I'm getting old, my hearing's going and my arms hurt...

Well met,

And I ain't kidding. With two hours of rock-climbing on Sunday (some of it upside down) and two hours of Wing Chun (a relatively arm-intensive form of kung fu) last night, they are aching, and with the drilling of various blocking techniques we did I also have a couple of impressive bruises on my forearms. But enough bitching - for the moment - and on to the post.

My birthday - which I have mentioned before, I think - was last Tuesday. In fact, I have now been 26 for 6 days, 23 hours and 25 minutes. A big THANK YOU to all who wished me a happy birthday either verbally, with a card or in that best of ways, with a present. I got a great mix of things this year, and there was a certain theme running with many of my gifts.

My folks got me a 5 ltr slow cooker (which I have used twice and is awesome), my bro got me a deep fryer (which I'm thinking I'll use on Sunday), my beloved Carmen got me a chef's blowtorch (but no butane to put in it, does she not trust me?), the Jar-man got me a jar of this cool, Italian, pre-minced chilli and eggplant thing (that went very well in my chicken casserole, Jar) and another friend got me a knife block so I no longer have to pull out my knife roll every time I want to use my knives. So, do you think people believe I'm something of a foodie?

I also got an excellent collection of old-school video games for the XBox from Sam IV, including Gauntlet ("Elf shot the food!"), Joust and Paperboy, a couple of DVDs from Carmen's folks and bro (just check out 'things I've watched') and a bunch of other stuff of coolness. Thanks all!!

In addition, I got another great present, a second academic wind. For those who don't know, this year marks the 2nd in my pursuit of a creative Masters thesis. Last year, around the end of the semester, I gave my initial seminar and the response was... not what I would've hoped. What followed was a few months of self-doubt and over-thinking the academic side of my project (an analysis of the hero, and looking at the notion of anti- and post-heroes, if ye must know. The creative beit will have zombies in it. :) ), but last Tuesday (my birthday, remember) I met with my supervisor and I don't think I'm in as bad a position as I thought, so yay me! Of course, I do have to have another 38000 words written by the end of May, but that shouldnae be too hard.

Speaking of which, I should probably sign off and get on with it...

Four things I've learned recently;

1. The first time you recognise a specific move in a martial arts film (rather than just 'a kick', 'a punch') is pretty cool.


2. Not every film from your childhood stands up to repeated viewing.


3. But some do.


4. I do not look good in hot pink, Hawaiian print short-shorts.

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"Son of a bitch must pay."
- Jack Burton, Big Trouble In Little China