Maz's birthday bowls us over

Well I promised a post a week and look here I am. Okay so I am cutting it a bit close to the end of the week but nonetheless here at least is the post I promised. I would have written it earlier today but to be honest I was nursing a hangover and then stuffing myself with a venison burger. Why the hangover? Because this weekend we headed out on the town to celebrate Maz’s birthday as she creeps ever close to the big 30.

A new year and a new outlook

And so a new year is upon us. 2012. If some people are to be believed this will be the last year any of us see as the world comes to an abrupt end (Just before Christmas too, bummer). There are many great things about a new year but for most of us it is a chance to make a resolution and attempt to recreate yourself as a new and improved version usually with the added bonus of 20% less fat. We have all done it and normally these attempts at reinvention last for the first few months before we revert to our regular life long habits. For me however this new year does bring great promise and the chance to turn my life around from what it has been for the past few years.

Where have you been?

As winter approaches more and more things are in short supply. The sun is falling behind the skyline earlier, the frost is forming and the countdown to Christmas is getting closer and closer. It also seems that Blog posts are following suit since there hasn’t been one for a while. Sorry about that. Here then is a quick catch up on all the stuff that has been going on with me and the people in my life.

Face up to being grown up

Last  year I went to see Kate Nash play at a gig in London. I had a great time but the whole experience did leave me feeling rather old. While there was a real mixture of age groups at the gig a large majority of them were around the late teens early twenties bracket. I wouldn't go as far as saying that I was jealous of them but as they danced around without a care in the world singing at the top of their voices and spilling beer over their friends I was stood with my hands in my pockets worried that someone would nick my wallet and pondering about whether we would make the train home in time. I felt kind of self conscious about being there. Most of all I felt a sense of sadness knowing the period in their lives they are living through was well and truly behind me. It is said that youth is wasted on the young and certainly at the time I didn't really appreciate just what a great time I was having. Of course maybe I shouldn't be longing for the past. Maybe it is time to admit to myself that you're not 18 anymore.

So just what is the meaning of life?

"There has to be more to life than this?" I asked my friend Bill the other day who in turned replied "No this is pretty much it". That then in two sentences is the world summed up. A desire to find more met by the realisation that there is nothing more. But is this true, is life really just an endless precession of repeating days played out to the tune of material desire? There has to be something more doesn't there? Let me explain.

Things you learn in your thirties

I have often said to Maz that the person you will be in five years time is not the same person that you are now. Things change and your view of the world adjusts accordingly. What once seemed important fades into the background as you are faced with new challenges and grow as an individual. By the time you hit your thirties many things in your life will have changed. People you love will have come and gone, you will have realised that you are not going to be a rock star and you might even have a partner, spouse or children of your own to worry about. This all got me thinking about what advice could I offer now that my thirties are upon me. Here are the results.

Children: To have or not to have in your thirties?

By the time you hit your thirties one subject that is bound to have raised it’s ugly head is that of having children. In my experience men find themselves under pressure to settle down, commit and start a family leaving the party years of their twenties behind them while women face the unstoppable ticking of their body clock. Only a few decades ago in the age of our parents things were clear, you married in your early twenties and quickly started a family but in this modern age the path to a family is anything but simple.

Another one of us hits the big 30

It is that time again as yet another one of us hit’s the big thirty. This time it was Louise’s turn to celebrate and maybe cry a little in private as her twenties were left behind her. To mark the occasion we all gathered in a local pub where Louise’s sister Sarah works. Maz and I stopped the night at Louise’s house and then next day eat pizza and watched the F1 as Jenson Button romped home to victory. As it has become the norm I had with me my trusted video camera to capture it all. Here then are the highlights of the day

Coping with depression in your thirties

A few years ago now I was diagnosed with depression. I won’t bore you with the details but I got better and things are now pretty much back to normal. You may have noticed that I said “got better” rather than cured as there is no cure. Like many mental health related illnesses such as alcoholism and obsessive compulsive disorders if you have suffered from depression once it is with you for your whole life. I guess a good way of putting it is you don’t get better but instead you get better at it. You learn how to deal with situations which are likely to trigger it and use coping techniques to ride it out. Today is one of those days when mine came bouncing back and hit me in the face. Here is why.

Do-it-yourself. I’d rather not.

There are many things that I excel at. I can explain the structure of DNA. Put a game controller in my hand and I can frag down the enemy with the best of them. I am pretty good behind a camera and I cook a mean pot of chilli to name but a few of my many talents. However if you get me to put up a shelf chances are it will fall down within the hour. Some people have a natural ability with their hands for repairing and building while others like me are left wondering how something that looks so easy can be so hard?

Booze, underwear and perverts. All in a weekends work.

Two main things happened to me this weekend. Namely I completed the game Mass Effect on the trusty Xbox and secondly I got called a pervert. The first of these is pretty simple to explain even if it did take several months to get around to it . The later however is a story of a night full of booze, women in their underwear and partying. All of which I just happen to have on video. 

I have a heavy skeleton, it's glandular. Fuck off.

A few weeks ago I wrote in a post called Weddings, weddings, weddings. A man's view of the big day about how I had woke up suddenly from a dream and still half asleep I had a wonderful idea for a blog post. However I then promptly rolled back over and slept for another hour or so before waking up again and having no clue what that great idea was. Well it came back to me out of the blue. So what was this hot burning topic? The answer my friends is the subject of being fat.

Welcome to the thirtysomething club

This week we have a new member to the thirtysomething club as our friend Paul hit the big 30 on Saturday. To celebrate this landmark of aging his girlfriend Lou organised a surprise party for him at their local pub complete with party games and sumo suits. I was there of course with my video camera and caught the whole thing which you can watch below.  Now that Paul has joined our ranks I feel it is only right to offer some advice. What words of wisdom can I then impart to Paul with  three decades of life under my belt ?

Becoming a grumpy old man

Every second Tuesday I have to take a walk into the local town to sign on at the job centre. It is about a 6 mile round trip and while there is a bus I refuse to pay the £5 or so fare. Besides I could do with the exercise. Since Tom has recent joined the unemployment scrapheap he has taken to joining me on this little trek. It is great to have some company and why I would like to say that we talk about breasts and football on our journey in reality we sound more like two grumpy old men.

It is the end of the world as we know it. Maybe not.

This weekend Maz went away with her work which meant that I got to spend three days on my own. Not a problem and in truth it was nice to get a little me time. However as luck would have it Saturday was marked by some to be the end of the world. Typical. Which meant had the four horsemen of the apocalypse rode into town they would have found me sitting in my pants, drinking a Guinness and playing Grand theft auto on the Xbox 360. Could be worse I guess.

Building a fence and aging parents

There has been a lack of posts over the last week hasn’t there? Sorry about that folks but I have been kind of busy. I must admit that in part it is due to the fact I have been playing a lot of Brink on the Xbox but I have also been down the job centre with Tom, mowed Maz's garden and played host to a rather drunk Julie, Arthur and little Lacie over the weekend (obviously  Lacie wasn’t drunk). The bulk of my week however has been taken up with working with my Dad to build a new fence.

A weekend of weddings and birthdays

So there has been no blog posts for a few days now. Were you worried about me? I’m going with probably not. For the few of you who do give a shit fear not I haven’t fallen off the earth but have instead just been a bit busy. To be honest it has been a bit of a busy year. It seems that just about every weekend so far we have had some event or do to go to. Don’t get me wrong however, it is nice to get out and see people even if it does mean I had to miss the F1 this week.

My vote counts but what for?

So today in the UK we go to the polls as we get to vote on local elections and on whether we should adopt the alternative voting system. I always vote in the big national elections but rarely in the local ones. This year however I thought I would make the effort. Maybe it is because I am unemployed and so I have more time on my hands than usual to take a good look around the area where I live or maybe it is just because I am getting older and have more of an opinion about my surroundings. Either way I figured that before I headed off to put my tick in the box I would look to see what my local parties had in mind for the next few years. A task that proved easier said then done.

Maz and I (try to) cook deep fried Bounty bars

If there is one thing that I love to do then it is cooking. Cooking and eating new foods is one of life’s little pleasures and I really don’t get people who turn their nose up at trying new stuff. Well based on this idea Maz and I decided a few weeks back to have a crack at cooking deep fried Bounty bars. Although deep fried Mars bars are more the norm we decided to put our faith in Nigella Lawson and give her version served with fresh pineapple a go. Things however did not go exactly to plan.

Royal weddings, bank holidays and hot tubs

So on Friday the 29th of April 2011 the world was gathered around the television to watch as Prince William got married to his university sweetheart Miss Catherine Middleton (see this post if you somehow missed it). To celebrate the UK got itself an extra day off work and Maz and I shot up to join my old university friends Jacqui and Fran in their new hot tub for the weekend. This was of course after we popped out to join Tom in a few drinks to celebrate him escaping from his most hated job on Thursday. However now that the dust has settled what have we actually learned from the whole experience that has been forced down our throats for the last few months?