Wow, That's Been a While!

So much has happened since I last posted on this blog I thought it would be wise to do a quick update. 

The most significan personal development for me is that I am now married.  Actually, last Sunday saw my wife and I celebrate our first anniversary.  The wedding was an amazing experience, one that far exceeded my expectations.  We were married at Pinewood Studios on the only sunny day in a rainy week.  It is funny how focussed on things like the weather you become in the build up to a wedding.  Wedding and flowers if I recall correctly.

The wedding was followed by our honeymoon in St Lucia.  It was a beautiful place, but probably less luxurious than the Maldives in my opinion.  We had helicopter transfers though which was a brilliant experience.

Post wedding was settling down to a life of no wedding-planning.  We just enjoyed being married really.  We booked flights to Australia as my new father-in-law was unable to make it to our wedding for health reasons.

The end of the summer saw The Fat Disciples do our first gig - a set of covers at a friend's wedding.  I think The Bear described it best when he said that we were one-nil down at half time, but it finished a stunning two-one victory to the FDs.  We invited the groom up on stage to sing Live Forever (a favourite of his), this got the crowd on side.  Finishing with Killing In The Name seemed to go down better than expected as well.

The Australian trip saw me spend my first Christmas away from home.  My mum decided to have Christmas a week early at home, so we flew over for that before flying to Oz.  Our trip was amazing.  We experienced record temperatures in Sydney and had an amazingh New Year in Melbourne.  The trip made me realise that I really want to live in Australia, at least for a little while.

Since that trip we have been planning for our move.  It is proving easier said than done.  We want to keep our flat in London, so we need to save up to allow us to have money behind us in Oz.  That is alongside the fact that we are planning to take up to a year to get there.  More saving....

But plans are afoot.

Decisions

I often reflect on how lucky I am.  I have an amazing fiancée, a loving family, great friends, a good job – by all standards I am doing very well for myself.  I manage to stay happy by having few (if any) regrets.  I am happy with the choices I have made and with how my life has panned out to now.  Part of the secret to this however is that I have not been afraid to make decisions or take plunges when the opportunities have arisen.  I’ve moved all around the UK with work for example, and have experienced nothing but good things as a result. But...

I’ve been with my current employer for 10 years.  10 good years.  The job is fulfilling, I help people and I get paid well to do it.  I interview people who want to work for us and they always say they want a job that allows them to make a difference – that makes this a good place to work.  I have this feeling in my gut.  It niggles and plays at me.  It is telling me that I am fast approaching a point where a decision will need to be made, and I am beginning to realise what that decision is going to look like. 

I June I will get married.  I’ve been saving like mad for this wedding.  Before that I was saving like mad for the deposit on our flat and before that I was using every spare penny to pay off my debt.  Come July I will not be saving for anything in particular.  That will give me a sense of freedom I’ve not had before.  I’ll still be saving, but it is likely that I will be saving for what will ultimately be a move to Australia.  That, I am very much looking forward to and it is the catalyst for the decision I can feel edging my way.

I am growing incredibly tempted to take a career break and go travelling.  The idea of Rina and I slowly working our way around the globe really excites me.  It is not something I could do tomorrow or the next day (it will take a fair bit of saving) but if it is what we decide to do it will be an intoxicating goal to work towards.

That is where my head is at the moment – sitting on a beach in Thailand!

Dreadful Clarity

I am looking at the world with a dreadful clarity.  It is the horrendous unaltered vision of the thoroughly sober. I've been off the pop since the start of the year and will continue to stay dry until the end of April (give or take a week).  this is all done in the hope of shedding a few pounds before the wedding in June.

So far it is working. The beer belly is shrinking and we are only halfway through the challenge.

Fuck me...another two months of this?!

Ah well.

Got myself a PS Vita this month.  It is the new version of the Sony PSP and it is really rather wonderful.  There has been a lot of online debate about the relevance of the machine in light of the fact that smartphones provide ample collections of games.  The argument is that gamers are used to playing short bite-size puzzle games that cost 69p.  Who is going to pay £40 for a handheld game?   To me this argument misses the crucial point - playing games on your phone is shit.  Angry Birds can fuck right off and any game that tries to recreate a joypad on a touch screen simply sucks the joy from playing.

The Vita feels amazing, it looks amazing and it plays amazing.  'Nuff said.

Almost finished the final draft of the first episode of Scoundrels.  I should get that done this weekend.We will then be in a position to send it off and see what response we get.  That'll be interesting.

That's all for now.

Review Spot - The Lies of Locke Lamora

I have an addiction. I have had it for most of my life and it is not abating.  I am addicted to buying secondhand books from charity shops.

I read voraciously and, I would say, pretty quickly but I buy books at a rate that far outstrips my reading speed. This leads to a situation where a book I have picked up sits unread on my bookshelf for sometime.  There is always a book that is newer, or more exciting (or even just at the front of the shelf) that means certain tomes remain abandoned at the back of my shelf.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch has been one such book for a couple of years.  It was a bulky paperback version - you know, the ones that are somewhere between the size of a paperback and a hardback and as such not as easy to handle as a standard paperback.  I would definitely get to it, I just didn't know when.  Well I have just read it (after buying a kindle version after a recommendation from my mate Ben).  It is really rather good.

I'll start by stating the obvious - the book is a fantasy novel, but please do not let that put you off, it is as far from Dungeons and Dragons as you can hope to get and remain fantasy.  Think of it more like a heist- adventure set in a Renaissance-Venice-like city.

We follow a gang of thieves called the Gentlemen Bastards who, along with countless other gangs, make a living thieving in the canal city of Camorr. The city's underworld is led by the godfather-like Capa Barsavi who has agreed with the nobility a "Secret Peace" whereby the thieves of Camorr will not rob the nobility, rather praying on the merchants and poor of the city.  To all appearances the Gentlemen Bastards abide by this rule, whilst actually preying on the rich with complex confidence games.  The eponymous Locke Lamora leads the Gentlemen Bastards.

The book follows the adult Lamora's latest complex con alongside the arrival in Camorr of a rival for Capa Barsavi's power. Things quickly get complicated for Locke as he is dragged into the plans of both players.

I can't say much else without giving too much away, but I can say that I raced through the book and often wore a grin whilst doing so.  The story is very fast paced with some great cliffhangers and entertaining glimpses into the childhoods of the Gentlemen Bastards.

This book is number one of seven (the third of which is due out later this year) but definitely stands alone as a novel in it's own right.

I definitely recommend.

How to Feel Festive

So we're flying towards Christmas and I have officially started to feel festive.  I am the sort of person who enjoys Christmas.  I don't like the fact that it seems to start in October, but I am more than happy to fully give in to the Christmas feeling from the second week in December.

This year we had our traditional early Christmas Dinner and gift giving with Fra and Jennie.  We do this every year before we all head home for Christmas. I cooked turkey and we ate, drank and felt full rather than merry.  It's a bloody great tradition and I love it.

In addition to this probably the most festive thing we have done in the run up to Christmas has been going to see an Adults Only screening of The Muppets Christmas Carol.  It was awesome!  Mulled wine, drinking games and The Muppets - very festive.

The Bear visited Rina and I last night.  He brought me a Christmas/birthday present - Batman: Noel. It is a Batman retelling of A Christmas Carol and is beautifully drawn.  It was also very kind and unexpected.  He's a good bloke The Bear.

It is Wednesday today and the staff Christmas do is tonight.  That will be fun.  I will partake in the free beer and have my dinner and then head home before it become rowdy.  It always does - the way good Christmas dos should!

Friday sees Rina and I head home.  I can't wait.  It has been ages since I was last at home and it is brilliant to spend time with my family (that and the fact I have two nieces means I get to enjoy having kids around - which MAKES Christmas).

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and see you in 2012!

November

It seems the weather has finally realised that we are approaching winter as the days have become cold and crisp and my breath visible.

November has been relatively busy - we have finally had the wardrobe installed in our bedroom (although the bed has yet to be delivered) and i had my 36th birthday. 

No Fat Disciples in the month due to lack of finances, a bassist in Thailand and a drummer in Poland.

I went to see Nosferatu in the Prince Charles Cinema with live music by Minima. It was really, really awesome (and the cinema was packed).  The same cinema is hosting an Adults Only screening of Muppets Christmas Carol in a couple of weeks.  That I am really looking forward to.

Celtic seem to have turned a bit of a corner.  Two wins in a row, one of them spectacularly convincing whilst the Huns have dropped points two games in a row.  This season may just have some legs in it after all....

I've been getting round to the last bits of Christmas shopping.  My parents are sorted, as are my brothers and my nieces.  Just my sisters to go.  Rina and I will be paying for a coffee table that extends into a dining table as a gift to each other.... I've always wanted one of those... Saying that, I am now the proud owner of an ipad - my birthday present from Rina!

Just 5 short weeks until 2012.  2011 has been a full-on year.  I am looking forward to Christmas with my family, because after that it is just a quick 6 months to my wedding.

Holy fuck.

Ella, Ella, Ella

A couple of times during the summer I got caught in torrential rain.  This summer was like that - really sunny one minute, the sky open the next.  One evening when I got home after being soaked to the skin I decided action needed to be taken.

I decided to buy an umbrella.

We have a couple of umbrellas in the house.  Rina has a nice black one and a small red one that fits in her handbag.  I have one of those £2 ones you buy at Sports Direct.  My umbrella is awkward to carry, but also, after a couple of rainfalls it had started to come apart (what happens when you make an umbrella out of tissue I guess).

I decided to buy a nice umbrella. A strong umbrella.

I did a little research online and found that there was a make of umbrella called Fulton that were strong and well regarded.  They also did umbrellas small enough to fit in my back pack.  I bought one of those. (It cost £10, which seems a lot, but hopefully will negate the need to buy multiple £2 tissue umbrellas).

Well, that was about 2 months ago, and has it rained?  Has it fuck.  there has been flooding all over the UK, including at home, but not a drop in London. That was until this morning.

I was starting to hope it would rain to be able to break out the umbrella, watching the weather forecast each morning.  But now that it has rained, well... the umbrella did its job admirably. Thank you.  That's enough rain thanks.

I guess there is no pleasing some people.