Dublin, DAY 1

Let me begin by making a correction. Yesterday i said that i believed Newark International Airport to be the shittiest airport in the U.S. But, after a three hour delay before getting on my flight to Dublin, Newark has been downgraded to Fifth Ring of Hell status. Seriously. FUCKING PURGATORY. The only redeeming factor about the delay was that i got to watch the end of a very exciting Nets vs. Sixers game, which ended in OT with Vince Carter missing a 3 for the win. (c h o k e) All in all, my travels across the Atlantic were without incident once i was actually on the plane. The flight attendant was extremely sassy, and the steak (of the salisbury variety) was tolerable. And of course by tolerable i mean that it didn't kill me on the spot. The movie on the 6 hour flight was The Queen, and i also had the privilege of watching SPINAL TAP in its entirety thanks to my room mate Michael's uncanny knack for downloading shtuff from the internet. Big up zutto. Nothing gets a person more excited for maximum rockout than watching SPINAL TAP. ELEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me inject here that when my Mom first saw ST she didn't quite put together the fact that SPINAL TAP was not a real band. Way to go mom. After a small little snooze on the plane, i awakened to a beautiful orange sunrise out my window and a beautiful array of cumulis clouds gracing the horizon. I shook off my gin & tonic airplane hangover and got a nice glimpse at the Irish countryside beneath me. All of the little plots of land looked like little oblong puzzle pieces hastily put together and topped off with a layer of frost, interrupted only by patches of trees and shrubbery (SHRUBBERY!!). My travel partner for the trip was James Worden, Shara's hubby and the logistical mastermind behind the Diamond. As we disembarked and got our luggage, i realized how much i like accents in general - especially the irish accent. I've found my self saying "HUH" and "WHAT" and "SORRY HUH WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY?" a lot. Not only do the Irish speak like drunken toddlers, but they also drive on the other side of the road. I had heard about this UK phenomenon, but had never seen it in practice. Suffice it to say it's quite confusing visually; an optical illuuuusion. As James and i drove to the hotel in the cab, we heard a very familiar sound........MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND!!! ON THE RADIO!!! Shara had taped a live radio spot just as we were landing, and we were lucky enough to hear the song "golden star" blasting on the cabby's radio just as we approached our hotel. If you've ever seen that movie That Thing You Do with Tom Hanks and that other guy from those other movies, you can imagine my excitement at hearing the Diamond on the radio. I was giddy like a school girl, as per the usual. One final new development for today: Shara found a sub to play drums in Brian's place for these first three shows...........but there won't be ANY rehearsal time outside of our soundchecks. so, that's nerve wrecking and exciting at the same time. I'm sure the dude is fully competent. I guess that's what you call being a stone cold P R O. Anyways, i have guinness to drink and i'm sick of hearing the fucking Red Hot Chili Peppers in this internet kiosk. OUT