Below are the 4 most recent journal entries recorded in nomad_paddy's LiveJournal:

Monday, July 19th, 2004
11:03 pm	Redecorating, Repackaging and Recluses... ...made up most of my activities today. And now, with the house-move over three weeks ago and most of the 'settling in' process that new neighbours and new parishioners under Dad's care seem to adore talking about just about over, I can finally, months later, get around to updating this journal. The end of the year at Aber was an odd event, almost passing in the form of a mildly turbulent non-event. At one moment, I was there, at another, very swiftly afterwards, I wasn't. I left behind a beautiful town and some beautiful people, including some people whom I have realised that, although our friendship lacks length of time, they are my best friends. And I miss them all so painfully. Ellie, Liz, Steph, Dan, Tim, Antonio, JTA, Liam, Camilla, all of them. How is it that so disparate and comparatively small a group of people can seize hold of the life of a man who was, this time last year, a perfect stranger they didn't know existed, and turn it around, open it up and beautify it so much without even trying? Perhaps I will never know. Perhaps I don't want to know - sometimes, when something wonderful happens, it's best to accept, not analyse. All I know is that I went to Wales a nervous character who hid it well but carried damage and hurt and a fear of.. well, a lot of things, and now I feel more myself, more confident, and empowered to feel love and feel loved without immediately assuming I'm fooling myself. And I wouldn't feel like that if I'd been left to my own devices for a year. Still trying to write... I WILL complete JTA's one-man show, for all the difficulties it's thrown at me, and indeed experimentation with the one-man form has given me three new embryonic scripts which will, in the fulness of time, hopefully be of use to someone. The new house, near Belfast, is quite nice in its way.... several levels to it - up steps to the front door which leads to hall, kitchen, downstairs WC, lounge/dining room, then up stairs to the bedrooms and bathroom, and down stairs to Dad's office, my office and the garage. The decor in parts is hideous, locked in a 1970s hell of Jason King proportions, but other parts are newly redecorated and lovely. Am having my office redone this week, hence the repackaging (of the large chunk of my library which has to be removed from its new home on the shelves here to make way for painters), while this afternoon saw me out picking carpet and being bitchy about interior design... I'm sure I'm fulfilling a stereotype or two somewhere. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent assembling my new and shiny, soft and comfy motorised adjustable bed. Mum was helping me, and, of course, went at it like a bull at a gate, did a flawless and professional job, but nearly killed herself at the same time... still, it's lovely. Then a lady from Dad's new congregation turned up, wanting to whisk me away to fix her and her sister's new stereo and put a picture of Pavarotti on the sister's computer as the wallpaper as she didn't know how. They're a pair of very friendly ladies-of-a-certain-age who live together since one of their husband's died. The other sister is slightly reclusive, but charming, if quiet and intense, but I went round and did their technological bidding for a couple of hours before returning home to find that a local chap we know who has Asperger's Syndrome had come to visit. Imagine a cross between Raymond from Rain Man and David Helfgott, as portrayed in 'Shine', and add in a complete immersion in the Irish Methodist Church and you have this man. Lovely bloke, very friendly, no harm in him, but very hard work and no concept of the passage of time. So now I'm here, a cuppa and a couple of chocolate-chip cookies later, and about to retire to bed... Soon, things will be more relaxed, more enjoyable, less culturally draining or depressing, and I will be back in Wales with those that I like, those I hate and those I adore madly, and all will be well. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Andrea Bocelli - Canto della Terra (Comment on this)
Monday, May 24th, 2004
3:54 am	Fabulosity abounds these days.... It's been a pleasant day, all told. There's a tremendous calm about the summer, isn't there? A kind of affable ennui that engulfs us all and emanates from the lush green hills and gentle, lapping waves from the sea as the sun shines up over the sandstone of academia and the red brick of industry to us hapless students in our concrete cells above. At least, that's what I thought as I spent the first part of the afternoon with Ellie and Carm up at their hilltop abode in PJM as we tried in vain to revise in the heat of the sun, and, whilst on a momentary wander to regain the use of my legs, I stood just aside from their house and saw the hills sweeping down to the town and the town to the sea in the nearer distance. All seemed calm and well and lovely, and I knew that in the five-mile radius around me was, living and breathing, a lot of people for whom I care deeply (cue overtones of my last posting, which itself precipitated a poem I may yet post here, but copies of which I shall endeavour to forward to those who helped inspire it). Then I got asked by James E if I wanted to go and see 'Troy' at the cinema. Queues were atrocious, however, so we (a loose formation consisting, at various times, of myself, James, Lizzie, Tim, Jen, Mel, Neil, Antonio, Kirsty, Kurt and his girlfriend Catherine) simply stayed on the beach with barbecue and banter, the last of us leaving there after 11pm to repair to James' residence, wherein we stayed until about an hour ago before Liz and myself trekked up the hill back home. Although exams are now looming, and writing has dried up for a day or two, all is well, and will be better in the months to come. Much awaits - some in real terms, some in abstract terms, and some in terms I can dream of, but probably never achieve, and nary a second of it would I change, I think, at this moment. As the first year spent here in Aber draws to a close, there are no regrets - only memories of lighter or darker hue, and the faces of people who have altered my life and touched my soul to its core with their wondrous means of simply being themselves in as beautiful a way as they can subconsciously muster. And so, my dears, with such romantic foolery fresh in my mind, and possibly yours, I must to bed, and see what else comes my way tomorrow... or rather today. As JTA would tell you all.... Have fun! Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: None at the moment - Tom Lehrer earlier. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 20th, 2004
2:23 am	Sweet Summers Spent in Friendship..... ... have a tremendous beauty about them. The last few days have been spent feeling completely comfortable in the knowledge that, for the moment, the circle of friends I have is absolutely perfect. Oh, of course we have our faults and some have a vague irritant quality, but there again, so do I, so I have no room for complaint and I'm glad of that. Today I rose late, typed for a bit, then continued the new-found habit of trundling down to Bar 9 in the Union, getting a sandwich and a coffee and sitting down to write while remaining open to the possibility of meeting people. So I spent a couple of hours in there until I had to go into town for a meeting. Then I met up with Lizzie, Steph, Dan, Tim and Jen at the Academy, had a drink outside, admired new haircuts and tattoos present in the assembled grouping, then headed up to PJM with the first three (hereinafter LSD) and proceeded to spend an odd but lovely remainder of the day up there, simply finding something absolutely beautiful in the company of beautiful personalities. I don't think I could ever weary of talking to any of those three, or indeed any of my other close friends. And summer in Aberystwyth is extraordinarily lovely. Seeing the sun go berserk like some Jackson Pollock painting, using the town as the canvas, dripping in odd, playful patterns over the campus, sweeping in broad strokes down Penglais and then, finally, illuminating the sandy gold of the Old College and reflecting itself over the sea. The town's unique atmosphere, combined with the near-perfection of the setting gives the sea a terminally oceanic quality - almost as though it leads to the very edge of the world, but one needn't care. Either way, it's doing wonders for my dormant, stagnant creative side. I sense a good summer ahead. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Franz Ferdinand - Dark of the Matinee (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 18th, 2004
10:53 pm	Really rather splendid isolation... Hmm... Upon being woken at some ungodly hour by my mother phoning, I little realised that although I would be having a solitary day today, it would be really rather productive. Little did I realise that at day's end I would have finally watched Ellie's copy of 'Withnail and I' (and may do so again before she gets it back), written a number of things, some very personal, others for public consumption, one of them the start of a one-man show for JTA, if he chooses to take up the gauntlet, and one of them this - my first entry here. Of course, it was not a day without hiatus - which day of mine is? If it isn't some fit of artistic caprice on the part of a primadonna-ish cretin (occasionally myself), it'll be something to interrupt the quietude of the hour. Today, that meant being disturbed from a quiet coffee and my notepad in the Union building by the good Mr. Ellington to see if I would help the head of security go and pick up crash barriers from the Titus Warehouse Of Legend (prop. S. Woods, Esq [insert comment here]) to take back to the council depot. Now, those that know me will know that I act, write and direct. Construction, Production, Maintenance and Security are why I hire technical managers. That, and delusions of grandeur, I freely admit. However, I acquiesced to a chap in distress at the thought of a forthcoming scenography project and also to the Nomads, who know me and my weakness for them all too well, and off I went. The things are surprisingly light, if unwieldy. However, it was a tedious, but not particularly tiresome job and it was over with quickly, so I was able to retire to the Arts Centre bar, get something to drink and sit down to write some more. All very productive - I'm even happy with some of it, and that's hard-won. Then I get invited to the beach later on, and told I will be phoned to be summoned. However, when the call comes, someone else has phoned, and I miss the message that a car is leaving for Clarach. Ah well. As lovely as an evening with Lizzie, Steph, Dan et al would have been, I've got a lot done. Plus I'll see them tomorrow. Now I'm consumed with the thought of putting Ellie and Danny in a perspex fish-tank for 'Endgame' next year, as Nagg and Nell... they'd get more stage time, that's for sure.... Current Mood: content Current Music: Dave Brubeck Quartet - 'Take Five' (Comment on this)