in the midst of things

I can't believe it's practically May. I actually can't. Since the drudgery of February, the time has just flown by.

Following on the heels of the Intervarsities, Becky, Heather, and Hailey came to visit me. It was a bit crowded in the house (2 extra people plus a one year old in a house with three other guys is not something I would recommend), but wonderful to see them. Hailey has gotten so big, it's unreal! She's a whole little person!

People love me enough to visit me halfway across the world, lucky me!
Left: Hailey, Heather, Becky, and me in Kinsale
Below: Arad and me at Blarney Castle

A week and a half (and a paper) after they left, Arad flew in. He was here for the past two weeks and just left this morning. This visit was notably different from the last in several salient respects: (1) I had to go to work, and thus had less time with him, (2) we weren't both disgustingly ill, and (3) it wasn't freezing cold outside. Still, we managed to fly through another tv series (last time it was me showing him four seasons of West Wing, this time it was him showing me two and a half seasons of Grey's Anatomy).

I've still had a fair amount of badminton. While Becky & Co. were here I had a competition for Co. Cork up in Galway (we placed 2nd), then after they left we had the Intercolleges competition up in Dublin (we won) and I played in a leisure tournament deep in rural Kerry in the town of Listowel. While Arad was here, we had the Hanes Handicap cup in Killarney (we won, even though I was having a monumentally off day) and the Munster Club Division 1A finals in Limerick (we won). So he got to see more of Ireland--or its badminton halls at least.

Tonight, I was elected Secretary for UCC badminton for next year. We'll see how this works out.