's a word that describes this past week quite well. It begins with A, ends with E and has wesom in the middle of it. So, discounting work, because that's never really worth mentioning unless a customer is an idiot or there's an event or someone does something really funny, this week has been great. I mean, I didn't think I'd get a week like this all summer. Okay, circumstances could have been better for someone, but still - it's been fun!

Monday
Ferris had a couple of exams. They weren't repeats but they were on the same time as the repeats with the same questions. Just had to point that out. It's complicated. Okay, so he was at God College for his exams, and I'd helped him with Drama that morning. I was there, then, for his exam that afternoon. It was Poetry. I hadn't really done the poets he decided to answer on - Tennyson and Browning - so I had to familiarise myself with them a bit beforehand. Still, twas grand! He seemed happy with the exams, anyway. We had lunch. Chicken rolls. Sure it'd be rude not to.

Then it was off to Westmeath for Giddimon's birthday. It was a long trip out, but he got collected at the bus stop with our bags and my sleeping bag and we were left to ourselves in the kitchen with a cup of tea, a plate of biscuits and a bowl of jellies. Phone reception was rubbish. Still, we did a lot of talking and the kitties were just the cutest things I've ever seen. About two and half hours after we got there, her other friends arrived. There was some awkward silence, then some banter, and always lots of food.

I had my first taste of alcohol. Literally a taste. Hyper McHen had a glass of punch called purple pussy. Naturally I texted Ferris saying "Hyper likes her purple pussy." Once I had a sip of it - and only a sip, because it was literally only a taste - she texted Ferris saying "Paul also likes my purple pussy." A wee while later I texted, truthfully though vaguely, "Hyper's threatening to tie me up!" A little while later when my phone had gone ignored, I received a reply from Ferris. "Sounds like fun! Tell all i said hi! Have a great night ya messer!" He didn't know what a purple pussy was until I told him the next day.

We stayed the night. I slept on the floor, That Guy I Am on a couch by himself and Hyper and Giddimon on a smaller couch together. We talked a lot, of course, but eventually we fell asleep. I got the best rest out of all of us, and I didn't even have a cushion or a pillow. Just a sleeping bag between me and the wooden floor and a duvet over me.

Tuesday
A breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs for the four tired remnants of the party guests. He sat down a lot that morning. We didn't talk much. We were too tired, so I don't think anyone minded. Giddimon's mum made a lunch of toasted ham and cheese sandwiches - two each - and a cup of tea, and a slice of hat cake. That's a cake that looked like a hat, but it didn't mean to. It was still delicious.

The bus back home. I read for a while. We were all very tired. The Mountain Goats kept me company. Hyper got off before us this time. We ended up back home at about three. We had tea. We showered later, then watched Smallville. We slept.

Wednesday
I've been reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for a while. It was still boring and painful and contained far too much about religion for my liking. I go to God College. I don't want to have to read about religion in my fiction, too! I got a break from it when we went to town. There were eight of us. We got food at this place called Bad Ass in Temple Bar, then we went looking for a pub. We ended up at the bar in Captain Americas. I took a sip from two drinks. One was an Appletini. We had much merriment and banter.

I got into a bad mood that night. I gave out to Ferris, because he was supposed to have sent me the titles of the stories he was doing for his second text in Fiction. He didn't.

Thursday
I got all the reading done. Ferris had gotten in touch and my mood had lifted up. I was very pleased with myself to have suffered through all that James Joyce. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I didn't want to read it. I wanted to help him with his exam, though, so I had to read it. I think that's a good enough reason if there ever was a need for one.

I got a PDF of Fungus of the Heart by Jeremy C Shipp to review. I got lots of work on these texts done to help Ferris prepare his questions. He didn't answer his phone for ages. I finally got through to him at ten to eleven. We had a twenty five minute discussion more or less solely about James Joyce. It was all very sophisticated. I was a bit cross at him, so I didn't notice when he made jokes. I was grand after the phone call, though. I just wanted him to pass his exam.

Friday
Miley Cyrus and I kidnapped Ferris. She was a surprise for him. I'm very good that way. Arranged the whole thing. We went for a drive down to the south of Dublin. We went to Ranleigh and UCD and Ailesbury Road and ended up, eventually at Stephen's Green. We got lunch at this place called Lemon, Crepe and Coffee Co. Then we sprung Surprise Number 2 on him. I didn't even mention this on Twitter, and I mention everything on Twitter. Since Offaly I've known this. We made him a scrapbook. It was full of photos from the year.

The scrapbook meant a lot to us all. It was something we all had, even though it was now in Ferris's possession. It was a day together for Miley and I. We knew that thing so well. We had put a lot of time and effort into that and we'd been trying for weeks to get it to him. From what I can tell, he likes it. That was the best part, I think. Knowing he liked it. Knowing that it actually meant something to him.

We drove Miley to Heuston, taking the scenic route around North Dublin, around by the prison that had held Larry Murphy, and finally she was gone and I was in the car with him. He drove me home, and we talked a bit. It was all very pleasant and relaxing. I watched Adventureland when I got in, with tea. Loved it. Reminded me of Looking For Alaska and Paper Towns by John Green.

Ferris called. It didn't last long. It was just a very brief, light hearted conversation, but it mattered, you know?

And here we are. It's still Friday. I'm going to see Salt later with some lads from secondary school. This has been my week. I think I could get used to this. Naturally, college is starting back soon, so I can't. But at least I had this week that began with A and ended with E and had wesom in the middle.

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