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.
