Friday 28 August 2009

Mythanwy

T595
Mythanwy
I walked away from the Bonneville because it's got too many potential problems for the price. I started looking around at a price I was happier with.

Then i found her, my Mythanwy.

I had a Daytona 900 before, but sold it. I had always yearned for this bike but was steered to the Sprint ST 955i, which led me to my current workhorse - the ST1050i with which I adore.

Mythanwy will be a dry bike, in that it will not see rain. It will become a collectors piece, taken out and enjoyed and cleaned straight afterwards. It's in pristene condition and shall remain so!

the only problem is how to tell Caz!

JKrishnamurti.org - Daily Quote:

A man who says 'I know' is the most destructive human being

A man who says 'I know' is the most destructive human being because he really does not know. What does he know? So when you are conscious you are transformed, when you are aware that you are transformed, you are not.

The Collected Works, Vol. VIII - 5

Tuesday 25 August 2009

T100

Changed the way in which I'm taking the medication. Split it into one in the morning, one in the evening. As a result its making me need sleep late afternoon, but I can concentrate better at work.

Taught a technically great Thai class last night, only a handful were there, but the material was spot on. I'm enjoying teaching and on Saturday i was showing material on the ground. I did some weights and used the rubber bands. Will do the same tonight.

Saw a nice Bonneville T100 in a local bike shop yesterday. I'm tempted. Some idiot bought it new and drove it a total of 415 miles in three years! It has even had its first 500 mile service! He also left it outside in the elements. Sacrilege!


In the meantime, we continue with the painting and decorating in the house, albeit Caz does most of it.

Monday 24 August 2009

LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit

The LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit have issued a report.

The rise of cancer creates an enormous burden on health systems around the world; it undermines economic growth and acts as a chronic poverty trap for the poorest countries.

While at one time cancer was widely believed to afflict only the elderly in affluent countries, the disease has moved beyond high-income countries and into the developing world. More new cases of cancer and more deaths from the disease occur today in the lower- and middle-income countries that make up the developing world than in high-income countries. Today, more than 50 percent of new cancer cases and nearly two-thirds of cancer deaths occur in the developing world. By comparison, in 1970, the developing world accounted for 15 percent of newly reported cancers.

Other key findings of the study include:

  • There will be an estimated 12.9 million new cancer cases globally in 2009
  • By 2020, the number of new cancer cases worldwide is anticipated to rise to 16.8 million
  • By 2030, the number of new cancer cases is expected to rise to 27 million, with 17 million cancer deaths
  • Cancers have already progressed to where they are incurable in 80 percent of patients in developing countries
  • Evidence shows that only 5 percent of global resources for cancer are spent in the developing world. Low and lower-middle income countries will make up 46 percent of new cancer cases this year.
A full copy of the study can be found at www.livestrong.org/summit.

Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out, what phenonimum has occurred in the globe since 1970? Globalisation and the destruction of indigenous crops in order to provide feed for factory farming and the diet of the 1st world nations. This is coupled with de-forestation which has been a factor in climate change.

The earth will look after itself, the waters will rise and populations will be decimated. Meanwhile the destructive nature of the human race is seeing it face the a cull that is a result of the imbalance in our life. You can have all the material wealth in the world, but if your diet and lifestyle are not addressed don't think you will get away with it.

The responsibility is yours and will not come from Government. There are an abundance of lifestyle alternatives for you to look at so ignorance is not an excuse. What are you waiting for?

Prior to my mum's death i lived a lifestyle that I have no doubt has direct influence to my current condition. I changed but the poisenous seeds had been sewn. However it may be a result of the change that will see me through to a successful conclusion.

I see kids who used to walk to school being driven less than a mile by their parents. Obese parents, obese kids

i still do my stairs at work and i pass the smokers while i make my way to the top. They know the risk, they know the fear, so WHY continue to blank it out? Cheap scent mixed with cheap tobacco smell and the stress of the lungs polluted by addiction. I recall once in a private lesson with Rick Young working with the stick, and a woman holding a baby with a fag hanging from her mouth, commented for us to be careful of not hitting her. It wasn't us who was the threat!

I need to sleep, I have done a lot today. Each day is precious.

Thursday 20 August 2009

Three Amigos

Three major influences this month are Ajarn Chai, Bobby Spour and Marc McFann.

Ajarn, close to retirement, is still globetrotting and getting his Thai Boxing Association firmly established, fulfilling a goal he set many years ago. Each time i see him I learn so much.

Bob Spour's Mindworks Technologies has been written about so much in this blog, you need no explanation.

Marc McFann, as stated in the previous entry, is a constant source of inspiration and encouragement.

In the last few years I have had real issues with my weight. In relation to the training I did, weight was always an issue. Now with the Sorafenib, I'm having the side effect of weight gain suddenly occur. I've changed the way I'm taking the doseage, but in my current state I am not in a position to exercise.

I need to be stricter with my diet and will cut out all non complex carbs with immediate effect. Once the hypertension calms down, I will restart with the weights and kettlebells.

Kali, my boxer dog, has started twitterring or twitterwoofing! She's @ kali_boxer_dog for an insight of a dogs life

Wednesday 19 August 2009

The McFann Experience

UFA Camp 09
Looking after Marc McFann is very easy, especially since we are both very comfortable in each others company. While the seminar was going well, I left early feeling very tired. This didn't stop me from staying up late with him, enjoying webcam and skype conversations with others is the US.

It was the getting up early to get him to the train station and then going into work which did the damage. By Wednesday night i was exhausted and only slightly recovered for the trip down to Northampton on Friday. When I'm exhausted and I need to book hotels, I can get very confused and so not for the first time recently, I booked our accommodation for the wrong weekend. Luckily the woman in charge was able to address the situation.

Friday nights meal was just around the corner from the hotel but I didn't have a big appetite. Thai food must be one of my favourites though, so i did my best especially as it was high quality. Then it was bed early for the weekends camp. Cramps are a bi-product of travelling for me I'm afraid, but I was lucky that they were not really bad.

Marc is a survivor too. He's had skin cancer, hip replacement surgery, smashed ankles and there's more, yet continues to train albeit with a separated collar bone and rib that keeps popping out! In this sense he is a role model that i use.

Marc has the Independence to look outside the box and resolve problems affecting his health, in particular the side effects of Statins, that Doctors cant necessarily do but would not stop. It is this type of resolve which has driven me and continues to drive my quest to return to decent quality of life. Whatever this cure or solution is, I OWN IT!

Monday 17 August 2009

fortitudo amantes defendit

McFann in Aberdeen
ok ok
Apologies for not blogging and the response has been quite overwhelming.

I've been busy. It's been tiring me out but it's good.

Just back from Northampton and the UFA & TBA camp with Marc McFann and Ajarn Chai. I'll post more on this in the next couple of days but needless to say, it was a tremendous weekend. I did my Wai khru ram muay ( ไหว้ครูรำมวย) for my Associates certificate and I'll upload it soon.

JKrishnamurti.org - Daily Quote That light cannot be given to you by another

Most people, when they are confused, disturbed, want to return to the past; they seek to revive the old religion, to re-establish the ancient customs, to bring back the form of worship practised by their ancestors, and all the rest of it. But what is necessary, surely, is to find out whether the mind that is the result of the past, the mind that is confused, disturbed, groping, seeking - whether such a mind can learn without turning to a guru, whether it can undertake the journey on which there is no guide.

Because it is possible to go on this journey only when there is the light which comes through the understanding of yourself, and that light cannot be given to you by another; no Master, no guru can give it to you, nor will you find it in the Gita or in any other book. You have to find that light within yourself, which means that you must inquire into yourself, and this inquiry is hard work. No one can lead you, no one can teach you how to inquire into yourself. One can point out that such inquiry is essential, but the actual process of inquiring must begin with your own self-observation.

The Collected Works, Vol. X - 254

Tuesday 11 August 2009

Opera non Verba


I have kettlebell inside thighs.

That's the feeling a day or two after a kettlebell session when your inside thighs are tight and sore.

McFann arrives today. The last time he was here i was in hospital, i think. Its blurred from the Morphine i was on. So it feels like a very long time since i last saw him.

I first met Marc in 94 at Bob Breens. He was just back from training with Suwanda and what i saw was so different it was simply indescribable. I now know it to be his unique Silat Groundfighting and I have asked him to teach that tonight. Before grappling was popular, Marc had a fearsome reputation and whilst also participating with Rick Young, who was the first Brit to train with Rickson Gracie, we dived fully into the water of McFanns grappling experience. What an experience it has been too!

But there's far more to McFanns arsenal than grappling and that continues to amaze me on each visit. I have been to Marcs home in the US, training in his academy. I have seen him ill and him conquer adversity when few would have the strength. For this, he is truly an inspiration.

“I love the challenge.”

Friday 7 August 2009

Visitors

Alan feeds Dextor
My sister came and stayed for a few days so it was great to see her. There we were on Wed night, Caz and I, my son Perry, Kali and Kate. Wish i got a picture of it but we were enjoying the moment too much! As soon as she left on Thursday, Dextor came around with his new Dad Alan!

With work, well it's been a busy week and has left me exhausted. If i'm to return to full time work I need to build the endurance up. I was out on the mountain bike with the dog running alongside. Kettlebells tonight.

The weather has been glorious and I have been out on the Triumph quite a bit. Maybe i'll get a longer blast at the weekend. We are looking at different properties right now, in the hope of finding something we would love to live in. We have seen a couple but one sticks out, so we are racing to finish decorating so we can put our house on the market and get into the game.

"Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream." ~Malcolm Muggeridge

Monday 3 August 2009

update

Last week was a busy but fruitful one, with extended hours at the office, teaching good classes at the gym and feeling good. Then came Friday....

I had a sore throat and was a bit woozy, ending up in bed for a good part of the afternoon. A pal was having a night out before finally leaving Aberdeen for new pastures. I got ready to go down but gave up. I was the same the whole weekend. Didn't grow a curly tail so it wasn't swine flu!

My albumin has improved, a side effect of the Sorafenib, that a few months ago had them take me off the meds. However my creatinine (kidney function) has risen, a toxicity caused by Rampiril I use to keep the blood pressure. So i'm to reduce the ammount of Rampiril i take.

Leo F. Buscaglia, an Italian-American author and motivational speaker

“We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn't. Success often lies just the other side of failure.”

"I believe that you control your destiny, that you can be what you want to be."
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