Chip's Sex Party and other things that happened this week...

Chip Zdarsky - Sex Siopa - Dublin, Ireland

Besides the remarkable amount of sunshine we've had, this week has been a busy and delightful one for me and my Siopa. I got together with Brian from Creative Mornings to film a follow-up to the talk I gave this time last year. If you're not familiar with Creative Mornings, they're a free monthly morning lecture series in Dublin city centre with a new theme and illustrious speaker (like myself, Sinead, and Tommy Tiernan) every month. There's also free breakfast foods and tea & coffee. The next one is at the end of the month with magician Shane Gillen and it should be brilliant, so do grab yourself a ticket when registration opens. 

On Thursday evening, the lads at Big Bang Comics in Dundrum afforded me the incredible opportunity to pair up with Sex Criminals illustrator, Chip Zdarsky, to give sex advice to a load of comic book fans in the Thomas House. I'm not sure if what happened could really be considered sex advice though, since it sort of devolved into personal stories and musings on whether or not the word "weiner" is ever an acceptable term for male genitalia. In short, the answer is no. Despite the two of us consistently going off topic and technical difficulties with the mics, Chip was such a warm and generous guest with so much time for his fans and the comic book community. I really hope Big Bang get him back if he does another European signing, and fingers crossed this is just the first event I do with the lads. 

Finally at the weekend, I got a wonderful little mention in Kate Holmquist's brilliant piece in the Irish Times about life after menopause. In it she interviews author Jill Shaw Ruddock about her new book, The Second Half of Your Life, in which she sees menopause not as a loss, but as an opportunity. It's such a refreshing and open perspective that I wish we had much more of in Irish society. The article is definitely worth a read, and I'll be picking up the book the next time I'm in town.