I decided to set my alarm an hour early this morning. How did that go? Well, I’m incredibly tired right now. Nevertheless, I am here. Welcome to Monday. I won’t be moaning about how tired I am. I promised to share how my first open mic of the year went and so, here it is.

I have been driving for a while now. I drove to Kilkenny for the first time before Christmas. When I drive to Dublin I don’t drive into the city. Say what you want about the public transport system in Dublin. If it gives me the option to not drive into the city, I’ll take it. This year was going to be different. I decided to spread my driving wings and give driving as close to the city centre as possible a go.

I was going to Smithfield Creatives, to be specific. Jack and I went over the summer and had a great time. The people there are so nice and encouraging. This next trip would be a solo adventure. I was nervous and excited. The whole open mic part was not phasing me at all (more on that later). I was nervous about the whole parking situation. I did many in-depth Google searches in the lead-up to the event I was pencilled in for. It turns out that there is a car park right across the road. What luck! The open mic is not based in Smithfield anymore. It’s based quite close to my alma mater, DCU, in the Glasnevin/Drumcondra area in a very nice restaurant/bar/club called The Bernard Shaw. I had driven close to there already when Billie and I hung out recently. This was just a little further. Long story short, I got there in the end. I had to drive around the block a couple of times because trying to take my time and make decisions like where I want to go is not welcomed on the busy streets of Dublin, especially around rush hour. Then, my night began.

I ordered some nice food. I had a glass or two of Coke and caught up with the runner of the event. I was third up. That was a good spot to be in. The last time I did this particular open mic I was last up which was exhausting. My name was announced, and I stood up and started reciting some poems. I am trying to learn some poems by heart. So far, I have learnt two. Baby steps. As I began reading my third, something happened. As I mentioned before, The Bernard Shaw does host more club-y type nights during the week and later at night. As I began reciting, music started blaring out of the main PA system. If you would ask me what could go wrong during my set, that wouldn’t be on the list. All I could think to do was stop talking as I stood onstage, and the music eventually stopped. But not before I turned to the crowd of incredibly supportive people and said “This is not part of it…” much to their delight and laughter. The host apologized to me afterwards. I didn’t mind at all. Do you know why? Because at least I had a story to tell you today.

That’s all I have to say today. That’s a nice little story to end your bank holiday Monday. My writers’ group is on tonight. I am sure that whatever comes from that will be the basis of Friday’s blog. Until then, thank you for reading and thank you for your time.