Theatrical goodness

Last night we went to see The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Heart, by the National Theatre of Scotland, at the Tron in Glasgow.  It was excellent.  A story staged in a bar, about a lock in, or what happens after a lock in, in Kelso in the Borders.  It's also about the folkloric traditions, and is just brilliant.

It's touring now, and there's a wee trailer for it as well.  If you get a chance to check it out, I highly recommend you do.

9.00 for 9.30am

Had a 9.00am dentists appointment this morning.  I should know better, as I've never known my dentist to actually be in on time, but there I was half an hour later waiting for him to show up.  As it was, it was in, look, and out, with nothing needing done.  These are the type of dental appointments I like, even if he does turn up half an hour late.

Quiet weekend

Didn't get up to much this weekend.  Did a bit of a clear-out in the spare room and the shed.  Took a fair bit down to the recycling center.  Virtually nothing ended up in the bin.

On Sunday, we did a wee bit of a shop, and went to see the new film directed by Clint Eastwood - Hereafter.  Well worth a look.

Thinking about entering the BFS short story competition again. Entered last year for the first time, on a whim, and this time I've a wee ghost story that's been itching to get put on paper, running round my head.  I've started jotting it down already, so I think getting it typed up and sorted out might be an idea.  We'll see.

Comics re-visited

Picked up a couple of new comic titles this week.  Firstly, Daredevil: Reborn, a four part mini-series.  I never usually went in for supes, but DD was one of the few I occasionally read.  Ironically I love superhero movies, including the X-Men movies.

The other is called Scarlet, and is awesome.  Think female Punisher, without the costume, and going up against a corrupt system, and you're sort of almost there.  It's damn good.

Check them out, especially Scarlet.

Hmmm

Keep thinking I should have something of worth to blog about today, but, I don't.  So, in leu of anything remotely interesting, here's WIDATW.

Friday night was, as pointed out in the previous post, the 4th Rock Radio birthday bash.  It was good. Up to a point. The bands were great - especially The Union - up to the headliners Reef.  Now, I've never been a fan of Reef, but hey, I thought they'd be fun live, and they probably would have been, if they hadn't done an acoustic set.  The previous three bands had managed to get a terrific atmosphere created, even with - in the case of Taking Dawn - some sound issues.  Then, Reef came on, and the atmosphere went a bit pancake flat.

Now let me point out that they weren't bad, it's just that there was a lot of energy in the room, and an acoustic set (by anyone) just killed it outright.  If they had come on earlier in the evening, then they would have gone over better, but as it was, it was a case of meh, leaving early, and getting a quick pint in before heading home.

Saturday was veg out with a movie day, and the movie was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Really enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a bladder burster at 2:20.  Thankfully there was the pause button.  Anyway, good movie, might hit the library and check out the book.

Knackered

Feeling really tired today.  I think it's a result of driving to the borders and back, and being stuck in a 1 hour jam on the M8 because idiots were rubber-necking a burning van on the hard shoulder. Whatever the reason, it's made me grumpy today, so I'll be glad when it's over, as I'm not feeling particularly sociable.

Looking forward to tomorrow though, as it's the Rock Radio 4th Birthday Bash at the Garage, so should be a good gig.

Need to watch some more Big Bang Theory to de-grumpify myself I think.

WIDATW

Friday night was a leaving do for one of the girls.  Started of in Revolution (vodka bar) before hitting the Assam for a curry.  I left after this, but there was a ceilidh involved for those who stayed on, and by all accounts it was good.

Saturday I had curry from breakfast.  There was a doggy bag from the previous night, and it saved having to think about what to eat.  This was probably a bad idea as K and me had a meal booked for lunch, in an Indian, so that was more curry for lunch. (I was possibly born on the wrong continent :-D )

On Sunday morning, I headed to the climbing wall, then when I got back home, K and me jumped in the car, and headed to Glennifer Braes for a wee walk.  It was nice, and there were quite a few dog walkers.

Back at the house, we vegged out with Dancing on Ice and some Big Bang theory.

Achey, but in a good way

Wednesday was the first karate class since before the Christmas holidays, and it was pretty good, given that we've obviously done little to no training over the break.  The only thing is, damn, I'm feeling it now.  My muscles  round my hips, and my calf and thigh muscles are achey and I feel like I do when I have restless leg syndrome.
I don't want to sit still, but it's achey to move.

On the plus side, it's evidence that I've actually done some hard training.  There will be benefits from this.*

(* If I keep telling myself this, I'll believe it and persevere and GET the benefits).

Good start to 2011

Well, work-wise, the year got off to a good start, with me getting to go to Bilbao for meetings for a project I'll be involved in.
I'd never been before, and got the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning before flying back, to check out the town.  It's fantastic.  It's clean, safe, nice to wander round, and fairly easy to navigate.  Then there's the Guggenheim.  What a building, and what a museum.  I managed to lose about 4 1/2 hours wandering round the exhibits.
I really need to go back for a work free long weekend, and take Karen.  She'd love it.

So, that was 2010 then. Hello 2011

Well, Christmas and New Year are over, and it's back to reality (boo!).

Over the holidays, we managed to get sledging once (Christmas day), and went out quite a lot, to friends, to the town, to the sales, and not forgetting, to the pub.

To be honest, the older I get the less the holiday season means.  Christmas is - lets face it - for kids. The sales afterwards can be good, but otherwise, it's for kids.  New Year, when I was younger, I loved it, but now I only stay up to see the New Year in, out of some weird sense of duty.  I'd probably get pelters if I said I went to bed before the bells.  Must try it sometime and see.

Slightly late, but....

.....here's the pic of me ready for the work crimbo do.  Scary.

Nearly time.

Tuesday is the work Christmas lunch.  Almost time to don the kilt and give my legs an airing.  Is Glasgow ready for the horror????

Bouldering competition

The climbing center held a bouldering competition on Friday, and I decided to give it a go.  First time I've entered something like this, and considering I've yet to nail a V3, I opted (sensibly) for the beginners category.
Needless to say, I didn't win, or come remotely close, but I had a hell of a lot of fun.

Me trying to defy gravity.

Weather in Glasgow, and Poundland fun

Well, the freeze has eased up, and there's a thaw well and truly underway.  This is good in that transport should get back to normal pretty quickly, and bad in that the underlying ice now has a layer of meltwater on top and it ridiculously slippy.

Another plus is that as long as the weather stays like this, I'll be able to wear my kilt to the Christmas night out on the 21st.  If it changes again.....well, what's the rules on kilts and long johns? :-)

On the way home the other night, I dropped into Poundland, and got a cracking couple of bargins.  Mario Bava's Bay of Blood, and the slasher flick Pieces, for £1 each.  Bargin :-)

Damn it's cold

Once again it snows and Scotland grinds to a halt.  We've had severe winters the last three years now, so why does it seem to come as a surprise to the councils, who excel at not being able to grit/clear the roads.
What the hell are we paying our council tax for?  Oh wait, in the case of Glasgow, it's to pay for junkets for the Grand High Heid Yins.

Back to karate

Well, that's me well and truly back at the karate after an absence of almost two months, due to club not being on due to lack of numbers, holidays, and laterly, illness.  So, while it's good to be back, it's a bit achey, but in a good way.

Having new instructors, gives a different slant on things, and I think they're more comfortable teaching than Michelle was, as they come over as being more confident, which in turn gives you a bit more confidence to try things.

It's all good.

Ingrid Pitt RIP

Ingrid Pitt, star of many a Hammer movie, and possibly responsible for my love of horror movies has died aged 73.
She made some brilliant movies with Hammer, and was also in The Wicker Man.  Come on terrestrial telly, lets have an Ingrid Pitt season.  Dust off those old movies and get them screened.

Ouchie ouchie ouch!

Yesterday I managed to make it to the re-started karate club.  This was the first time I've done any karate in about 5 or 6 weeks, and all I can say is "Damn, my legs are stiff today".
Turns out I know the guy who's now taking the club, as I'd met him a couple of times at day courses at Whiteinch, so that was good.
Still a bit run down from having flu last week, so for me it was a bit hard going, resulting in falling asleep in front of the tv when I got home last night.  The knock on effect of which, was that when I did go to bed I couldn't sleep, and ended up getting up and watching the first two parts of A History of Horror, which was excellent.  Part one covered the silent movies and Universal/RKO, and part two Hammer/Amicus.  I've still to see part three, which covers the new wave of horror, which gave us Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Looking forward to it.

Bleurgh

Since getting back from holiday, I've missed the Motorhead gig, by forgetting to buy a ticket before I went away, and coming back and thinking I HAD bought a ticket.  Result?  No gig for me.

I've also been laid out the the last five days with the flu.  The downside was well, I had the flu.  There was a plus side though.  I had ten Star Trek movies on the PVR (every one bar the re-boot movie), and they are now all on dvd, so the time spent off work, wasn't a total waste.

Now though, it's a case of normal service has been resumed, with me back at work.  I still need that bloody lottery win :-)

Late holiday

Just back from a week in Marrakesh, and very nice it was too.  The place is amazing, from the narrow streets of the medina to the utter madness of the Jmaa el Fna with it's food stalls, musicians, storytellers and snakecharmers, and (get this) dentist with extracted teeth on display, it's all incredible.

There's plenty to see in the city, and you'd never tire for something to taste.  We were eating for about £2.5 - £3 for the two of us.  Fabulous place.