I do have some stubble though

So, in the spirit of Easter (another year that I don’t have an Easter egg, just saying – passive aggressive ed), I am very happy to have found out that my holidays have been approved and that I will be at home for my birthday again this year!  Whilst travelling home anytime is great, coming home for my birthday means that I can secretly pretend it’s a week-long party as I see a load of my friends, eat a lot of good food, drink a lot of beer/ale and stock up on entertainment items I can’t buy in Nepal.  Living in a country that is so far away and only being able to come home twice a year means that arranging to meet everyone, pick up everything I need and find time to relax is about as close to planning a military campaign as I will ever come!  However, it does mean that it’s a week of intense fun and happiness for me: I wouldn’t change it for the world either (plus I get two long-haul flights with new films and food that is delivered to me in my seat – transport ed).

On the topic of military operations, I’ve also had my holidays approved for a long weekend at the end of May and I will be revisiting Hong Kong for 4 nights.  I first went to Hong Kong for New Years with my parents and I loved it (in fact, you can read that this is the place I want to propose – archive ed).  As such, I’ve decided to go back and have been meticulously planning it ever since.  Now whilst I plan to eat a lot of good Chinese food and drink a lot of Chinese beer (deja vu?), I also plan to see some of the places I haven’t been before, revisit places that I have been before (though in slightly different contexts e.g. Victoria Peak at night) and experience new things (such as having my first massage and chinese rice wine).  Now, whilst I am aware some people would crucify me for having such as a detailed itinerary as I will do, I feel it is necessary to have one as I want to pack as much into the short weekend as possible.  This does include eating an obscene amount of egg custard tarts and red bean rolls. 

This is me in Hong Kong...just to give you an idea of what to expect when I post my Hong Kong blog.  Except I won't be in the photographs (I'll be on my own).  Oh and I'll be beardless...and probably eating an egg custard tart.

Anyway, that’s enough of me talking about myself and my trips (that will come later - mystic ed)!  It’s time for the main discussion of the day (previously meant for last week)!  Dungeons and Dragons!  Yes, I have finally got a chance to experience the famous roleplaying game and it was really fun!  For those who don’t know, Dungeons and Dragons is a roleplaying game in which you choose a race and class, create a persona for your character and then go on wondrous adventures with a band of mighty adventurers…or in our case, enter the first dungeon and almost die several times; push each other through doors; and become diseased by eating rat.  One of the major drawing points of the game is that anything can happen, as long as the dungeon master allows it (the person who controls the game essentially).  Want to drop your sword and throw a chair at a skeleton?  Sure, why not.  Need to try and talk a dragon out of eating you?  You can, if your character knows the language.  If you want to buy a stronghold or a house or a boat, why not?  As long as you have the gold.  The entire game is up to you.

Now then, being a lifelong gamer, this seemed like a natural evolution and is something that my friends and I have spoken about before but it never really materialised.  Not until Christmas 2012 that is…when Michael, Derek and I descended into a board game shop (it could be A1…can’t remember) and purchased the ‘Red Box’: a starter kit for ‘noobs’ like us that cover all the rules and helps introduce you to the game whilst creating a character.  Alas, due to various reasons such as aggressive Monopoly (sorry Martin) and New Year, we never got much beyond the starter quest (where you create your character).  This changed a few weeks ago as we set up a skype meeting where I was on video chat and the group got together to play.  Now, as this was our first attempt at playing it properly, things took a while to get started but once it did, it was great fun.  Following the same starting quest as was in the box, we explored an old goblin filled dungeon trying to hunt down a necromancer: avoiding traps; talking dragons out of eating us; and as mentioned before, shoving each other through doors.  In a second meeting, we then started the same adventure with a couple more people, allowing us to redo it with a better grasp of the rules as well.  This, however, still needs to be completed as I had to leave due to the time and the fact I was completed shattered. 

Altogether, it’s a great game, well worth a look if you’re interested in trying it out.  More importantly, despite being 5000 miles away, I was able to spend a good five or six hours (the first night, I went to bed at 5:30am) hanging out and chatting with my friends, for the first time since January.  A nice way to spend a couple of evenings (and many more I hope).  Now, I have deliberately kept this brief but I will be tracking the story of my character ‘Fitz’ in some other posts!  Quite possibly looking at the game where I'm actually back in Scotland and playing with everyone!

Pick of the week 

The Red Box - Simple really and how could I not recommend this after talking about it?  Inside this archaic looking box is everything that you and your friends would need to start your own game.  It has tiles and tile markers for your game; multiple handbooks to cover all the rules (for both players and dungeon masters); and a handy create your own character adventure-style book.

Music of the week 

Today, I have two songs for you.  Both are completely different but they are the exact same song.  Oh yes, I'm talking about the fabled cover song (and the original song)!  Plus, in a rare occurence, both the cover and the original are both amazing.  I can only really be talking about one song: Hurt, sung by Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash.  I'll leave it up to you to guess which one is which.

Tune in next week for...I have no idea just yet but I'm sure it will come to me.  I hope.  Anyway, I'm off to finally attempt tempura.  As I am fairly clumsy, this actually terrifies me...wish me luck!  

Oh, how I hate filler material

So, another week is completed and I am pretty exhausted as I have worked on Friday evening, Saturday early afternoon and Sunday afternoon.  As such, I have to be honest and admit that I haven’t exactly had the time nor the energy to write a proper blog entry.  This really disappointed me as I have had such a good streak recently that I really didn’t want to have to stop.  However, then I realised I did have an option!  Nonsense!  Or, to be more precise, a couple of small posts I wrote on Facebook before I ever started a blog.  So, for everyone’s amusement (I am will assume laughing at me, not with me), I will post these completely unedited below.  Before I do that, I do have one announcement:

I passed!

                                                                    

Indeed, I am now a 6^th kup green below, from a 10^th kup white belt!  I’m somewhat pleased!  Not only that but I remember that the college is closed for Holi on Tuesday!  Extra day off!  Today is a good day!  Ok, with that done, it’s time for my badly written (worse than normal – Ed) articles!

Old Posts

Ok, here is the 1^st one…entitled ‘Train Station Simulator’.  I’m pretty sure I was trying to be funny here…this is the reason why I set the goal of being funny once a year.  Anything else is just a bonus and I’m not under too much pressure:

‘DO YOU LIKE FUN??? We thought not! That is why we are bringing out the train station simulation program! With over 2 different station perfectly recreated, you can enjoy the reality of a train station without leaving your computer! You can:
- Visit the shop in the station and not buy anything because you think it is stupidly expensive
- Pay 30p to use quite often dirty toilets! Yes, we recreate the dirt for that authentic feel
- Buy your train ticket, from either a machine or a person!!!
- Sit and wait for your train!!!
Buy now and you can get the train station VIP room for free!!!’

After that slightly embarrassing start, time for ‘Evolution of the Superhero’.  This was supposed to be a satirical look at superheroes and world problems.

'Well then, today I was having a cup of tea in Cumnock and was reading The Independent when I came across an article on Superman and how, in his new reincarnation, wears Jeans instead of the red underwear! Interesting but the article then went on about how the cartoon evolved e.g. how he fought the Nazis, then communists and terrorists etc. This was obviously depending on the time of writing but it got me thinking, about the future of comic books and where they would head. So I have thought about some future directions the comic book industry could take, in the context of current and future problems:

• Superman  vs Climate Change
• The Human Torch vs forest fires
• The Flash and the reduction of carbon footprints
• Aquaman vs rising sea levels
• Wonderwoman and planned parenthood programs
• X-men vs rising populations
• The Blob vs food management
• Batman teams up with Iron man to fight poverty'

The sad thing is I would probably read a couple of these…anyhow, the third is called ‘Spotify Letter’.  Obviously I was unhappy that they had limited the amount of music that you could listen to but now that has been changed!  Yay, I can pretend I actually helped!

Dear Spotify,
Spotify, you have changed. During summer, we would make a massive playlist, get a beer or two and just listen to the music and relax? Or how, when I was stressing about exams or uni work, you would always know what songs to play to calm me down? However, recently you have seemed different...cold and detached almost. Only letting me play a song 5 times? Even that I could put up with but then you betrayed me. Only 2.5 hours a week? Unforgivable! You used to be cool.

Sincerely yours,
The Spotify community
WebRepOverall rating 


Pick of the Week 

Global Knives - OK, I'm not much of a chef but I like to pretend I am.  I also like to cook a new/interesting dish at least once a week plus I do all my own cooking.  As such, I'm getting into a place where I want to invest in some cooking apparatus that I can keep for a long time.  Global knives are one such item.  Now, I admit that these knives are an investment and are quite pricey but I plan to keep these for a long time and dear god, are these knives sharp.  Made with an ice-tempered stainless steel blade, these knives will cut through most things like butter and they come in a huge range of knives, for all cooking possibilities (I will point out your fingers are one thing they cut like butter...just trust me on this one).  Currently I have two of these knives and I would highly recommend them to anyone with an interesting in cooking: they are well worth the investment!  


Music of the Week

Hmm, what kind of mood am I in this week?  Think I will take a change of pace this week and highlight seasick Steve: perhaps the coolest old man in existance!  This is his song 'Started out with Nothing'.  Enjoy

Well, I managed to stumble through another blog post this week, thanks to my backlog of previous posts.  However, my regular blog updates should start again next week!  Until then, I'm going to sit on my couch and feel that I'm a little more badass...as promised in my blog last time!

And The Results Are In?

Well, well, well, well, it’s been a long week but thankfully it’s the weekend now though!  This week I’ve been training for my Taekwondo test (which was today) and arranging a guest visit for the Earl of Sandwich himself, Lord Sandwich.  On top of this, I finally started learning Japanese (from memory):

-          Ogenke desu ka = How are you?

-          Okagesame de genke desu = Fine thanks

Ok, so maybe not impressive but I only just started!  On top of this, I’ve also started to spend more time working on Project Atoll so I'm actually pretty tired this week.  Speaking of Project Atoll, I’ve decide that I will now give a monthly update, on a separate post.  This will keep everyone updated but without saturating this entire blog with updates. 

So, as mentioned, I took my 1^st Taekwondo test today.  The test itself was split into the following four sections:

·         Kicks: where you perform each specific kick 5 times per leg.  For this test, I performed 10 different kicks

·         Punches: You perform single, double and triple punches.

·         Basic: This is punches, kicks and blocks (or combinations of the three) whilst moving in a proper stance.  Overall, I did 8 different combinations, 10 times each (turning around twice).

·         Poom-say:  This is a routine made up of multiple steps, involving kicks, punches, blocks and steps.  For the test, I did 2 different Poom-say routines.

As for the belting systems, this is made up of 11 belts (or Kups).  These are:

·         White

·         White/yellow

·         Yellow

·         Yellow/Green

·         Green

·         Green/Blue

·         Blue

·         Blue/Red

·         Red

·         Red/Black

·         Black (followed by various Dans)

Now, an interesting fact about Taekwondo testing is that if you can prove you have learned what you need to do, you can actually skip belt stages and due to this, I was aiming for a green belt (I’m currently a white belt) due to the length of time I've been training.  So, how did I actually do?  Well, ladies and gentlemen…

Find out right after a word from our sponsor!

Do you need any unwanted food or food-like items removed?  Or wanted, for that matter?  Call Ollie today.  He can eat anything you need ate!  Buy now and get a free lap-sitting.  Now then, back to the sports show.

If you are just tuning in, we are currently waiting to hear the results of Robert Basford’s controversial and intense Taekwondo test.  The judges are back…a tense hush has fallen over the crowd.  Yes, I believe this is it!  The results are in!!  ROBERT BASFORD HAS…been told that he has to wait until Wednesday before he receives his results.

Now, imagine how surprised I was when I got told that!  I had the impression that I was going to get the results then and there, like I have always done for martial art tests.  So now I get to wait nervously until Wednesday as I have no idea how I did.  I know that I messed up on a couple of areas (Damn you middle block with punch) but on the other hand, my instructor said I did well.  The real thing that has got me worried is that the examiner said everything was good but that I used power and needed more flexibility.  No idea if that was just friendly advice or whether or not it is going to be something that affects my score…

On the plus side, I did get to see my instructors club's Dojang, which was a nice bonus.  I also got to play with a proper punching bag and got taught two new back kicks (including a really interesting one where you feint with your back leg then suddenly kick with your front).  So, combine that with sharing some Nepali tea and food with my 'sabumnim' or instructor, and it was a great experience no matter what the result is.

Pick of the Week 

Soul Eater - I haven't recommended an anime in a while!  Set in a world where a somewhat camp and thoroughly entertaining death ensures a balance between life and death, the Soul Eater story follows a group of reapers and weapons (humans who can turn into weapons) as they try to protect the world from those things that go bump in the night.  However, things go south when a witch decides to try and unleash pure madness in the world.  A classic Shonen style anime, this is an action packed story with an electric story and fairly eccentric characters (Dr Stein and Death to name a few).  As it's fairly old, the animation is a little dated and some of the characters can verge a little on the annoying side but overall, it's a great and colourful watch that will keep you amused and entertained throughout. 

Music of the Week 

So, a little bit of triva about me.  The 2nd album I ever owned was Bon Jovi - Keep the Faith, given to me by my cousin Sharron and her now husband Creighton.  Since then, I've been a huge fan and have even seen him twice!  So, today's song is a Bon Jovi one and is also one of the better songs from Rock of Ages.  So I give you, Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead or Alive

So, that is it from me this week.  I will give you results when I get them and next week, I'll be discussing my first foray into the Dungeons and Dragons board game!  Until then, I'll leave you with this question.  I recently read a study showing that people who were given a litre of Olive Oil each week, lived longer.  Now, I use Olive Oil and a litre would last me months!  So, the question is:

'What did they do with it?' 

My guess is they covered themselves in it and slid down hills.  Answers on a postcard please.

The time is now!

I do believe it’s time!  The first reveal of Project Atoll artwork!  Exciting!  I was going to discuss some other things today but I think I will keep it for next week and concentrate purely on the reveal.  Before I insert the picture, and in the spirit of Mother’s Day, I would like to dedicate this to my mum.  Thank you for all the supports, advice and love you’ve given me over the years and for always being there for me.  I honestly wouldn’t be where I am today if you hadn’t nor would I have the courage to try my hand at Project Atoll, so thank you from the bottom of my heart: I hope you like the picture!  Without further ado, I give you ‘Harbourside’.

You can click to enlarge it: I had to make is smaller otherwise it didn't fit properly

Well there we go, the first piece of art work I've ever had commissioned and who knows where it will it will lead: maybe it will become a success or maybe it won't.  Only time will tell.  A massive thank you to Adtsutm for creating the picture for me.  I’ve linked his webpage on his name so if anyone else wants some work done, you can,  For me, Harbourside reprsents the fact that Project Atoll is actually evolving and taking shape, something you may not be able t see as it is a little more difficult to show you with my script (It is, I promise – Screenwriting Ed).  In fact, I’ve been working on the timeline as I’ve decided to cover 3 different characters lives in the story and I think that having a timeline for this will be useful.  By having the timeline, it means that I can see how different events in the character’s lives overlap and interact, helping to ensure that nothing is missed.  

 

Finally, you may be thinking to yourself ‘Geez, a man standing at a harbour, overlooking the sea in quiet contemplation?  Cliché much?’.  Well, the fact is that Hong Kong harbour plays a major part in Project Atoll and I wanted it to be in the first piece of art work created for it.  In fact, if you recall from a previous post, I chose Hong specially for the harbour area.  Not only this, but a major incident (if not the major incident) occurs at Hong Kong harbour so I felt it was a great setting for the picture.

Pick of the week

The Man with the Iron Fists – I’m a big fan of cheesy martial art films and ‘The Man with the Iron Fists’ does not disappoint.  Written by the RZA (of Wu-Tang Clan fame) and an obvious homage to old martial art films, this is a non-stop, balls-to-the-wall action film complete with ridiculous stunts, insane weapons and over-the-top gore.  Whilst the storyline is somewhat cliché with no particularly stand out characters, this is still a fun film to put on during a Saturday night with your friends and have a beer to.  It’s just good fun.

Music of the Week 

Well, this is an easy choice as I recently discovered a band that I liked so much, I went out and bought one of their albums straight away.  I then realised I actually had one of their albums and didn't know...thankfully it wasn't the one I bought though.  Hailing from Taiwan and incorporating a variety of unusual instruments such as the Chinese Erhu and Tibetan Bells, Chthonic caught my attention immediately.  This only grew when I researched them a little and discovered they sing about ancient history and methodology as well as highlighting tragic events that befell Tawain (to raise awareness).  Members of the band are also renowned political activists who are seeking indepedence for Taiwan (one is chairman of the Taiwanese branch of Amnesty International).  I give you Chthonic - Takao.

 

Well that's it for me.  I can't tell you how pleased I am with the concept work I just got and I hope over the next few months, I can show you more and more!  See you next week!