"Calling all units..."

Hello readers and welcome to a Wednesday blog. I would have done it yesterday but I was a little hurried after work. Anyway, enough excuses, lets crack on with it.

Last Monday I went to see Julie over in Sutton. We went for a quiet drink to pass the evening in another local pub (seriously, there are loads in Sutton!) before we had to call it a night at about 11:30pm when I dropped her home.

Tuesday. I went over to Adam/Carl/Johns where we had a go on Tom Clncy's Endwar. I had downloaded the demo the week previous and had shown Adam. he was so impressed with it that he had gone and bought the game. A bold move, and yet I knew that I was going to end up buying it myself as it is a very good strategy based battle simulator.

Wednesday. After work I came home and decided that Buying Endwar was inevitable so off I went to Solihull to purchase it. I came back and got stuck in to it. It's one of those genre-defining titles. The game can be played using voice commands and it is brilliantly done. Tactics are key, and knowing when to use certain resources to your advantage is vital. I love it! After an hour or so playing I went down to Fathers as usual before dropping in on Donna and co' in the Swan for the final leg of the quiz.

Thursday. After work I came home to get to grips with Endwar and emerse myself in all its futuristic fighting goodness. In the evening I went to the Swan as usual and drank some Guinnesses!

Friday. After work I came home to shout at my xbox before going over to Adam/Carl/Johns for another Lads night in... Though Adam wasn't there as he was at a works do.

Saturday. Right... Saturday morning was spent in a place that is almost alien to me. A place that fills my puny, podgy little body with dread... Thats right...

... a Gym!

Me and Kieron went to Ironworks in Cotterige, and for those of you that know the area, as you go up the long hill towards Cotterige island, you pass a Toby Carvery (opposite the junction to the trading estate) and a BP garage on your left . Well between the two is a little driveway and it lies down there, tucked away. I never knew it existed and I have been up that road hundreds of times on the way to see my nan! We spent an hour doing cardiovascular exercises before moving on to the weights. Now I will pont out that Kieron used to go to Ironworks regularly, and his job involves moving big bits of metal around... Usually bits of a forklift! So his arms are bigger than mine, and he knows what he is doing. I decided that rather than look like a complete wimp and take weights off the machines I would try to match him in weight and times lifted...

... That was a silly thing to do.

To my credit, and this is me trying to grasp at least the slightest glimmer of a positive outcome, I surprised myself at the amount I can lift. I got up to 8 reps' of 80kg (just short of one-tenth of a tonne) but I reckon I could go heavier... By the time we got on the big thing that lets you attempt such a feat, we had already been lifting weights on a smaller thing. Anyway, we left at mid-morning and went back to Selena/Kierons for a bit before I came home as they were off up the Villa. I ended up going over to Adam/Carl/Johns but Carl and John weren't in as they had gone to Plymouth for the weekend! Me and Adam played Endwar for a bit and then got something to eat before watching some TV with a cold beer. Proper lads night in!

Sunday. I woke up and I couldn't move... My arms and shoulders were killing me from the day before. I concluded that I must have pulled the muscles in my shoulders and arms because they felt like lead weights. I went to the legion and afterwards, went to nans for tea. Watched the last of the current series of TopGear, came home to bed.

Right. I will leave you there readers.
TTFN!

You push your fingers in to your what?

Hello readers and welcome to this weeks update. Well, I say "readers" but I'm not sure who reads this anymore. Readers? Are you out there? My aim when I started this was just to jot down what I had done, but that has changed. As John pointed out I sometimes get days mixed up, but it doesn't matter because what I want this to be is a general space where my readers can feedback, host little conversations in the shout box, and really input to make my blog bigger than the sum of its parts. I might sit here typing it, but it doesn't count for much if it is a static entity. It needs to grow and... And...

Oh, bollocks who am I kidding?

Anyway, enough of that. Lets blog.

Monday. Monday evening was spent round Adam and Carls and Johns. We ended up playing some Carcassone and Catan (if you don't know what they are, you didn't click the links in my previous posts) until finally breaking out RockBand! Yes! The Mothers of Destruction were reunited! We played until about 12:00am and then I had to get going.

Tuesday. Work passed quite quickly and I was home for 4:30pm. In the evening it was back over to Adam/Carl/Johns and Marcus and Jenny joined us for some TV/xbox

Wednesday. The evening was spent at Fathers and then at 10:00pm I made my way down to the Swan to meet up with Donna and co'. Now I always help them with the last couple of rounds of the quiz, though I usually don't get many answers in. This Wednesday though I didn't have to! Rent-a-crowd (The team name of Donna and co') came joint first! Well done to them! They won some cash and the respect of everyone in the Swan!

Thursday. After work I came home and nodded off for a bit! In the evening I walked up to the Swan (Lank was at the Villa) to meet the usual suspects plus Paul and Jess who have recently moved back to Wythall! A warm welcome to them both, and I hope to see them out and about more often!

Friday. (You'll notice I'm doing these quickly. I'm off out in a bit!) I went to......?

... Yes, you've guessed it! Solihull to meet upwith the lads. We ended up ordering Chinese...

... Which was nice!

Saturday. I went to HMV to take my copy of Guitar Hero back as it had gone the way of the Dodo. I got my cash back and glad that I don't have to mess about with it any more. in the evening I went, yet again, over to Solihull.

Sunday... Ah, Sunday... I finished the Legion at 6:00pm because I was going, with Jason and Gemma to the NIA to see Slipknot in concert! I had seen them years ago when I was at college on the "Iowa" tour. Gemma hasseen them at the Download Festival, but Jason was a Slipknot Virgin.

We got to the venue in good time and had a couple of drinks. We then went in to the arena to catch the first band "Children of Bodum" who play some good old "simple-riffs-and-a-lot-of-shouting" kind of metal. We headed on out after they were off stage to refill our glasses. We came back in to see Machine Head. They were awsome and did a really good set. After an hour or so Slipknot came on stage to much rowdyness... As is the way at these events! (well who ever heard of a quiet gig?)

They did all of the crowd pleasers and then some! I have a couple of photos for you...

The black smudge in the middle is Corey Taylor

Band members with the glorious "Tribal S" logo.

These photos don't do them any justice.....

So here's one I half-inched from the website!

Yep. That's sort of a better quality, isn't it?

Anyway they left the stage after one encore and I honestly thought they would come back on and do "Wait and Bleed" which was their first ever single and the song which they are known for... You know what I mean... "Wait and Bleed" is to Slipknot what "Rockin' all over the world" is to Status Quo. But alas! They did not reappear! I was a bit gutted and I think Jason was too. Still Jason is happy he can say he's seen them live!

Afterwards we went to Macdonalds. We sat inside and ate our grease-pots before climbing in to the nearest availiable taxi to come home!

phew! Right. I'm off out in a bit so I will eave you there.

TTFN!

Yawn...

Hello readers and welcome to a half-arsed blog. I'm tired, hungry, and have to go out later so this is going to be brief... Well, I'll try and put a little effort in for just for you.

Monday. Work went well and in the evening I went over to see Julie. We went for a drink in the local Apres' bar where Guinness is regarded as something only your great grandfather might drink, and all the lights are flourescent because anything else "just wouldn't do"

We sat and chatted for a few hours before deciding to head on back. I only stayed a short while before coming back to Wythall for about 12:00am

Tuesday. The evening was spent round Carl and Adams and lo-and-behold John was there! Yes he is back from Plymouth and currently staying in the Sambourn residence. We had a number of games of Carcassonne which is another of Carls many board games...

... Though we were playing the Xbox version!

Click the link to see what it's all about. Or, for those of you with an interest in history, click here to learn about the real city of Carcassonne in France!

... Did you click the link? if you did, I can say that my vlog is being used for educational purposes!

Anyway we played until about 12:30am and then I decided that I should go and get to bed, so I left.

Wednesday. Work = Good. Went down to fathers as usual and then went off to the Swan to see Donna and her family.

Thursday. The evening was spent in the Swan with the usual crowd. A good time was had by all until 11:30pm when we were out of drinking time and had to leave.

Friday. Work came and went and I was free for the weekend. The evening was spent back over at Carl and Adams (and Johns!) playing Guitar Hero and watching TV... However. Disaster struck when my GH drum kit (that had to be fixed before) suffered a heart attack and partially died on me! The left pad and symbol were refusing to work (so actually, a "stroke" would be a better description) I was livid! we continued with Johns RockBand drum kit but it just dodn't feel the same...

saturday. I went back over to Carl And Adams as the plan was to go in to Birmingham. We took one look at the weather and thought "blow that for a game of soldiers" so we stayed in. More Xbox, films, snacks etc... I thoroughly enjoyed it! I didn't leave until about 1:00am!

Sunday. Normal one. Legion. Nans. Tea. Home. Bed.

I will leave you there for abnother week readers. TTFN!