Mar21

Climbing at Dalkey Quarry

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Sunday, 06-July-2026



I swear, I still rock climb.

I mean, okay. It’s been like… a long time. A really long time.

I’ve been lifting weights about once a week, but I’ll be real here – it’s been months since I’ve gotten to the climbing gym, and even longer since I’ve gotten up on actual rock. I mean, I brought all my climbing gear to Ireland with me! I just… haven’t used it.

That finally changed, thanks to an invitation from a classmate and his wife – The chance to touch rock! To climb stone, place gear, and enjoy a bit of time outside of the city!


Now, what did I climb? Well. I’m glad you asked!
– Drinker’s Direct, 5.4, Trad lead! Twice!
– Honeypot Crack, 5.5, Trad lead!

And… I think that was it. I may have done a variant of Drinkers Direct, but… yeah. Just a nice calm day on the rock.

With a lovely burger to finish it off, of course!

Mar19

Noctilucent Clouds

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Monday, 30-June-2025



I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights, but somehow I keep missing them… But tonight, I saw something even less common. Something I hadn’t even heard of before we looked it up.

Noctilucent Clouds.



In short, these are clouds so high up in the atmosphere that they’re reflecting sunlight from the other side of the Earth. They happen at high altitudes, late in the evening… and tonight, Andrea and I happened to be still up working on a paper for class… no idea which, since June was basically just all papers at that point.

But still. A glorious view from our window, and something I’m incredibly grateful to have seen.


Link to the Wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud




And as a bonus, a few pictures from the sunset preceding the midnight lightshow:

Mar17

Dublin Pride

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Saturday, 28-June-2025



Interestingly, I don’t think I’ve ever actually been to a pride march.

Now, I’ve been to countless meetings of the Northeastern pride club, supported them in a few adventures, but… yeah. Growing up in Massachusetts, Pride wasn’t really a thing that I considered. Mass legalized gay marriage ages and ages ago, and I’ve just taken it as normal fact, I guess, especially having lived in such stereotypical cities as Boston and Portland.

Andrea, on the other hand, grew up in a slightly less egalitarian community… To the point that she’ll tell a story about, during Bulgaria’s first Pride March, having to pause and wait for a Molotov cocktail that had been thrown in their path to burn out.

So, very understandably, attending Dublin Pride was very important to her. And, thus, to me.



Pride march in Dublin wasn’t what Andrea expected.

It was huge. It was organized, and there were rules about who could walk. The whole city turned out for the event, it seemed, with absolutely no one and nothing protesting against the walk. We couldn’t even join the march, officially, without joining an “official group” who had registered (and donated…) to the organization of the event.


So we joined. We walked. I took it all in, and then we got burgers. It was… normal? Normal.

And that’s a good thing, in my mind.