Food, Glorious Food...

I love food.
It's no secret - hell, my profile picture on blogger.com is a jar of marmite.
I know I'm a chunky brother - too chunky in fact, which is why I'm on a bit of a health kick at the moment. Strict diet, loads of exercise and most importantly no beer... It hurts.

But is it any wonder we're a bunch of fatties?
Maybe it's just because I'm denying myself anything that tastes good at the moment, but I'm sure there's a conspiracy out there to bombard us with as much food propaganda as possible and fatten us up for an impending apocalypse.
Since I've cut out the tasty treats, it seems that everywhere I turn there's a picture of something chocolatey, cheesy or chunky. The TV is full of it, screaming for me to indulge in a Mr-T endorsed chocolate bar or ex-footballer's favourite crisps. And all the billboards all the way home are at it too - larger than life posters of pizzas and burgers are severely testing my usually feeble willpower...

But I'm being good, and hopefully will reap the reward - a slimmer and trimmer version of my fine self will soon reappear.

For now, I'm off to watch the cooking channel - it's like foodie porn.

Long time no write...

I doubt anyone would really have noticed, but it's been almost 2 weeks since my last rambling (partly due to a rubbish broken PC, but mostly down to my own laziness) so I thought I'd better get back to the keyboard before I forgot my login details...

Not a great deal has happened in the last couple of weeks to be honest, but I've managed to make start on another of the items on my 'List' - teaching myself to play the guitar. I made another trip into the loft, dug out my old (but unused) acoustic guitar and watched a couple of beginner videos online. So far I've only performed some drills to practice plucking and improve my left hand co-ordination, but it's a start! And I've learned my first little bit of recognisable music - the old guitar staple of Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.
Watch out Eric Clapton, here I come...

I've also added a new item to the list - I'd love to take a course in Digital Photography.
I'm not sure when my interest in photography started - probably when I bought my current camera two years ago before my last skiing trip - but I think I've always had a bit of an un-nurtured artistic side. I love composing and taking photos, and I'm always uploading new photos to my Facebook and Flickr accounts, but I really wish I could get out there on more dedicated photo trips and take more pictures.
Hopefully if I go on a proper course and learn the ins and outs of using my camera and preparing and composing good shots, I'll be more inspired to get out there and capture some great pictures.

While I'm on the topic though, here are a couple of photographs I've taken recently:

This one is from last week, my mom came down from Norfolk for a brief visit and we spent a day at Hampton Court Palace admiring the gardens:


















These are from a day trip to Brighton for a work away day last week:

































And this last one is from my last trip to Norfolk a couple of months ago:


















I'm always keen to learn, so feel free to let me know what you think, and offer any constructive criticism.

Anyhoo, I'd best get myself off to bed, I've got a tough week ahead - I've agreed to let two crazy fitness-freak girls at work whip me into shape before my skiing trip in December.
Maybe I have a penchant for letting fit women boss me around.
I guess I'm just a sucker for punishment... :)

Foux da fa fa

It's been a few days now since I made my list of 'Things to Do Before I Turn 40/60/80/Die", and I realised today that I haven't really made any sort of attempt to start any of them...

So I thought I'd start at the top of the list and try a little French. Unfortunately it turns out my attention span isn't quite what it used to be, because I didn't get very far before my mind started to wander back to a great clip I'd seen ages ago by the awesome Flight of the Conchords, where they try to speak French to impress some girls. I'm not sure their pulling technique worked, but I have to say I think I prefer their version of French to the real thing.
Baguette, Soup du jour, Camembert, Bureau de Change, Discotheque and Jacques Cousteau - this is French I could work with.
And don't forget the Foux Da Fa Fa's.

Seriously though, I did manage to learn a thing or two.
I can now count to 10 in French successfully(ish), and also know how to greet someone in basic French. It's a start!
Now I just need to find some unsuspecting Frenchie upon whom I can unleash my new found knowledge...

PS: If any of you are unfamiliar with Flight of the Conchords, do yourself a favour and watch some of their stuff on YouTube, it's genius.
My favourite -
It's Business Time.

"Stuff"

It's a pretty broad term, but I like the word 'Stuff'. It encompasses a load of interesting ideas.

Good Stuff.
The Stuff dreams are made of.
Stuff your face (preferably with a Stuffed crust pizza).
Stuff off.
Get Stuffed.

But the 'Stuff' that's on my mind at the moment is 'My Stuff'.

We're planning to move home in the next month or two, so we've decided to be pro-active and start packing early. And that means climbing up into the dusty, creepy loft and digging out all the old boxes and suitcases which have been tossed up there in the last couple of years, to start going through 'My Stuff'. Vast amounts of it.
It shocks me every time I poke my head into the loft to see just how much 'Stuff' I've managed to accumulate in just a few short years. I think I may be a hoarder.

I'd like to think that some of it is quite important Stuff, but the sad truth is that the huge majority is just sentimental old crap that I can't bring myself to throw away.
Old birthday cards (even the occasional rare Valentine's Day card), letters from old school friends, drawings, souvenirs, trophies and medals (mostly home made), and loads of awful photographs.
And a great set of stress balls in the shape of boobies. With nipples and everything.

But I've promised myself that this time I'll be brutal, so it's got to be a case of out with the old and in with the new. All the old tat has sadly got to go...

Even the squeezy boobies. :(

Voluntary Beatings

Somehow in the last 24hrs I've gone from being blissfully inactive and relatively sport free - other than the obligatory Sofa Olympics mainstays of Popcorn Tossing and Lager Lifting - to voluntarily offering up my body to be trampled and crushed by fellow man-mountains.
Yup, it's rugby season again.

At the end of every season, and again at the beginning of each ensuing campaign, I tell myself I'm too old and unfit for rugby, and resign myself to the fact that I'll be enjoying the next season from the stands.
But every year I get a welcome call from the lads at the rugby club, and something inside me makes me say "Hell yeah, I'll be there on Saturday."

Maybe it's the camaraderie and the banter amongst the guys.
Maybe the thrill of competition, going toe-to-toe with the opposition.
Most likely it's just the opportunity to legally beat the crap out of a bunch of Englishmen week in and week out.

Whatever it is, I'm playing my first match of the season tomorrow afternoon.
And as Russell Peters' father would say, "Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad!"

Life's "To Do" List

Some may say it's a definite sign that I'm getting older - and the fact that yet another birthday has just whizzed by at a rate of knots may have something to do with this - but something I've been thinking a lot about lately is doing a list of 'Things to Do Before I Turn 40/60/80/Die".

It all started when I was looking into doing next year's London to Brighton Bike Ride, and came across a great blog/website which made me think about all the things I've always promised myself I'd do, but just never got around to doing.

Some of them are pretty small and fairly easy to do - e.g. growing a moustache (no giggling at the back please) - while others will take quite a lot of planning and/or spending - e.g. seeing the Northern Lights - but all are achievable. In fact, some of them I've done already. I'm not cheating, it's just that I've realised that I've already done a few things on my list that I've always wanted to do, so I though I might as well include them as proof that all of these things are within reach.

A great example is the Metallica Concert I was lucky enough to be part of on Monday night.

Ever since I can remember, there have been two bands I've always wanted to see play live - Metallica and Queen. Whilst the latter is sadly no longer possible (Queen without Freddie Mercury just isn't right, is it?), Metallica are still going strong after 27 years together and have just produced their ninth studio album.
So when they advertised a promotional tour including a one night stop in London, I jumped at the chance and got myself a couple of tickets (for only a fiver each, I might add) to the best show in town. They didn't disappoint, the show rocked out, and I loved every minute.

It just goes to show, sometimes it's possible to cross items off your list without any planning at all, they can just fall into your lap if you're in the right place at the right time.

So for now, I'm starting the list fairly small (see left), just to give an idea of some of the things I'd love to do 'One Day'.
Who knows, maybe 'One Day' could be tomorrow...

Let the rambling begin...

Finally, here it is - my very own blog!

I've had a few ideas brewing in my jumbled mind for a while now which I thought would be good to put down on paper (or on screen, as the case may be...), but it's taken me ages to finally get off my sizeable butt and get started. Better late than never though I guess.

So this is just a quick note to get myself started, but hopefully now that I've taken the first step in setting it all up and producing my first post, I'll keep going and produce more ramblings with some sort of regularity. :)

Oh, one last thing - for those of you who might be wondering about the fairly strange blog title I've chosen - Marmite Soldiers is the name that my friend Jethro and I once decided we would use for our fictional band when we were about 10.

Either that or The Luminous Toothpicks.

I reckon we would've rocked.