Mixed Mash, Muck. yup.

So much.

So I am back in Buncrana after a 10 day tour de force in Eastern Europe. It was fantastic. Crosby Brian and I went to rock the Continent and we ended up getting rocked. No big surprise. But let's just say, hitting Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, and Krakow in 10 days is pretty impressive. Dresden was interesting but small. Prague, was beautiful but touristy, Bratislava was desolate but a labyrinth, Budapest Crosby got decked in the face and Krakow was cold but pretty darn cool.

I'm not sure how I can recount the entire vacation. So many funny, so many crazy, so many just well things. Perhaps over the next few days I'll try to recall them all.

Actually, everything right now is a little crazy and I've had some time to reflect upon it all but haven't been in the mood to record any of it. I have a cold and I'm guessing that's the main reason I haven't had the energy to write. It's cold back here in Buncrana. We had beautiful weather pretty much the whole trip in Eastern Europe, chilly, but sunny and bright and no rain really and just impressive. But now I'm back to the slightly more moderate temperature but depressing omnipresent clouds and wind that mimicks animals poking around my shambles of a house. The sky constantly threatens rain.

Apparently the sequel to Once a Runner is now available through the Publisher "Breakaway Books" but I'm a little sketched out considering the previous year of speculation and rumors about release etc. If it's not available on Amazon.com, I won't believe it's available anywhere. Anyway, Runner's World had an excerpt from the book which is promising...but also completely disappointing. Skeptical that Once a Runner could possibly be matched even by it's own author, my cynical attitude was validated by this excerpt. Reading it, it read like Parker's prose, but in his attempt to remind us of the original novel by recalling various details and picking up the story, HE GOT ONE OF HIS OWN DETAILS WRONG. I noticed this right away, cried out in pain and then double checked with my copy as soon as I got home. I was indeed correct. Parker had confused one of the details between the first and second books. Now, I may be a fanatic, and he may have had 1000 times more things to occupy his attention in regards to this new book, but come on! I noticed it on the first read over. Certainly, his knowledge of the book and story should be greater than mine? Anyway, for those who are fans of the book. To clarify, if you happen to read either the excerpt or the new Book. The nickname Quintus Cassidamius, was NOT given to Cassidy by one of his teammates. He claims he made it up himself in OAR. C'mon Parker. It's important to the development of his character that he made it up himself. Sigh. Anyway.

We met some awesome Spaniards on our journey. More on them later.

My worries over the border crossing back into Ireland have been allayed. At immigration. I was granted another month of legal residence in Ireland. Phew.

I am awaiting my last visitor and my subsequent plane flight out of here. I am moving on, but not going home. Which, I have mixed feelings about. But like I said, I'm a little too under the weather to sort out right now. I need to write it all out first and then post it here as opposed to trying to compose on the fly, comme ca.

My last night in Dublin, I went to the movies with a few friends. We saw Into the Wild, the new movie directed by Sean Penn, with Emile Hirsch and based off Krakouer (sp?)'s book about the true story of Chris McCandless from West Virginia. I was initially worried that this movie would be about a guy just like me, who does something similar to me but way more badass and cooler and better at it etc... That was not something I wanted to see. But I have not read the novel, and I read an article about the movie in Outside magazine which totally intrigued me. It seemed like a compelling story, something I was quite interested in and would love to see/read. Brian had certain misgivings about Krakouer and so I thought, perfect. I'll see the movie. Plus, the article seemed to praise Penn's meticulous attention to detail and intentions of "Staying true to the story" especially considering the amount of drama and conflict went into the production of the film with the McCandless family. I thought, this could be a good one.

Well I saw it. and was at first, thoroughly disappointed. which then, slowly developed into anger. Needless to say, it got me all worked up about a lot of issues wrapped up in my own story that had previously stayed subdued for a damn good reason. So, the movie ignited 3 months worth of bottled up self conflict (and you thought it was coming out in this blog? hah.) and well, my opinions on the movie, its flaws, issues, style, implied meanings, and how it relates to me and my story will all come out a bit later, again, once I've sorted it all out. Grr. Bluck.

Needless to say. I wish I had more discipline. Talk to you later.