Birthday Song

It was my Birthday! You know, a few weeks ago. I realize that the ratio of days to blogs has decreased significantly this past month(s). I apologize. But if I am being truthful I must tell you that the number of blogs is not going to dramatically increase anytime soon - especially since I leave the great country of Ireland in two short weeks. How time flies and all that jazz.

However, I have digressed. My birthday.

I believe that I have mentioned the birthday tradition of 76 Malone but if I have left out any details here is the short version: I bake a cake and we eat it at midnight to celebrate into the birthday in German tradition (I live with Germans - if you missed that). And that is the nutshell version of what happened on my birthday. But because I love you all very much, here are some details.

I was strictly forbidden to bake my own cake, a harsh ruling if you ask me, but was allowed to provide the recipe for my favorite cheesecake. A springtime citrus cheesecake (YUM!). The house had plans to go out that night and I began getting ready. Suddenly there was a knock on my door. I opened it and found the beginnings of a scavenger hunt. The rules were that I had to wear my prettiest dress and the birthday sash provided for the whole night. When I went downstairs I found the rest of my tasks written on a lovely piece of paper. Among them were:

• Give everyone a kiss (on the cheek!!)
• Pretend to be the Queen for five minutes
• Sing your favorite song
• Convince someone to buy you a drink
• Greet a stranger like you know them
• Tell the bouncer "Live long and prosper"
• Dance (preferably the "shopping cart")
• Make up a rule that everyone has to follow for the night
• Give a speech

Those were some of my favorites. My rule for the night was everyone in the group, if they wished to speak to someone, had to begin with a compliment about the other person. Sarcasm was allowed but not encouraged. 

I had such a wonderful time and I owe it all to my wonderful housemates - truly a birthday I will never forget!

Kiki and I - Kiki was the photographer for the night (the camera died 2 minutes after this picture was taken).

Run For Your Life

Well, we did it. The house of 76 Malone has completed the Belfast City Marathon. After weeks of sweat, blood, and tears the final test arrived. And we ran.

It started in early January when Lisa asked a few of us if we were interested in participating in the Belfast Marathon as a relay team. And from our lofty house, months away from the actual marathon, five of us took on the challenge. So we began planning our rigorous training schedule. We then promptly forgot about the training schedule until March. We knew early on that our moto would be "complete" not "compete" and therefore set about trying to win the contest we thought we could - the team name contest. I think it is safe to say that more time was spent on choosing our name than actually training for the relay. Several names were suggested, among them "International Pub Crawl", "We Thought This Was A Pub Crawl", "Replacement Runners", "Kelsey and the German Shepherds", "Extreme Bird Watchers", and "There Better Be A Pub At The End...". Careful selections were made and we decided to go with "The Running Gags".

The morning of the race was dismal. And when I say "dismal" I mean according to Northern Ireland standards, as in HAIL. It was so cold. I was standing there waiting for Lisa to give me the sacred wristband so I could set off for my portion of the mileage and all I could think was, "I live in Florida. What am I doing here?! I bet Mom never had to deal with this when she ran her marathon!" Finally, the rain slowed down and out of the haze came Lisa! I grabbed the wristband and was off - up the hill. Turns out, it was all up hill. Then the rain picked up again, followed by hail. Somehow, this did not stop people from coming out to support the runners. A little boy was kind enough to reach beyond the ropes and offer me a Jelly-belly. Even kinder was the man standing outside his pub offering free pints to the runners. I won't lie to you - that pint looked really good and I thought long and hard about stopping. But I carried on and before I knew it I had reached the second switch point and was searching madly for Simon. By the time I handed him the wristband and set him running, another problem occurred to me. Where was the finish line?

Two hours later, I found it. Then I found Lisa and we eventually found Simon and Alex. Now all we had to do was watch for Karin as she triumphantly crossed the finish line. We were wondering where she could be when suddenly a blur crossed the finish line! We had enough time to yell and scream (starling some people around us)  just before she crossed the finish line - making our group time four hours and eleven minutes. Pretty good for our first relay. So I would like to raise a metaphorical glass to the Running Gags - without them I would have never been able to say that I completed a (relay) marathon.

The Running Gags - group picture before the race!

The Running Gags - (left to right) Alex, Simon, Kelsey, Karin, and Lisa

In other news, my final Jazz concert with the Queen's Big Band has commenced. It was great fun and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to perform with them over this past year. I will miss them. Less than four weeks until I go home - the count down begins. Unfortunately, so do exams.