Sep 30: No-rest

I’m afraid that today has lived up to expectation by not going to plan at all – at this point, I am still ‘at work’. Though, I am at home. Therefore, my blog entry today my simply reflect that sometimes, to play hard, you have to work hard – it’s a trade off, and in this case at least, completely worth it.

In brief news – today I got to play around in a brand spanking new Cloud environment. I am learning some basic Java Script and a shed-load about the future of IT. There was also a unique and fantastic moment where the team got to be the first to congratulate one of our members on being appointed as an IBM Master Inventor. Wow! That really is as grand as it sounds – like I may have mentioned, and in my finest Boston accent; Wikkid Smaaaaaht dese peeple! 😉

For a photo, I share one from a prior visit to Marwell Zoo, which is a conservation park in Hampshire;

Who watches the Watchmen?

 This dude was watching for the pack as they slept, doing his shift. I got more close up photo’s, but this one stood out for me as it articulated the singular role in what is a pretty large pack. He looked lonely, but certainly not unhappy. He looked me right in the eyes a couple of times whilst scanning for threats – Legend!

 I’m tired, but I need to be on the other slappy-toppy to continue my shift – let’s get’er done!

Sep 29: Row of Cake

Dem creative people at work? One of them has been at it again;

It’s a caaaaaaaake! (If you can identify that reference, I’ll be impressed)

 The owner and distributor of this magnificent creation requested that folks cut around the shapes to make the cake more realistic – I.e. Completed lines would ordinarily disappear… I must confess, I didn’t partake. I’m still enjoying fitting into trousers that I discovered fit again (Superb bi-product of Abstinence August, and like having 3 new pairs of troos!) after giving them one last comfort check before they went to Charity Shop, but I thoroughly enjoyed the creativity and ideology 🙂

 Dayum! I’m still knackered, and, New Orleans Saints dropped a heart breaker to the the Cowboys last night – D’oh! Seems to be that the defence is still gelling. There were hopes of a Superbowl outing this season, seems less likely but who knows, we’ve only lost to Falcons in our division, so we might get a run on and charge to the Championship.. Who (DAT!) knows?

 That being said, The Crop Dusters (my NFL Fantasy Team) managed another victory! Woo! I wasn’t expecting this one at all as 3 of my top 4 players were unavailable due to a bye week. Big Bad Ben put it downfield for the Steelers, T Y Hilton put some receiving yards in, but best of all – Frank “Inconvenient Truth” Gore woke up for the first time this season and put serious points on – Get in! Marcus (my opponent this week) will not be pleased, he was looking for his first win against my weakened Dusters…Nunthin’ doin’ dude!

 I have an ulterior motive for sharing. This win takes me to a small challenge achivement that I hadn’t shared with anyone, but I was really hopeful I would make it after winning the first three…

 The Crop Dusters are four wins for zero losses… In NFL parlance, that’s Four and Oh, 4-0…..40!!!

 Challenge Accomplished 🙂

Sep 28: Fat-igue

Today, I have mostly been a highly contented, completely knackered. An unusual mix I will conceded, but most certainly one of the better iterations of tiredness one can get involved in.

A lovely dinner/evening/night last night, chin-wagging until dawn. Been a while since I’ve done that, and it has resulted in my being zombified today….totally worth it 🙂

I was once again invited to join Rick and JoJo to become “Foot Long Kelway”. Obviously, one of the most truly magnificent band names EVAAHH! It was at a pub in Gossport, more specifically, Alvestoke. Now, that was the stomping ground for John and myself early in our respective careers, and it turns out, the Seahorse was the pub we never went into at the end of John’s road! Brilliant. Brought back a whole bunch of memories, most of which involved getting the Ferry across to Pompey for big nights out. There are a couple of classic journeys back that involved John insisting that “the 5 mile walk back will be invigorating and clear our heads”…Literally, we arrived with the milkman at dawn. On one of those we also convinced ourselves that a strange light in the Solent could only be a UFO – seriously, we genuinely debated it for a good 50 minutes (the time it took to walk the beach road in Alvestoke).

It wasn’t a UFO. It was a mast light for a boat an anchor. Brilliant!

The drive home was a proper dusk drive. The sky appeared so bright against the twilight of the road that I tried to capture a picture to convey it;

 Sunset over the M27.

 I’m looking forward to bedtime.

Sep 27: Fence-y

ooooooh yeah! Colours baby…

Turning…

 My neighbours grapevine is continuing it’s yearly attempt to take over wall space and gardens. I’ll need to take care of it, but I’ll hold off as long as possible because the view is pretty 🙂

 As Rick put it; Lovely Gig last night. We were loose and groovy. It’s a little odd, somehow we seem to perform better when some/one of us has had shit week/day?! Maybe we our emotions are closer to the surface, but whichever way, we had a ball last night and got stuck into some of our newer tunes – coming on nicely, particularly the cover of Sweet Carolina. Haunting lead vocal from Rick, with JoJo’s equally beautiful harmony line and Donaldo’s piano is shaping the song into a unique cover – when the Pure Drop get down to it, all that creativity can have some ‘lovely’ results.

 Creativity, Music, Performing, Messing about – Yep, I’m in the right place 🙂

Sep 26: Frustrate-on

I’ve mentioned the team at work before. One of the primary reasons I choose to work where I do is the people – a rare collection of talented, charismatic and smart people. Not everyday is a holiday, but I suppose that’s a relative statement given we are safe and warm and involved in geekery of the highest order.

Even in frustrating times, the crew have entertaining and positive ways to deal with the raised emotions that are a natural part of trying to do something that has not been done before. For instance;

There are also pictures of sheep!

 They continue to inspire and entertain in equal measure – that alone can make it all worth it 🙂

 Gig tonight, fair to say that whilst knackered, I’m looking forward to it – lets see which inversion of The Pure Drop turns up tonight, my guess is the loose and relaxed inversion given that we haven’t played together for a while….Still, I bet there’s room for a couple of stompers in there, it’s Friday night after all 😉

 Folk n’ Roll baby!

Sep 25: Season-all

I’m a massive fan of the four seasons.

Not specifically the Four Seasons of Franky Valli fame…nope.

Not specifically the Four Seasons from Vivaldi…Although…Wow!

Not specifically the Four Seasons Pizza…but, you know…Cheese Boom!

Not specifically the Four Seasons Hotel…oh no…

The Four Seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter – Big Fan! Probably because I spent some time in the desert, there are no seasons there, just ‘kin hot followed by really ‘kin hot. Fair to say after spending a few months in that situation, I got a proper cob on for some green fields and rain. Ever since, I have the deepest of respect for the weather! So much so, I can’t subscribe to the traditional British greeting of “Ugh – horrible weather today.”. I’m more want to say “Ahhh splendid – I don’t mind that rain at all dude!”. It also cleanses the eyes when surfing, easing that salt water irritation – Bonus 😉

I will inevitably talk more about snowboarding at some point, and therefore, snow, but today, the magnificent weather is Fog!

Fog can be creepy, it can offer a silence that is most affecting, it reduces range of vision, it makes so that things ‘appear’ more quickly, it lends a different perspective, it can remind us how powerful our senses are, it can be creepy… Fog has been used to build suspense in so many films, I would think because it reduces the senses and therefore makes things harder to see or hear. John Carpenter made an entire film about it.

Some mornings, wake up, foggy day – Yes!

Tuesday was one of those days;

Murky dude! Oh yeah!

 How often do you stop and acknowledge how many variations there are in the weather, sometimes in just one day? Boggles my tiny mind.

 I like Fog, the silence is beautiful.

Sep 24: Gig-a-hurtz

Oooh cor-berlimey! Me Fingers!!!

First guitar session since the clambering antics last week. I thought my fingers had recovered from the hard core exfoliation that sandstone provides, but an hours git-tar playing gave me adequate feedback to demonstrate that I need to toughen up my guitar fingers! Ouch dude! Hurty finger time!

Great session though. I ran some prep tunes as this weekend is a potential double gig weekend and I wanted to make sure I am shape to land running so to speak. I’m really looking forward to belting out some choons with JoJo, Ricardo and Donaldo. Fingers crossed there is a spot for me at the Seahorse on Sunday. I’ve never played that gig, and it’s a biker pub so I can also pretend I’m a bad ass for at least 10 seconds before some realises and sparks me out 🙂

In other news, Health Check went well today (well, I await the blood test results), and apparently, I’m in “great shape” for my age. Cool! I wasn’t expecting to be complimented, and the nurse was super efficient in only needing one shot to hit my vein for the blood test. I have a manly bruise too;

Oi! Give my blood back! It’s not yours!!

 Oooh – on the subject of bruises, my left big toe continues to go some very pretty colours. The climbing shoes kinda crushed them almost into submission last week. It’s important to have very tight shoes to ensure control, and the occasional foot jam, but the bi product is some serious pain after prolonged climbing. I’ve not climbed everyday for a week before, some good lessons learned, I might need to investigate alternate shoes, but for now, I’m enjoying observing how my bruise progresses;

Shades of purple – I am attractive! I think I’ll be keeping the nail…which is nice…

Mmmm – tired out, and is ir me, or is it getting colder?

 Winter is coming…

Sep 23: The Dude abides.

I don’t know if you are a fan, but for me, The Big Lebowski is a superb film. It’s labelled all sorts of things; Classic, Cult, Comedy, Tour de Force, Coen Brothers best… The list goes on.

I’m not a movie critic, but I do like movies, and this one in particular. Whilst perusing a back issue of Empire Magazine a few weeks ago, I noticed the the Big Lebowski screening, which piqued my interest as I hadn’t seen it at the cinema before.

I haven’t seen it at the cinema yet, but I have seen it at a bowling alley!! Yep! Awesomeness!!!

The Dude, Duder, El Duderino…

 We also got to bowl afterwards. I got some splendid advice on my technique, apparently; More leg – it’s the way forward!

 In other news; I will be doing my impression of a Glove Puppet tomorrow, it’s time for an NHS medical. I’m actually not sure what that means, but it’s probably not a bad thing. Unless… Unless they are going to use my DNA for cloning?!! That would be weird.

 I’ll ask for my blood back when they have finished with it.

 Now, where’s my rug?

Sep 22: Sleep-less

Ugh – 6 nights without a full nights sleep. Early night tonight, gotta be worth a shot!

In other news, busy day back in Le Office (that’s French), and so far this evening I have managed to mostly realise it’s getting a little chillier in the evenings. That means winter is on the way. I’m a big fan of the seasons, particularly the shift in the UK from balmy warm summers through to bitter, wet, winters. It’s all a journey, and amongst other brilliant things about Autumn, the colours on the trees are bonkers! I’ll likely be searching for the occasional photo opportunity, but perhaps more significantly, I’m looking into having pets around the place. Not just the 8-legged Army, but of the four legged variety. Ideally, Dog shaped…and Cat shaped… It’s just a question of which one first really. Careful selection is required, and I’m going to have a chat with the German Shepherd rehome/rescue folks to start the process off.

Anyways, I digress… I was talking photo ops. Actually, it’s not a digression, having a Doge provides significant opportunity to get out and about looking at interesting things. I would definitely like that reason to go for a walk. I’m not want to walk without company or purpose…you can begin to see why a four legged companion would be awesome…

I do borrow dogs for walks whenever possible, and if I take a camera, I invariably end up with a couple of nice shots. Take this one from a while ago;

Flow.

 Longer exposure on moving water can create some haunting and beautiful imagery. I’m still experimenting, but I’m beginning to see results that match what’s in my head. If I were to take the same shot today I’d be more careful with the framing and balance and use a tripod, but ultimately the character of the water is the personality, particularly the movement – to me, it’s ethereal.

 Nature is beautiful.

Sep 21: Climb-able

Taking physical stock.

Status = Functional, with increased strength and core balance.

That’s with the inevitable list of tweaks, strains and aches. Not ‘kin bad at all! Not at all 🙂

It’s beginning to sink in now, and I’m delighted with the 40@40@Font completion. Right up until the morning, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. We hadn’t been to the Rocher de Potets before, so had no idea what the climbs were like. I didn’t sleep properly the night before (I never do before big events), but that made me frosty and motivated to get it on!

The first few climbs were good starters, the first one in particular which was a smeary (climbing term for foot positioning relying on friction against the rock for grip) and slopey (as with ‘smeary’, but for hands!), and around 3.5 meters high. Actually ideal as it got me right into a good frame of mind. I also got to pick off an extra climb at number 5 which had an additional traverse route. That felt like I’d sneaked in front somehow. The rest of the climbs progressed, and I really started to enjoy some of the moves. There are particularly memorable routes for different reasons. A couple that flowed without thinking, a couple of really glassy nightmares that had tiny crimps for hands, and barely even a smear for feet, and one climb in particular that literally required shoving and scraping my way up it!

As the finish rolled around, the temperature was taking it’s toll a little bit, and whilst my body felt tired and abused, it didn’t feel like it was about to fail. It was only really with 3 or 4 climbs remaining that I started to flake a little, and required a little bit longer between routes to recover. Lots of shaking of hands and massaging the now ‘aching like bastard’ shoulder. Still felt OK though.

The final climb was a 2.5 metre slab. The previous climb was situated on the same boulder, and was fairly straight forward, if a little tricky as the start. Most of the problems in this area were fine once you worked out how to get off the floor! The final climb itself was a bit of a thuggy high step, followed by a push-me-pull-me finish. I confess, I was not elegant and went for the full thuggy shove after bellying out for the final move – made it though;

Awwwww yissss!

 Once complete though – the fatigue kicked in and a collapsed into a bit of a heap for 30 mins in the shade. I followed Anna and Tony as they did a few Orange circuit routes, and generally tried to remain upright to avoid a stupor!!

Great feeling – I wonder what the next climbing challenge will be? The BAMtastic Duo have another week off this week, likely to pursue a trad E1 route at Froggat I think – awesome! After the total bonus 6a at Font, I’m setting a target to lead a ‘Severe’ route next.

 

October’s challenge will be very different indeed, and I’ll leave explanation of that for next month. For now, I’m going to enjoy closure on this one;

And that’s the end of that 🙂