From the Heart

[birds chirping] My name is Sean Ruanáin, and welcome to The Sean Chorus.

[birds chirping] All right, I'm back.

So this is an episode which is gonna come from the heart.

Maybe you'll cry.

Just a warning, maybe I'll cry too.

And so the first episode of this podcast was an introduction to who I am.

So of course, this is about bird sound and experiencing nature, but it's also a story about, you know, a human, um, me.

[chuckles] I think I'm a human.

And so this episode is, is, is about my partner, Alba.

And Alba is somebody who completely changed my world in ways that I can't even begin to describe.

And, um, she's an amazing person who I love and I admire beyond words, um, for what she ... for the way she moves through the world.

So I met Alba in 2017, and I had just moved back from England.

I, I was in England for a few years.

When I graduated from college, I, I came out in the big recession.

I couldn't get work, and I was without work for nearly two years, I think.

And I remember this, just having this deep sense of shame.

Felt ashamed of myself.

I felt, in a sense, I felt useless, and I wasn't in a good place in my mind and, and, and with myself.

So I moved to England, and I got work over there, and I remember throwing myself into the work, trying to find, um, a, I guess, respect for myself in a way.

Looking back, this, this seems very harsh, uh, harsh on myself, um, but it's the way that I felt, and I think it's the way a lot of people felt, um, back then during that big recession.

And, uh, yeah, so I went to England.

I worked on a boat, I think seven days a week it was.

Yeah.

Seven days a week, I worked on this boat bringing tourists out to see the Farne Islands, which is a seabird sanctuary.

And then on top of that, I worked in a bar at night five days a week, and it was a hotel bar, so I typically didn't get out before 3:00 AM, often later, and then I was down to the boats at 6:00 AM.

[birds chirping] My name is Sean Ruanáin, and welcome to The Sean Chorus.

[birds chirping] All right, I'm back.

So this is an episode which is gonna come from the heart.

Maybe you'll cry.

Just a warning, maybe I'll cry too.

And so the first episode of this podcast was an introduction to who I am.

So of course, this is about bird sound and experiencing nature, but it's also a story about, you know, a human, um, me.

[chuckles] I think I'm a human.

And so this episode is, is, is about my partner, Alba.

And Alba is somebody who completely changed my world in ways that I can't even begin to describe.

And, um, she's an amazing person who I love and I admire beyond words, um, for what she ... for the way she moves through the world.

So I met Alba in 2017, and I had just moved back from England.

I, I was in England for a few years.

When I graduated from college, I, I came out in the big recession.

I couldn't get work, and I was without work for nearly two years, I think.

And I remember this, just having this deep sense of shame.

Felt ashamed of myself.

I felt, in a sense, I felt useless, and I wasn't in a good place in my mind and, and, and with myself.

So I moved to England, and I got work over there, and I remember throwing myself into the work, trying to find, um, a, I guess, respect for myself in a way.

Looking back, this, this seems very harsh, uh, harsh on myself, um, but it's the way that I felt, and I think it's the way a lot of people felt, um, back then during that big recession.

And, uh, yeah, so I went to England.

I worked on a boat, I think seven days a week it was.

Yeah.

Seven days a week, I worked on this boat bringing tourists out to see the Farne Islands, which is a seabird sanctuary.

And then on top of that, I worked in a bar at night five days a week, and it was a hotel bar, so I typically didn't get out before 3:00 AM, often later, and then I was down to the boats at 6:00 AM.