Myself and some lovely bloggers I'm glad to have met

Sitting on the train to Graiguenamanagh last Friday evening a memory sparked and has haunted me since.

Picture this: an ordinary college girl happily embracing a course in multimedia in DCU who has lived away from home since the day after her Leaving Cert, very independent and city smart. Her timetable in the latter half of second year means her classes finish at 2pm on Wednesday afternoon. Nice! Four days of the week and time is her own. Week 1 goes by. Week 2 passes, a bit boring but we’ll have project work soon.

Week 3, Wednesday afternoon, I’m at home in my little box room facing another four-day weekend. That’s when I believe I had my first and only panic attack. I couldn’t breathe, I was hysterical. I couldn’t face the thought of another weekend pretty much by myself. Alone. Invisible to the world.

I packed a bag and quickly headed for the train station jumping on the next train home. And that’s what I did for pretty much every week for the rest of that semester. Went home, took up some part-time work for 2 days, had a day off and returned on Sunday night. It got to the stage where I started recognising others who were doing a similar or part of the same commute.

It’s a part of me that drives me nuts, that I detest. Thankfully I have improved somewhat but I still have a long way to go. I’ve got plenty of theories on why I am so and why I find it so terrifying and challenging to meet and make new friends but I also have realised that social networking has been and is fantastic for people like me.

I get annoyed when I hear people bashing social media by calling it a ‘haven for misfits and the socially awkward’ (and so on) – so what?! We’re no more awkward or odd than some of the regulars in the bar I used to work in who used to pop in for a few drinks purely for the social aspect it offered.

I’ve met and made some great friends and acquaintances through Twitter and blogging and the conversations and events that are generated by or through them. And I hope that continues into the future. Why has it been easier this way? I’m not sure if it’s the sense of anonymity, the casual and passing nature of communication online or even the ability to discover common ground and establish some kind of relationship prior to meeting? Or the feeling of being constantly ‘connected’? Or all of the above.

Whatever it is it suits this misfit.

(It's that kinda day)

Want to shape the next WordPress UI? Here’s where you need to go.

Twinnerparty is on and it’s going to be tasty.

The PhotoIreland Festival people are looking for volunteers.

Grab that Twitter username you’ve wanted all along.

Latest edition of DOCTYPE demos using the jQTouch jQuery plugin for mobile web app design.

Get voting for the Irish Blog Awards 2010. Look out Galway.

In the meantime you can follow my random musings and findings on my Tumblr Blog.

Happy Friday & happy start of Dublin Fringe Festival – see you out there

I popped in briefly to the launch of the Dublin Fringe Festival 09 last evening – my was it a lively event! Still sifting through the packed programme of events to see what I might get to see but first impressions are awesome. Check the site for all the info you need and keep an eye on culch.ie for extra nuggets.

Autumn is creeping upon us ever gradually and with it comes the usual flux of awards events for the design world. While it’s a little quieter this year with the IIA Net Visionaries moved to the month of May as of this year, there’s still plenty opportunity to try your hand at getting something tasty for over the fireplace. The IDI Awards and Irish Web Awards are accepting nominations till the end of the month. The Golden unmentionables are taking place also and still charging ridiculous amounts for seats at the awards ceremony (€300 per head) and a saucy €150 per nomination. Stick with either of the previous I think.

BTW

The next BTW is happening on Thursday September 3rd at the Kudos Bar @ Clarion Hotel, IFSC.

If the finger food and 2 for 1 cocktails weren’t enough to get you signed up how’s about finally getting to put a face to that blog you’ve been dipping in and out of for the past while? Or that Twitterer you’ve been having a bit of banter with – drop the @ and have a drink and a laugh face to face instead!

I’ve really enjoyed the last 2 BTW events and this next one should be wicked – hoping to push the turnout to about 150 this time so spread the word, register some friends!

Sign up here and hopefully see you on Sept 3rd.

Keeva Hurley, GSGC. Photo by Paul May.

So much blogging to catch up on both here and on Culch.ie will probably be burning the midnight oil tonight. Here’s a start:

• Gardiner Street Gospel Choir were off the scale brilliant on Saturday night at The Helix, DCU. Everyone I went with and spoke to seemed to be on a buzz after it. Amazing show & fair play to them for doing their weekly gig in St. Francis Xavier’s Church the following evening – can’t have been easy! Well done to all involved, major blog post to come including MP3s of the gig. Paul May has some great shots of the guys n gals on Flickr.
• Delorentos are offering up a free MP3 of ‘You Can Make Sound‘ over here.
• Curious Wines are supporting a great cause – donate to Lesley adn Will’s fund and you’re in a draw for a whopping €110 worth of tasty vino. These guys are cycling 300km for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Wow.
• Damien has a short, sweet &  awesome post on online interaction.
• Jeffrey Zeldman toys with the idea of a NSFW HTML tag in HTML 5.
• TypeDrawing is my latest favourite funtime iPhone app. Check the Flickr group out for fruits of users’ efforts.
• Smashing Magazine has some more excellent free fonts compiled.
• Darragh talks about the set of the latest production at The Abbey over on Culch.ie – as he says photos really don’t do it justice, it’s almost worth going along to The Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant just for the set alone.

Gardiner Street Gospel Choir at The Helix this weekend, can’t wait!

Galway Arts Festival programme announced, website leaves a lot to be desired unfortunately :/

GAF is always followed by the Galway Races, who knows this may be my first year attending the famed festival!

June 10th is the final sign-up date for the Tour de Burren, which is part of the An Post Cycle Series. It promises to be a fab weekend with 3 different routes to choose from through some of the most wonderfuly scenery in the country. Register online here.

Jason is asking you to put your name down for another installment of the awesome BTW (Blogger, Twitter, Whatever) which is happening on Thusday 11th of June. See you there!

There’s a mega range of stars n starlets playing the Live at the Marquee do this summer in Cork, from Josh Ritter to Rod Stewart to Lady Gaga to Gilbert O’Sullivan and everything in between (which is pretty much everything).

Tickets for Muse @ The O2, Dublin this November are on sale on Friday morning via Ticketmaster. It’s going to rock & I shall see thee up the front as the cool kids say.  If you don’t know who or what I’m on about I suggest you listen to this gorgeous delight (give it time, tis a slow starter but SO worth it):

and then Bliss:

No.1 the day I was born

Stu’s ‘Songs Reimagined As Alert Boxes’ is currently at #3 in the Infectious chart & closing in on the #2 spot.

Cork boy Mark Hayes (brother to colleague Darren) is cracking me up with his blogging from L.A.

Tickets are on sale for the fabulous Gardiner Street Gospel Choir gig at The Helix, DCU on June 6th. Highly recommend going along, amazing bunch of singers & musicians – you’ll leave grinning ear to ear with a smile in your heart

And finally, I’m handing in my iPhone to be sent off to some foreign land to be hopefully fixed. In the meantime, Stu has kindly allowed me to borrow & unlock an N95 he had spare. I can’t get texts sending from it, everything else working fine so if you can shed any light on it I’ll buy you a pint or something suitably rewarding!

BTW

Jason is taking the BTW event to Cork today at the Boardwalk Bar & Grill at 6pm. I was at the last one in Dublin and it was a fantastic informal meetup of a great mix of people from various walks of the online world most of whom I probably wouldn’t have met ‘offline’ otherwise.

There’s some tasty badges on offer too if you need further reason to attend Would love to have been there but Cork will have its’ claim over me next weekend instead for the International Choral Festival which I will be posting about later on. Directions for how to get there. Have a great evening all!