The Pacific

Hi All....

Just finished watching The Pacific. Its a ten part drama series about the American tour of duty in the Pacific on islands such as Iwo Jima, Pavuvu, Pelileu, Cape Glostershire and some others too. I am someone who has watched the entire series of Band Of Brothers, I began to think that this series was not going to be as good as BoB. I seem to go on movie series binges, I sit for two days to cover the entire series is quick succession, more like a 10 hour movie.

It is amazing to see decisions and tactics that, at the time, were suicide for many young men. History is littered with decisions such as the order to take the island Pelileu, which was later never used whatsoever for any American military activity even though the Marine Corps and the Army too heavy casualties to secure this small 6x2 mile island.

Conditions were horrible but throughout the series it was clearly shown that all the marines in which the series follow loved the Marine Corps. They would have not changed it for the world.

This makes me so jealous as I myself want to join the USMC but being an Irish Citizen I am not entitled to join.

So thats basically all I have done today. Watched the Pacific all day and am not writing my blog.

Short and sweet entry. More to follow. Thanks
(:

Feels like Ugh.. One Life and One Chance

Hi All..

Well after a party last night and alot of alcohol today started late into the afternoon and was a day of a severe hangover. It seems lately that all me and my friends are living for is the thrill of going out. Basically the last three weeks have been constant consumption of alcohol and loud music followed by either fast food or a long night of even more drinking. At the time its all seemed like fun and I have to admit alot of those drunken nights were alot of fun but today I woke with a different feeling. This feeling, which I cannot explain also came with a slight bit of self disgust and a slight hatred of the thoughts of going out anymore. I guess I realized that although these nights are the best fun and I get to spend alot of time with my friends, I feel like this thrill of the night and the drunkenness is a sad excuse for an existence. All the questions finally ran through my head saying "Why drink so much?" "Why spend all your money on booze?" "What did i do last night?". I dont like this feeling.

It has started to become surreal as in I dont know if I was talking to certain people or if that was a dream or if I was just subconsciously thinking of them. Then the next day is totally ruined with a hangover. We never go out just to drink beer, we always have to over do it with shots of Liquid Cocaine, Jagerbombs, Cocktails. Just pointless really.

So today I have decided that although in Ireland alot of the socializing you will do is in a pub or club. I am not going to drink all that much anymore. I am level headed and fortunate to live in a good family. I can say to myself that enough is enough. Its not productive, all your money is being handed to barmen, brain cells are taking a kicking, not to mention my fitness would totally go to pot if this continued and getting fatter than I already am is scary because who would even dare to look at you then?

This feeling I have is like one when you go over a bump in a car. Its an unknown excitement, a feeling of starting something new or motivation I guess. All through my life I have half started things. When I was younger, Karate, Scouts, Guitar, Gaelic, Reading entire series, drawing, playing music in general. Like almost get the thrill of buying the instrument or buying the uniform and then move on. Tenancies of a quitter. Thats why I say NO MORE.

I want to achieve something. Something that will make people aware of me. Something that you get compliments for, something that appeals to everyone. Soccer is the only thing I have stuck at in my life. Although I am not the best, I am not the worst. But then again its not Manchester United I am playing for.

So here starts a new me. The one people can rely on. The one people talk about. The guy that people want to meet, and when they do meet me then they say to themselves "He is more normal than I thought". I am going to be ruthless in achieving a goal. I want my wall decorated, along side all my soccer trophies and medals I want not only a big framed achievement, whether it a picture or certificate, I want a defining moment in my life that says 'On this date Gary Hogan grew up and decided to take responsibility'. No more excuses and no more time wasting.

It feels like I am missing something in my life that make people see you as a child and not quite an adult yet. So I'm going to find it.

Thanks for reading. More to follow...

Ups, Downs and Kings Of Leon

Hello All...


Ok alot has happened me in the last 24 hours, some good, some bad, some stupid and some insignificant. I shall try explain it all without blabbering on too much :P

Ok so all starts yesterday evening. I was getting ready to go to play a game of football on our local astro turf as training for my team, Willow Park FC, was cancelled since there was a death in the club. So while I am waiting for my dad also to get ready I checked my emails and to my surprise I had an email from the Irish Defence Forces to say that I have been chosen to advance to the first physical stage which is the fitness test. This test consists of a 1.5 mile run in 11 minutes and 30 seconds, 20 push ups in 1 minute and 20 sit ups in 1 minute. As I have done this test myself a number of times I was very confident of success in this fitness test so it is scheduled for 19/11/2010 which is about 2 weeks away. So with nerves setting in thinking about this fitness test I went to play football and thought to myself that I will have to run more than I would normally just to keep sharp for this test.

We got to the astro and the game commenced with our team looking the likelier of the two to walk away winners on the night. I got a ball out on the left wing and being faster than my opponent I decided to just push it by him and beat him for pace. So I faked right and pushed the ball to the left of him and started to sprint then BANG, my left hamstring pops for the second time in about 12 weeks. As I have spent weeks getting myself back playing football after this exact injury not too long ago I got so angry that it happened again with this fitness test around the corner and half a season left to play with my team.

So after calming down and finishing the game in goal I had to go and buy beer as it was also one of my best friends birthdays and we had planned to go out that night. So I went and bought loads of Bud and a bottle of Jagermeister for the special occasion.

We ended up going to the night club that we go to on Thursday nights called Karma. We parties and had lots of fun. But what was different about this night is that after the nightclub we were going to a music store in one of the shopping centers in town and were going to que to buy tickets to Kings Of Leon who are playing in Slane Castle, Ireland on the 28th of May 2011. So we arrived to the store at about 4 o'clock in the morning, still full of alcohol but having fun. Doors opened at 8 o'clock and we got our tickets because of our early arrival we were 8th place in the line so were happy to get sorted with tickets. According to the Irish news tickets for the event sold out in 40 minutes. Upon doing some simple maths I made up that 2000 tickets were sold every minute of those 40 minutes. Its absolutely crazy with the demand for this bang. But because they are the best band in the world it is only expected.

So thats all for now. Thanks for reading my blog yet again. Expect another entry very soon!

A Day Of Everything

HI ALL!


Woke up this morning and I am sick :(

Anyways today is was on the hunt for a new PC. I have been looking around everywhere and I am kind of disappointed with the selection of brands and makes in Ireland, limiting myself to over seas delivery, so I might have to settle for one that is second best to what I want. At the moment my PC has slowed down alot, so I reformatted and it is still extremely slow so I think its dying. Since I have always been a loyal HP customer I looked their range first and I have to say they have started over charging all of a sudden so I no longer will buy HP. But for my time in college I had to get a laptop and get plenty of ram to run my needed programs so iI purchased an Acer laptop, 5732Z to be precise, and I am extremely happy with Acer. It was my view from reviews on the net and word of mouth that Acer was more of a lesser brand compared to the likes of HP, Sony and Apple (which I am really skeptical of the windows to MAC switch) but I am considering going Acer for my desktop PC which is my rock and where I do all my heavy work.

So I had decided on an Acer desktop which has a nice 6 core processor, decent ram, all Bluray drives, graphics card will be replaced, all in all a nice little piece of kit and its ranging from €650 to €700 depending on where I looked. I am guessing its gonna cost me at least €700. But can't complain!

Also today I was reading the news and I seen that Barcelona and Real Madrid are chasing Spurs and Wales player Gareth Bale, I though, Ok since he has has a good six months and is showing potential, then I saw the price tag the two clubs put on his head. 50 MILLION EUROS. I don't think the boy is worth this much. Not doubting his ability, pace or any other aspect of his game except his consistency.I think €50 million euros is a bit much for 6 months good work in which there had been an off season including a world cup, in which Wales and Bale did not compete. I also would like to see promising players  stay in the Premiership and not go to La Liga. The more talented players to stay the better the league is going to be.

Thats All For now, Enjoy and Thank You.

Students March Turns Violent 4/11/2010

Hi all..

Today was a big day for the students of Irish colleges. As times are tough and people are trying to spare every euro possible it was only fitting to see students from all over the country marching and protesting towards our government buildings. The reason for this protest is that our Government want to increase the cost for the average person to go to college. Compared to last years cost, which was €1500 registration fee, the government now want to charge each and every student €3000 now to attend college. This is not keeping in mind the cost of living, the cost of socializing, the cost of rent and the cost of stationary for throughout the year.

I have recently dropped out of college as I did not make a right decision at a young age of what i wanted my future to hold for me. But the reason I am so outraged at this is because I intend going back to college to complete a Web Design degree and therefore I too will be effected by these price increases.

This is not a case of people protesting for a stupid cause. This increase in fees means alot of people will not be able to attend college and alot of present students will not be able to return to finish out their courses in their college. Not to mention the people who never got a taste of college, the brilliant minds with empty pockets who simply cannot afford to go to college.

In my personal opinion I think this decision by the government to raise already high fees is an insult to college and potential college students of Ireland. The stereotypical college student is said to be poor. This is not a hoax, it is truly hard to pay fees and survive. Some receive grants to help them live and some, like me in my college time, have to live off already stretched parents who are already feeling the pinch from other governmental cuts.

So moving on from the outrageous fee increases. College students occupied the lobby of the Irish Finance Department building today in protest, which maybe they should have not done, but they were forcefully removed my the Irish Police, which I believe was the Police only  carrying out their job and have no problem with that. But then the Guards started beading innocent protesters, RTE, the main Irish channel caught police beating students until they bled and even hit one unlucky guy so hard in the head with batons that he struggled to keep consciousness and had to be carried out of the rioting crowd. I believe this was a further insult to the students and undermines the efforts of the do-gooders.

As I was not there I am not going into any further detail about these incidents because I am not going to try make up facts or defend either side. So all in all after todays events the Government should  listen to the student minority and hear they are voicing concerns and not trying to riot and cause trouble.

As this is my first blog post I hope this all looks good and worth the read :)