January 2011 - That Was The Month That Was

So now that a whole month of blogging is complete, it's time to look back at it all, and crunch some stats.

Highest Scoring Day :  Thursday, January 6th (54%)
2nd Highest Scoring Day : Sunday, January 9th (52.5%)
Lowest Scoring Day :  Saturday, January 22nd (21%)
Average January Score : 33.82%

                                           Thursday January 6th - Highest Scoring January Day

Films Viewed At The Cinema (marks out of 10)

127 Hours                  7.5
The King's Speech      7
Biutiful                        6
Black Swan                6.5
N.E.D.S                     5.5
No-one Killed Jessica 5
Dhobi Ghat                 4
The Way Back           4
Tron 3D                     2.5
Megamind 3D            2

Number of Films Viewed : 10
Cost Per Film                  : €2.14


127 Hours - Film Of The Month


Weight

End of Month  : 11 stone 12 pounds 8 ounces
Start of Month : 11 stone 10 pounds 2 ounces


Damian McEvoy - January 31st, 2011


Blog Hits

Total Hits In January         1,638
Average Hits                      53
Highest Hits In A Day       209 - January 7th
Lowest Hits In A Day        4     - January 22nd

Ireland                    914
United Kingdom      364
Australia                 132
United States          118
Germany                26
Canada                  25
Japan                     15
Singapore              13
France                   4
Russia                    4

Day 31 - Monday, January 31st, 2011

"Tell me why - I don't like Mondays," sayeth the Booomtown Rats choon, but I have always maintained that Tuesday is the worst day of the week. Monday has some remnants of the weekend fresh in the mind, Wednesday is halfway through the working week, Thursday is Thursday Night Darts Club, the other days speak for themselves. But today had nothing really going for it at all, and most people I met looked similarly inclined. 

So without even a foray to the cinema in the evening, the day must be declared to be monumentally dull, although ironically the evening did seem that little bit brighter during the walk home - summer is edging towards us, slowly but surely!


Bob Geldof - doesn't like Mondays
all of the time, apparently

Contentment : 10 / 25
Excitement :    0.5 / 10
Memorability : 1 / 15

Score : 23% (26th out of 31)

Day 30 - Sunday, January 30th, 2011

High time for a trip to the Cavan homestead methinks, so time to dust the cobwebs off Al the Almera for his 2nd spin of the year. Thanks to the collective magic of the Port Tunnel, the M50, the M3 and (less so) the N3 and R194, I am in Gallonbawn within 75 minutes and in plenty of time for a phenomenally awesome Sunday lunch of the tenderest roast lamb, roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy, with home made apple tart and ice-cream to follow - class! Mum and Dad are in fantastic form as ever, as are brothers Austin and Shane and sister-in-law Suzetta too - ace! Time for lounging on the couch in front of the fire and a spot of Sunday newspaper-reading - bliss!

I have brought Winning Streak tickets for each family member present - four prove fruitless while Mum's yields a whopping €6 - cue ecstatic celebrations and mass retirement planning!

All too soon it's time for me and Al to retrace our steps, which commences with a false start when I realise 100 yards down the road that I have forgotten my jacket. The drive back to Dublin is otherwise swift and safe, and the evening concludes quietly back at the Lighthouse.

I forgot to take a picture, dammit, but here's a picture of Gallonbawn from Christmas, in snowier times

Contentment : 15 / 25

Excitement :    1.5 / 10

Memorability : 4 / 15

Overall Score : 41% (6th out of 30) 

Day 29 - Saturday, January 29th, 2011

After a restful morning, came a profitable early afternoon with some winning wagers on the Everton Chelsea match - huzzah! A bus journey into town later, and I'm supping the finest of Guinness in McDaid's with Enda G, watching my beloved Coventry City go two goals up against Birmingham City, only to lose 3-2. Onwards to Break For The Border, to expunge a couple more Citydeal vouchers - this time it's €60 worth of food and drink for just €20 - gift! A chicken chimichanga to start, sirloin steak as a very fine main, washed down with a pint of Heineken and a vodka and lucozade.

Next up, a spot of poker in a Ballsbridge apartment, where 7 athletes have gathered to pit their Texas Hold 'em skills against each other over some iced barley drinks. I acquit myself adequately by sharing the €70 pot with Rory in the first game, then am second player to exit in the 2nd and final game.

                                         Tension can cause baldness and/or narcolepsy
Our final port of call is Kobra nightclub in Leeson Street, which is heavingly jam-packed by the time we arrive, at about 12.30am. Many convivials later, and it's time to retire!

                                         Pretty lady - picture quality, not so much
Contentment :  12 / 25
Excitement :     2.5 / 10
Memorability : 4 / 15

Overall : 37% (9th out of 29)

Day 28 - Friday, January 28th, 2011

At lunchtime, I whisked birthday boy Trev Underwood away to the luncheon magicality of The Long Stone, which I had only discovered 24 hours previously. Today's must-eat plat du jour was Chicken Curry half n half, which involves a chicken breast, oodles of currry sauce, boiled rice and chipped potatoes, all in abundance, and for a miserly €9.50!

After work, 'twas off to Cineworld again (yes, it appears that a fixation, an addiction, is brewing here) to see Biutiful  (6 / 10) - a Catalan film staring Javier Bardem that has won Oscar nominations for he as Best Actor and the film as Best Foreign Language Motion Picture. Thufar I have seen 3 of the 5 Best Actor nominees (James Franco, Colin Firth and JB), and I have to say that Javier gets the nod thusfar. It is difficult watching though, because it attacks the senses and arouses uncomfortableness, big-style- you'll see what I mean if you decide to go and see it yourself.



Contentment    :      9 / 25
Excitement :           1 / 10
Memorability :        1.5 / 15

Overall Score : 23%  (24th out of 28)

Day 27 - Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Work had the most magnificent of interruptions in the guise of lunch with Baron Bryan de Hoey, a frightful Southsider who is quite the doppelganger of Prince William of Wales. We adjoined to The Long Stone hostelry, for finest carvery victuals. My first choice of lasagne was lamentably sold out, so I made do with Southern Fried Chicken, which came with magnificent accompaniments of carrots, cabbage, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, chips and - bonus prize - a complimentary slice of roast ham! Naturally it goes without saying that it was bleedin' d'lish.

I re-emerged from NorTrust at 5.21pm, and made a bee-line to Doolan's, amphitheatre of Thursday Night Darts Club's 70th tournament. In honour of the milestone, Frank von Doolan kindly bestowed all 9 athletes with 2 free pints each, and a quality feed of variant ultra-fresh sangitches, complemented by succulent cocktail sausages and sublime chicken lengths, which were wolfed down with emotional ceremony.

Back at the oche, phenomenal feats of athletic prowess were being performed, none less than Lara Della Volpe's stunning score of 156 (triple 20, triple 20, double 18). James "The Peach" Leach (also known as The Dark Destroyer) emerged with his 7th title following a narrow but deserved 2 point victory over John "The Equaliser" Delaney. It was a joint 3rd showing for me, and the record will also show that I scored 2 of 5 scores of 140 that were registered during the evening.

               A radiant Jimmy celebrates his 7th TNDC title win, flanked by the dashing McEvoy siblings

                                                    Those were the scores, George Dawes

                          The National Convention Centre looks more lovely as each evening goes by


Contentment :   9.5 / 25
Excitement :     3 / 10
Memorability : 3 / 15

Overall Score : 31% (15th out of 27)

Day 26 - Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

After work, I was due to meet up with Gavin who was back from Bermuda on a work project, but he mailed during the day to say that he'd have to work until 8pm. Rather than go home and come back in, I decided to take in yet another film at Cineworld, and the best available at the time was off-Bollywood sensation Dhobi Ghat (4 / 10) - a film about a bloke who's a moody artist, who moves into a kip in Mumbai and stumbles across a set of video diaries left by the previous tenant. Moody artist has a one-night stand with an affluent Indian girl who is back on sabbatical from the US, and has a lowly laundry-man who bumps into this affluent girl and they get on like a house on fire too. Cue much intermingling, tape watching and a melancholic ending, all interspersed with enticing cinematography of Mumbai.

So I emerge from the cinema at about 7.30pm, and endeavour to make contact with Gavin, which is a little difficult because I don't have his Bermudian mobile number, so I e-mail him via iPhone, and make my way towards the south city centre. 8.15pm comes and no word back, so I decide to board a 128 bus home, and as affirmation, a mail comes a few minutes later from Gavin confirming that he is staying on at work.

Homewards to the Lighthouse, where I'm greeted by Darren, Emma and a magnificent triumvirate of toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches that I concoct for myself.



Dhobi Ghat heartland - looks like Dhobi refers to a laundryman


Contentment :  9 / 25
Excitement :     1 / 10
Memorability : 1 /10

Overall Score : 22% (24th out of 26)