Tag Archives: rock night

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

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Ok, ok, ok, it’s the last Friday of the month, and that can mean only one thing; Rock Night!

Well, it should normally, but for one reason or another I’ve missed the last two or three, but tonight I’m determined to make amends. I am desperately in need of a damn good night out and a few beers, I have a lot of steam to blow off, and where better than in a club playing my favourite music with my friends? I have to think of a long list of requests as per normal, I love the fact it’s quite quiet (metaphorically at least) there, you get to hear just about anything you want.

The club has a grading this weekend, two in fact, but only one I’ll be present at (the other is for 2nd Dan and is done behind closed doors). It’s nice not having to worry about it for myself, but in the back of my mind I know that it also means the next time will possibly be for my own Dan grade. Brown dobok time! Before all of that we’re off to the British Tang Soo Do championships in a fortnights time, and I’m competing and fighting AND forms this time. I’ve never competed with forms before and I’m getting nervous about it already. It’s kinda nice to be taken out of my comfort zone.

If any of this seems a bit random or frantic, I apologise. We’ve had a charity coffee morning at work today (which I made cake for!) and I just drank two cups of filter coffee. Not much to brag about for most people I realise, but as someone who is hyper-sensitive to caffiene it’s a big deal and I am BUZZING! I can’t sit still or shut up, it’s a very strange feeling, kinda cool and kinda freaky at the same time. Blah blah blah blah.

Can’t wait for training and my night out now, hurry hurry hurry afternoon!

Bring It

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My feet are stinging and throbbing, my legs are aching and my ankles are stiff. I can barely move my neck and shoulders. What a great weekend.

We had the pleasure of having Drew Neal come down to teach a three hour sparring seminar yesterday, and although I’ve been lucky enough to train under him once before, this was much more personal and tailored to our club. There were only ten or eleven of us in attendance, and because of that we were able to work on the things we really wanted to. The first hour was spent going over some of the basics, which was good as it’s easy to overlook them and take them for granted, and that can be a bad thing, especially if you’ve gotten lazy or into bad habits. The next couple of hours were much harder work, concentrating on more advanced techniques and tactics, and then spending a long time sparring with everybody else. I’ve no idea how many rounds I fought, I completely lost track, it must’ve been about fifteen or so I think. Included in that time was the chance to spar with Drew himself, and it is just frightening how fast that guy can move and react – no wonder he’s got so many World and National championships under his belt. I’m glad we were totally padded and working at semi contact because otherwise I’d be totally black and blue this morning. He does everything that I try to do myself (but usually fail at within ten seconds of starting), mostly making the most of my advantages. Standing tall and staying tall throughout an exchange is the main thing, but not throwing more than two techniques in a row is another bad habit. I’ll get it, eventually.

When I sat down in the evening after a shower I realised how much the balls of my feet are hurting, I’ve managed to get carpet burns from the rubber mats. I’ve sneakily got my shoes off and my heels propped up on a foot stand under my desk, when really all I want to do is stick them in the fridge with my yoghurts. In fact I feel like a bit of an invalid all over now, after Friday night’s antics.

The last Friday of every month is Rock Night as regular readers will know, and I was determined to get a lot of dancing and a proportionate amount of alcohol under my belt after a few really stressful weeks. I bumped into an old friend there only to find out his band were playing a set there on the night – ace! They were great and surprised me with the variety of bands covered. I never thought I’d hear them do Wolfmother and Queens Of The Stone Age, but I did, and very well covered they were. Once the DJ got back on and Adam had a few drinks under his belt, there was some dancing going on and no mistake! I’ve been suffering ever since with very sore and stiff shoulders and neck, but it was definitely worth it. Awesome music + drinks + dancing like an idiot with your mates = a good night in my book.

Speaking of awesome music, any metal fans with taste similar to mine should treat themselves to The Way Of The Fist by Five Finger Death Punch. I’ve been listening to it a lot and I can honestly say there isn’t a bad track on the album, just a lot of excellent songs which make me want to get up and hurt my neck even more.

Thanks again to Drew for making the long trip down to us, teaching me a lot of very useful things, and giving me a thumping. It’s hard to get annoyed at someone kicking your ass up and down the hall when he’s such a nice bloke.

To-Do List

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I need a break. I’m stressed right out and I think my head is starting to get messed up. I got to work this morning and as I walked past reception, for a moment I couldn’t tell if I was arriving for the morning or coming in after lunch. Each day is blurring into the previous and the weeks are flying by, but with nothing much to differentiate between one and the next. I think part of it is just the dragging out of the end of winter, with the dark evenings and mornings, I’m desperate for some proper sunshine and warmth. The clocks go forward in four weeks which will go a long way toward alleviating a lot of it – having a house would probably help too.

There are a few little things in the interim lined up to which I’m really looking forward to, and which should prove good for a bit of stress relief and unwinding. First up it’s the highlight of my month – Rock Night! The club changed the DJs last month and it was definitely for the better. The old ones played some decent stuff, but they’d play it too early and end up playing almost nothing but thrash for the rest of the night. I like a bit of thrash, but it’s not my scene really. The new lot played everything I asked for, even American Head Charge, although no Pyschosocial? Get with it lads. I’m particularly hoping for a bit of Deathstars this month, I’ve been blasting the new album out in the car to and from work and it’s exactly what I expected and had hoped for. Theatrical Swedish industrial heaviness, awesome!

I’ve got Saturday to recover and sort myself out which is good, as we have multiple World, European and British WAKO champion Drew Neal coming down to teach a three hour seminar. It’s going to be tough, I’ve got no illusions there after having attended a seminar with him once before. He’s a really nice guy, and phenomenally fast, hopefully I should be able to pick up one or two things to improve my own sparring.

Next weekend I’m going to something where I stand a good chance of being the oldest person there. Anyone who’s listened to Radio 1 in the evenings will probably be aware of the excitable, enthusiastic Kiwi DJ, Zane Lowe. The guy plays excellent new music and it’s hard to not get as enthralled as he does, and luckily for me he’s playing a DJ set at a local student bar. One of my best friends is as keen as me and we’re heading down to look completely out of place and probably get drunk and shout “I’m on board!”.

So Long, Summer

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I think what I’ve done here is tantamount to blog neglect, I feel like I’ve abused my little corner of the Web by not using it. Naughty Adam! There’s not really a large amount to tell since the last time I etched my ramblings here, but I’ll try my best to remember it.

Training is back on track now, after having been a real part-timer for longer than I care to think about thanks to one thing or another. Injury after injury slowed me down, and then I managed to catch an absolute stinker of a cold which knocked me on my ass for a week or so. But I’m back now, and after the first few lessons which really made me realise how unfit I’d become, I’m feeling a bit more like it now.

Things are moving along at full speed with our house now. The mortgage is all sorted and sat in an account waiting to be spent, and I’ve put all my finances in order – something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. No more logging in to online banking once a month on pay-day for me, at least that’s the theory. We got our plans from the architect too, and it’s looking good. The house is going to look amazing once it’s all done, I just get the feeling it’s going to take a good few months of stress and work to get it that way.

This past Friday I headed out to the local Rock Night, feeling the need for a good time. It was the birthday of one of my friends from the old night I used to go to, and there were loads of familiar faces, plus a good turn-out from the club. Rumour had it that an Iron Maiden tribute act were going to be on, but they weren’t and instead we were treated to a local band who were excellent. We had an awesome night with much dancing, lots of shouting along to the music and perhaps just a couple of drinks ;) .

I’ve started putting a little more time into actually playing some games as well, and I’m glad I have. First up I finally finished Fahrenheit (which is a brilliant adventure, highly recommended), and now I’ve started on some others and I’m really enjoying it again. I have shelves full of games which deserve some attention, I’m hoping the winter months provide me with the opportunity to dig them out and give them a go. Saturday night was ideal, I set myself up in my favourite way and had just the best relaxing evening. For me, the best way to relax properly is to turn all those pesky bright lights out and just light a few tea lights, then get set up on the sofa in the tidy (I can’t relax properly if there’s a mess) living room with a cold beer and some great TV nonsense. I’m not much of a one for TV usually, but for some reason I find those American detective-type series great entertainment. I’m particularly taken with Numb3rs at the moment.

It’s blowing a gale outside my window today, the rain’s coming down and I’ve started noticing that we’re finishing training after sunset which can mean only one thing – summer’s over. Not that there was much of a summer to begin with really, it’s been the worst summer in recent memory. May was ok, but over the actual summer months we’ve had nothing but grey skies and rain. Bring on Autumn I say, at least it’s actually supposed to be like this! As it’s now September I can start to get excited about these great last months of the year. I know most people prefer the summer but I can’t wait for everything to turn orange, and to have to get wrapped up warm to go out. I get a particularly nice feeling from having to put on a coat, scarf and hat to walk the dog. Speaking of whom, soon we’ll be able to take him to the beach again. Over the summer months you’re not allowed to take dogs on the majority of the beaches down here, and I’m getting bored walking the same paths around the woods every evening, so the sooner we can get down there and start splashing about with the pooch, the better.

…I’ve already started plotting my pumpkins for this year too ;)

“Who Loves You, And Who Do You Love?!”

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The famous words of Killian from The Running Man. That was as clever a title as I could come up with at this time in the morning, because last night you see, I was the running man! Ok, I was a running man. I took to the gym as intended with my running mates in an attempt to step up my training for the run in October. I’m not the greatest runner in the world but I’ve slowly been getting better, and last night I was determined to push myself a bit harder.

I had no specific goal when I pushed ‘Quick Start’ on the treadmill, but the last time I ran on one I remember feeling really bad after only a mile or so, and having done more than that on the road since I was determined to do better. I won’t give you a blow-by-blow account of every last step, but in order to track my own progress I can record that I completed 3.5 miles in 37 minutes, which includes a 2 minute fast walk to get my legs moving and a minute walking at about 2 miles to take a drink. I’m quite pleased with it, it puts me on course for around a 2h 30m half marathon, which isn’t great, but I’m sure as it ramps up over the next few weeks I can take the pace up and go longer. I think the plan is to go for around 2h 15 on the day, but I think I’ll just be pleased to survive it at the moment.

Tonight I’m back in the dojang again (although my legs really wish I wasn’t!). The last time I trained was on my birthday, and it’s traditional in our club to get a birthday punishment to remind you how old you are. We ended the class with a few rounds of sparring and then got told to form a circle around the floor. I was called into the middle and everyone was given the command to bow. It suddenly dawned on me that this was going to be my punishment…. I had to fight the eight others training that night in continuous style, and seemingly everyone wanted a little contact too! I ended up absolutely gasping, my headguard half-way round my head and pouring with sweat, but it was worth it for my card from the guys.

Straight after training tonight I’m heading to Plymouth for a much needed night out! It’s my friend’s girlfriend’s birthday so a few of us are headed up for a bit of an outing to a rock/metal night up there. I used to go there every other week in my younger days (I can say things like that now ;) ) and I went back a few months ago, unsure what to expect and not knowing how much it had changed. I was so glad that it was almost exactly the same as ever! So I shall be throwing myself around the dance floor like some kind of bearded Dervish into the small hours of Saturday morning before a day of utter relaxation with any luck. After this last week my plan is for a lie-in, shopping for some meat, then spending the afternoon and evening in the garden with a lazy barbecue and couple of nice drinks – maybe the little bottle of bubbly I was given for my birthday. I’ll definitely be cracking the BBQ cookbook out and getting creative again. Sunday is going to be an utter sweat session, a two hour seminar in the afternoon followed by normal training and then sparring training. It’s really hot work in a 14oz dobok, but very rewarding.

Whatever you’re doing this weekend, I hope the forecast is as good as it is for here and you manage to get out and enjoy it.