The Warrior Poet

I had a little free time before diner tonight and decided to stop off at the internet café across the street from our hotel and give everyone a little update from the Emerald Isle. I absolutely love it here. There’s something about it that feels like home. Maybe it has to do with the fact that for the last few months I’ve absorbed the way people look at Ireland within Europe and have begun to equate it to the European version of Texas. Being here has sunk that in even further. I walked into a convenience store in a smaller town on the coast yesterday and the guy working there actually initiated a nice little conversation with me. People here are loud, they are loyal, and they are fiercely faithful. There’s also something about a society built around the mythos of great their great warrior poets as the pinnacle of their aspirations that sustains a great amount of resonance with me. Now, I have also enjoyed the fact that with my red hair, beard, my new favourite hat, wool coat, and the occasional cigar or pipe in my mouth that I fit in extremely well. We’ve spent a lot of time in and around the city of Dublin and have only travelled outside a little. We went out to Howth, which is on the coast, and Malahyde Castle yesterday, and went up in the Wicklow mountains to Glendelough a few days before that. This place is just incredibly beautiful, and I know that there’s no way that you can see that from my pictures. But they’ll be up sometime tomorrow night for you to see what you can. I’ve just been spitting out words as fast as I can for the moment before I have to take off right now. I’ll try to organize some thoughts and make a more comprehensive post later. But for now, I’m gonna go take care of other business. Cheers.