2018 movies (plus The Last Jedi and Justice League)

I have realised that it's been a while since I've really talked about movies or TV shows. I saw something on twitter today about how it's been a year since Star Wars The Last Jedi came out so I'll talk about it as well as the various superhero movies that have come out this year.

*I will be vague and try not to spoil anything.

I'm not sure if there has been a movie with so much hyperbole of opinion around it as The Last Jedi. There seems to be this idea that either you think it is awful or you think it is the best Star Wars movie ever but I imagine there are many people like myself who thought it was a mixed bag. It doesn't help that it starts off in a confusing way when you think about how The Force Awakens ended. To that some might say well the books explain what happened between that and The Last Jedi to which I would say well you shouldn't have to read the books to understand why things are the way they are. There is also the issue of how Luke Skywalker is handled with Mark Hamill himself coming out and saying he didn't agree with his characterization in this movie (that said he didn't let that affect his performance so fair play to him). That and how new characters who were great in The Force Awakens are not handled that well in this movie don't help things. It does have some exceptional moments and I do understand that Rian Johnson wanted to subvert expectations and breathe new life into Star Wars that said I think I enjoyed The Force Awakens more.

I now realise as I'm writing this that I haven't commented on Justice League yet. Going to see it was actually my first trip out after getting my wisdom tooth out last year.  Whilst Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice made me angry and frustrated and Suicide Squad was disappointing despite low expectations Justice League was just medicore. I'll say that again, Justice League the first live action Justice League movie where we see heroes such as Superman, Batman, The Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman and Wonder Woman  team up was mediocre (at best). Zach Snyder stepped away from the movie due to a personal tragedy and the director of Avengers and Avengers Age of Ultron was brought in to finish the movie. It is fair to say that the movie is a bit of a mess with lame comedy bits added, this weird focus on a Russian family that the movie keeps cutting to and an unfinished, poor quality CGI finale. It once again shows the very poor decision making that goes on at Warner Bros in terms of their DC Extended Universe. There has been much campaigning by fans of Zach Snyder for a "Snyder-cut" of the movie and as much as I think Batman V Superman was a bad movie at least it was ambitious and it was clearly setting stuff up for Justice League which was then not included. It's hard not to wonder if the original vision would've been better.

The movie was't helped by moustache-gate

Before I talk about Marvel movies I'll talk about some other superhero movies that were released this year. The first Deadpool was a great movie and it showed that Fox could differentiate themselves from Marvel Studios by making more mature (aka violent) superhero movies. It was funny and had great action and it deservedly got a lot of praise. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy Deadpool 2 anywhere near as much. I don't think it was as funny, there were too many jokes relating to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I thought it really dragged in places. It's not awful but definitely could've been better. I wasn't overly fussed on Josh Brolin as Cable or his backstory in the movie but I would be interested in seeing an X-Force movie with him and Deadpool having a smaller role.

The first Incredibles movie was released in 2004 and I think it's fair to say that it remains one of the best superhero movies. The sequel was finally released in 2018 and it was hard to know if it would meet expectations. I must confess I saw it late in its run at the cinema, I went in the afternoon expecting there not to be many people at it only to find lots of parents and their kids so I maybe didn't enjoy it as much I might've if there weren't kids stomping up and down. It definitely looks great, the voice acting is spot-on and it has some great set-pieces. That said I don't think it reaches the quality of the first movie and I don't think the villain is anywhere near as good as the villain in the first one.

2018 was a big year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first movie being Black Panther, a big budget blockbuster movie that is culturally important for having a primarily black cast. T'Challa/Black Panther had been introduced in Captain America: Civil War and despite his small screen time he came across as a very interesting and badass character. I enjoyed this movie, it's yet another polished, entertaining Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, it doesn't just feel like another generic superhero movie. That said I don't think it is perfect and I think it is overhyped a bit especially given the finale which I thought could've been better especially with the poor CGI (possibly due to priority being given to Avengers: Infinity War).

Avengers; Infinity War had a lot of pressure to live up to. This is due to it not only being an Avengers movie, being directed by the Russo brothers who directed Captain America: The Winter Solider and Civil War, being a movie featuring not just the Avengers but also other characters such as Black Panther, Spider-man, Doctor Strange and also the Guardians of the Galaxy but also finally having Thanos, a villain who had been teased since the post-credit scene of the first Avengers movie finally take center stage.  Whilst not spoiling anything I think it is fair to say that it managed to both meet and exceed expectation. It is action packed, it is funny, it has twist and turns and covers a lot of different emotions. It is a great looking and sounding film as well. Josh Brolin is fantastic as Thanos and he comes across as a real character with real weight to him despite all the CGI and motion capture used to bring him to life. Seeing it in the cinema for the first time is an experience that I will remember for a long time.

How you do a CGI villain cough*Stepphenwolf*cough

Ant-man and The Wasp was the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in a way acted as a bit of a palette cleanser before Captain Marvel next March. Like the first one it is a self-contained story and is better for it. Again it is a very polished entertaining Marvel movie. It has an interesting antagonist and lots of great choreography and action. It's not going to top many people's favourite MCU movies but that is fine. Paul Rudd is proof of the brilliance of the casting of the MCU and Evangeline Lilly gets to step up and does very well. I think if there is anything to complain about is that it does juggle different baddies and plot-lines. It might have been better if one element of the plot had been given a bit more focus and time but it may be that it is revisited in future movies.

I cannot review Solo: A Star Wars Story, as I haven't seen it, nor have I seen Venom (partly out of protest due to Sony being so short-sighted and going ahead with their Spider-man spin-off universe that isn't connected to the MCU). There are a number of big movies out now that I haven't seen yet, hopefully I will be able to see at least one of them before Christmas now things are winding down a bit in terms of my job hunt.

If I don't write anything before then well please have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

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I'm starting to really dislike November

Well it has been another large gap between updates, I'm not even sure how many people actually regularly check my blog, it would help if blogger would remember not to track my own page views. I've been rather busy on the job search front. Applying for lots of different jobs and having a number of different interviews. Unfortunately I'm still looking which is frustrating because I definitely think my interview's have improved and I am actually giving longer answers now instead of just answering the question and stopping. I've had some great feedback but it's hard not to wonder if it is a numbers game with a lot of people all applying for the same position. It has also been frustrating when companies recruitment processes aren't the best. You can apply for a job, get an interview, get a rejection and get told someone else gave a better interview only to see the same job advertised again weeks later.  In a recent case I haven't even heard back after my interview but the company are seemingly advertising the job again, this when I felt I definitely met the criteria and gave a solid interview. All of that said I know I am very lucky that I'm able to live with my parents and don't have to worry about money for food etc.

All in all it had been a rather busy few weeks with interviews etc. but we had planned a short break away up the north coast again coinciding with the Atlantic Sessions which is what we did last year. I was hopeful that this year would be a lot more enjoyable due to me being in a much better place ( see my post from that time) and that we were staying in the lovely apartment we had stayed in on our last break up the north coast. We planned that me and my parents would go up on the Thursday and my brother would join us on the Friday. We had tickets for gigs on the Friday night as well as a gig on the Saturday night and we planned to come back on the Sunday before heading to the Northern Ireland V Austria match on Sunday evening.

Unfortunately it turned out to be a rather mixed weekend. Our cat Milo who hadn't really been eating well for a while which was rather unusual for him (we had taken him to the vet who couldn't find anything obvious) but who we thought had been improving disappeared on Wednesday night. He hadn't quite been himself for a while but we thought he had maybe had a bug and was taking a bit of time to get over it. This led to a stressful night worrying that if he didn't come back we would have to cancel the trip as we couldn't leave him to come back to an empty house. Thankfully he did come back at 6am and seemed rather perky on it. We took him to the cattery and let the owner who is a lovely woman know about Milo's situation. She promised to keep an eye on him and said she would check his teeth in case that was the issue. Thursday was nice and Friday was a lovely day. Unfortunately on Friday evening we got a phone call from the owner of the cattery saying she was concerned about Milo (also that she couldn't see any issue with his teeth) and asked if it would be ok if she took him to the vet in the morning, we said yes and went out to the gigs. When we got back we had missed calls from her to say she really wasn't happy and she had taken him to our vet (who she trusted and who we have known for a long time) that night. We got a message from the vet saying that he had put Milo on a drip and would ring us in the morning. This led to another very restless night and in the morning we got the call from the vet saying he would rather speak to us in person. At this point we pretty much knew that things were really not good.

On Saturday morning we drove the long journey home and went to the vet's. He explained that Milo's rapid weight loss along with lumps he had found meant that he most likely had lymphoma which is common in cats. He explained that whilst we could prolong things with chemotherapy and steroid pills it would only be for a matter of months. We all agreed that we didn't want to put Milo through that and the best thing would be to do would be to ease his suffering. I am extremely grateful that we were able to see Milo and say goodbye to him. He clearly recognised us and was happy to see us. The whole thing was very calm and peaceful and Milo wasn't stressed at all. It's hard not to think that it would be kinder in some instances if we could do the same for humans.

It's fair to say that it was a very sad day for our family, Milo had turned up on our door as a stray kitten and adopted us as his family (we put found posters up but nobody responded). He was with us for over fourteen years and acted as a constant source of comfort and entertainment. He saw me through almost all of high school and all of university and my PhD and the time after, It is fair to say he became the fifth member of our family. Despite how upset we were unfortunately life is always moving on. Given that we were paying for the apartment and had tickets for the gig that night as well as the Northern Ireland match the next day we felt that it was better to continue as planned rather than go home and sit about being miserable. We weren't really in the mood however we had a nice meal on Saturday night and the music was good even if the venue/the many people not interested in the music were not. The Northern Ireland match ended up being very disappointing, despite how well they have played in the Nations League they had failed to get any points. We hoped that we could rescue some pride against Austria. They managed to come back from 1-0 down only to lose by conceding a goal at the very end of the match.

Last week was tough, Milo was such a big presence in our home and the most regular topic of conversation would be him. It has been difficult not to look for him in his regular spots both outside and inside the house. We miss him terribly but are trying to remember all the great times we had with him. Our neighbours who knew him have been sympathetic but not everyone is. I pity people who don't know the joy of having a pet or those who dismiss cats due to silly stereotypes. We were very fortunate that we had fourteen wonderful years with Milo. Before him we had two beagles who lived to fourteen and around fifteen and a half. We are an animal loving family and it is likely that in the future we will get another pet however it will not be for a while yet. I believe you need to take the proper time to grieve and to process things, I don't understand the people who lose a pet only to immediately get another one.

Me and Milo on the day of my PhD graduation

Sorry for not writing the most uplifting post but thanks for reading, I'm meant to be getting my BAHA on a soft band this week so I will probably write about that at some point.

Trials, interviews and some changes

Hello again, yes I am still alive, just haven't been in the mood to sit down and write a blog piece. Since the last update I've been on holiday for a week up the north coast of Northern Ireland with my parents, had a few more job interviews, been doing some more decorating and getting my new bedroom ready as well as starting to trial a BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid) on a soft band.

It was great to get away for a week with my parents obviously we had been away to Majorca but that was only for a week and at the start of the summer.  The north coast of Northern Ireland is very hard to beat especially for the scenery and the food! We rented an apartment in Portstewart which was lovely, plenty of room, very comfy and with great sea views. We did a lot of walking and visited Rathlin Island for the very first time. We had timed it so we could also see the air show that was so great last year unfortunately bad weather elsewhere meant there were a lot less planes and helicopters this year.

View from the apartment

View from Rathlin Island

View from RSPB centre on Rathlin

The famous Dark Hedges as featured on Game of Thrones!

On the job front I have been busy and have had a number of interviews which is reassuring but unfortunately no offers yet. It is unfortunate that it seems to be a numbers game with so many people applying for the same positions. Due to some issues with interviews I have decided to not only send a strap line explaining that I have TCS if I'm invited to interview but also arrange for my employment advisor to ring the person just so he can also explain things. This way nobody is taken by surprise and the person is fully informed it also hopefully prevents the situation of people either not reading or not properly reading/understanding the email.

I have finally been able to move into my new larger bedroom, there are still some things to get such as a light shade for the ceiling light but it is now habitable. We had real issues getting the carpet sorted but eventually got one ordered that was in stock and ready to be fitted and I'm very happy with it. One of the main advantages of my larger room is that I was able to move my electronic drum kit out of the garage which gets very cold in winter and is a bit depressing in the dark. I now have a music corner of the room with my drum kit, my guitars, my amp and my effects pedalboard all set up. I will share some pictures once I get everything moved in and the way I want it.

If that wasn't all enough to keep me busy I am also currently trialing a BAHA on a soft band. I haven't had any reason to visit the audiology department at the hospital where I went quite regularly as a kid but my mum thought it would be a good idea just to check that what I currently have is the best option for me and thought now was a good time to check it out given I'm not currently working. Long story short we have been informed that Phonak are not going to repair/service my current bone conductor hearing aid after 2020. It is somewhat ironic after my quite contentious debates with people on Facebook about BAHAs being a bit overrated that I may now have to switch to one. I do stand by my point that you shouldn't need to have surgery to have a good hearing aid and it is my opinion that a lot of the people so strongly defending BAHAs online do so because their only experience of bone conductor/behind the ear hearing aids is from years ago with big bulky, uncomfortable and not very good models.

I have been allowed to trial the Cochlear BAHA 5 which is their most recent model and meant to be very fancy. I definitely could live with it if I had to and there are not the major teething problems I had when switching from my analog to digital bone conductor hearing aid (due to all the unnecessary programs and stuff that was on it at first). However the BAHA 5 does have issues:

• Very sensitive to the touch/wind. Cannot press on it to hear slightly better (during very quiet dialogue on tv) due to the feedback
• Automatic volume reduction programme, no rhyme or reason to it, looking forward to getting this deactivated to see how better it is. Not sure if this is why it is difficult for me to hear in shops unless the person is close to the side of the mic
• Doesn't like some high pitches of sound which is a bit awkward when playing guitar, have been told it might be due to the volume reduction

I'm going back for a follow up appointment next week so hopefully will get some of these issues resolved. Also hoping to try it with some of the accessories to listen to music/connect to audio devices (like my drum kit) as that is very important to me. 

Thanks for reading!

My first music festival

Well last weekend I attended my first proper music festival i.e. not a one day festival where you get to go home at the end of the day. I attended a local music festival called Stendhal Festival which is set in Limavady (Northern Ireland). I had come close to attending before especially last year but ended up not being fussed on the idea of camping especially last year when I was in the middle of writing up my PhD thesis. It's been running for a number of years now and has a very good reputation as being a great local music festival that caters to those of all ages. It has musical acts, comedy acts and plenty of things for kids to do including workshops and other fun activities.

I went with my brother and our mutual friend, me and my brother left on Friday morning and had to battle the Belfast traffic to pick up our friend then we had a long drive to Limavady, It wasn't the most reassuring drive as we drove through periods of very heavy rain. Thankfully we arrived in the sunshine and were able to get our tent set up. We were eager to get into the main site and start enjoying the festival and we were able to start with the wonderful Malojian. I really love his music but hadn't had the pleasure of seeing him live. It was a lovely way to start my first Stendhal, By the way I definitely recommend watching a documentary about how he went to Chicago to record an album with the famous Steve Albini.

The rest of the Friday was good, I saw the Ulster Orchestra play with a number of different female artists, saw Hunkpapa (unfortunately their set was cut short) and saw Jealous Of The Birds among other acts. Me and my brother had very nice pizza for dinner. Unfortunately the Friday night was rather cold especially if you were wearing welly boots which have no insulation! It did stay dry but a number of the stages were under cover anyway. It was rather late by the time we were heading back to the tent but I slept surprisingly well.  I had bought a "self-inflating" mattress for £10 which worked quite well, I was also prepared and had brought a plastic lunch box to keep my hearing aid and my glasses in whilst I was sleeping. I probably slept better than my brother and our friend given that I couldn't hear most of the noise from the campsite!

Joshua Burnside was last on the bill on Friday night:

We got up on Saturday morning to glorious sunshine and I even put sun cream on the back of my neck just in case (probably should've put it on my face as well given I ended up somehow getting sunburnt despite the rest of the day not actually being that sunny!). I had a sausage bap for breakfast and then we started the day with the wonderful Glass Wings. The rest of the day I was all over the site at all the different stages not just for music but for a live comedy podcast as well as comedians as well. Highlights of the second day were Runabay, Rebekah Fitch, Hand Models and also Cormac Neeson of the The Answer with his side project. He and his band played on a small stage in the woods and it was such a great set. Embrace were the headliners on Saturday night, I like their old stuff but when the rain was pouring down and they are faffing about with an out of tune guitar and asking us to wish their tour manager or whatever happy birthday it didn't do much for me. We ended up going over to catch a bit of Brand New Friend who are definitely making waves now before going up to the other end of the site to catch the always fantastic Wood Burning Savages.

The weather had turned on Saturday evening and we ended up making the decision to pack up our tent and everything else and leave it back in the car. It meant that since we weren't that fussed on the band that were closing the festival we could leave slightly early and sleep in beds with a roof over our heads rather than a tent in the pouring rain (and then have to pack up a wet tent as well). Overall I really enjoyed my first festival experience. Obviously I was tired after it but it had helped that the weather had been so nice and we had been able to sit on the grass to enjoy quite a few of the acts. Not sure if  I would enjoy it as much if it rains for two days straight. I would definitely consider going back next year and now I have done it once I know a lot better what to expect and what I need to bring and what I definitely don't need to bring.

Thanks for reading.

Jobs, applications and interviews

There has been some debate recently on the TCS Facebook groups and it has got a little bit heated at times. The topic of debate is whether or not to let employers know that you have a condition, how it affects you etc. There are some people who have the opinion that they want the job on merit, that their condition has no impact on their ability to do the job and there is no reason to notify employers. Obviously it's hard not to wonder that the different attitudes may be down to people living in different countries, it's hard to know. It is something that I've had to think a fair bit about since I have been job hunting for quite a while now and have now attended five job interviews in the past few months.

Personally I have the belief that it is better to be upfront about things especially when I look noticeably different and people who don't know me find it difficult to understand me. That said it does depend on the person, some people make more of an effort to understand me than others. There are disability acts which are meant to prevent discrimination against disabled people and employers are expected to make reasonable adjustments for people who are disabled. I used to hate the term disabled with it making me think of people who were confined to wheelchairs or blind etc. that said I've come to realise that it is just a term used to describe people who are at a disadvantage. There is no shame in allowing for things to level the playing field.

I do not mention that I have TCS on my CV and I only mention it on job applications if it specifically asks about disabilities. I only make the employer aware of it if I am invited for interview. In some cases they ask you to fill out a monitor form which often has a question about any disabilities. Even in those cases I make sure to include a paragraph in my email accepting the invitation to interview about my TCS. I do not feel it is fair for me or for the interviewers for me to turn up and surprise them as it were. It is better for them to be prepared to accommodate me and not be distracted by the way I look/talk and not know why.

This is what I wrote for my recent job interview, it is slightly edited:
As I have noted in the completed Application for Employment Addendum I have Treacher Collins Syndrome as a result of which  I am hearing impaired and have some difficulties with articulation when communicating orally. I would therefore request that this be taken into account during the interview in terms of time allowed. I have been advised by a employment adviser at Action on Hearing Loss that it might be helpful if I could be provided with a written copy of the interview questions on the day. I would be happy to respond to questions in writing, but only should there be any difficulty in the interviewers understanding of my speech. 


Unfortunately this doesn't always work out. One interview I had a while back was very awkward as the HR person clearly misunderstood my email and I ended up having to write down all my answers to the questions despite saying I would be happy to answer them orally. When I went back to them by email after the interview to clarify this I was then invited to go all the way back to receive oral feedback, which I declined and thankfully got written feedback instead.

For my most recent interview I was given short notice with the interview only being a few days later. I sent the email accepting the invitation along with the paragraph above both in the employment form and in the email. Unfortunately the interview invitations was being handled by a placement student, who did not pass on the information. I went into the interview and it was clear that they were slightly taken aback and the person leading the panel had to interrupt me to let me know she was struggling to understand me and asked if that was why I had brought the notepad with me. The rest of the interview was a combination of me writing some of my answers down and answering others orally. The members of the interview panel were very friendly and overall I thought the interview went quite well. After the interview I asked my employment adviser to ring them to clarify that I had sent the information about my condition. It turns out that after the interview the person leading the panel actually went and checked if they had received any information and found out that the placement student had been off the day before the interview and hadn't passed the information on. It is unfortunate but they handled it well.

The best interview I have probably had which led to the paragraph I now send as shown above was actually for a job in a university. They gave me the questions they were going to ask me on a sheet of paper. I was allowed to answer the questions orally. I was then asked to write down the answers to the questions in a separate room. These were taken back into the interview panel for them to look at before I was brought back into the room to answer some more questions and to clarify some things.

Obviously everybody is different but I am happy with this method of dealing with interviews I have found that said I will be now asking them to confirm they have received my email before the interview. Unfortunately I know it is true that appearance is often everything that said by making them aware of it beforehand and making sure I can properly get across my skills/experience and more importantly personality then I think I might have a better chance of getting a job than turning up and expecting them to be able to understand me/not allowing me enough time etc.

In terms of my job hunt I'm now playing the waiting game. Waiting to hear back about an apitude test I completed last week, waiting to hear back about my most recent interview, waiting to hear back about other job applications I have sent in and I also have another interview in September. Wish me luck!

Just call me Dr Brown!

Well I have officially graduated with my PhD (for some reason it's doctor of philosophy rather than doctor of science). I graduated from Queens University Belfast on a glorious sunny Friday morning. It was actually a bit too warm especially as a guy wearing a suit and then having to wear the over the top graduation gown on top of that (£67 to rent and no graduation cap!). It was great to finally be able to graduate and do so with my immediate family there as well as graduating alongside some of my friends who were also graduating with PhDs. The ceremony wasn't much to write home about especially compared to my undergraduate graduation which had David Attenborough as the special guest. This time we had the CEO of Marks and Spencers which was fine and thankfully the ceremony didn't drag on to long. After the ceremony we got some pictures taken in front of the main building before me and one of my friends left our gowns back. Me and my family then went home, got changed into much more comfortable clothing before going out to lunch to celebrate.

Things are still pretty much the same for me, I'm still looking for a job, unfortunately it just seems like it is going to take a while, there are periods when there will be several new jobs and other times when there isn't anything relevant. I'm more relaxed about it than I was before and I am trying to enjoy all this free time that I currently have (though job hunting is time consuming). I have been quite productive as well doing bits and pieces for my parents with the biggest thing being painting the large fence that we have in our back garden. It borders the back and part of the sides and is quite tall. It took a while to get it all done but looks a lot better now. One great thing is the weather we have had recently, it's been the best summer we've had in years. I'm able to wear shorts every day! Hopefully it will continue for a while yet.

Thanks for reading!

World Cup 2018-Northern Ireland

*I know some of my readers come from all over the world and may not know about Northern Ireland. All I will say is that Northern Ireland is separate from the Republic of Ireland despite being part of the same land mass. It is part of the United Kingdom along with England, Scotland and Wales. There are those in Northern Ireland like myself who support the national team and there are others who support the Republic of Ireland football team. There is plenty of information (and contentious debate) online if you want to know more about Northern Ireland etc.

Well the 2018 World Cup has gotten underway unfortunately it is missing one team and one group of fans that would've made it better and going by some of the matches so far deserve to be there more than some of the teams that made it. That team is Northern Ireland, the team that I support, the country George Best was born in and played for, a team of underdogs with arguably some of the if not the best fans in the world. I've supported them from a young age attending matches with my brother and my parents. Often it was a case of Northern Ireland losing by three goals or more and the fans singing that we would win 4-3!

George Best

After quite a long dark period Lawrie Sanchez was appointed manager of Northern Ireland and started to turn things around. He oversaw a brilliant victory over England in a World Cup Qualifier and then came close to overseeing Northern Ireland qualify for Euro 2008 That campaign included a brilliant win over Sweden but more spectacularly a 3-2 win against Spain. That match was fantastic for a number of reasons, it came a few days after a dismal defeat to Iceland at home (a match we attended or rather endured), it was the debut of Jonny Evans and not only did we come back twice against a team of Spain's quality but David Healy scored a hat-trick! Unfortunately having lost four matches by the end of the campaign we did not qualify and Lawrie Sanchez ended up taking over as Fulham manager.

Unfortunately the Irish Football Association made the decision to appoint Nigel Worthington as manager and kept him on even through poor results, performances and campaigns. He only oversaw nine wins out of 41 matches. He finally stepped down after the poor Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. The IFA then appointed Michael O'Neil who had done a great job with Shamrock Rovers. Unfortunately despite there being what I thought was a definite positive shift in the way the team were playing the results did not change and the mood wasn't great after the very poor 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Thankfully the IFA decided to keep Michael O'Neil on as manager but at the time there wasn't a lot of hope for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. People may say that we had an easy group but when it was first announced it was hard not to be pessimistic because in the past Northern Ireland struggled against teams at their own level or weaker teams. The first match was against Hungary away from home and at 75 minutes we were 1-0 down and it was hard not to think "here we go again". But then things changed, not only did we equalise but we managed to get a late winner! After the first win Northern Ireland continued playing well and with only one defeat, Northern Ireland managed to not only qualify but finish top of their group!

The captain Steve Davis leading by example!

Around this time two years ago Euro 2016 was taking place and Northern Ireland were drawn in a group featuring Germany, Poland and Ukraine. It was a tough ask and the first match was definitely a learning experience but thankfully one where we only lost 1-0 to a team of Poland's quality. The second match was against Ukraine, a match that was actually interrupted by a hail storm despite taking place in June! Gareth McAuley rose to head home a brilliant free kick just after half-time. Northern Ireland then made it 2-0 with two of the substitutes working well to get a late goal. The last group match was against Germany and they were absolutely ruthless, so fast and powerful, pinpoint accurate passing back and forth and they deservedly went 1-0 up. That said Northern Ireland defended well and Michael McGovern pulled off what was most likely the goalkeeping performance of the tournament to restrict Germany to only one goal. Northern Ireland went through to the knockout stage and were drawn against fellow home nation Wales.  Despite playing well and being the better team Northern Ireland were not able to score. Unfortunately Wales had a player of Gareth Bale's quality playing for them and he managed to whip in a nasty cross well into the match and Gareth McAuley was unable to do anything but direct it into his own net in his attempt to stop a Welsh player getting onto the cross. Northern Ireland were looking for an equaliser but there was a very frustrating moment when they were on the attack only for two Welsh players to collide with one another. For some reason the referee stopped play despite there not being a head injury. Wales then showed their lack of class by time wasting as much as possible with Michael O'Neil saying afterwards that the Welsh coaches had told their players to sit on the pitch for as long as possible. It finished 1-0.

It was hard not to think that the team had maybe peaked with Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaign involved being drawn in a group with Germany and the Czech Republic with only the top team in each group automatically qualifying. Northern Ireland ended up winning six out of ten matches including a late winner away to Azerbaijan which meant they came second in the group and made it to the play-offs. We were drawn against Switzerland and Northern Ireland fans were optimistic which was maybe a mistake given the great qualifying campaign that the Swiss had. The first match was at home to Northern Ireland, a loss of 1-0 due to a penalty that everyone agreed after shouldn't been given including the referee himself not to mention the overall refereeing performance which is one of the worst if not the worst that I've ever seen. This included a tackle that should've seen the Swiss down to ten men early on. Without the pressure of being at home and with nothing to lose Northern Ireland played the second match away in Switzerland much better. Unfortunately it ended 0-0 with a late chance cleared off the line by the Swiss. Given that the Swiss only qualified for the World Cup by scoring a goal from a penalty that shouldn't have been given it was hard not to feel hard done by that Northern Ireland didn't have the chance to go to extra time.

It is fair to say that it hasn't always been easy being a Northern Ireland fan. There have been some dark periods where the football and results have both been poor. The small size of the country, the lack of resources not to mention the issue of the Republic of Ireland taking advantage of the rule of players being able to switch allegiance. Players like James McClean who played for Northern Ireland at under 21 level, who apparently knew in his heart that he wanted to play for the Republic of Ireland but instead played for Northern Ireland before switching as soon as the Republic were interested. There was no compensation for the amount of time, effort and money that had been spent on him by Northern Ireland. There is also the frequent baseless accusation from Republic fans and other people who have never set foot in the NI national stadium about sectarianism despite the huge steps made to change things for the better after problems in the distant past. There is also the frequent calls again from people who don't have a clue (or from Republic fans but only when we are doing well!) for there to be a United Ireland team just because there is a single Irish rugby team. The only change that I think that they could make would be for Northern Ireland to have our own national anthem, at the moment we sing God Save the Queen which is what England also sing. Scotland and Wales have their own national anthems.

I am proud to be a Northern Ireland fan. I am proud of our current manager for turning the team around after performances and morale were so low after the previous manager. I am  also proud of the players who although they may not play for top level teams have shown that they can take on anyone in the world. As long as they show desire and effort the fans will always be behind them. It's just a shame we are not at the World Cup given we could definitely compete (beat South Korea 2-1 in their warm up match for the World Cup and drew with Panama away from home), and given how praised the fans were at Euro 2016. There is always Euro 2020!

Lovely sky over the national stadium

Summer Holiday 2018

Well I'm not long back from a week away in the sun with my parents. We went back to Puerto Pollensa in Majorca where we had been in 2016, though we couldn't get the apartment we stayed in the last time so we ended up staying down at the other end of the town. We ended up getting a package deal which was good in that we didn't have to worry about getting from the airport to the apartment as travel was all organised but on the not so great side it meant a very early start of 4am on the way out and 6.45am on the way back. It was hard not to be a bit worried when we arrived as we were standing waiting for the coach and it wasn't exactly hot and sunny, the weather had been better at home! Thankfully whilst it wasn't pure sunshine all week it did warm up and there were some glorious days.

It was lovely to get away and just relax and not have to think about things, and whilst I did check my emails when I was away it was nice to not have to think about my job hunt too much. It wasn't all sitting about the pool/the beach though. We went out for a day, getting the bus to Palma and then getting an old fashioned train to Soller, we then got a tram to Port de Soller and had a walk around there before getting eh tram back to Soller and then later going back to Puerto Pollensa. On the Saturday it was clouded over so we decided to do a local walk, it takes you up and away from the town through this lovely valley and then you have to navigate steep rocky paths down to get to a secluded cove. We hadn't brought stuff for swimming but it was a bit too rocky anyway. It was lovely to sit though and it was funny because not only did a woman get bitten by a fish on her finger but a number of goats also appeared looking for food!

I definitely recommend Puerto Pollensa as a holiday destination, obviously we were there early in the summer this year but even the last time there was a lovely breeze which stops things getting too hot. There are lovely beaches and restaurants and it isn't just a place for tourists. I've included some pictures below.

All done!

Well I finally did it, I have submitted the final version of my PhD thesis to the university as well as the organisation who funded me. I have received a letter saying that I've met all the requirements for the qualification of PhD and now the only thing I need to do is register for graduation and actually graduate. On one hand it is fantastic to be done, on the other hand the process dragged on unnecessarily so it almost feels more of a relief to be done rather than a celebration. I am looking forward to graduation especially since several of my friends who also did PhDs are going to be graduating as well.

Me and my four copies of my hardbound thesis

The canvas bag I got from the university for submitting my thesis...

My personal copy

In other news I am still unemployed! Unfortunately I didn't get either of the jobs I had interviews for that I mentioned in my last update. That said I have had another interview since then that went well and I have another one next week. I guess I should be reassured that I am being invited for interviews. I have also started talking with an advisor from an organisation called Action on Hearing Loss about ensuring that there are no issues at interviews in regards to my hearing/communication as well as other things.

Thanks for reading.

The long winter

I don't know if it is because November was so rubbish or if it's the fact that I've been home so much but it feels like it has been a really long winter. Thankfully now with the clocks moved forward it's a lot lighter in the evenings but it is still cold for this time of year. Not much has changed since my last update though I think I forgot to mention that I submitted my revised PhD thesis a number of weeks ago and so I'm hoping to get it signed off, printed, hardbound and submitted within the next few weeks.  I've been applying for jobs and have over 10 applications submitted. I actually had a busy week last week with a job interview on Monday as well as another one on Thursday. I thought they went quite well but it is always difficult to know and with both jobs it may be that they had other people with more relevant experience.

That's all I really have to say about what's going on with myself at the moment but I will hopefully get some other posts up soon.

London, the long way round

Last weekend we had our family trip to London which was part of my Christmas presents. Unfortunately due to the snow and other weather chaos Friday turned into a very long and frustrating day. We got to the airport slightly early because our flight was at lunchtime so we thought we would get something to eat beforehand. We got through security and literally just got the food we had ordered only for an announcement that our flight had been cancelled. We had to leave our food half-eaten in order to rush back down to the airline desk to see what our options were. We didn't see any point in just giving up given the fact we had tickets for the Tottenham match the next day, not to mention the apartment we had booked to stay in and also the fact that we had taken our cat to the cattery. The good news was that we were able to switch to another flight going to Southampton. The bad news that it wasn't for over four hours. We ended up having to sitting in the airport for all that time, and ended up getting some food from a cafe which wasn't exactly nice.

The flight wasn't too bad but we ended up landing in a snow covered Southampton late in the day. We got off the plane to discover that there were no trains/buses/coaches running. We ended up a desk, i'm not even sure if it was actually the proper help desk but the staff were very kind. There was the option of staying in a hotel overnight but that would've cost nearly £200 and we still would have had to get to London in the morning and get to the match. Thankfully they were able to organise a taxi for us instead and we ended up having the long journey to London in the taxi, which wasn't great for me I was in the middle seat in the back! It was quite surreal arriving in the outskirts of London and then driving past places like Buckingham Palace at that time of night especially with the snow. We got dropped off at our apartment and after dropping our suitcases off we ended up walking through the snow and slush to find something to eat. We ended up having burgers in an american themed diner after 11pm!

The robin that greeted us Southampton airport!

On Saturday we got up and had breakfast. Due to the afternoon kick-off of the match we were going to there wasn't time to do anything else. We relaxed for a bit and  got ourselves ready and then got the train to the station close the stadium. We had a look around the nearby area and decided to try and get some lunch before going to the stadium. We ended up in a chain restaurant that was very busy but it took almost 40 minutes to get our food and then we had to rush. I didn't realise how high up Wembley stadium and that was even before we got to our seats which were in the top tier! It was a good match but it was freezing cold, especially on your feet with the cold concrete underfoot. Tottenham won 2-0 which was good for my dad since he supports them. We ended up having a long walk back to a tube station and then made the journey back to the center of London. We went for dinner at a very nice restaurant before walking back to the apartment. I had brought my tablet and a hdmi cable with me so we were able to watch a movie on the apartment's tv (we are not ones for staying out in bars/pubs etc.!)

The view from our seats

Sunday was a very busy day, we ended up walking miles and miles! The first thing we did was walk to Spitalfields Market which was nice, we had a walk around it and I ended up buying a "unique" t-shirt with the blueprint/patent of the model of one of my guitars. We then headed to Denmark Street which I wanted to visit for the guitar shops. That said we ended up only really looking in one because I didn't feel there was any point in starting to sit down and play any guitars when it was highly unlikely that I would buy anything not to mention the logistical problems if I did buy anything. We then walked around the comer and I had a look in the Forbidden Planet megastore which was huge! Though I ended up not buying anything. We had a lovely lunch of fish and chips across the road before walking to Leicester Square. We had a walk around and through Chinatown before seeing about getting tickets for a show. Unfortunately since it was Sunday our options were limited to three shows. We were a bit skeptical but we ended up getting tickets for a show called "A comedy about a bank robbery" that evening. We then walked a fair bit more talking in the bank of the river Thames, the London Eye, Westminster and later passed Downing Street. We also passed through another indoor market. We had an afternoon snack before making our way to the theater for the show.

The show was very clever and very funny. Lots of slapstick humour, inventive stage design and the actors must've been exhausted by the end of it! It wasn't a musical but there were some songs which were decent. We were hungry when we came out after so ended up getting a quick pizza before heading back to the apartment. We flew back on the Monday at midday so we didn't have time to do anything else other than travel to the airport. Obviously the trip didn't get off to the best start but it was definitely worth it in the end. After being stuck at home so much doing these suggested revisions for my PhD thesis/job searching it was great to have a proper change of scene.

Thanks for reading.

What I'm currently listening to

Have plans for some updates soon but I thought I would just share  a quick post on the songs I've been listening to lately, I know some of my readers are from different parts of the world so maybe I can introduce them to some local Northern Irish acts as well as other artists they might not have heard of.

In no particular order:

I really like this song, I have been a fan of Lauren Bird for a while now but I will have to check out more of Darren's songs. I love the clean guitar melody and the vocal harmonies.

My Dad got the first two seasons of The Dectectorists at Christmas and I have to say I was a bit skeptical but it is such a lovely show. The icing on top is it's title song which is sung by a guy called Johnny Flynn who I had never heard of before.

I only came across Dawes after reading about them in a magazine saying that they were a underrated band and I checked them out and had to agree.I got their second most recent album and I will probably get their other albums when I get a chance.

I changed the strings on my acoustic guitar recently (finally!) so this is one of the songs I've been playing. It's a great song (as is Little Talks and Dirty Paws) and it's a cool video as well.

Ok technically this is a cover of a classic song but it is a really great cover with a number of different vocalists and they are clearly have an awesome time performing it.

Owen Denvir got retweeted by Coldplay for his mashup video of their songs but his own original music is pretty great as well. Helps that he can play multiple instruments!

This is a band from Northern Ireland, they really have to be seen live to really experience them properly. I saw them last Thursday night and they nearly blew the roof off! This video was taken 3 years ago and I've no doubt that they have improved since then.

Hope you enjoy these songs if you haven't heard any of them before.

In case of emergency (ICE)

Nobody likes to think about the possibility of being in an accident or getting seriously hurt or worse but for quite a long period a thought would pop into my head. That thought was that it would be good to have something on me that would help someone who found me if I was involved in an accident or a paramedic or whoever by having a way of giving them information even if I couldn't tell them myself. Information like the fact I have Treacher Collins Syndrome and I have a narrow airway. I had done a limited search before but had only come across things like medical alert bracelets or necklaces which is a bit over the top in my case and I wasn't fussed on the idea of having to wear a piece of jewelry. I carried out a more thorough search recently and after finding lots of expensive options like jewelry or subscriptions to services with fancy cards with codes you can scan with your phone I came across this brilliant website-https://geticecard.com/.

It is a FREE, SIMPLE service. There is a form on the website, you fill in details such as your own name, mobile number, gender, blood type, two emergency contacts, their phone numbers and their relation to you and whether you want your organs to be donated if you die. There is also a bigger box where you can fill in health information. So in my case I have included the fact I have Treacher Collins Syndrome, a narrow airway, that I require fiber-optic intubation through the throat, that I wear a bone conductor hearing aid, that I have speech difficulties and the antibiotic that I'm allergic to. It then automatically generates a .pdf file with two ICE cards on it with the information you filled in on the form. You then print out the file (make sure you disable scaling or in the case of my printer select the option to print it as the actual size) and cut out the cards. They are credit card sized and can easily slip into your wallet/purse or phone case if you have one with credit card slots. You can also do what I did and get them laminated but you might find you need to trim them a bit to get them to fit in the credit card sized slots.

Obviously I hope they will never have to be used but I think it is a good and sensible precaution to take. One thing that I didn't think about until after I had them printed was that a paramedic or someone else wouldn't be able to access my phone due to the fingerprint scanner/swipe pattern I have set up. The fact is you don't need to have TCS or even a serious condition to get one and given the fact it is a free service you might be better safe than sorry especially if there is anything a doctor or a paramedic might be better off knowing if you are hurt or ill.

Thanks for reading.

2018 begins!

Hello again, you would think with "finishing" my PhD I would have a lot more time/inclination to write but that doesn't seem to be the case! Those who read my second most recent post will know that I found November to be a very tough month. December was definitely better however I did have the recovery from my recent surgery, I also had the frustrating wait to get my list of suggested revisions for my PhD thesis. It was frustrating because I was led to believe that I was definitely going to get them before Christmas only to not get them until the start of January. I had been hoping to make a start on them before Christmas and then be able to enjoy Christmas before resuming work in the new year. It would have been much better if the person dealing with it had just been honest with me and told me that I wouldn't get it until after Christmas rather than leading me on. So the expectation that I would be getting the corrections any day along with guilt about not being productive after doing the PhD for three years wasn't a fun combination.

I definitely think there needs to be more discussion/warning about what it's like to actually submit/be done with the thesis defence. I know I certainly have found it difficult after pushing myself to get it completed and then to suddenly find myself finished, only to then have to prepare for the viva, then to pass the viva to have to wait for corrections and then have a deadline of three months to finish those. It's silly but after focusing on the PhD for so long it's very strange to now to almost be finished it and have the rest of my life ahead of me and not know what I will end up doing next. On the one hand I envy those who already have jobs/post docs lined up, on the other hand I imagine it would be easy to get burnt out going straight from a PhD into something else.

I did enjoy Christmas but as predicted it went by very quickly and it's hard to believe we are nearly halfway into January already. It wasn't quite as enjoyable as previous years because I had been at home so much already whereas previous years I had been working away in the run up to Christmas. I got Horizon Zero Dawn for the PS4 which I've been enjoying as well as various other bits and pieces. My parents are also treating us to a trip to London as a family later in the year and we are planning to see a premiership football match when we are there. We didn't have a white Christmas however we did get some snow in December, unfortunately the snow turned into ice on the footpaths which were not cleared so walking anywhere wasn't fun for a few days. I've included a picture of the snowman I built below along with some other pictures.

My attempt at a snowman

Wintry walk

My traditional Christmas Eve chocolate chip cookies

Picture I took on Boxing Day when we were out for a walk

So recently I've been working on the revisions as well as trying to enjoy the free time I have. Once I am nearly finished the revisions then I will start applying for jobs. In the meantime I will try and write a bit more frequently than I have been.

Thanks for reading.