It seems that I post most when I am grumpy and have a lot to write. When I am happy it is really hard to sit and write things because I don’t dwell on them too much. When I am in a grump mood I start to tackle the various issues and things that piss me off. Sometimes my mind travels too much and I end up coming to conclusions that I don’t know if I am correct. I also find that I am significantly more critical of others. I put these changes and difference in perspective down to the change in me as a person in the last year or so, it is still shifting. A change in person also results as a change in the people around you. Some people who were merely passing people before have shifted into the category of friends and those who where deemed great friends have drifted away. Part of my evidence of this is hearing about the various great evenings out from ‘friends’ where there was a distinct lack of invite for me. This also doesn’t happen to just myself so I suppose it is just part of the course of life. Fun eh?

Anyway, just wanted to let people know this is how I am currently feeling.

Here – Chris Moyles and team have been messing around with the pitch of their voices and somebody put together a hilarious animation to go with it.

After standing on the Lickeys last night for about an hour in the rain in the hope it’d clear up and well, not be raining, we gave up and headed off in our separate directions under the hope that today would be better. From the look of my window, I can’t be certain but we shall see.

I headed over to Mike and Helens for yet another excellent evening of food and film. We had some particularly nice pizza and watched March of the Penguins. The film was good, it lasted in total of about 1hr 15minutes and gave a fantastic glimpse into the world of these, up until now, mysterious creatures to me. The photography was breath taking in places and managed to show the lives of these creatures. The narration was done by Morgan Freeman which was very easy to listen to – I have no qualms admitting to really enjoying hearing him talk and think that it adds significant depth when ever he does some narration for instance in The Shawshank Redemption. I can seriously recommend picking this film up and watching it, it has love, action and beautiful vistas to indulge in.

So it looks like the ban on Alex blogging has been lifted. I am not sure whether this signifies his stalker having given up her mission but I did notice that every reference to Lauren includes some overly mushy sentiment so it looks like there must have been some negotiation somewhere to remain in the battle stance. Anyway, he is planning on writing a cook book and rather than paraphrase I’ll quote him:

anyway, i’m currently writing a cook book, in case teh being a doctor thing doesn’t pan out long term. Its a cook book aimed at young men 16-26 to cook for their future other halves. All the cook books todays are so damm fiddly, so i’m trying to make things really simple. I might post a recipy on the blog later this week.

I wish him luck and a spell check All piss taking aside, this sounds like a good plan – in a similar vein to what Jamie Oliver did for cooking. Rather than move into the circles of exact measurements keep the recipes simple and easy to follow. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of his little project especially the ‘other half’ angle. The reason I bring this cooking thing up is due to a site I remember seeing ages ago called Cooking for Engineers which had only just started. My favourite part of the site is recipe cards that are done in a similar style to technical project planning, for instance here is one for lasagne. Anyway, I recommend checking the site out.

My rant of focus will come another day, it covers how I have come to realise that the way I see the world and the people around me in a completely different light to what it was a year, 2 years ago.

Every now and then people will utter these words to me and it drives me nuts. I detest it. It is usually as a result of reading/hearding/seeing me doing various kiting related activities – but it has happened when venturing out and doing other dangerous sports in the past. Now my problem isn’t so much the sentiment of being safe – that is a good plan and one I abide by with the use of pads, helmet and a supportive-padded harness and a large chunk-o-common sense of not taking the wrong kite up in the air.

My problem is the use of the word just. It takes the statement ‘be safe’ – which I find mildly patronising anyway because it assumes that I am not being safe and somehow don’t care about the important things in life, like, I don’t know, being alive. The introduction of just turns it even more in the direction of on the basis you are bloody incapable of doing anything right, if you could just put a little bit of effort into being safe that would be really good. Ahh. Cheers mate, thanks for the vote of confidence. Now, I know I am probably jumping the gun and being terribly unfair, but I’ve also noticed a correlation between the people who have been known to utter the phrase and those who deem anything more than lifting a drink in the local pub as dangerous I.E. the non-risk takers. It also feels as if those handing out the be safe advice have a better grasp of the way things work than the person actually actively taking part within whatever event/sport they are doing which is an exceptionally presumptuous attitude to take and highly indicative that don’t know.

But what is important, and the critical point that most people will call me on, is that I have overlooked the fact that people only say it because they care. Which is nice.

Had a really good time. Went to Wales with a few Lickey Hill Flyers and ended up getting about 12 hours or so board time going up and down the beach. I also learnt to power slide the board, improved on going toe-side with the board, learnt to fly de-powerable arcs, and learnt to jump on the board. My new Comp 6 rocks and I really like it, the ride is smooth and I managed to counter speed wobble by shifting my balance slightly. The only issue I had was having to get used to the bindings – I think I might have to investigate some different shoes.

As for hurting myself, I managed to face plant about 3 times over the weekend and hit my ankle with my board twice. The first face plant was just stupid – the kite overpowered and ripped me. The other two times, the times that hurt, I was going along at speed and hit a patch of soft sand – I flipped, kite powered, got dumped and landed on my back. All I can say is that I am thankful for the harness I was wearing with the fantastic lower back padding and support and the helmet – with out it, I suspect I would have been air lifted to hospital. Never under-estimate safety kit.

Having learnt to fly a arc, I ended up buying a almost-new one from a friend for an absolutely stonking price. I was able to fly the kite for about 30 minutes, to an hour, before I made up my mind and then couldn’t pay for it quick enough. I am uber pleased. The kite is 11 square metres big and is called a Peter Lynn Guerilla 2 and solves my problem of my next kite. I can’t see myself playing on Sabres or Frenzys now. The advantage of this is I can get a 15m/16m Guerilla2 and stack the kites. Hmm. Powah. For those who are curious, it looks like this:

The kite is awesome and I can’t wait to take it out again. It has the advantage of being able to be used on the water. The photos can be found here with my favourites being these ones:

I also put together a video of the footage taken at the weekend. [The start shows me launching my new kite. There is also footage of me boarding, Dave boarding and Adam in his buggy and jumping on his Blade 4.9m]

Anyway, it was an ace weekend. I can’t wait to get the G out again and get some more boarding action. I’ve also received my AirDeck back from Flexifoil and so will be putting that up for sale soon.

So, having sent my deck off to Flexifoil last week, I still hadn’t heard from them. Concerned that the deck had been lost in the post, or there was an issue, I gave them a call. Spoke to a nice lady called Wendy who said she would go check for me and would give me a call back. 5 minutes later I got a call letting me know that it had not only arrived, been processed but had been shipped back today. I should receive the deck on Tuesday at which point I am going to put it up for sale. I am looking to get about £130-£140 for it as it’ll be almost new. I plan on trying to sell it to a kiter first, then put it on ebay if no one wants it.

On the subject of decks, I picked up the MBS Comp 6 last night and really like it. The major differences between it and the air deck are [from the obvious point of view]:

• Trucks: the MBS has channel trucks (I think they are called that) which have springed axels that provide a smooth transition from pressure on the heel side to the toe side. The AirDeck has skate trucks which just a rubber ring. The result, smoother turning.
• Wheels: hollow rockstars on the MBS, solid on the AirDeck
• Bindings: MBS ratchet based bindings and the AirDeck is based upon velcro.
• Deck: I believe the AirDeck is carbon covered wood, not sure what the MBS is but the material seems pretty much more resilient material. Much more bouncy. Although I supposed I really need to see what the new deck from Flexi is like.

So there are quite a few changes, but then I supposed that is why there is a difference between the £185 AirDeck vs. the £320 MBS Comp 6 price. Fortunately I was able to pick up the MBS for second hand and significantly cheaper than the retail price. All I can say is that I am hoping my ankle holds out and I have a great time on it at the weekend! Woo!

A guy goes to the supermarket and notices a beautiful blond woman wave at him and say hello. He’s rather taken aback, because he can’t place where he knows her from.

So he says, “Do you know me?” and she replies, “I think you’re the father of one of my kids.”

His mind races back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says, “My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that I laid on the pool table with all my buddies watching, while your partner whipped my butt with wet celery and then stuck a carrot up my butt???”

She looks into his eyes and calmly says, “No, I’m your son’s maths teacher”

So, on Monday I took part in my first mosh pit. It wasn’t as bad as I though, a slightly longer in duration and more sweaty rugby mall was my initial reaction to the shoving a pushing that went on. I went with Emma to go see the Eagles of Death Metal at the Bar Academy 2 in Birmingham. It was a really good gig even if I did come out bloody soaking. I feel as though my musical horizons are being spread further. Next time I need to brush up on the performing artists music a little more [a few listens of the cd wasn't quite enough to get into it]. Rock and roll!

Last night I went out exploring with Adam and Emma. We where looking at various spots for kiting that are a) close by and b) we can board/buggy there without fear of having our kite confiscated as there is currently a ban on traction up at the hill (along with mini motor bikes, radio controlled cars etc.). We checked out Woodgate but the wind was sorely lacking there as the arena is closed off by buildings and trees, 40m lines aren’t really an option due to the size of the place [don't want to land the kites in the trees]. We also checked out another park which was just down the road from the hill, that, if the wind worked there, would kick arse – some nice mounds to boost off etc. however, the wind was almost non-exisitent and apparently can be, and I quote Adam on this ‘quite swirly’. It might be worth checking out when the wind is going mental. We all then headed up the hill for some jumping action. Crap Jack managed to do a 360 on his board [even though he isn't allowed to board up the hill], check it out here. After the hill, I headed over to Mikes for some DS Mario Kart and Tetris action, general chit chat and some poker on TV. All in all it was a good evening. I’ve also been working on a website for the flyers which I shall link to soon

With my AirDeck having a crack in it and being sent back to Flexifoil I am left in the lurch this weekend. I have no deck to ride, so I am going to try and pick up a MBS Comp 6 before I head out and then sell the AirDeck when it gets back for being ‘almost new’. This weekend should hopefully be a good laugh, photos should be arriving soon.

Here.