What a year!

2016... Has been an absolutely amazing year for me with the exception of Joseph being diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. It has been a very busy year with lots of highlights and rather than make a long boring post that nobody read I am just going to bullet point all the memorable stuff that has happened and post memorable photos..

• Took Joseph to go an see Slipknot and he loved them
• My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Zachary.
• Joseph wins 1st place in Chuldow championships for Karate point stop
• I win 1st place in Karate point stop and 3rd place in kick boxing continuous at Chuldow Championships
• My cousin, Jose Louis from Spain comes to visit.
• We go to the beautiful country of Cuba for a two week holiday.
• Julie takes up Karate and gets to green belt
• Joseph and I get our yellow belts in Kick Boxing.
• I get my brown belt in Karate
• Joseph gets his black belt in Karate
• I got a new guitar
• I started playing Dungeon World again
• My friend Anthony got married.
• I am awarded Rothwell's student of the year at the end of year Chuldow presentations/Christmas party.
• My wife wins me a CIT (Certified Instructor Training) Course for 2017.

Joseph gets his black belt

After a lot of uncertainty Joseph managed to get his black belt in karate last weekend.
As you may have read in my previous post he was diagnosed in the summer with JIA (Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis) and spent many weeks unable to walk properly and then when the medication kicked in building up the muscle in his legs again.
In October his joints were in injected with steroids and after only a couple of days he had full mobility again and off medication, this wonderful treatment meant he was fit and able enough to take his black belt grading.
To say i am incredibly proud of him is an understatement, not just because he has achieved so much in his martial arts but because of the obstacles and personal demons he has had to overcome to get there.

A long overdue post

Dear Blog, apologies for taking so long to write a post. A combination of laziness, business and lack of time have all played their part.

Since my last post I have managed to gently persuade and encourage my wife to take up karate not only for the health benefits but all so we have a shared interest and have something we can do together. She began training about 4 months ago and has successfully attained a yellow belt. We took our grading together which was nice and though I struggled with my own grading I managed to get through it and get my purple belt though I suspect I was very close to not passing the grading as I struggled to remember the kata. Julie on the other hand was fantastic and flew through Tokyoko and Pinan Nidan.

We have also been on holiday and went to Cuba for two weeks which was absolutely amazing and by far the most beautiful country I have visited. It was even nicer than the Dominican Republic which we visited last year. The people in cuba are so terribly humble, friendly and bend over backwards to make you feel welcome. We stayed at the hotel Playa Pesquero, a huge complex with its own beach in the Holguin province. The food and drink was fantastic with plenty of variety in the form of both freshly cooked while you wait to buffet style and every cocktail you could expect from a carrbean country was on offer. Also due to Cuban law the hotel also had its own 24 hour doctor and pharmacy which we found useful at the end of our holiday.

We partook in two excursions. The first been a trip on a catamaran to some pristine coral reefs to snorkel for an hour or so before heading back. the coral whilst nice was not really worth the trip or expense as we had seen coral reefs just as nice without need to sail out.

Our second trip out was and excursions called Holguins green trail. this excursion was fundamentally intended to allow visitors to visit local villages, plantations and factories to see how real Cubans lived. This trip was fantastic and made me realise not just how much we take for granted but also how much capitalism and relentless need for the next hot gadget has ruined our society and morals.

If anybody reading this ever gets chance to visit Cuba, do so but do it in the next five years because once America gets its foot in the door this country will not be the same.

Our holiday took a horrible turn on the second to last day when Joseph began complaining of his knee hurting. Naturally we believed he must have hurt is while messing about in the pool so gave him Ibuprofen. however that evening he woke up in bed in agony, more Ibuprofen and painkillers were given and the next day we went to the doctors. The doctor however was out on call and we were told to go back in he afternoon. Joseph seemed better and was limping slightly. He wanted to go to the pool as he had met a girl and thinking that been in water would take pressure off his leg we decided to let him go. He had seemed fine until he told us he wanted to go back to the apartment because he was feeling hot. he got out of the pool barely able to walk and I had to support most of his weight. Whilst walking back to the apartment he said he felt weird and collapsed in my arms.

He had passed out, It was terribly frightening. our first thoughts was he had sun stroke so we got him back as quickly as we could and tried to cool him down and phoned for the doctor. 

We noticed his knee had swollen up and the doctor said he had an infection and gave us antibiotics and paracetamol to give him. We were due to to fly back the next day and had to get a safe to fly certificate from the doctor the following morning which we got.

When we landed in the UK we went straight to our local hospital where Joseph spent 4 days and nights and was diagnosed with reactive Arthritis possibly brought on by a throat infection before we went on on holiday. Joseph still has this form of arthritis which can last up to 6 months, he has good day, bad days and days when he is so fed up of the pain and not been able to walk properly that he burst into tears. I am however incredibly proud of how he has handled his illness and the bravery he showed in hospital. I am incredibly grateful to the doctor in Cuba who put our minds at ease and enabled Joseph to be fit enough to fly home.

Brexit

I have tried writing a post 4 times in the past week regarding my countries EU referendum. I toiled and agonised for weeks searching every fibre of my soul trying to decide which way to vote. It was never a case of what I wanted but the type of future I wanted to leave for my son. In the end I voted to for Britain to remain in the EU.
I wanted my son to grow up in country that does not run away from problems but tries to work them out. I wanted the country to show him that when the going gets tough you don't just run away but instead you work hard to put things right.
As you can imagine I was disappointed to say the least when I woke Friday morning to learn that the UK had chose to leave the EU. I cannot say I was in the least bit surprised however. The remain campaign debated terribly in my opinion, choosing to use fear tactics to try and persuade voters rather than stating all the positive things that the EU has brought to the UK.
It feels almost like a victory for the far right fascists in this country even though I know for the majority of Brexit voters they voted for tighter boarder controls and sovereignty which I can identify with. I just worry that all the fascists in the country hide amongst Brexit masses ready to pounce and make Britain more secular.

I fear of what is to come, I love this country. I feel like the Brexit voters have been duped with empty promises. Already Nigel Farage has said the 350 million we spend in the EU will not be put back into the NHS despite this being a major argument for the Brexit campaign. Scotland is once again thinking of breaking away from the UK, Boris Johnson looks like he has just realised the shit has hit the fan and there is nowhere left to hide.

It is what it is however. Everybody including myself has to accept what has happened and pull together to forge the type of country we want to have. we have a choice, we can wallow in self pity, point fingers and carry on falling out with or family, friends and neighbours or we can pull together and decide as a country how to move forward.
We are lucky to live in a country where we have freedom of speech and democracy, whilst tempers may flair we should respect each others views otherwise we are no better than the dictatorships we claim to detest.

My New Guitar

I have had my new guitar for a couple of weeks now so feel now is time to report on it. I could video myself playing it like Slash but I am just not that good. I will do, I just haven't got round to videoing yet. My Schecter Damien Elite 6 arrived in perfect condition and the finish in just stunning.
I bought this guitar so that I may play in Drop D tuning when the mood arises without having to faff about with my Floyd Rose guitar. I have yet to go in to Drop D... That figures!

The guitar sounds amazing playing both clean bright to dark grunting groans. This is the first time I have played a guitar with active pick ups and I have to say I like them a lot. Because I am no guitar genius I like the simplicity in this guitar. It has no coil tap and has a single tone and volume control. my other guitar has a coil tap, two tone controls and a volume control to contend with which I found confusing at times.

I love the strings been strung through the body, not only does it look good but I occasionally like to pick the strings before the bridge just to listen to the ultra bright chimes they sing out.

The neck however not quiet as nice as on my other guitar, it isn't quiet as fast and it is a little thicker. It isn't that it is harder to play or uncomfortable, it just feels different. I am however noticing the more I play it the less I notice this difference.

I am hoping to get some serious practise put in this weekend, focusing on scales, chords and perhaps try to learn a new song as well as practising some old ones. Hopefully after my holidays in August I will resume guitar lessons, I am beginning to feel less burnt out and ready for some more knowledge!

Karate Gradings

I would have updated this yesterday but yesterday was a long day and by the time we got home from karate gradings I was far too tired to turn the laptop on let alone turn it on.
My grading took place in the morning and I didn't feel too bad considering how hard I found the kick boxing gradings. However I found the karate gradings more difficult by a long way, both physically and mentally. I managed to make a a few mistakes during the grading but nothing too serious and gained my blue belt.

Josephs grading looked absolutely brutal, 3 hours of kata. combinations and techniques, running and physical exorcise. This was the same grading every black belt has to take including adults and i can genuinely say I felt tired just watching them. Words cannot express how proud I am that he got through the grading, I would still have been proud even if he didn't go up a belt. Hopefully he will have his black belt before Christmas all being well.

Yellow belts - Kicboxing

My son and I both attended the kickboxing graduations for our yellows belts today. We have been training for a good few months now and find the training far more intense than karate. Whereas karate tends to focus more on technique, kickboxing seems to be more about fitness.
I found today's graduation particularly difficult, indeed at one point I began to feel a little sick. The graduations began with 30 sets of press ups, sit ups and star jumps followed by a 30 second sprint. This was proceed by another 15 sets of each exorcise before going straight into 10 minutes of combinations of kicks and punches with reps of press ups and sit up in between.
By now I was sweating like a pig on its way to slaughter and so was relieved when we were moved to the punch bags, however there was no let up in the intensity of the graduation and were constantly being encouraged to push ourselves.
Skipping for 5 minutes proceeded the bag work followed by 3 rounds of sparring with different partners. My second sparring partner happened to be my son and once again he managed to almost break my big toe with one of his blocks. Its still hurts now as I am writing this.
Thankfully my third sparring partner wasn't too aggressive so I was able to use my weaker leg for kicks. At the end of the sparring we were treated to yet more sit ups, press ups, mountain climbers and sprinting. Despite my best efforts my legs refused to sprint, a slightly quickened jog was all they could manage. Thankfully this was the end of the graduation and we both were awarded with our yellow belts. Tomorrow is our karate graduations, Joseph if hoping to get his Pre-Dan and I will be aiming for my blue belt, I just hope I have the energy left to get though it and that my big toe does not give me too much hassle.

New Guitar Ordered

Today I took the plunge after many weeks of thought and bought myself a new guitar. I love my current guitar which is a Schecter Omen Extreme 6 with a Floyd Rose bridge. It has been a joy to play but buying the guitar with a Floyd Rose was a mistake. Don't get me wrong, it has been fun messing about with it but to be frank I hardly ever use the tremolo system. This in itself isn't a huge issue but having a Floyd Rose bridge means I have never tried different tunings on the guitar as it would be too much messing about.

With all the above in mind I have chosen to buy myself a nice hard tail guitar, the bigger and more

versatile brother to my current guitar. I have decided get myself the Schecter Damien Elite 6 which is not only stunning in looks but offers much more versatility in its tones.
It is fitted with active EMG pick ups which I do actually like the sound of after watching many YouTube reviews and have no issue with them not been passive.

The guitar I currently use will be sadly sold as I just cannot afford the space to keep it which is a shame as I have truly loved playing it. Hopefully it will find an owner that will make use of its Floyd Rose bridge and play it better than I ever could.

The Chuldow Championships 2016

Today can and went much faster than I expected. I didn't sleep too well last night, a mixture of nerves

and anxiousness took a while to abate. The Chuldow Championships was a fantastic event and was extremely well organised. Every instructor and volunteer that made the event happen should be proud of what they have a achieved today, a well organised competition with an amazing atmosphere.

I am pleased to say both my son and I came first place in the karate point stop fights and I even managed to pick up 3rd place in the kick boxing competition. I would like to thank all the instructors at Chuldow Rothwell for all the support and training they have given my son and I. I would also like to thank students from the club that came to show their support even though they were not competing themselves, what a great club!

Anyway, below are some of the fights my son and I took part in. To avoid any confusion I am in the shorts with white shinguards.


This is my first Karate fight, the guy was incredibly strong, one of his kicks winded me, I think will spot the kick as it makes me stumble back slightly.

This was my final fight against a lad I train with every week, Anthony Firth, This fight went well for me gave me 1st place in the championship.

Joseph's Karate final. So proud of my son, He overcame his fear and won every fight with the maximum number of points possible. I look to dominate each of his fights with simple tactics and earned himself a well deserved 1st place.

Okay so the fights that I was most anxious about, kickboxing continuous sparring. This was my first fight which went pretty well. I felt bad for the lad as he seemed nervous and I somehow knocked him down or he tripped.

My second Kick Boxing fight seemed a much better match as the lad seemed much more confident. I actually though at the time that I won this fight but the decision went against me,

Championships tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day for my Martial Arts club as it will be championships day held at Lightwaves in Wakefield. I have entered myself in for Karate point stop sparring and Kick Boxing continuous sparring. I am not a competitive person however I do enjoy sparring.
My only experience of competition in martial arts is when the club held a mini tournament last year and I managed to come first in the Karate Point stop sparring. This however was just a taster and I am told that the championships is a much larger event with many more competitors.
I am incredibly nervous, not of getting hurt but of my fitness levels and adrenaline getting the better of me, last years mini tournament almost killed me. I struggled for breath after each fight but I am hoping this wont be an issue this year as I should be much fitter than I was back then.
This will however be the first time I have fought competitively in a kick boxing event, I almost didn't sign up to the event due to nerves but deep inside I knew I would regret it tomorrow if I let the opportunity pass me by. I am 39 years old now and I imagine I don't have many more years left whereby I am going to be able to to fight competitively.
My son has also entered the karate point stop event as he too was quiet successful in last years mini and managed to come 3rd.
I will be taking my phone tomorrow with me so my wife can video the fights, I will post again either tomorrow of later on in the week with an update.

Photos are from last years mini tournament.

Supercell

So last night I received a phone call from my brother in law to inform me that Supercell, a local tribute band were playing at our favourite pub The Lion in Castleford. I had seen Supercell once before and was impressed the first time around. I ensured that this time I took my phone to take some video footage of this awesome trio. Hope you enjoy this video of them playing Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix.

Ironman

I thought that since my wife was working late tonight I would take advantage of the quiet house and play a little guitar. Not having to worry about progression since I am taking a break from formal tuition I thought I would go back to Ironman. I love this Black Sabbath song. I can honestly say that I think this was the first heavy metal song that I was introduced to. I think it was a cartoon called Ironman in the early 1980's and he went on a rampage killing people to Black Sabbaths anthem. I remember asking my mum why he was killing people and she told me to listen to the words of the song again and then explained that he had helped the people and then they had been nasty to him.

I have looked on you tube to try and find this video but I cannot see it.

Anyway, this still remains one of my favourite songs and is probably the reason why i chose to practise it tonight. I hope one day to be able to play it in full and without making any mistakes but I fear I am a long way off this yet. 

My Addiction

Since the age of 14 I have enjoyed a love/hate relationship with my smoking addiction. To the young reader you may be excused for regarding me as dumb or reckless. But, before passing judgement please try to consider that I was brought in a time when it was quite acceptable to smoke, my mum and dad smoked, my older sister smoked, it was quiet acceptable to smoke on buses, in shops, pubs, restaurants and in the workplace. Of course I was always advised by my parents that smoking was bad, unhealthy and cost a lot of money but how hypocritical of them I thought. When I began high school many of my friends began to smoke and of course my childhood heroes, Guns n Roses were always pictured looking cool and with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, who could blame me for starting to smoke?

It was only a few years ago that my on/off relationship with my habit began. truth be told I have never found it too difficult to stop in the short term, I have stopped for up to a year at a time with only the occasional smoke in between. I came to learn that if I was going out for a cheeky pint or two to always buy 10 cigarettes beforehand. I have also found that stress at work is responsible for me taking cigarettes from co-workers occasionally.

Though I do not smoke often these days, probably between 5 and 10 per week and that is on a bad week, I have found that these occasional smokes make a huge difference in my ability to train in Karate and Kickboxing. A bad week of smoking leaves me breathless during training sessions, far more than I ever thought it would.

With all of the above in mind, today I bought myself a vape box to stop me buying cigarettes when I get the occasional urge. Whilst I do enjoy a cigarette, I would be lying if I said I didn't, I do not like the effect it now has on my health and more importantly I don't like having to explain my addiction to my son when he does occasionally see me with a cigarette. I have tried to hide my habit from him but that has not stopped him occasionally seeing me a smoke or smell it on me.

Guitar burn out?

So as of now I am no longer taking guitar lessons, I emailed my tutor to let him know I needed to take a break for a while. I guess this will come as a surprise if you have only just read my previous post. Don't get me wrong I still love playing guitar and this is not about to change any time soon but I found that the pressure I put on myself to improve and practice what was being taught during a lesson was making me not want to pick my guitar up. I just need a break from constructive learning and recharge my batteries I think.
I do fully intend to take lessons again but I need to get myself to the stage whereby I am willing to practice what is begin taught otherwise I may as well just set fire to the £25 I pay for each lesson.

Guitar

On top of everything else I am doing to keep myself busy and free from boredom I am also learning to play guitar. I have been taking lessons twice per month for the last year and began as a complete beginner not knowing anything about scales or chords.
I have loved music since around the age of 12 but never took the subject in school as I found the lessons dull and who wants to learn to play the recorder anyway?
The decision not to take the subject I deeply regret as I am now having to learn everything thing from scratch which can be a little frustrating at times.
I love playing even though I totally suck and it is on my bucket list to become proficient enough to play on stage one day at my local pub.
I like to play mainly rock music and a little blues from time to time. I mainly try to play Black Sabbath songs as I don't find them too fast. I get the most enjoyment however from finding a nice rock backing track and just improvising along with it. I find it soothing and kind of lose myself in the music when improvising.
Anyway, below is a video of me playing along to a rock themed grade 3 guitar track called Fallout, hope you enjoy.

DungeonWorld

Been a while since my last post so thought an update was in order.
I have recently just signed myself up for a play by mail game called Dungeonworld. I used to play this game many years ago for about 5 years but quit due to money issues and lack of time.
Play by mail games were big before the internet as they allowed gamers to play the same game even if they were hundreds of miles apart.
Dungeonworld is set in a fantasy world called Bereny which is ruled by a king and under constant threat from evil monsters. As a player you take control of a single or multiple characters who adventure deep into various dangerous dungeons in search of gold and treasures. It is also possible to play as the Baron or Lord of an estate with its own castle and land and the gameplay revolves around keeping the estate both profitable and safe from those who would wish to steal from or attack it.
Dungeonworld can be played completely for free and I fully recommend giving it a try. It can be a little confusing at first but after your first few turns it gets progressively easier and very enjoyable.
If you fancy giving it a try then please visit the website HERE.

Karate & Kickboxing Graduations

 I spent this weekend graduating for my martial arts which was a tiring affair to say the least. I got into martial arts 6 months ago, I needed a way to keep fit and going to the gym to work out just isn't my kind of thing. I had been taking my son to karate classes for the last 2 years so it just seemed natural that I join him on the mats and kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I have been doing karate for 6 months and kick boxing for about 8 weeks.

I am a green belt in karate, working towards my blue. For the graduation I needed to complete my Pinan Yodan kata as well as all my previous katas and various techniques and combinations. Despite being nervous and making a couple of mistakes I still managed to get a blue stripe for my green belt, I just need to learn Pinan Godan now and that should earn me a blue belt next time I graduate.

My kick boxing graduation was far more physically intensive, in fact at one point I thought I was going to collapse. It was my first graduation for kick boxing and have to say as tiring as I found it, it was fun. It was non stop exercise for 30 minutes which included running, push ups, sit ups, skipping, techniques and combinations, bag work and sparring. I cant wait for the next graduation!

Mrs Bigglesworth

Meet Mrs Bigglesworth. She is my Brazilian White Knee Tarantula. I bought her from a reptile rescue centre just under a year ago. My friend, Dan Davis was the manager of the shop at the time lured me into handling her.
Brazilian White Knees have a reputation for being on the aggressive side as far as Tarantulas are concerned, indeed they can even be downright psychotic!
But Mrs Bigglesworth was the largest and most chilled out spider I ever held and I told Dan that I had to have her.
I have had Mrs Bigglesworth for 6 months now and despite her fasting for a couple of months not long after I got her she now has a ferocious appetite. Handling her however is now a little hit and miss, Dan tells me I have broken her lol. Usually she is okay buy occasionally she will spin around and turn on me and rear up when I go to pick her up. Oddly I am not overly fond of spiders, house spiders creep me out big time. In fact before I held a tarantula I was terrified of all spiders to the point whereby if I noticed one in the bedroom my wife would have to remove it from the room for me.
I would highly recommend anyone thinking about a pet tarantula to just go and get one. They are easy to care for and require nothing but food, water and warmth. Whilst they aren't really a pet for handling, some will tolerate it and some won't, it's just pot luck. They are fascinating to watch, especially at feeding time and cheap to buy and look after.

About Me

Hi and welcome to my first post.
I have created a few blogs in the past but always found keeping up with them a bit of a chore. This has usually come down to the fact that they have generally been about a single interest of mine be it, guitar, reptiles or ecological issues and I tend to run out of content to write about.
By creating a blog for all my interests i hope to be able to post on a more regular basis and manage my posts more effectively.

About me.

I am a typical 39 years old bloke with a wife and child. I settled down rather early in my life and I am now at a stage in my life where I want to do more and catch up on the things I missed out on when I was younger.
I have a love for exotic pets, I have kept reptiles since I was 11 years old. I have always been fascinated by how they move, eat and will tolerate us. My favourite aspect of keeping reptiles is creating and maintaining a habitat for them to thrive in. The photograph you can see to the left is a habitat I created for my wife's Crest Gecko. The habitat consists both live and fake plants, Bamboo, Jungle Vines and a clean up crew made up of springtails and tropical woodlice.
This is what is known as a Bio-active set up. In short, everything pretty much takes care of itself with minimal fuss.
As well as a crested Gecko, we also keep a 7ft (and still growing) Boa Constrictor, a Royal Python, a Mexican red knew tarantula, a giant Brazilian white knee tarantula as well as a dog, a guinea pig and rabbit.
As you can imagine we spend quiet a lot of money feeding and keeping our pets but they are worth it in our eyes.

Another of my interests is learning guitar. I have always loved music and in my younger years always wanted to learn guitar but I never had the time or money to really take the plunge and learn. Last year I decided to book my first guitar lesson and I have not looked back since.
My favourite genres are rock and metal but I do enjoy to occasionally play blues. My guitar is very important to me, when I play I somehow lose myself and any stress or problems melt away for a short time. I find it very therapeutic.

I also enjoy playing board games, not the usual run of the mill board games like Monopoly but the European variety such as Settlers of Catan, 7 wonders, Pandemic and Carcassonne. I think in a world where technology is running away with itself and people are addicted to their games consoles, computers and phones there is a lot to be said for the humble board game and sitting around a table friends and a few beers and having a laugh.

Finally I have recently started learning martial arts after being inspired by what it has done for my sons fitness and confidence. I began learning karate (Wado Ryu Style) just over 6 months ago and am now a green belt. Since childhood I always loved martial arts films but was always too self conscious to step into a dojo to learn. I was always too afraid of what other may think, stupid I know. I am now at an age however where I don't give a shit what others think of me. Because I have enjoyed Karate so much I have also enrolled in kick boxing classes and I have never felt fitter. It is my hope to one day step in the ring and fight just for the experience more than anything else. I have already come first in a small karate tournament but to fight in a ring would be an amazing experience to look back on.

In a nutshell these are my main hobbies and what I imagine the majority of this blogs posts will consist of.