I'm Not Irish

I love joviality, but I don't much care for St. Patrick's Day. Every year it reminds me just a little bit of everyone who was cooler than me in high school through college who had something fun to do on St. Pat's evening, and I was left to wonder why I could never reach their levels of cool. Because I remain uncool, the memories still sting and I don't know if I'll ever get over my aversion to this day. I did marry a girl who is largely Irish who is far cooler than me, but she doesn't have any special love for the day so I can get away with my dislike.

However, since it is the singular day to celebrate Irishness, it seems appropriate to write about something to do with Ireland. Yesterday my brother messaged me (if you're wondering he's still in California but we'll get to see him on a visit home soon) with a link to this website to which you should go immediately. It's a battle of the Irish bands thing and the winning band gets a free trip to Ireland. This is a good opportunity for me to promote Ireland, Michigan, and to test the awesome power of my pen because you should go and vote for the band called Finvarras Wren. In the past, I've mentioned a family named the Perkins clan that makes up a pretty great Irish band based out of Michigan (also, Mr. Jim Perkins performed at our wedding and was absolutely fantastic).

Unfortunately, you have to register for the contest to try to ensure no one places multiple votes, just make sure that you uncheck the one box that would allow them to send you a newsletter at some regular time interval. Mostly because of my influence, we were able to get Brandon Inge to the All-Star game last year, so let's see if we can get the Perkins to Ireland this year. If you vote for Finvarras Wren, I can guarantee a psychotic leprechaun will not not ruin your evening tonight. No promises about tomorrow.