Rag Week 2010: Who Wants to Sponsor a Galway Student?

According to Galway's local newspapers, once again, rag week has been going too far with heavily intoxicated students roaming the streets of the city and wreaking havoc, some even urinating in public and offending local residents and business owners.

Rag week is a student tradition in Ireland, a week of special events organized by students of Irish colleges and universities in order to raise money for charities but too often coupled by binge drinking and drunken disorder.

Since rag week is always a bit of a dilemma for everyone involved, I scratched my head a little and quickly found a solution for this mayhem: instead of having drunken students parading in their underwear all over the city, why not sponsor a student through an entire week of sobriety?

Since drinking alcohol is so much part of the life of Irish students (and Irish non-students, come to think of it!), a week of sobriety should certainly be a challenge for any student of Ireland. Imagine the huge amount of money raised if every student of Ireland got anything between 10 and 100 local residents and businesses to give them, say, €10 for a whole week spent whithout consuming a single drop of alcohol!

Of course, I am sure that pub and night-club owners wouldn't be too happy about this, but who cares? They can still keep on cashing in on the Nation's No.1 disease (alcoholism) once the week is over; I'm sure there will be an awful lot of thirsty students then.

I am not saying this as a "respectable" tight-assed member of the public; believe me, I know what I'm talking about, after all, I have a third-level education myself, even though I can't remember much of my rag week, which was probably the whole point of it; hey, I was a foreign student and I didn't even know that the purpose of rag week was to raise money for charity!

P.S. Here's a Paypal button; sponsor me if you like, I haven't gotten drunk since my 33th birthday and the next time I get drunk is the day I win the jackpot in the Irish lotto, which means probably never (never say never!?!). My cause is a trip to Disneyland Paris this summer for me and the kids so please give me money and I promise I won't pee on your doorstep, thank you!

It Is PJ Day Again?

The other day when I went to pick up my kid from school at 1.30 pm, I was amazed to see a woman who appeared to be wearing pyjamas.

I know this is Ireland and people are not very fussy of the way they are dressed, even though the standards seem to be improving with all the Eastern Europe immigrants, but, come on, pyjamas in the middle of the day? Ok, maybe this was a lady who worked the night-shift (although I very much doubt it) but even then, couldn't she throw on a tracksuit or something?

It was not even the first instance of pyjama dressing I came accross; a few months back, I saw a different lady wearing pyjama bottoms at the same school; so what, is the school providing overnight accomodation or something? Why do all these people keep coming in their pyjamas?

It's not that it's a problem for me, as long as these pyjama people (who obviously haven't showered, or else they would be wearing real clothes) don't come near me, I don't care, but I was thinking of their kids: aren't they afraid of embarrassing their children in front of their schoolmates? I know that if I came to pick up my 4 year-old daughter from school, I would get a look with rolling eyes and probably also a comment, something like:

Mammy! You are still wearing your pyjamas! That's so silly!

and I could never ever look anyone in the eyes at that school again.

Yesterday Was Friday 13th; Was It Good For You?

Well, of course, I wish a Happy Valentine to all of those who celebrate it; me, as usual on Valentine's Day, I have no love interest so I don't bother celebrating it. I did get a card from my youngest daughter, however, which she made in school; what amazes me is that during the week, I heard nobody talk about yesterday being Friday 13th!

So what happened? Because people were so busy planning for the biggest BS commercial day, they forgot to wear garlic around their necks or to play the Lotto on the off-chance that Friday 13th would be their lucky day?

Well, I guess the myth is over then: Friday 13th has never and never will be a day when people are more unlucky or lucky as usual. Actually, I take this away: Friday 13th is a lucky day for bookmakers and lottery ticket sellers, as more people tend to gamble and buy tickets, thinking they might get lucky on that particular day. On the other hand, Valentine's day is a lucky day for restaurant owners, jewellers, florists, etc...

For me, every single day of the year is a lucky day, as long as I've got my children with me, we have our health and a roof over our heads (wouldn't hurt to win the lotto, though!).

I Had No Idea I Was So Rich!

Want to take a test? This one sure puts things in perspective, so take a moment and click here for an assessment of how rich you are (in monetary terms) compared to everyone else:

I'm the 252,121,740 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>

Surprised? So was I!

Ok, yes, this is a plight to people to make them give money to charities but did you know that there are free ways you can give, using the Internet?

My favourite one is this link where you get quizzed on your vocabulary skills and for each correct answer you give, 10 grains of rice are donated to help end world hunger (I've just donated 2 bowls, or 200 grains of rice!).

It is one of the few websites you can access through this Facebook group (you don't have to join the group, it just makes it easier as all the links are on one page). Make it a daily task, so next time you see a ad on TV for Concern or Trocaire, you don't have to feel bad about not being able to afford giving them tangible money.

Michael Jackson Lookalikes Spotted in "Planet of the Apes" Movie!

I'm not a big fan of science-fiction movies but last Saturday night Channel 4 was showing the 2001 remake of "Planet of the Apes" starring Mark Wahlberg, so I thought I'd tune in (how shallow is that?). I guess I could also say that I wanted to brush up on my classics but that's besides the point.

The movie wasn't bad (and Mark Walhberg wasn't looking bad either!) but the reason why I wanted to talk about it here was that I noticed that most of the female apes strangely looked like Michael Jackson! I wonder if this was an accident or was it done on purpose and, most importantly, was it the apes that were modeled on Michael Jackson, or is it Michael Jackson who looks like a female ape?

I wonder if Michael saw the movie and if he did, did he notice the striking resemblance?

Don't worry, Michael, if you need money you can always get in touch with the producers of "Planet of the Apes" and suggest a sequel; the fact that they can save money on their make-up budget if you get a part as a female ape should be a big selling point, especially now that we are in a recession.

And if Mark Walhberg doesn't fancy kissing you in the sequel, he can always tell you to "Beat it"!