Andy's Blog

Sometimes I wish was 8 years old again… actually, *most* times I wish I was 8 years old again!

Although it does seem that nowadays kids are wrapped tightly in a blanket straight-jacket of Health & Safety rules that stops them from experiencing anything that even looks like being a little edgy; like putting up posters without goggles *gasp*!

So whenever the opportunity presents itself, we chuck our sprogs into whatever adventures come their way, like boating on the local reservoir.  It’s especially at times like these that I remember my own yoof.

…and yes, this does mean that if the kids drop any food on the floor our first response is to pick it up, blow away any floor based additions and place it back on the plate for them to eat.  If you raise kids in a sterile bubble, don’t be surprised at what happens when that bubble bursts.

Anyways, here’s our smallest enjoying his day out on the Reservoir.

Blink and too many years seem to fly by without you even noticing!

Number 1 son has spent his first week away from home, in an adventure residential camp, is now taller than both his Aunt and Grandmother, has bigger feet than his mum, has a mobile phone and we are now going through the joy of purchasing his uniform for Secondary School.

What happened to the strawberry blonde curly haired child that used to sit in my lap, just before bedtime, and want to hear the Gruffalo yet again?

Of the course the rush to teenage’dom almost inevitably leads to the descent into Kevin’dom!  The mantra “must not throttle firstborn, must not throttle firstborn” seems to be the order of the day at the moment… The joys of parenthood!

Another weekend completed and another GKR karate tournament competed.  Very soon, if I keep this sort of thing up, I’ll become an old hand at this malarky … which is more than my hand will become as I have managed to damage it once more whilst laying it, with forceful intent, upon somebody else’s person.  Enough of that story though.

This particular tournament I was accompanied by sprogs #1 and #2 on their first steps into competitive posing, flailing and shouting.  Unfortunately they didn’t win any medals but I was HUGELY proud of the way they conducted themselves both during and after their time in the ring.  Teaches them an important lesson too, I suppose, that you can’t win at everything – which School seems scared to teach them, in case it damages their delicate psyche!

I, also, didn’t do very well at the individual level and was somewhat relieved that Sensei wasn’t around to see the woeful effort that was my kata… who swapped my feet with a 7 year olds when I wasn’t looking?!

This did give me the opportunity to go around and “ra-ra” from the sidelines as a fair number of my fellow Sensei’s did get their medals.  We were competing for Silver and Gold in both the male and female instructor levels!  What a dilemma; Who do you cheer for when you want both of them to win?!

(I have just noticed the judicious use of “we” in that last paragraph.  I think Sarah, Katie, Shaun and Daz actually probably managed their collective bling amassing without my aid)

However, what personally what made my tournament the more enjoyable was being involved in the Team Kumite.  It wasn’t the fact that we came away with a Bronze medal, it was the sheer look of joy and excitement in Ed’s voice when he realised we had gotten past the first round.  The exclaimed “We’ve never gotten this far before!” and huge grin were worth far more than any lump of metal draped around the neck.

Title Disclaimer:
When asking your son to remember the word “YAKP”, as you concentrate on something else, remember to tell him that it stands for “Yet Another Karate Post” and not get into a conversation about the colour, texture, smell and relevance of “Yak Pee”.

The 10 minutes of confused cross-talking that went on, and combined “you what?!” looks, is not something to be reproduced.

I finally managed to get the boys to a Kancho Sullivan seminar, just us and 600+ others. Very intimate.

Twas a wee bit of a rush in all honesty, as my Saturday class in Irthlingborough didn’t finish until just after 12noon and we had to be in Nottingham by 1.30pm to sign in!  If anyone asks how we managed to do 80 miles in less than an hour and a half, just tell them we stuck to the speed limit of 70mph; admittedly the fast version of 70mph rather than the slow version… Officer!

It’s always a thrill to be in a hall with so many people all moving in unison to the count and being taught by the founder of our particular brand of karate.  It’s also somewhat cool to see Kancho, who’s in his 60′s, manage to beat a various age range of 2nd Dan Black Belts in Kumite one after the other.  ”VERY cool” as my youngest crowed after the Seminar.. I just hope I can be that nimble at that age!

Also, in the good news stakes, I managed to progress a grade!  So I have now managed to half achieve one of my New Years Resolutions.  I think getting the second grading under my belt, or on my belt… whatever… may be a tad more difficult, but stretch goals are the order of the day.

Next up is another tournament in Birmingham, on 6th June, complete with the boys (their first) which should be fun.  Pics and postings will be forthcoming.

Songs have a powerful influence on all of us and we choose our own soundtrack to reflect that which we feel important, highlighting defining periods in our lives.  Revisiting those audible monuments does sometimes give you pause to reflect and wonder at what was, could have been, will be..

Listening to “Again”, by Archive, and appreciating the lyrics as well as the mood generated by the music.  I am an absolute sucker for guitar and drum heavy music, and as blogged about not so long ago, this one still has the ability to give pause.

“..now you get me down” to complete the lyrics began in this posts title.

Good times, bad times, shameful times, and those times where you shone beyond yours, and others, expectations; all are, or should be, encapsulated within their own musical punctuation, usually via an artist or group that seemed to talk to you specifically during that period of your life.

I can’t change those times, I can only revisit them and reflect on the person that they helped develop for better or worse.

I now find myself in the position where I am seeing the seeds of this process starting to develop in my two young boys.  Both of them, and more so the youngest, are beginning to develop their own musical tastes and creating their own ‘audible monuments’ as they grow ever upwards physically and emotionally.

I do wonder how their own internal playlist will sound, and also whether my own musical tastes will influence them as they grow.  We can only watch… and listen…

I am not quite sure how to start this week off, whether I already have in a purely theological sense, or how it will finish.

If there is one thing that sums up life at the moment, like a modern day version of the parable, it’s the game ’Parking Wars’ on facebook.  The point of the game is to shuffle your cars around, trying not to get fined and keeping ahead of your friends.

Personal pride seems to keep you shuffling these cars around, never-endingly, otherwise somebody could overtake you on the leader board.  There’s no other element to the game.. just keep moving.

Methinks a deletion of this app is on the books, I need to get a little more control of things.  This, and some other apps on facebook as well.  Actually I have already started the process in that I am no longer socially taggable.

Going round on the Bike this weekend gave me LOTS of time to think things through, do some personal assessment and generally clear cobwebs.  Unfortunately the Biking was at the cost of some chill out time with friends, but sometimes we seem destined to follow in the wake of others and ride the consequences of their decisions.

However, plans for the week are as follows;

• Finally get back to the Gym, after a week off because of the busted finger, and get back into the rhythm of early starts.  Doing weights BEFORE work definitely gets you more alert for what it throws at you.
• Carry on, *not* as usual, with Karate.  Unfortunately my elation, at getting a medal at the tournament, has encountered the rather hard object that is realism.  I seem to have hit a bit of a personal ceiling in my abilities, and unless I can push through that I am destined to not progress any further through the belts.
• As much as possible, try and fade a little more into the background.  My presence, to some, seems to be a source of discomfort and this is something that I never want to cause.  So it’s time to reduce my ‘presence’ and re-schedule my life.

We’ll see how successful I am by the end of the week.

..and the ‘theological’ reference?  Well I was informed, by the lights of my loin, that the school’s local shaman has proclaimed that Sunday is the start of the week.  I am up for being corrected, but my recollection of the Bible was that God rested on the seventh day and the God botherers thought; “Well if HE needs a rest on the seventh day, then who are we to do otherwise?” …and thus Sunday was born”.

So whilst my body whimpers on the Monday it, apparently, should really have been whimpering on the Sunday instead.  Please feel free to correct my delusions…

You have to laugh at the screaming headlines in the majority of the ‘newspapers’ here in the UK, and the apparent closing down of anything transport related, once a few inches of snow wisps lightly down from the heavens. 

You’d think this country, which has been around for a millenia or more, would have figured out how to deal with frozen water droplets from the sky, especially when compared to the USofA, which in country terms is barely old enough to wipe its own bum.  We are shockingly senile and seem positively Alzheimer’ish in our attitude; “What the heck is THIS!?  How do we deal with it?  Heeeelp!”

However, I have my own definite plans for the stuff which includes me + the light of my loins + sled + big hill just outside the local country park.  Of course, ‘sled’ is very possibly a slight exaggeration; tray or cardboard box or bin liner may be better descriptions.  As the old saying goes “Aging is mandatory, maturity is optional”… this big kid is definitely leaving the maturity track and heading off down the hill  :)

That is if the white stuff actually settles…

Now, here’s a question;  When you blog are you supposed to put separate streams of thoughts into separately headed posts or just carry on ‘splurging’ random thoughts into a single post?  I am sat here with a few more things to unburden myself of but unsure as to whether this is best carried on in this post or filed under another post with appropriate title, tags, categorisation and humorous picture?

Such as;

• The tempering of flippancy dependant on the person we are talking to at the time.
• Moving forward, or backwards?
• The uncomfortable unsaid.

Maybe a seperate post when the head has managed to construct something sensible and coherent to say..

Edit:  Just been let out of work early cos of the snow.  I still think it’s somewhat daft for the actual amount of snow that we are experiencing… but hey, it’s approved time off work (and paid for) so who am I to refuse? 

Off to the gym for some swimmie-poo’s methinks

I feel I should be writing some update on my blog, the unfortunate thing being; I am not sure what I want to type, what subject I should be typing on or even what title I should be giving this post! 

I have an uncomfortable feeling that my last few posts were somewhat touchy-feely in their subject matter (or ‘airy-fairy’ as a friend put it… yes YOU mate!), so feel the need to ground it in on the hum-drum of life-in-the-shoes-of-Andy’dom…. Or at least I would if I could (a) get motivated and (b) think of what to write!

One of the causes, I think, of this general malaise is that the ribs are STILL causing me grief!  It has already meant a lost weekend of being out in the sun on the bike going around our local Country Park – which really put me in a funk.  Also, the lack of sleep doth bother me somewhat – I ain’t the most pleasant buggar to look at, so need ALL the beauty sleep I can get!

However, on the plus side, my youngest son is now definitely most mobile!  He has finally mastered the joys of two wheeled freedom, which is another one of those ‘defining’ moments in a boys (and father’s) life.  Still a wee bit wobbly, and definitely a menace in the presence of pedestrians and parked cars alike, but I am looking forward to more bonding time as me and the boys all wobble around the Reservoir; collectively menacing the afore-mentioned pedestrians and adding wild fowl to the mix!

Any other interesting news?  Weight seems to have settled around the 88kg, which is a wee bit above the 13 stone mark, and is not shifting from there.. buggar!  Looks like I am either going to have to find some other form of exercise or eat even less (Soooo hungry!!).  I have thought about re-taking up canoeing at our local Reservoir to help make me somewhat more svelt in appearance, but need to find the time and more importantly the energy.

…and that’s it!  So in the end something was typed up, not earth shattering or even particularly interesting; but it is life at the moment.  I feel another post is bubbling up at the moment as the subject of ‘life’ is a recurrent theme with a couple of friends, so be warned; another ‘airy-fairy’ bit of navel gazing may be on the horizon.

I am wondering if opening up my blog to allow some friends to post their own thoughts may make the whole subject more relative, as well as some cross-linking to the blogs of friends that are also discussing the same sort of issues; Mark Fitchett’s Slices of a digital life, Damian’s Life, laughs and loves of the Clayton-Bull clan and Casper’s musings (if you ever update it mate ) to name but a few.

Collective, multi-site, navel gazing… What a thought!

Buggar!  Left it WAY too long to update this blog, so in ‘twitter‘ stylee here’s a VERY rushed update of life so far;

• Didn’t get sunburnt on hols! yay!
• Sitting in the total darkness of a Toledo countryside, with a beer in hand, and family around you looking up at an unspoilt view of the stars IS as good as it gets.
• Number 1 son finally learns how to use the gears on a mountain bike. yay!
• Coming back to a rainy Luton after the hols have finished is a rude landing back to reality.
• Being in a hall full of 300+ karate instructors and black belts, being taught by the founder, and moving in perfect synchronisation is VERY cool!
• Visiting Alton Towers this Bank Holiday was loads of fun.
• Being able to sit on all the BIG and SCARY rides with Number 1 son was a defining moment.

All updated? Good

Today was somewhat hectic as ‘she-who-must-be-obeyed’ is not feeling very well at all and it was left to me to do the School run with my two boys; Alex and James. Of course the School run also involved me having to make their pack lunches (wait till they open THAT little surprise!), break-their-fast and also ensure they are sh*t, showered and shaved before departure.

We survived

After all that, and the grumblings they made when I told ‘em we were walking to School, it was back to work, albeit working from home – thank gawd for broadband and a VPN connection.

Work, as in my previous post, is not going particularly pleasantly and today has gone pretty much to that same script. However, this post isn’t really a usual rant about how badly work has gone, but the small things that make life seem so much more worth living.

The look on my youngest son’s face, as he popped out of his classroom, when he saw me waiting made the whole day seem not so bad after all. His enthusiasm as he skips in front of me telling me about all that he did today does make me wistful for those yesteryears of my youth.

Keeping cynical in the face of his youthful exuberance seemed almost sacriligious.