Tag Archives: cold

What Am I? Eighty?!

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I’m not sure exactly how I’ve managed it, but I seem to have caught a cold. Again. It’s only been a few weeks since I last had one, but sure enough nose and throat are sore, I’m sneezing and producing something horrible in my face. However, I’ve chosen to deny it completely, so in my mind I simply don’t have one. I laugh in the face of germs, and tweak the nose of the dreadful spindly killer fish (big cash prizes to anyone spotting the quote there*).

To this end I’ve bought some First Defence, which apparently should help to stop the virus getting a foothold in my (evidently very welcoming) body, so think of me as some kind of giant guinea pig.

Guinea Pig

I’m also going to make myself feel bright and summery with this picture from the weekend. It’s still gloriously warm and sunny here (in the daytime at least), and this picture was taken on Saturday when we took the dog collective for a run on the beach.

Church Cove - 9th Feb 2008

Ahhh, beat that germs!

More Human Than Human

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Post titles are getting harder to come up with, so once again I’ve resorted to stealing lyrics for this one (it’s from a White Zombie song should you care). I don’t actually feel more human than human, but I certainly feel more human than I have for the last few days. The cold which battered me into submission on Monday is wilting like over-cooked spinach and on its way out. I still have it on my chest a little but at least I can think, and breathe, and hear again.

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of a ticket and a lift to see Korn in Plymouth. It was kind of a last-minute thing for me, but the deal was sealed when I noticed that one of my current favourite bands were supporting them, Deathstars.

Deathstars – Cyanide
[youtube LLwlcrRw1yY]

Yeah, not to everyones taste but I like it. It was a choice of sit at home and feel sorry for myself not being able to train, or go watch Korn dosed up and feeling rough. The latter won. Through noones fault we ended up getting there about half an hour late and soon found some folks we know from Devilution, only to find out that the doors opened early, the bands started early and we’d missed Deathstars! Gah! We still saw all of Flyleaf’s set which was pretty good, but marred by terrible sound production and a bassist who just didn’t know how to stop jumping and kicking. Korn were simply awesome, there’s no other word for it. They sounded as good live as they do on CD, and anyone who knows the music knows that’s no mean feat. It was disconcerting to see just how many really young kids there were there, people who I swear were barely born when Korn first started recording and who were invariably dressed in whatever latest emo fad fashions are around at the moment. It’s funny to see so many identical looking ‘individuals’. The new tracks they played left the crowd a little cold, but favourites like ADIDAS, Blind and the final song, Got The Life, lifted the roof off. I didn’t have the energy to get as ‘involved’ with the crowd as I’d have liked, but it was still a great gig.

Korn – Got The Life (Live)
[youtube pfnUAsA6l3M]

I’ve also finally started writing games reviews again. I have a thousand words in draft form now, I await critique and seeing it go live once more. I’ve missed it.

Ah, There You Are

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It probably hasn’t gone unnoticed that I’ve been a bit slack on the posting front for the last couple of weeks. In all honesty, most of the posts would read “Stayed up late, watched rubbish, ate and drank too much”, but I figured I could do with a rest mentally as well as physically. There have been some things of note happening, so here’s a quick run-down.

Christmas itself was good. We did the obligatory Christmas social events (meals with parents, seeing friends) which were great as always, and on the big day it was nice and relaxed. I had a lot of nice presents including some games I’d been after, music, films and books. And naturally socks and smellies :) . We took the pup out for a run in the woods in the afternoon and came across loads of people with the same idea, it was so quiet and peaceful, the total opposite of how Christmas is for many I think.

Since then I’ve not been up to much at all really, except yesterday which saw our Tang Soo Do club meet up with the local Tae Kwon Do clubs for the annual “Blow out the cobwebs” event on one of the beaches at Newquay. Last year was my first time, and I was really looking forward to going down again for a spot of training and a dip in the sea. It didn’t disappoint. We started off with a warm-up run around part of the headland, which meant running through the sea, which in itself was a good indicator of the tempeartures we could expect at the end of the hour. Then it was on to the usuals; basics in lines, self-defence, one-step sparring and lots of forms (patterns for TKD guys). It felt good to give Pyung Ahn Sa Dan an airing, I think it’s finally starting to get there, there’s a long way to go yet though. At the end of the lesson we’re asked to remove our belts and approach the edge of the water, then we perform basics whilst marching forwards into the Atlantic. There were a few bemused looking surfers, wrapped from head to foot in neoprene, watching as we kept going further in, until we were given the signal to go for it. Like some kind of giant, hairy, dobok-clad salmon in I went, and it was just the most refreshing thing you can imagine. After weeks of drinking, eating rubbish and messing my body clock about no end, it’s exactly the wake-up I needed.

Now all that remains really is New Years Eve, which by the sounds of it I’m going to be spending in the company of my old friends, which suits me perfectly. I hope you all had fantastic Christmasses, and here’s looking forward to the multitude of good intentions and broken resolutions for 2008 ;) .

Paying The Price

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Yesterday I felt surprisingly ok considering the grading I had the day before. My shoulders were a bit tired maybe, that was all. We took the dogs for a walk along the beach in the afternoon and after having walking up a very shallow slope in the sand I was knackered! We kept going though, a few crossings of the beach then a mile or so in the woods, I just put it down to a few celebratory drinks the previous evening. That evening we had a normal training session followed by fight squad training, and am I ever suffering for it today. To sum up my last week’s training it looks like this:

  • Sunday – Training.
  • Tuesday – Training.
  • Wednesday – Kickboxing
  • Friday- Training.
  • Saturday – Grading.
  • Sunday – Training & Fight Squad.

….it’s taken it out of me.

My back and shoulders are practically locked in position and tender to the touch, my head hurts (thanks in no small part to my brothers disposal of me in sparring), I’m absolutely exhausted and feel like I could sleep for a week – in fact I nearly did, I turned the alarm this morning off in a stupor and want back to sleep. Doh! To top it all off I have that unmistakable rasping sore throat thing, you know, just below where your nose joins your throat, which can signal only one thing – a cold! I’ll try to blast it out tomorrow night at training, but even if I don’t it’s not a total loss, at least I made the grading. The last session of the year should be fun, training with quizzes and fancy dress sparring!

But for tonight I think the plan is to recline in my chair, have some nice warming wintery food, admire the decorated living room and just flake out with a game or something. Living room with christmas decorations with the little lights on, candles and a warm fire, it’s just the nicest place to be in the world :) .

Brrrrrr

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Winter seems to have arrived today with a snap! It’s absolutely freezing here today – literally! The ponds are frozen over, ice on the car, all that nice frosty malarkey. My hands are like ice typing this (stupid computer room with no heating) as are my feet, despite socks. And I never get cold feet. I like it though, it means Christmas is around the corner, and in just a few short weeks the evenings start drawing out again.

I think the dog will have to go for a run on the beach this afternoon, he just has far too much energy. An hour on the beach with his dog friends always knackers him totally. I must remember to take a towel this time!

It really is too cold to sit here and type, maybe another update later if it warms up a bit and I can feel my fingers :) .

Blam! Ill!

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Last Friday night was ordinary enough; training, home for some food, bit of Singstar later before bed. On Saturday morning however, I woke up to find I was utterly ill – streaming nose, eyes feeling like they were trying to burn their way out of my head, pounding headache and aching all over – fun! Normally when I get a cold I can feel it coming the day before and at least be ready for it with some Lemsips and assorted ‘feel better’ paraphernalia, but there was no warning at all this time. “No problem!” I though, colds usually pass off within a day or two for me now, but alas no. Five days later, two missed training sessions and two days off work and I’m still not right, although I am at least up and out and back at work. I can’t believe how badly this has kicked my arse.

As you might imagine, with me being bed- and sofa-bound for the best part of four days, there’s not much to update here. Fortunately moving my thumbs proved to not be too exhausting, so I’ve put in some time on Halo 3 and Virtua Fighter 5 that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. That’s finding a silver lining, right? Halo 3 is the big surprise of Autumn’s games for me. It was hyped to death once again, and being the weak-minded, easily led fool that I am I caved and bought it on the day of release. I honestly expected to play about an hour of the campaign, try it online once or twice, then consign it to the shelf forevermore.  But no! Adam perseveres with a game shocker! I’m still trudging through the campaign slowly, but I’ve put in loads of time online and have started to hold my own (steady!).  It’s a really enjoyable game online, and the variety of gametypes help to keep things fresh. Playing with a group of friends is just hilarious though, top stuff!

I also crumbled like a cheap custard cream and bought Virtua Fighter 5, although in fairness that was only because of the excellent deal Game had in-store. What a deep game, I can see why people get addicted. I think I’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of understanding the game, but I’m getting better and love the tactical, fast-paced gameplay. I’ve ventured online a few times and the standard seems to be pretty high for the most part, and I’ve already learned loads by having my ass handed to me repeatedly. Buy it now!

Wow, to think I said I had nothing to write about!  Hopefully next time I’ll have been back to training and have something TSD-related to bore you all with instead :)