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

The story of Princess Hayley and her magic coat

Last weekend was Louise’s 30th birthday which you can read about and watch the video for here. To celebrate we all got together in a pub. It is always great to see everyone and have a laugh. The biggest laugh of the weekend however was making fun of poor Hayley who had let Mark borrow one of her t-shirts a while ago and had finally returned it to her. This morning while walking around town Tom, Maz and I got to talking about how it would make the basis for a great kids story. Here then is the tale of Princess Hayley and her special coat. See if you can read between the lines and work out why we found it so funny. Enjoy.

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.

Why teachers hitting children is not such a bad thing

Sundays in the UK usually means one, Sunday roast. A time to gather with family and friends and share chicken or half a cow covered in gravy with roasted potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. Yesterday we did just that. Maz and I paid a visit to see her parents. Sadly we got served up a sweet and sour rather than the full blown roast but I guess you should be grateful for what you get. Naturally polite conversation was made over dinner and for some reason the topic of whether or not a teacher can hit a child arose. Maz’s Mother who often works with children argued no they couldn’t while I strongly disagreed. So who was right? Can a teacher or anyone for that matter hit a child legally?

Me and a girl called Kate

I have a bit of a confession, there is another woman in my life other than Maz and her name is Kate Nash. For anyone who doesn't know Miss Nash she is a British solo singer and I have been bigging her up for the last few years. She broke into the UK charts a few years ago now and last year she released her second album. I however have been following and raving about her since she first appeared on the scene with her Myspace profile way back in 2007. In short I love her to bits (sorry Maz).  My love for Kate is not something that many people share with me though. Tom in particular doesn’t really get it and I have to admit that her singing voice and vocal style is a real love it or hate it affair. That all said I am firmly in the love it camp and if you are not or have never heard of her then here are my reasons 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.

Christmas comes in June for us gaming geeks!

It might not have escaped your attention that blog posts have been a bit thin on the ground over the last week. Yeah, sorry about that but my attention has been caught up with other stuff. I am and have been since the late 80’s an avid gamer. From the tape loading days of the Commodore 64, through the 16-bit wars between Nintendo and SEGA right up to my recently purchased of a shiny new Xbox. You name it I have probably played it. If then you are fanboy like me then you no doubt know that Christmas for us nerds happens in June each year as the E3 expo rolls into town. Don’t know what E3 is? Let me explain. 

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 ?