Have you ever wondered?

Do you ever stop to wonder what on earth the world is coming to? Now that Cadbury Diary Milk Chocolate has to show on the wrapper that the product contains milk? Even though there is a picture of a glass of milk being poured into the products logo!

I hate stuff like that because it undermines us and scentient beings and that the morons out there - you know who you are - cannot think for themselves so have to be told everything.

Here's a few classic examples of stuff I find patronising and ridiculous, but it makes me wonder, if the companies have had to put this information on thier products, is it because someone has already done it, sued the company and won damages? Or is it because the potential is there and the company are trying to protect themselves before the law suit? In which case how on earth are they going to cater for every possible scenario that is likely to happen?

1. On a swedish chain saw it says "Do not attempt to stop the chain with your hand or genitals"
2. Steam Iron instructions say "do not iron clothes on the body". Oh come on!
3. On the bottom of a Tesco Tiramasu it says "do not turn up side down"
4. On the bag of microwave popcorn it says "contents will be hot after cooking in microwave"
5. On macdonalds coffee cups and hot desserts it says "Warning - contents hot" Are we really such imbeciles?
6. On a Marks and Spencer Bread pudding "Product will be hot after heating"
7. On Nytol Sleep Aid it warns us that it may cause drowsiness! Really!!
8. On a childs superman costume it says "wearing this product does not enable you to fly"

The list goes on and on....

Here's some other rubbish I think about:

1. Why dont we ever see "phychic wins lottery" in the headlines?
2. Why is abbreviated and appostrophy such long words?
3. Why does lisp have a "s" in it?
4. Why do Doctors call what they do "practice"?
5. Why lemon juice is made with artificial flavours and dishwashing liquid is made with real lemons?
6. Why isn't there mouse or bird flavoured cat food?
7. Why don't sheep shrink in the rain?
8. Any my old favourite.... How do flies land up side down on the ceiling?

More on Kfest

I dont mean to go on about it . . . . BUT......

We played live at Kfest wooooooooooooo hooooooooo

Boo Live

Below is the finale, a song called Boo by Six Degrees of Separation. The singer (Jamos) is the front man of Six Degrees so it was great to play one of his songs live with him. It has been the highlight of my guitar playing to date without question and I owe him a huge debt of thanks (although I believe he takes beer as compensation) for making this happen and giving us this awesome opportunity.

WE ARE LIVE!!

Yeah man! Sunday was the live gig and it was the best. The great thing about it all was that on the day I didn't feel nervous at all. I have been petrified for weeks on end, I think I must have just run out of fear if any such thing is possible?

I woke feeling calm and really excited about the day ahead. A whole day of bands playing, sun sea and sand. Sweet. As we were first on the accustic stage it also got us out of the way and so we could relax afterwards.

I was amazed at how many people came to watch us that know us - thanks guys!! It means a lot.
The picture above is me taking a pew and having a bit of a practice while people in the bar were ordering drinks and talking amongst themselves. It pleased me greatly that I was on stage playing away to get rid of any nerves and people weren't looking at me in disgust or wondering what the horrible noise was!

It was totally brilliant. I sat up there on my stool for about 20 minutes playing away before we were due to start. Showing the guys from Kuk Sool what I've been practicing for weeks (without playing the 3 songs I know for the gig!)

So you're probably wondering how bad it was! Well - here it is.. First song is called Screamager which is a cover, the band who own this beauty are called Therapy.

Please let me know what you think. I learned this song in 2 lessons and practiced my whotsits off for 3 weeks trying to make it sound good! I really enjoy playing this song and its one I'd like to continue playing even though I've played it to death.

10,000 visits - Wow

I just noticed last night that I've had over 10,000 hits on my blog! Wow, thank you to all the people who read it, I'm honoured. I never thought it would take off when I started it but I'm glad so many of you are enjoying it.

You keep visiting and I'll keep on writing!

Best Regards

Psbn Jon

10 mile charity walk

On Sunday 17th May Helen and I did a charity walk. There were 3 options of walk available to choose from, each of them the same cost to enter. A 5 mile, a 7.5 mile and 10.2 mile version. Naturally the martial artist in me made me choose the hardest one available.

Helen was happy to do the long walk, we had nothing else planned that day and so it gave us another opportunity to spend some time together with next to no cost, which follows our theme of Cheap Days Out.

Below is the route we took. Those familiar with the area will recognise where it took place and the sheer length of the walk.


We set off at 8:55 precisely (I know this because Helen checked her watch). Helen wanted to know how long it would take us as it was suggested we allow 4+ hours.

When we set off it was cold and windy and started to rain. Brrrr. But the walking kept us warm and soon the weather became hot and sunny. Blast - now I had too many clothes on.

It was a brilliant walk and extremely well sign posted and organised. Each quarter of the walk held a checkpoint with water, bananas and kit-kat refreshments. Wonderful!

Right up to the 3/4 mark we were feeling fine and glad we chose to do the long walk as we are obviously hard core walkers. However, the last 2 miles was really taking a toll on my feet and calf muscles.

By the end of the walk I was desperate to sit down! Plus, at the end we were given some soup and a piece of cake! All the calories we burned during the walk was put back on with a kit kat (yeah we only had 1 though) soup and cake!

The whole walk took us 3.5 hours in the end and we kept a reasonable pace throughout without stopping for more than a few seconds to drink water.

A great day out with some fantastic views and lots of fresh air and easy exercise.

We celebrating by going out to lunch to have a Sunday Carvery. Yum.

Helen's Bakery Course - Week 2

Week 2 is cheesecake! Now to be honest I'm not a cheesecake fan but this fella is fantastic. Its got lemon curd on top with fancy decorating and has rum soaked raisins in it.

It tastes even better than looks !

So that'll be 100 more sit ups to burn the calories then!

10 days to go til K Fest 2009

Its only 10 days to go until the K Fest Gig in Lowestoft on 24th May 2009. MadMike and I have been practicing like loonies - stage fright will motivate you like no ones business!!! - and we are comfortable with what we've got to do.

Now I'm just getting caught up in the details:

1. What Time we gotta be there?
2. When will we be on stage?
3. Can I wear plastic pants?
4. How many people watchin?
5. How to conquer nerves?
6. How many times do we run that pattern of chords before the chorus again????

I'm still looking forward to it, but on the day - I will be scared

But I know Im going to be beaming about it afterwards, even if I do drop my pick, break a string, wet myself and all the other nightmares I've had swimming around my head come true!

Any advice for dealing with first gig nerves? We're only doing 2 songs with the accustic guitars so it should be a brilliant "teaser" into the life on stage, but I welcome any comments.....

For information about K Fest and what its all about go to:

http://www.lowestoftonline.com/community/index.php?topic=12915.msg338363

Kuk Sool Won Highs and Lows

I haven't written a post about Kuk Sool Won for a while now for 2 reasons. Firstly, there has been so much going on in my life lately that I haven't had time to sit and write a post that had anything other than details of regular training in it and secondly I've been having a Kuk Sool 'low'.

Everybody who studies a martial art for any length of time is going to go through 'highs' and 'lows' of training. Its inevitable. Its how you deal with the lows that matters most because this is a time when its hard to make the effort to get to class and/or be motivated when you do get there.

I've been feeling the lull over the last 2 or 3 months even though I have my 4th degree black belt test coming up at the end of the month. I've still been doing my regular training but its been hard work and I've been feeling miserable in classes where I'm being taught (not when I'm teaching - although more on this in a moment).

I've been through the lows many times before and always pulled through - so what am I going to do about it? I decided to speak to my regular instructor. I felt his classes were more geared around 'punishment' than 'encouragement' and I got a load off my chest - maintaining respect at all times of course!

His response was exactly what I needed. I didn't expect it - but it was very valuable. I've been thinking it over for the last 2 weeks and I'm going to share it with you.

First of all he asked "Are you sure the classes are what they seem, or is it just your own perception of them because you are having negative thoughts about your training"?

Hmmm. This got me thinking and had me stuck for words for a while. It was a brilliant response and totally put the ball back in my court. I was looking for someone to blame about the way I was feeling about kuk sool. I was never going to quit, that's out of the question, but I wanted to get out of this rut I felt in and get on enjoying my favourite activity.

Then he asked "why do you feel punished in class? are you not trying enough? 10 push-ups is never a punishment for a black belt - its too few". Again, truth spoken again.

I left with that information and realised that I was feeling negative about training and that the classes were really informative and technical which is exactly what I like.

With this renewed vigour I went to classes last night and maintained an excited attitude to the classes and positive thoughts about training. Let me tell you what happened:

1. The classes I teach were a huge success. Its as if the students had all changed their attitudes. Of course they hadn't, I was the one who had changed. The class was fantastic, energy levels were higher than they'd been all year and all the students really enjoyed themselves. I also received high praise from our school owner for doing a good job.
2. I also took a grading for some new white belts going for their yellow stripe and they did a great job. It was really tough, I wasn't taking it light on them and they pulled through and really feel like they earned their stripe.
3. When it came to taking part in my own lesson I really enjoyed that too and had a positive impact on my class mates and they in turn had a positive impact on me.

Top night and I'm really looking forward to training hard over the next few weeks leading up to my 4th degree test on 29th May.

Helen's Home Baking Course

Helen has enrolled onto a home baking course at college. She has been making some awesome stuff at home lately and quite a few friends have joined in. This spurred her on to start a proper baking course at the local college one evening per week.

Her first week and she came home with this beauty! A Black Forrest Gateaux! Yum Yum. Now the course fees all seem worth it!

Where's my fork?

Making a Shandy

It seems I'm not the only one who's enjoying the home made beer! Helen has started drinking it too, but usually as a shandy.

Helen says I don't make a shandy correctly. I just put half a glass of beer in, then top up with lemonade. It all fizzes over and usually makes a mess on the work top which then goes sticky and annoys the lady.

Apparently I'm supposed to put the lemonade in first, stir the bubbles out for a bit, then add the beer. This prevents it all fizzing over too much. To keep the peace - and stop me from having to wipe over the worktops every time I make a shandy - I tried the above method and look what happened!

I didn't do this deliberately it was a total fluke how the beer sat on top of the lemonade. The picture doesn't do it justice, the colours were fantastic. (click on the pic to enlarge and you'll get a better idea)

Turns out its not a fluke now because I can do it every time and some friends are actually requesting them this way.

Personally I think its sacrilege to put lemonade in it but hey I'm not the one who has to drive home!!