Amanda Buckley

I am sure I am not the only one in the world who has googled themselves. I do it often as Amanda Buckley is a fairly common name and getting through all those thousands of results can take some time. I think I am up to page 98 or something.

The google results though have changed recently and I was more than a little unsettled by it. An 18 year old American girl, who I had noticed in the past google searches had made a fairly huge impact on the soft balling world was recently murdered.

For years when I had hit "search" I had seen her name appear in sports columns, blogs, school newsletters etc, all noting her great achievements. Today however, the search noted the events which tragically and horrifically have cut her life short.

Instead of skimming past the search results as I would normally do, today I took the time to read some things about Amanda Buckley. She seemed like a really great girl. A talented soft baller who had won a full scholarship to college. Her teammates said she was always lifting their spirits and even making their opponents laugh. She was an only child who meant the world to her parents.

I never would have met her. I would never have known anything about her. She would never have made an impact on my life. But for the very fact that we share a name. I cannot help but feel touched by her life and saddened by passing of it. Such a dark ending for such a bright light.

A month of sunshine and lollipops!

My big trip has officially come and gone. One month of fun and laughter and travels through the glorious cities of London, Edinburgh and Dublin with some of my dearest friends popping up along the way.
The events of the last month are too many and varied to document, but I figured there would be no harm in listing (how much fun are lists) some highlights or at least moments that are both worth remembering and sharing....(and to help me forget about the man that just yelled at me and nearly NEARLY made me cry...its the jetlag I swear!)

- Seeing Susie Youssef walk into a hotel foyer in Earls Court and then the two of us giggling and crying.
- Laughing hysterically at ourselves on the tube and collapsing on the stairs.
- Mairi McNicol greeting me in Edinburgh.
- The first experience of the Royal Mile in Ed Fringe Season.
- Jugs of Pimms and Lemonade on artifical grass in real sunshine.
- Seeing Andrew McClelland smile and dance.
- The ten minutes of stage time Susie and I got...(and the impro show with Keira)
- Laughing very loudly to get Rhae Pearlman (Mona from Cheers!) to look our way so we could sneak a photo of her.
- David O'Doherty and his magic keyboards.
- Seeing Caomhan driving in the wrong lane to pick us up at Dublin.
- Dice Bar! And all that dark red groovy lighting.
- ALL of my lovely Irish friends.
- Mastering the art of tent erection.
- Having a valid reason to say and type the word erection.
- Seeing men piss on EVERYTHING!!! (not worth remembering, but more for the sharing I think.)
- Bjork. Pure bliss.
- Using a port-a-loo first after its just been cleaned....woohoo!
- Bacardi cocktails that are the same price as beer.
- The Dublin Gospel Choir. White people sounding really really black.
- Learning that Protestants make the best sponge cakes (guilt free apparently!)
- Being the only Aussie that gets sunburnt in Ireland.
- Meeting Sam Shepherd in the Stags Head enjoying his pint of Guinness.
- Seeing my friends at work (and having your friend work at the Guinness factory!)
- Susie Youssef being proposed to (more than once)
- Sailing Dublin Bay.
- Afternoon cocktails at Morrisons
- Saying g'day to Rolf Harris in Cork.
- Having a right proper night of craic with local Corkians.
- Winning a free return flight in the daily "Ryan Air" giveaway.
- Sitting next to Noel Gallagher in a cinema.
- The glorious Saturday sun with Susie and co. in Notting Hill
- The frown from French actress Julie Delpy as I attempted to smile a hello.
- The impromptu and wonderful fireworks visiable from my hotel window on my very last night.
- The welcoming arms of friends and family when I arrived home.

Ahhhh. I highly recommend you take a trip yourselves.