#007 - home comforts

níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin babes x

welcome home

throw on the heating, put those feet up and take that tub of ice-cream out to thaw over the next ten minutes. or maybe pop on the kettle. or just pretend that’s happening if you’re commuting or working right now, as you do. use your imagination to get yourself zen while you gorge on a big tub of cosy content from yours truly. this is your escape, hen.

if you’re somehow reading this without subscribing, well done! i don’t even know my way around this blog and you’ve managed to find it. reward yourself, you’ve earned it.

and now, the updates…

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lately…

apologies for the false alarm. you can hang that cunty black funeral outfit back up and breathe a sigh of relief. the fact you’re reading this means i survived. i would like to thank vicks for giving me the perseverance to fight that demonic ailment.

i huffed that inhaler until i was well enough to see rebecca black perform live on tuesday evening. i’m very glad i did, because i was treated to an hour of cuntified bad bitchery, which electrified the academy and made my little gay heart full. i guess you could say she was my salvation <3

the friday icon herself - of a tuesday!

wednesday came and i unequivocally could breathe again. myself and andrew were working from home together and we convinced each other we earned a cheeky boojum for lunch. i booked my train and zoomed on home to finally meet my baby nephew. and it was so worth it. my mam was on babysitting duty while laura went for a hospital appointment on thursday and she relished every minute of it. i am in love. he is a little gem like his uncle.

my mammy and her grandchild <3

thursday and friday flew in. i did my honest days work at home and despite waking up early for the new eternal sunshine deluxe tracks (and staying up for an hour listening to them) not much else was happening. the electric picnic headliners did get announced though, and i feel very sorry for anyone without tickets - hozier and chappell roan on friday is a dream. i had a few rté-venings, watching the oddly engaging stuff our tv license fees are pumped into. it’s such a home comfort.

saturday was spent watching a film (more on that later) before heading to andrea’s for a well needed birthday catch-up. i don’t get to see my galway friends all that often anymore but when we do i’m always reminded of why we are friends in the first place. we sat watching old x factor auditions and yapping before playing beer pong charades. we are the same people in a different font. 10/10 saturday night plan to be honest (thanks for hosting andrea!)

action shot of lisa’s throw (she missed!)

sunday came and it was time to head east again. the worst thing about going home is having to leave, imo. i’m super lucky to have such a fantastic relationship with my family and to be able to come home to them whenever i wish, no questions asked. oh, and it’s nice to see all of the animals too (i get floofer withdrawals in dublin, bigggg time). that being said, i started missing andrew and my life up in dublin (i am such a sop) so in another way i’m glad to be back.

monday was another monday. v boring. i am sorry. at least the evenings are getting longer (thank you daylight savings!). and guys, the weather is looking good. try convince me it’s not fucking summer this week. i dare you.

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in my feels…

i know i did this last week but i really really want to express my gratitude to everyone who has been reading this and submitting questions. it makes me so happy that you guys actually care. anyone i’ve seen since starting this has brought it up in conversation and honestly, as a self proclaimed awkward fuck, it makes me feel so good that you’re all enjoying it and discussing it with me!

leaving another comment button here if you do want to keep submitting, but the backlog is hefty at the moment so it might be a few weeks!

this week’s question has been submitted by the one and only andrea! i’ve known andrea since i was 12. we started off in different groups in secondary school but i believe that the right people always find each other. i distinctly remember being added to a feral viber groupchat where we would text profusely in after school every day. as we moved through the years, we moved through all of the apps, and had a golden era of messenger group calls where we stayed up until all hours talking all kinds of shit. but it was genuinely the best fun ever.

when i moved to maynooth for college, and later dublin for work, we haven’t really gotten to see each other all that much (which is such a shame). but the best part is that when we do see each other it is like no time has passed at all. we have so so so much in common and if you think i am feral for a concert you have clearly never met andrea. her insta would give you severe fomo. she actually informed me she has been to 49 concerts since 2022. fucking mental. i have no idea how she fits it all in. i feel so so grateful that we are still friends after all this time.

her question is testament to how much she knows me, i literally think about this all of the time:

if you could pick any other career/job or any other college course other than what you did what would you choose and why?

i can never answer this question, so today is the day i finally cop on and address it.

if i’m being honest, i am very very happy with where i’ve ended up after doing my course. my job is as fun as it is challenging and i’ve gotten to work with some amazing people as a result. i know doing what i did in college was necessary to get there.

now to actually address the question. i actually hated my undergrad (surprise surprise!). i put a load of work into it to get through it, and my maynooth friends saved me so many times with their unwavering support (and suggestions to go for pints). picking another course should be super easy for me in retrospect, despite loving my current job. but i am very indecisive. we know this.

i almost dropped out of college in the first week. i was going to request a transfer to education with maths and science (i would have chosen chemistry lmao). i actually would have been delighted with that at the time, but in retrospect i am very glad i didn’t do that. i don’t think i’d actually like to teach kids. i would be useless at keeping a class under control. and i know they would hate me and that would crush me lol.

i kinda have two answers for this one. unfortunately i was paralysed by the idea that i had to do something with very clear job prospects. software engineering was booming when i was picking my course and i had a mild interest in how all that worked so i chose computer science.

if i had to choose something else employable, it would have been marketing. i always loved the apprentice challenges and have a vested interest in how companies brand and promote themselves. i would very much love to work on a marketing/pr team of some sort, especially now with social media marketing taking off. it seems like a very fun job that i would obsess over, but i think there is more demand for those jobs than there are jobs. to be emily in paris would be my dream though for real!

speaking of: gentle reminder that jennifer zamperelli was on the uk apprentice before she became a presenter xx

if i was to just go off total vibes and passion, i have always been a languages person. french was actually my favourite subject in school, and i really enjoy being able to speak other languages (i hate duolingo though, unless i’m starting from total scratch). the only thing that turned me off languages was that i had to do a masters to teach them and the job market is tough. if i was to go for translation, i fear that job would be incredibly boring, mainly because it would probably be a bunch of legal documents. i think i’d rather just move somewhere and live there to learn a language. or get a glam job presenting on tg4 xx íontach ar fad!

to let you guys know just how indecisive i was when picking my courses, here are my final cao options (i looked that this recently for the laugh). i absolutely had no clear idea at all. i am still unclear on where i want to go. i’m happy enough where i am.

how do you say idk more than this xx

so in short, i still can’t make a decision at my ripe old age of 25. but if i was to go back and balance the employability thing with something i’d massively enjoy, it would probably be marketing. if you catch me dressed up as the duolingo owl in future, just know that i’ve made it.

do you feel like you’ve missed a trick with your career? would you go back and do something massively different if you had the chance? let me know!

thanks to andrea for the existential crisis!!

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i rate…

some solid rates coming in this week!

music

no prizes for anyone who predicted this. it’s giving female poet on the lc syllabus.

guys, ariana dropped the deluxe. i was going to try write about somebody else (like a smaller artist that deserves more) but honestly i physically couldn’t.

i have been raised on ariana grande. she’s been my top artist for as long as spotify have been doing wrapped. i could write a whole blog post on her but you’ve probably heard it all already. dropping my fave track, twilight zone, below. the instrumental is reminiscent of 80s synth pop and she layers over the classic breathy ethereal vocals that have drawn me in since day one.

the deluxe as a whole is - heavenly. the short film is a masterpiece, albeit fairly confusing to follow. we do not deserve her. this is the rawest we’ve seen her songwriting yet and she’s still churning out those hits. twilight zone and hampstead are sitting very nicely with me, and i’m glad both got a very poignant moment in brighter days ahead. it’s a level of artistry we haven’t seen yet from any other singer.

movie

i watched joy ride this weekend. i was going to start adolescence but i will absolutely get there. i wanted something light and fun for the day that was in it.

that’s what i got. while i don’t think it was a great film in the usual sense (very unfocused story line, possibly derivative but lacking major depth), i did have a lot of fun with the batshit antics of ashley park, stephanie hsu and their gang.

when i said derivative earlier, it seemed very similar to girls trip (which i do genuinely think did a better job and is a classic comedy in my eyes). i had an underlying heartfelt theme, layered with comedic situations and drug induced antics. this did go more batshit with the antics but i really enjoyed each character for who they were.

while this isn’t my strongest rate, i would recommend for a funny flick - it’s on netflix at the minute. give yourself an easy fun-filled watch.

food

okay, this one is a bit of a stretch (because i haven’t tried it) but it makes me super happy.

dough bros in galway is such a fantastic recommendation for people who want great pizza. they actually got ranked in the top 50 pizza spots in europe (sans italy). it’s that good.

well they’ve only gone and opened a new york style pizza-by-the-slice joint just off eyre square. i am craving it but there is nothing else bringing me into gaillimh at the moment. it’s a food and drink mecca but what else is there to do all day?

here’s a pic i stole from reddit!

bambino have been doing insane business in dublin. while that pizza is good, dough bros is a massive step above (is this the galway bias? idk). anyways if anyone is in town, give it a go. if their main restaurant is anything to go by, you can thank me later.

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i slate…

sigh… why is this getting easier to fill as time goes on? am i getting old and grumpy?

trends

get ready for a deadly unfocused rant about ai malpractice!

has anyone else been seeing that tiktok trend where they use ai to see what they would look like if they were heavier? i, like most of the comments i’ve seen, hate it.

what a damaging perception to have. just when i felt like there was a lot of movement towards body positivity in general, this extremely disgusting and toxic trend starts to pop up. i’m not sure if i’m just on a very poor side of tiktok or if it’s a widespread epidemic. they just make a laugh of the whole thing - saying stuff to the effect of ‘imagine if i was that fat haha’ and so on. not cool.

i’ve also seen a counterpart where people use ai to see what they would look like skinny. this kind of stuff just ends up giving people extreme body dysmorphia and it one of the worst applications of the internet and ai that i have ever seen. we are losing reality with this kind of stuff and although it’s a shocking film, it’s feeling v uglies with joey king bold glamour filter.

the ai photo generation thing is also a total nuisance in my eyes as well. it’s one thing to be excited about the capability of ai but the caveat is that it’s a legal and ethical nightmare. and it is getting to a stage where it looks like it could have a severe impact on the jobs of creatives (looking at you and your gag city ms. minaj). that’s an entire topic for another day. it’s just bad.

gag citied until she ultimately choked x

food

baskin robbins went on offer in dunnes while i was feeling fair sick so i decided to take home a tub for myself. just get yourself a ben and jerry’s or a haagen dazs if you’re an ice cream fiend like myself. baskin robbins is not worth it at all.

on a lighter note, whenever i think of baskin robbins, i am catapulted back to my 2016 dance moms youtube phase, and that (now famous) clip of abby lee miller reversing out of a competition after one of the moms gave her an earful. she said she was going to get baskin robbins. she lied. she tried to file a police report against said mom for telling her to put her phone away. i know why she lied now. sorry baskin robbins. bottom of the pyramid for you.

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under deanfluence of…

okay guys it’s another foodie one, don’t worry!

açaí

yep. it’s açaí season again i think. the days are getting longer, the mornings are getting brighter and there is finally a bit of warmth in the air. we are so back baby.

i feel that açaí culture really took off in summer of 2023, and i was here for it. i’ve always been a granola bowl guy, but açaí really cuntified them beyond belief. while i am an advocate for a lovely bowl of goodness, it does feel like a false economy. you get no fill for the money you pay. but it tastes so damn good.

i hit my peak of açaí craze in autumn last year and decided to shoot my shot to create them at home. never as good as the stuff in your small local café but it fills the gap and makes me feel like a total posh cunt. obsessed. put me on a açaí drip.

here’s one i made at home (they don’t normally look this good)

anyhow, here are my best açaí spots:

• oakberry (various locations) - you get a rake of açaí but it does get expensive!

• bó coffee (abbeyknockmoy, co. galway) - support local, this was my fave one!!

• álainn (galway) - technically only had it at electric picnic but so so solid…

i haven’t gotten açaí out in a bunch of places but these are definitely the ones i found most solid.

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gtg!

that’s it for another issue. thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to tune in. it’s done wonders for my confidence having you guys all read and engage with this, it means the most!

it just feels right to add the subscribe button at this stage lmao

catch you all in a week’s time! <3

- dean from underdeanfluence xx