Northern Ireland Confidential

backstage pass

I like knowing what goes on behind the scenes. Maybe it stems from being a reporter for 10 years, but I am spoiled to unusual access.  Among the zillions of fun things from my time in Nashville were touring the Ryman Auditorium, the NFL stadium [its name changed weekly] and the big entertainment arena.

As I hope you've figured out by now, I also love old buildings. So the opportunity to roam around the newly restored Ulster Hall was something I couldn't resist.*

This outing was organized organised by the Belfast Flickr group, people whom I do not know but with whom I spent my Saturday afternoon. They had mighty intimidating gear -- lenses and tripods and honest to goodness cameras. I had my digital camera [which is crap] and my old actual film camera. I spent 30 minutes trying to find a 9V photo battery which indicates how much I use it.

linked in

I've been so busy doing cool stuff and there are so many big thoughts swirling around in my brain I don't even have time to write about half of it.  So I'm going to let some other bloggers do the heavy lifting for now.

Rockfest at the newly opened Ulster Hall, courtesy of Phil and Stuart and AU.

Thoughts about the peace protest in response to killings this past weekend, courtesy of Flippin Yank and Phil.

Why Belfast is awesome, courtesy of Jennifer who wins Best Blog Name hands-down:  "I Dream of Haggis."

bad hair year

One thing I loved about my trip to Glasgow was that my old hair showed up. Just for one day, it was curly and big again.  Most other days, it is limp and lifeless. I blame Belfast water.

I polled my colleagues to see if I'm just imagining this.

"What is the deal with my hair?" I asked them. "I think it's getting straighter by the day."

"It is wavy," they said helpfully. "But it's not like it used to be."

They reported that they recently ran into a friend who just had her first child. Her hair has lost all its curl. She said her hormones were to blame.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" they joked.

"No," I assured them.

I miss my old hair. Maybe this is the onset of "the menopause," as it's called here. Oh joy.

accentuate the positive

I'm no ostrich, but even I can't listen to the news anymore. No BBC 4 headlines on the commute home. Too depressing. Too many job losses, plant closures, plummeting markets. So I had to laugh when I was surfing the net and saw this on a site:

THE UPSIDE OF UNEMPLOYMENT

-- Drinking in the Daytime

-- No Crowds at the Gym

-- Freedom to Stay Out Late

Sounds good to me ... but I'm not ready to leave the working ranks just yet!

this probably won't mean anythingto people in the states

So there we were, having a wee lunch at Maggiano in Victoria Square on Saturday. I excused myself from the table to walk down the hall and there was your man Jimmy Carr walking in front of me.

Now you know I'm easily starstruck, and I did say aloud, but under my breath, "Hey, that's Jimmy Carr!" And I had that classic debate: to go talk to him or to just let him be. I opted for let him be because I couldn't think of a thing to say to him except "Would you give my phone number to Paul Merton?"

P.S. He was in Belfast as part of his comedy tour. Our correspondent from Life in NI gives his take on the show here.