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“Hi, I�m Brian
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JOURNAL ENTRIES
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryWell, I’m on my penultimate day of work, and the thought of going home is becoming more of a reality, but there is a whole week ahead and it will be enjoyed to the max. Yesterday was quite a lively day. with our usual Wednesday session being almost entirely devoted to conference preparation. I chaired most of the day, much intense work was done, such as choosing speakers for the conference, and by the end of it we all deserved a pint. Well done Kathryn for your great presentation as well, although I’m not sure if gyrating your hips is such a bad thing to do while making a presentation, I find it most effective in capturing the audiences attention…you know as a visual aid!! Anyway, after this meeting a select group of us namely Mack the knife, Trina, Paddy, Claire and Paul got taken on an exclusive West Wing Tour, thanks to my supervisor Mickie Mailey. We hit all the sights, posed for photos at the podium of the press briefing room, put one foot inside the Oval Office, saw the Cabinet room, and various other rooms. I get to go into the West Wing quite often during work, but it was great to see the touristy side of it and hear about alll the history. Ten out of Ten to Mickie for her knowledge about the building and its quirky stories…Thanks a million. Anyway post West Wing, Buffalo Billiards beckoned for a great night of chat, with almost the whole group. Many beverages were devoured, and in the wee hours we eventually got ejected. Now came the most interesting part of the night, first of all we watched John “Desperado” Mackell try it on with virtually everyone. Then outside the Bar as we were hanging around,came possibly one of the most bizzare things I have ever seen. Barry, who was not at all drunk!! decided that he wanted to be hit on the knees by Sean Doherty with a GAA hurl. Perhaps Barry was feeling that his manhood had been threatened, after all the fine Fine Gael people had shown him up as A wannabe Fine Gaeler. So obviously geeting hit in the knees with a large piece of Ash Tree would make him a real man again. Anyway Sean Doherty stepped up to Barry’s invite to hit him in the knees with the stick. Sean Was quite hesitant at first, and he kept asking Barry, “Are you sure”, but sure Barry was..and so Sean took to his task with some energy and verve. A sound thrashing was delivered to Barry’s kneecaps at his own behest, and Barry’s Manhood was redeemed…in my eyes anyway!!!
Barry, I’m sorry for having to write about this event as i’m sure it’s not one of your brighter decisions, but quite simply it was hillarious, and needed to be chronicled for posterity, I was buckled over in laughter thinking about how anybody could want to abuse their body in such a fashion. Well, I’m meeting up with a college friend from Virginia tonight, and we’ll probably hit Nanny O’Briens or some other den of iniquity!! See ya’ll later.
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryNow then where did I leave off…Delaware. Well thanks to Kathie and Rich, Myself and Kev. spent a great weekend down in a beachhouse in Delaware. The place is absolutely stunning,( it kinda reminded me of something out of Dawson’s Creek, which I thought was kinda suitable) right on the banks of a large lake, great swimming pool (very cold though!) although the population of the area seem to be typical US rural folks (aka Rednecks) Being from Galway I thought I was a Redneck, but these folks even make me look sophisticated.
One of Myself and Kevin’s adventures brought us into a massive Walmart store, of course the first place we head is the hunting section. Up to the counter and we enquire how long it would take us to get a shotgun…they had some really nice punp action one’s on display! Apparently 3 days, then we questioned with Kevin’s thick N.I accent as to whether it would be a problem for a non national to buy one…and possibly whether it would be much trouble to get them shipped over to N.I!! We also followed an incredibly sexy girl named sugar around Walmart, although Rich warned us to watch it, or before you knew it, you’d be married, spending your life growing corn, cleaning your shotgun, and noticing that your cousin is attually quite attractive!! On to blockbuster Video, where, in the continued spirit of rebellion we forged much of an application form, pulled the piss out of the staff, and I passed off my student ID as my drivers license…they couldn’t tell since it’s nearly all written in Irish! Home we went to watch some videos, down some beverages while fishing off the jetty, and feast on some barbeque…Tough life.
Anyway over the weekend we indulged in many activities, canoeing, much fishing and general lazing around. Each morning was breakfasted with a big dirty Irish Fry cooked by Myself and Kevin…see Irish men can cook!! You could feel your arteries hardening as you ate this. Well, I’m into my last week at work, and yesterday I got to meet Hillary. About ten of the interns who work directly for her (incl. myself) headed over to the west wing where we met with her. We got a group photo and then individual photos taken, she also spoke to us about the work we’ve been doing and thanked us. Apparently they’re going to post the photo’s out to my house in Galawy. She seemed really nice, and I don’t know about the people who criticise her for being cold, either she’s really getting good at the politics or she’s a “sound beuere” (nice woman) as they would say in Galway. Well Emma’s finally moved back in, so I guess my ice cream consumption will increase dramatically again. I’m going to go home looking like the goodyear blimp! Anyway, now that I’m all up to date, I’m going to get back to work. Hasta la Manana,
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_Entryok I’e really fallen behind here, so between now and sometime tomorrow at work you are going to get a week+’s news and gossip. Well, my furthest away memory is the Newcastle Soccer match. The tailgate party beforehand was class, with a few games of soccer, softball(spot the unfit people who were sore the next morning from their exertations), good food and beverages. Then onward we proceeded into RFK stadium, the crowd wasn’t very large, so the atmosphere could have been a tad better, but never one’s to be discouraged a crowd of us livened up proceedings with various chants, fueled by expensive beverages, mostly aimed at Niamh’s hero Shay given. Needless to say we distracted him so much he let in three goals and Nukie lost 3:1. Shearer only came on for the last 20 min.s .Typical! Well, for some that would be a full day done, but not so for those in Young Leaders who can fit in 76 hours into one day. After a fierce singing session on the bus from the stadium to DuPont circle, during which multiple Americans were heard to sing, and even the star spangled banner was recited we all headed to Adam’s Morgan which is the party area in town. We found a quaint little bar(AKA a dump, dive, kip)called the common share, but all drinks were $2, so we settled in for the night…some got comfier than others!!! Here I was taken advantage of by some classy chick. Perhaps she just felt she had to continue the groundbreaking cross-community work that her housemate was doing outside the common share, but she, always wanting to be different desired carry this out from a cross border perspective…who was I to stop such good work…very noble..I applaud your dedication!!
Anyway, enough of the gossip, as is the norm after being in a bar, we all got a mad craving for crappy food, we found an establishment where they only seemed to serve you if you ordered in Spanish. After waiting 25min.s for a hotdog,…not satisfied by a certain female’s earlier efforts, John Mackell became desperate.Trouble was bound to follow!! After hearing the man behind the counter moan about his long hours, and minimum wage, John Proceeded to inform the good chap that he was irish and so he didn’t even have freedom, so he didn’t give a fiddlers about the chipman’s problems. This was a stirring speech John gave, and it reminded me of a similar speech given by an American Patriot…If I may paraphrase Well Sunday was spent at a very pleasant Barbecue at Anne’s host families. We played American Football and sang songs, we are really getting into this culture thing! Then came a few days of work, until wednesday and Capitol Hill day. Very successful desipte the odd technical hitch. Well done Emma! On Thursday I had one of the highlights of my trip, as I along with Kevin, Anne, Adam, and Ashling gave a presentation to a crowd in the congress buildings,trying to make sure that an appropriations bill for $250,000 earmarked for the programme gets through. A couple of congressmen showed up, and It passed off excellently despite the short preparation time.I have loads of photos thanks to Claire Savage. While a few of the rest ventured off to New York, Myself and Kev. opted for the more civilised weekend, as we ventured down to Delaware for a weekend at Kathie & Ritchie’s beach house. There are many tales of shotguns and blockbusters video to be told, but it’s nearly 1 am, and I’ve got to get up for work, so it can damn well wait for tommorrow. Adios Amigos
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryEmma,
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryArriba, arriba, …muchos nachos…Muy guapo!!!…At this stage I’ve starting to adopt my role as a Mexican on this programme(ie coming from south of the border in the republic). Still though being a Mexican msut still be a step above those poor people who reside in Castlereagh!!. The meeting with American girl thing failed miserably…In fact she never showed up(This was an extreme even by my standards, perhaps she thought she could never live up to my standards and keep me satisfied, either that or she just thought being around me would stir up her hormones and emotions so much that she wouldn’t be able to control herself, either way my modest ego remains intact!!). You must admit though, it is bizzare considering she asked me out!!! Whatever about Irish women, these Americans would drive you to join the priesthood…in fact considering how things have been going lately I might even already be an honorary priest!!!! Still going out with another girl from my office tonight…you know what they say…when you fall off the bike!!
Got another busy week next week, on wednesday we’ve got to go out and entertain the kids from project children…I think I’ll just lock them in a small darkened room with a handgun each… leave them an hour and see the results!! and to think I almost became a primary school teacher. All joking aside though it should be alright. On Thursday Four of us including myself are giving some sort of a presentation to a congress group about the Young Leaders Programme, so that should be fantastic to get the chance to address some influential people. On Friday we’re off to the big apple, New York…I wonder do they have big goons of Cider!! for the weekend.. It is truely a tough life. What will I be like when I get home…depressed!!!
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryHave to try and find a way to fit in some more than 36 hours to a day, because I still can’t find time to sleep. Well, into to yet another week , the time is passing faster than the Galway Team on their way to another All Ireland Football Final win!!. Work is going nicely, I don’t think I mentioned that last week I was talking on the phone to Christie Brinkley the Model. She was after Hilliary to do an event for her, and I was dealing with it so we chatted for about five minutes…I got her home phone number (really) and I think we may have a future together. Well Buffalo Billiards was the place to be last night. Myself and John Mackell brushed up on our already sublime pool skills with the anticipation of beating some “Prepies” in the near future. We were also accompanied by Kev, Emer, Scott, Mark, and Adam, I must say this place is really great, especially since “happy Hour”lasts all night on Mondays with really cheap Food and Beverages. I got home to find Emma waiting up, we chatted about our wild childhoods until we got a bit too boisterous and awoke Rich…Sorry!!!. I must say Emma, you win…Your childhood was far more delinquent than mine. You made me feel like I’ve led a sheltered life…I really am a innocent country boy!!!! I just pity your poor parents, and wonder why they didn’t sell you off for child labour some time ago!!! Anyway some breaking news on the social front, I’ve just been chatting to one of the girls who works in the office down the corridor, and she invited me to go play some pool tonight down in Georgetown. Nice Girl…Blonde…Goes to college in Yale…Ya never know??? …would she be stupid enough???..another innocent victim of the Irish/Galway charm???only time will tell??? As the Irish say ” Cailin deas i, an gneasach ar fad, b’eidir go mbeidh seans agam”
For more, hopefully lurid details, keep following the journal!!
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryWell Oh what a night…. I must also wander back through the days to depict some other evening adventures..this time a few of us ended up in a classy! joint known as the Tequila Grill. This oasis was found after a hard nights wandering in the rain. Firstly we left a bar called the Brickskeller since it was as lively as a wild night in darkest conemara. we tried unsuuccessfully to hit Lucky’s and then we hit the Tequila Bar. Now this place was certainly differant from our usual hangouts, but our drenched group soon got invigorated by the sight of women in short skirts, and put on a display of passionate latino dancing which would put ricky Martin to shame. Hell, it even put me to shame…Adam please give me some dance lessons…you have some real rthym…must be from your graceful antics on the rugby pitch!!!! Today was also jampacked, after getting a whole two hours of sleep on a cold wooden floor I arose refreshed and ready for another day(yea right!) I managed to struggle my way to the metro stop, being saved from dehydration only by the grace of god, who placed a coke vending machine at the point in chevy chase where I was about to lose consciousness. My first act once at home was to do an interview for a local radio station about the Young Leaders Programme…Once you’re famous everyone wants a part of you…I’ve already got a guest spot in baywatch pencelled in for next week. Well with that done I went out with my mentor Mr. Adrian MacAloon, John Mackell and his mentor. After a quick brunch we hit the air and space museum, where the Imax theatre made me lose all orientation. One moment of concern came when I was forced to pull “the beast” mackell away from a northerner who was wearing a blue football shirt…John assured me he was just going to chat to the chap about the chances of rain that day, but I had my suspicions that John, who is known for his quick temper, lack of knowledge of the rules of pool, and bad B.O problem would not be able to confine his conversation to the weather!!!(This is a slight Over dramatization)
Well after the Natural history museum we went to the edge of the airport to watch the planes fly extremely close overhead. It was at this point we bumped into our friend the mayor of Washington who was out for a jog. We had a brief conversation with mayor Williams, and he invited us to call him if ever we had any trouble in the city…John took this up as an excuse to get arrested in the near future and then drop the mayors name to get off…we’ll see if it works John!!! Well enough of my lack of sleep induced ramblings…See ya’ll later.
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryWell Top O’ the morning to ya!!! I’m starting to buy into the irish stereotype. The leprechauns are moving into my office tomorrow. Well, the adventures continue. On Tuesday Evening I ended up at a “barbi” hosted by some friends of Bronaghs family..they took us into their house and wined and dined us ’till the early hours…thanks folks. Last night was spent at a great Irish bar where we were shown the other side of D.C. I must say I was rather impressed by these speakers from various backgrounds, most notably a young Vietnamese girl who has only been in the country for 5 years but has worked her way through the public school system which was very harsh, and will be going to University of Virginia next year. I must say I have never met anyone who was so young (18yrs) being so absolutely focused and confident. Other speakers included Mark Plotkin from WAMU 88.5 FM (my favourite radio station…plug, plug…I’ll explain later) a formerly homeless alcoholic and members from the Washington Interfaith Network. Thanks to all for a great night. Anyway tomorrow, I’ve gotten the morning off work to go visit Mark Plotkin In WAMU FM and watch him do his live Political radio show “The Politics Hour” Mark seems to be really passionate about his Washington politics( Taxation without representation!!!). Since I do a very amateur politics show on the Galway Campus radio station FLIRT FM, It should be great to see how the experts do it…although Mark Assures me he is “technically challenged”…there may be some hope for me yet. Saturday will be taken up by the listening day,and then a barbacue, and on Sunday I’m meeting with my mentor Adrian McAloon and his Wife who is mentoring John Mackell (good luck to her, she must enjoy a challenge!!!) we are all heading out to a museum and then I think out to dinner, looking forward to it. The one thing about being over here is you never get board. Anyway enough for now, must say hi to my incredibly intelligent Uncle (hope the cheque’s in the mail) in London. If anyone knows a good job going let me know and I’ll pass on the info to him…although I’m not sure how good his degree is!!!!! Keith Maye in Galway….todays word is pineapple (private joke!)
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryWill someone stop Barry Gibson picking on me…make the bad man go away!!!. Perhaps he’s just jealous because he knows I’m twice the “Guy” he’ll ever be. For the sake of those of you who noticed I had a slight technical difficulty in publishing my journal earlier I think it was the security boys here in the whitehouse trying to break into my journal because I mentioned the word “communism”, not at all because of my technical ineptitude as Mr. Gibson suggested.
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryJust back from the west wing after going over to get some diet coke for my boss from the west wing catering…it makes you wonder, is diet coke what keeps the heart of the US governmental system beating…without it would the U.S fall into some type of anarchy? Is that what communism lacks? Would Stallin have liked Diet Coke, Would Trotsky have avoided getting the axe if he had taken a few more diet coke breaks, these questions will give me sleepless nights!!
Anyway enough of my astute observations on the ways of the white house, and on to the weekend. Saturday, a select crew boarded a georgeous cruiser for a trip around Chesakeake Bay, the weather was cracking and once the boat got up to full throttle we all sat down and hung our legs over the side and got sprayed by the surf…We are easily pleased!! Sunday involved yet more water as a pool party got into full swing, this event was notable for the near drownings, gracefull antics of some classy ladies, and large floating tubes of foam…don’t ask!! This was all followed by some much needed grub…great day had by all and muchos gracias to Debbie Woodcock for the organisation. Well after a tough pool party, Dianne and myself retired to Georgetown and rendez vous-ed with the Returned Travellers from NY. Then we watched the Moovie “Boogie Nights” into the wee hours of the morning. Poor old Dianne, we watched the whole thing through only to have the final dramatic scene censored!!! I have never seen anything like it with TV over here. They are so prudish, even after the watershed there is absolutely no nudity, even what would be rated PG back home, and there is absolutely no swearing. This country is full of contradictions…You can’t drink until 21 but you can go out and die for your country at 18…You can’t be subjected to anything even remotely graphic on TV (they even edited “Dirty Dancing”) but yet at the age of 16 I can go out and get a rifle, and a handgun/semi automatic at 18. All around the streets there are the destitute and the homeless, while the government here is blowing billions of Dollars on a, so far useless missile defense system, which in itself is contributing to the possible re-builing up of old hostilities. Priority versus prestige seems to be the most common trade off, and prestige invariably gets the upper hand. I’m not saying that this is exclusively a US phenomenon, but it is far more apparent here than anywhere else in the world, and most especially here in D.C Enough for now, catch ya later.
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryI was thinking this morning about how quickly you get caught up in the rat race, I mean you should see the metro at rush hour, everyone so self absorbed in getting to work ASAP and then after doing a 15 hour day they all scuttle home again to prepare for their next workday. Let it never be said though that the young leaders get caught in this rut, I mean last night we hit Nanny O’Brien’s, and had a rather enjoyable night of Music and relaxed chat. Well after my tough 2 and a half day week the weekend has finally rolled along, and it’s looking like a cracker. Tonight, eventhough there is a play on that we are invited to I think I need to sit in front of the TV and vegitate. Recharge the batteries you might say. On Saturday we have a boat trip on Chesapeake Bay….I might even get some fishing in( My third love along with Women and Milk(alcohol in Ireland!!), in whatever order you wish to put them). Then on Sunday we have a Pool party followed by a dinner. I think the Pool party will be the ideal place for me to strut my sublime physique and put all the other flabbier men in the group to shame!!! Show off my six pack, although I can’t decide whether it should be Budweiser or Guinness!! Anyway kept Mad busy with work, mostly dealing with scheduling requests for the first lady, I even had a guy on from the Irish navy on the phone checking to see if HRC or FLOTUS (Always use the technical jargon it impresses people!!!) could visit them, when the L.E. Eithne docked in NY on the 4th of July. Request denied, I also had conversations with people from the Scottish Parliament, the European Commission and the odd psycho ( “could you please Just tell hillary I love her!!!” was one guy’s request, needless to say I passed on the massage…not!!) So the work is varied and generally interesting.. My boss took me to the white house gift shop yesterday, so I did the whole tourist thing and got a T-shirt…how predictable. The Conference committee is also taking up quite a bit of time, but all seems to be gradually coming together. Anyway enough of my ramblings…Go away you pathetic people, have you nother better to do with your lives than read this. See Ya soon…Same Bat time…same Bat channel
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryWell, It’s fairly busy in the office but after the day I had yesterday, I feel obliged to take time out to chronicle for posterity.It doesn’t get any better than spending the 4th in the front lawn of the white house. Four of us arrived there, Myself, Debbie and our two guests Ciara and Emma, and chose a shady spot on the lawn to relax not even noticing that there was the presidents practice putting green right behind us. After about five minutes we noticed a guy behind us doing some putting practice wearing a baseball hat. After taking a second look we realised that it was Bill. Anyway many photos and handshakes were taken and given. And he commmented on how he had sworn in some new US citizens who were Irish (They’re stealing our citizens!) Well, We hung around awhile, and then myself and Emma decided to join the common folk(all 500,000 of them) on the mall for the fireworks. So after a long walk we eventually got to the edge of the reflecting pool. I mean how much better does this get, with the lincoln memorial to our back and the Washington memorial at our front we(now joined by John Mackell and Adam) watched a spectacular fireworks display.A beautiful woman, good friends beside you, at the edge of the reflecting pool watching the 4th fireworks …the only thing missing that would have made the night perfect was a bottle of Southern Comfort…Aisling!(Still bitter no doubt!!!!) The Atlantic City trip fell through for last weekend, but all was not lost. As ever Plan B went into action… A house party hosted graciously by Colin and Leo out in the beautiful Alexandria region. This event started on Friday and finished late Saturday with much “gratuitous cavourting” going on…you shall remain nameless(Colin, John, Emma, Niamh, Ann!!!… I never could keep a secret ) all of you, but I shall be writing to your parish clergy to let him know, and perhaps save your souls before it’s too late!!! Well I finally got some peace and quiet with the two gossiping women(Emma and Aisling)out of the house. Kathie’s really sound son and his girlfriend came to stay for the july weekend. So Kathie treated us all to a Hearty dinner at the Austin Grill…Do I get a future discount for giving the place a plug here!. Anyway Thanks Kathie. Rich has headed out to deepest Cambodia for a week to do some filming and should be back on Saturday, I must thank this man for introducing me to sushi…surprisingly it’s really nice…still don’t think it will catch on in Galway anytime soon.
Well Gotta go back to work, especially since I’m on a half day. Catch Ya’all later
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryWell, just thought I’d scribble down a few lines before I go to Lunch. Five minutes ago I was talking to Hillary Clinton on the phone. You know just discussing some important policy issues!!! Well almost, she actually called to talk to her assistant in this office and I just happened to pick up the phone. Since the person she was after in the office was out at the time I got to ask her If there was anything I could do, So she commented on my accent and then asked me to pass on a message, which was done in my usual efficient manner (Irish time!!).
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryWell here I sit in the White House, Two days of work completed and all seems well. On my first day I got taken over to the west wing to deliver some papers, and had a good look at the oval office…one day it will be mine!!! Yea right.
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryHEY FOLKS
Young_Leader: Brian Dawson Journal_EntryBrain, welcome to Young Leaders 2000 from the Webmaster. We all look forward to following your summer adventure here in Washington, DC through your Journal. If you have any questions or problems with your Journal, please email webmaster@storywise.com. Good luck!
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