Adam’s Cerebral Spillage

I forgot to update this for a little while, I guess that’s what happens when another year ticks over and I hit the ripe old age of thirty-two twenty-twelve. So what’s happened in my absence? A few things as it happens.

For my birthday I had a couple of treats, the first being on the Friday before. We got in the car and I had to put an unknown postcode in the satnav and follow it. Ninety minutes later and I was sat in the grounds of Kitley House just outside of Plymouth, although I still wasn’t sure why. We had a lovely room right up in the top of the building, looking out over the gardens. Early in the evening I got ‘poshed up’ in a decent jacket and went down for drinks and dinner and it turned out to be a Murder Mystery dinner! It’s no secret I’m a fan of mystery, so this was just perfect for me. We had cocktails with the cast (an outside group ran the evening and played the roles) and after a few drinks everyone loosened up and got into the spirit of things. It was an awesome evening, soured only by getting in the car the next morning to find one of my tyres as flat as a pancake. An hour later and thirty quid lighter I was back in sunny Cornwall.

The other main gift I had was an hour in a float tank. If you’ve never seen one before, it’s like a big coccoon, half space-age and half ‘Mork from Ork’. After stripping off and clambering in you find yourself in ten inches of warm water, which is a really heady solution of epsom salts. The idea is that you float in water the same temperature as your body, which gives the impression of floating in mid-air. If you close the lid and turn the internal lights off it’s almost total sensory deprivation. The only thing you’re really aware of is the ‘music’ which is more some kind of mix of muted notes and whalesong, which is played through the water. For the first quarter of an hour or so you’re very aware that you’re just floating naked in a big plastic egg, but once you get the hang of relaxing fully (which is much harder than it sounds) the time just slips away. I didn’t fall asleep – just! – but they say an hours float is the equivalent of eight hours sleep, and I can well believe it. For the rest of the day I was a mental mess, barely capable of completing a sentence, but I slept like the dead that night and felt fantastic the next day. I’d recommend it to anyone having trouble sleeping or with a lot of aches or stress, it’s a real tonic.

Operation House is still going well, in the last four weeks we’ve got from a large concrete slab in the mud, to walls, windows, doors, roof trusses and a first floor. There are pictures to come once I get around to uploading them too. As I write this the roof of the old building is being torn off, and the new one being apexed into it. The kitchen arrives today, the appliances tomorrow, and the gas is due to go in this week too if memory serves. Although I hate to jinx it, I’m starting to think that I’ll be in before the end of July now. If anyone up there is watching, please keep this weather up for another few weeks.

And while on the subject of good weather, I finished off the week in fine style. There was an option on Saturday evening of going to St Ives for the Camra Beer Festival, but after a heavy session the previous night involving beer, tequila (oh so much tequila) and very loud metal music, I really wasn’t feeling like alcohol again. So instead a few of us headed out to the beach with some disposable barbecues (one of which I managed to drop on my toes, cutting and bruising them) to eat some grilled meat and watch the sun go down. Glorious.

Godrevy beach at sunset

Technorati Tags beach, birthday, float, murder mystery

Old mobile contract cancelled – check!

Good tempered rant at old ISP who’ve still been taking money from me since November despite not even being with them – check!

All I’ve got left to do today is to wash all three uniforms from Sunday’s competition, teaching and training which should by now be creating a whole new life form of their own, zipped up in my training bag in the hot boot of my car. I’m another trophy better off now, but given the circumstances I’m not going to harp on about it.

Maybe I’m finally going to start getting organised in my old age. I’m thirty-two in a mere fifteen days now, and with 10 days off from the 22nd, I’m looking forward to the break.

Technorati Tags birthday, competition

Ahem, oops. I seem to have left this dormant for a good while. I’ve got a really good reason though, you see there was this bigger boy and he…. ahhh who am I kidding, I’ve just been rubbish! After having a bit of a traffic spike though after a plug, I thought I owed it to the world (or both of my readers at least!) to start updating again. So, what’s been happening this past month?

I fought at the first tournament of the year a few weeks ago. It was a hard, hot day, but one which I’m pleased to say I walked away from with two trophies, a 2nd place in the Mens Heavyweight Point Stop and 3rd in the Mens Heavyweight Continuous. I took the soundest beating of my life in the continuous, with enough kicks to the head to leave me simple, but it was great fun and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

My new job is going well, but this past month has really pushed me. Basically everything that could have had a snag or problem, had one. I’ve muddled through though, and am much more confident heading into the new month when it all happens again. I finally feel like I actually work there now though, instead of being some kind of visitor or interloper. It’s taken its toll on my brain and sleep, and I’m looking forward to settling in properly.

I suppose the other big news was that of my birthday. Yes, on the 27th I hit the ripe old age of 31 1F. Yes, I’ve decided to start expressing my age in hexadecimal instead of decimal, that way, I’m still in my teens. It was an odd birthday in many ways, but a good one at the same time. I got some wonderful presents, some of which I know I’ll treasure for a very long time indeed. I remember being quite scared of hitting 30, but once you’re there it’s actually quite comfortable. I don’t have to worry again until 35 now, when I’m closer to being f.. f… no, I can’t say it. On the weekend before the big day we hosted the annual Eurovision party and sweepstake, which is really just an excuse to get everyone together and get a little ‘merry’, and on the Monday evening we all got together again for a bite to eat and to go to the cinema (for the first time in ages). I’m a massive Indiana Jones fan, right back from being a nipper, and I was keen to see what they’d done to the series with this new film, but I was really pleased with it. It was proper, over-the-top adventure nonsense and I loved it.

It’s time to crack on with things now. I’m running a half-marathon in October and really need to get my backside in gear with training for it, and with that in mind I’m heading to the gym with my training and running friends tonight to put in some miles and sweat. One of my presents was a completely-unexpected ipod touch, so that can come with me so I can’t hear myself gasping for air. The question is, what do I put on my playlist for it? Suggestions welcome!

update: I noticed today that Mozilla is attempting to set a new world record for the most downloads in a day when their Firefox 3 browser is officially released in June (the beta version is available to try now if you’re keen). I’ve used Firefox for a long time now, back from the Firebird and Phoenix days, so I’m keen to support it. Plus the firefox is actually another name for my al-time favourite animal, the Red Panda. Make it happen, and have a much nicer time browsing the web than with Internet Explorer .

Technorati Tags birthday, competition, fighting, Firefox 3, rubbish at updating his blog, Running, training

Those are the lyrics just before the amazing Pendulum remix of Voodoo People kicks off into my favourite bit of the song, the bit that’s guaranteed to get me dancing like an idiot if I’m out, or fire me up for training (which is what it’ll be doing tonight). I’ve been knackered all week, but feel a bit more energetic today for some reason, so I’m looking forward to going along and getting thoroughly worn-out . Tomorrow morning I’m going for a swim too, it should help ease my back up a bit and also help me burn off a few more Calories, something I’m especially keen on right now.

Having not checked my weight for a couple of weeks now – I have no idea why, it just didn’t occur to me – I finally jumped back on the scales this morning fearing the worst. Imagine my pleasant surprise when not only had I not put on a little (the Seni weekend saw some huge breakfasts!) but had in fact lost another 6lbs! I’m so close to a major milestone in my campaign to get skinny (well, skinnier), once I hit it there’ll be no stopping me. It’s been a long old race, but I can see the finish line now . I have a deadline in mind, let’s just see if I can come first.

It’s my birthday this month, which has really snuck up on me. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest I’m happy to say, I feel no different than I did a year or two again. In fact quite the opposite, I feel better than I did back then. It’ll be June and good summer times before I know it now! I think it’s going to be a barbecue this weekend if the rain holds off long enough, which it doesn’t look like is going to be the case is the forecast is to be believed. I love barbecues, but when it’s raining I’d much rather be tucked away somewhere warm and dry enjoying a meal, like a good Chinese or a Thai meal or something. Mmmm I think one of those will have to be had soon now that I think about it.

So yeah – stronger, thinner, feeling good and it’s only going to get better. And I’ll even try to update this more often too!

Technorati Tags barbecue, birthday, pendulum, thinner, voodoo people