So decided I am going to kill this particular blog off not least of all cause I never post to it, but also cause a new venture needs a fresh start.
Going to be building a new blog over the next couple of weeks, it'seems going to be dedicated to painting, gaming and the occassional rant about something or other that has got my ire up.
Thanks to everyone who viewed the blog over however long it'seems been up and I hope you have been at least a little entertained by my musings and my ramblings. If I ever get myself published I will start using this blog again but until then it's getting shut down.
Cheers
David
Thursday, 9 February 2017
Saturday, 20 August 2016
Time flies
I can't believe it's been almost a year since I posted a blog.
How time flies when there is so much shit to be done.
In that time I have had two jobs, my baby niece has turned 1 and I met an amazing young lady online who liked me for who I am and we were proceeding along the path that I thought meant I was never going to date anyone ever again, of course I've managed to screw that up that we went from talking all day every day to her barely speaking to me at all. All my fault cause I am a self sabotaging idiot, how much I wish I could stop myself.
We lost my Grandma back in January after a battle with cancer which sucked the fun out of life for a while. She was the strongest, toughest, little old Geordie lass you would ever meet but she loved her family like nobody else could and the loss of her presense in all of our lives is sorely felt by all of her family. I wish I had had kids before she died so they could have known her and like all of us we are glad that she got to meet our munchkin, wee ZoZo, my niece Zoey, who is the most fun to chase around the place cause that wee cheeky smile and laugh brightens up your day.
On the creative side I am working on a number of writing projects at the same time, it's fun because when I'm writing I am not getting bored at all, funnily enough not one of them is the book that I've been sitting looking at for years that I keep on promising will get published but never seems to get there. I'm working on a Military Sci-fi novel as part of a series actually set in the Magiverse I set up for Burn, Forest City, Burn.
The second is the first book in an epic Fantasy series based on a world I've been RPG gaming in for 20 years (well 11 years but there was a 10 year gap inbetween 10 and 11) and it's not getting worked on much but it's coming along but this one has a plan that I can go back to without the fly by the seat of my pants approach I usually take to writing.
The third is actually a campaign book for the aforementioned epic Fantasy series, which due to actually playing in the world I find myself looking forward to publishing more than I do my books. It's 20 years in the making, it's something I've been tinkering with and perfecting longer than anything in my life.
I've started painting for other people, starated with my wee brother's Chaos warriors, who are nowhere near done but I have managed to finish all the foot warriors, like everything else of my own painting wise there is so much work to be done that I go back when I can. I'm putting the finishing touches on a 2nd group of Battletech figures for one of the guys at Glasgow District I regularly play against. He hands me them and says do what you want with them, I've got the 3Rd Lyran Guard, 2nd Ceti Rangers, 1st Marik Militia, 4th Arkab Legion and Smoke Jaguar Alpha Galaxy down pat. Watch this space for updates on that particular endeavour in the future.
Of my own painting I've been working mostly on my American WW2, but it's been a while since I did anything with them, my ever growing Malifaux collection, spent more money on that in a year and a half than I have anything other than booze, actually probably more than I have on booze. I've been doing bits and pieces for everything but not settling on a single project for more than a month at a time. When I got my Zombicide Black Plague (If you haven't played it I can not recommend it more, it's awesome) I worked on that a whole lot, 30 figures at a time over a couple weeks and I'm probably only half way through them.
I took part in my first Malifaux tournament at the Scottish GT last month and didn't come last, managed to beat my expectations for the weekend of getting a Victory Point in every game of the tournament, by actually winning a game, beating a friend who had up until that point alluded me beating at the game. I'll conceed the terrain, the strategy and the schemes suited my faction and the crew I chose to perfection against his which none of it was any help to him. Liking forward to my next one and an excuse to paint abother faction's worth of figures. Got three factions now, Guild, Ten Thunders and Outcasts, though I could field a Neverborn crew I wouldn't say I had them as a Faction. One of the Outcast crews is all female and I will be painting them all the colours of the Harley Quinn Rainbow, from the original, to the Arkham series probably all the way to the Suicide Squad incarnation. Watch this space for those.
I've also got a bunch of Napoleonic's sitting ready to be painted I started the foot centre company but got distracted by work and everything else.
So as for the rest of my life, the only real significant thing other than getting my degree was the young lady who I met online. Sonya. She fits all the attraction points for me, redhead, gorgeous even though she doesn't see it, fun, smart even though she doesn't think it, and tough, not just because of everything she's gone through in the past 6 and a half minus that I've known her but the mental toughness to come though the things she's had to endure over her life, if I was her I'd have rolled up into the fetal position long ago and wouldn't have gotten out of it. Of course I managed to do what I always do and sabotage myself by saying stupid shit and not stopping myself even though I know I should and have been there before. I wish I had learned by now not to do this shit. But I haven't and don't know if I ever will.
As for the martial arts and my fitness, it's not been a great year, barely been to the Grip and put all that weight I had lost back on, I'm working on getting it back off but with my work schedule being as eratic as it is I don't know where I'm going to be from one week to the next, I was up north for two days last week, three this week and two next week. It's not like you actually get to see a place either, you get there at 8 O'Clock at night, go to bed cause you are up early the next day go to the job and either go home or onto the next town where you eat and go to bed cause of the early start. But it's work and I hate nnot working.
I'm going to stop predicting when I am going to publish what because it's a waste of my time, your time and anticipation. It is suffice to say, I am working on it and will be done and ready when I am done and ready.
One last thing Grimbold books, the indie publishers that published Strange Tales from the Scriptorion Vaults and A World of Their Own, both of which have short stories of mines published within their pages if you don't already own copies of both you should cause while I am a hack at the best of times the rest of the writers are truly superb and they are both Charity anthologies so the money you spend goes to two superb literary charities. They are on Patreon to keep the publishing going, the owners have poured their hearts and souls and plenty of their own money into this venture and there are some truly brilliant writers on their various imprints, I myself am helping them keep the business afloat, granted they are my friends and I support them because of that but because they also take chances on works that no major publisher would, and the out there oddball stuff is the best. Like all Patreon's you get what you pay for it'll be worth your time and money if you are a Fantasy and Sci-fi fan.
Think that's me for now, I will try and update this more often than I have in the past I need to just make the time.
Peace.
How time flies when there is so much shit to be done.
In that time I have had two jobs, my baby niece has turned 1 and I met an amazing young lady online who liked me for who I am and we were proceeding along the path that I thought meant I was never going to date anyone ever again, of course I've managed to screw that up that we went from talking all day every day to her barely speaking to me at all. All my fault cause I am a self sabotaging idiot, how much I wish I could stop myself.
We lost my Grandma back in January after a battle with cancer which sucked the fun out of life for a while. She was the strongest, toughest, little old Geordie lass you would ever meet but she loved her family like nobody else could and the loss of her presense in all of our lives is sorely felt by all of her family. I wish I had had kids before she died so they could have known her and like all of us we are glad that she got to meet our munchkin, wee ZoZo, my niece Zoey, who is the most fun to chase around the place cause that wee cheeky smile and laugh brightens up your day.
On the creative side I am working on a number of writing projects at the same time, it's fun because when I'm writing I am not getting bored at all, funnily enough not one of them is the book that I've been sitting looking at for years that I keep on promising will get published but never seems to get there. I'm working on a Military Sci-fi novel as part of a series actually set in the Magiverse I set up for Burn, Forest City, Burn.
The second is the first book in an epic Fantasy series based on a world I've been RPG gaming in for 20 years (well 11 years but there was a 10 year gap inbetween 10 and 11) and it's not getting worked on much but it's coming along but this one has a plan that I can go back to without the fly by the seat of my pants approach I usually take to writing.
The third is actually a campaign book for the aforementioned epic Fantasy series, which due to actually playing in the world I find myself looking forward to publishing more than I do my books. It's 20 years in the making, it's something I've been tinkering with and perfecting longer than anything in my life.
I've started painting for other people, starated with my wee brother's Chaos warriors, who are nowhere near done but I have managed to finish all the foot warriors, like everything else of my own painting wise there is so much work to be done that I go back when I can. I'm putting the finishing touches on a 2nd group of Battletech figures for one of the guys at Glasgow District I regularly play against. He hands me them and says do what you want with them, I've got the 3Rd Lyran Guard, 2nd Ceti Rangers, 1st Marik Militia, 4th Arkab Legion and Smoke Jaguar Alpha Galaxy down pat. Watch this space for updates on that particular endeavour in the future.
Of my own painting I've been working mostly on my American WW2, but it's been a while since I did anything with them, my ever growing Malifaux collection, spent more money on that in a year and a half than I have anything other than booze, actually probably more than I have on booze. I've been doing bits and pieces for everything but not settling on a single project for more than a month at a time. When I got my Zombicide Black Plague (If you haven't played it I can not recommend it more, it's awesome) I worked on that a whole lot, 30 figures at a time over a couple weeks and I'm probably only half way through them.
I took part in my first Malifaux tournament at the Scottish GT last month and didn't come last, managed to beat my expectations for the weekend of getting a Victory Point in every game of the tournament, by actually winning a game, beating a friend who had up until that point alluded me beating at the game. I'll conceed the terrain, the strategy and the schemes suited my faction and the crew I chose to perfection against his which none of it was any help to him. Liking forward to my next one and an excuse to paint abother faction's worth of figures. Got three factions now, Guild, Ten Thunders and Outcasts, though I could field a Neverborn crew I wouldn't say I had them as a Faction. One of the Outcast crews is all female and I will be painting them all the colours of the Harley Quinn Rainbow, from the original, to the Arkham series probably all the way to the Suicide Squad incarnation. Watch this space for those.
I've also got a bunch of Napoleonic's sitting ready to be painted I started the foot centre company but got distracted by work and everything else.
So as for the rest of my life, the only real significant thing other than getting my degree was the young lady who I met online. Sonya. She fits all the attraction points for me, redhead, gorgeous even though she doesn't see it, fun, smart even though she doesn't think it, and tough, not just because of everything she's gone through in the past 6 and a half minus that I've known her but the mental toughness to come though the things she's had to endure over her life, if I was her I'd have rolled up into the fetal position long ago and wouldn't have gotten out of it. Of course I managed to do what I always do and sabotage myself by saying stupid shit and not stopping myself even though I know I should and have been there before. I wish I had learned by now not to do this shit. But I haven't and don't know if I ever will.
As for the martial arts and my fitness, it's not been a great year, barely been to the Grip and put all that weight I had lost back on, I'm working on getting it back off but with my work schedule being as eratic as it is I don't know where I'm going to be from one week to the next, I was up north for two days last week, three this week and two next week. It's not like you actually get to see a place either, you get there at 8 O'Clock at night, go to bed cause you are up early the next day go to the job and either go home or onto the next town where you eat and go to bed cause of the early start. But it's work and I hate nnot working.
I'm going to stop predicting when I am going to publish what because it's a waste of my time, your time and anticipation. It is suffice to say, I am working on it and will be done and ready when I am done and ready.
One last thing Grimbold books, the indie publishers that published Strange Tales from the Scriptorion Vaults and A World of Their Own, both of which have short stories of mines published within their pages if you don't already own copies of both you should cause while I am a hack at the best of times the rest of the writers are truly superb and they are both Charity anthologies so the money you spend goes to two superb literary charities. They are on Patreon to keep the publishing going, the owners have poured their hearts and souls and plenty of their own money into this venture and there are some truly brilliant writers on their various imprints, I myself am helping them keep the business afloat, granted they are my friends and I support them because of that but because they also take chances on works that no major publisher would, and the out there oddball stuff is the best. Like all Patreon's you get what you pay for it'll be worth your time and money if you are a Fantasy and Sci-fi fan.
Think that's me for now, I will try and update this more often than I have in the past I need to just make the time.
Peace.
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
A World of Their Own
So, a week past on Friday A World of their own by the Alliance of Worldbuilders, a group who I was a member of when I was a member of the now defunct HarperCollins owned website, which was essentially their slush pile for potential authors, not that many people got through that, I never read any of them but doesn't mean they weren't any good, though just because anything get's published means it's any good Twishite got published.
Anyway back in 2010, the Alliance of Worldbuilders Authonomy thread began to take off and became the go-to site for fantasy/sci-fi writers to share ideas, critique each other, offer tips, and encourage one another in our writing and publishing journeys. We would constantly break the forum because our thread was so huge that they wouldn't load any longer, so we had to start again.
In 2011, we began to discuss the idea of an anthology to be published in 2012, collecting short stories and flash fiction from our members and putting it together. As we have all been on our own individual journeys in the last few years (many of the collaborators now published authors at this point), it took quite a while to finally put together and bring a real finalized product to the world.
So all the proceeds go to the World Literacy Foundation who's mission is to lift children and youth out of poverty by delivering effective and sustainable programs aimed at eradicating illiteracy.
The World Literacy Foundation was founded on several basic principles – education is a basic human right, too many people around the world don’t know how to read or write, and that literacy is the foundation to learning. Since its establishment as a not-for-profit in 2003, the World Literacy Foundation has steadily grown to align with the needs of a continually evolving educational sector.
So, basically a World of their Own is one part Charity Anthlogy other part homage to a fallen comrade, Lindsey J Parsons, or Sergeant Gummie Dragon, who we lost in early last year of a Brain aneurysm before she could complete the trilogy she was working on the Return of Effra. I personally didn't know her a whole lot but anyone who did never had a bad word to say about her and that speaks volumes about a person in my opinion.
Anyway both of my short stories We Rise and they smite and Night of a Thousand Spells were on here at some point in the past and it says I'm working on a Caleb O'Hearn book to be published hopefully in the first quarter of next year, of course since it's been published that's already changed. The first book of the Gabriel of Alba books, which was titled Burn, Forest City, Burn, but is know just Burn: Book 1 of the Magi Chronicles is going to be that book because the second draft is 80% done (and not before time it's only taken 3 years) and the first draft of Warrior Rising is only at 40%, but I'll be releasing that 3rd or 4th Quarter next year, none of this depends on if I get a publisher, I'll be self-publishing and at least sell it to the friends who like me enough to do it and the family members who feel generous.
So, if you are seeing this and haven't already bought it, please do and if you liked it leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads and any good review site, because the more people read and review it, the more money the charity get.
ISBN 13: 978-1909845817
ISBN 10: 1909845817
ASIN: B014WQS2GQ
**PAPERBACK**
US: http://www.amazon.com/World-Their-Own-Lindsey…/…/1909845817/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Their-Own-Linds…/…/1909845817/
CA:
**EBOOK**
US: http://www.amazon.com/World-Their-Own-Lindsey-Parsons-eb…/…/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Their-Own-Lindsey-Parsons-…/…/
CA: http://www.amazon.ca/World-Their-Own-Lindsey-Parsons-ebo…/…/
US: http://www.amazon.com/World-Their-Own-Lindsey…/…/1909845817/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Their-Own-Linds…/…/1909845817/
CA:
**EBOOK**
US: http://www.amazon.com/World-Their-Own-Lindsey-Parsons-eb…/…/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Their-Own-Lindsey-Parsons-…/…/
CA: http://www.amazon.ca/World-Their-Own-Lindsey-Parsons-ebo…/…/
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Life Update
Howdy do folks,
So a little life update, I passed my Resit of my Unix exam so I have a BSc in Computer Networking, so whoop.
Went to the first ever UFC in this great, mighty small nation on the planet, there was one bad fight all night, and all three Scots won that night, the atmosphere was out of this world, UFC's in the US aren't like that, but Europeans, we bring the sane atmosphere we do to Football matches.
Back on a painting kick after having painted two whole fleets of Dystopian Wars Air fleets for the Claymore show, which was alright but it wasn't anywhere as good as Carron adequate, which we got a special mention in Wargames Illustrated.
I painted a 50 soul stone crew for Mali faux, it came out awesome all but the Crew leader that is.
I'm in the middle of painting my younger brother's Warhammer Khorne army, it'seems going very well at the moment. Managed about 40 chaos warriors so far, I'll post pictures when I'm done.
I'm single which sucks but we persevere.
I've been a bit broken for a couple of months, my back hasn't been doing well at all, all stemming from an idiot screw up trying to do a single takedown with a lift rather than a drove. Dumb ass move it was.
This means I've put the weight I had lost this year back on. But I will be hitting the training again soon. And I started doing Yoga to see if that can help with the back.
A World of Their Own, a book of Short stories by members of the Alliance of World builders, a group of writers including myself, that met on the now defunct Authonomy website, is due to be released on the 4th of September on Amazon in the UK and USA, it'll be £8.99 in the UK and $13.99 in the US for the paperback and £1.99 and $2.99 for the Ebook, I'll be doing my usual shilling like a villa over the next week.
All proceeds to the book are going to the World Literacy Foundation, which is an awesome charity who try and get youths out of poverty through literacy and education.
Oh, my baby sister had a little girl, Zoey, and she is the most gorgeous, cute, lovely little pudding of a baby. She is awesome.
So, that's pretty much it for now.
So a little life update, I passed my Resit of my Unix exam so I have a BSc in Computer Networking, so whoop.
Went to the first ever UFC in this great, mighty small nation on the planet, there was one bad fight all night, and all three Scots won that night, the atmosphere was out of this world, UFC's in the US aren't like that, but Europeans, we bring the sane atmosphere we do to Football matches.
Back on a painting kick after having painted two whole fleets of Dystopian Wars Air fleets for the Claymore show, which was alright but it wasn't anywhere as good as Carron adequate, which we got a special mention in Wargames Illustrated.
I painted a 50 soul stone crew for Mali faux, it came out awesome all but the Crew leader that is.
I'm in the middle of painting my younger brother's Warhammer Khorne army, it'seems going very well at the moment. Managed about 40 chaos warriors so far, I'll post pictures when I'm done.
I'm single which sucks but we persevere.
I've been a bit broken for a couple of months, my back hasn't been doing well at all, all stemming from an idiot screw up trying to do a single takedown with a lift rather than a drove. Dumb ass move it was.
This means I've put the weight I had lost this year back on. But I will be hitting the training again soon. And I started doing Yoga to see if that can help with the back.
A World of Their Own, a book of Short stories by members of the Alliance of World builders, a group of writers including myself, that met on the now defunct Authonomy website, is due to be released on the 4th of September on Amazon in the UK and USA, it'll be £8.99 in the UK and $13.99 in the US for the paperback and £1.99 and $2.99 for the Ebook, I'll be doing my usual shilling like a villa over the next week.
All proceeds to the book are going to the World Literacy Foundation, which is an awesome charity who try and get youths out of poverty through literacy and education.
Oh, my baby sister had a little girl, Zoey, and she is the most gorgeous, cute, lovely little pudding of a baby. She is awesome.
So, that's pretty much it for now.
Thursday, 11 June 2015
Long time coming
Jesus it's been a long time since I posted anything, been to busy I suppose.
So, onto it, well I've passed all but one of my modules for my BSc in Computer Networking, which means a resit in August which is a pain in the ass, but never mind.
The fitness regime is lets say kicking, more I'm getting my ass kicked than me kicking ass but that's cool because I've got hard muscles for the first time in ten years, also I can do proper push-ups again and I'm starting to run the belly off, I couldn't do that with just walking and running last summer. The squats are easy, it's the crunches that are a bitch, and kettlebells are awesome even if they aren't the Onnit Primal bells, they looks so cool but considering they would cost almost £300 before posting and the import tax I can do without. Also I started to do Yoga, yes me, who always made fun of guys who did Yoga, but to be fair I made fun of the new agey assholes.
Carronade 2015 was a rousing success both for the Falkirk club which had it's biggest numbers in clubs, traders and feet throught the door this year, and for the Glasgow District club as well.
We did two displays, my own Assault on Gibraltar using Dystopian Wars (my what a surprise for you all) and a Spanish Civil War game run by Balkan Dave himself.
A few photos are below including George Dick's awesome Rock of Gibraltar, the Britianians were from Bill Robertson's collection and the Prussians are mine, some of which were I will admit whole heartedly finished the night before
I could not honestly tell you who won or how the game was played who killed what and what killed them. I was too busy talking with the many people who came to see the game. I let Bill and Sandy do the shooty shooty but ass the landing on Gibraltar never actually happened since we ran out of time I think the Britannians won by default, (BOOOO). We actually ran out of fliers for the game midway through the day, we never run out of fliers ever and the last one went to the Wargames Illustrated's roving reporter, hopefully we'll get a mention.
Details of both games are on the GDWS site.
Assault on gibraltar
There's a Valley in Spain called Jarama
Also Balkan Dave's blogpost on the show
Next up in displays will be an all aerial Dystopian Wars game at Claymore. Yes that's right all airships and fighters. Lots of aces flying around the place. Thing is though it's seven weeks away and I've got pretty much all the Britannians and Russians to paint. Thankfully the Prussians are all done.
I have finished my book I was working on and am currently in the early stages of the first edit before I send it out to have it perused by some people to get their feedback on the various aspects of it. Still on course for the March release next year, whether it's a traditional, indie or a do it myself publishing is yet to be seen.
Also I'M GOING TO THE UFC, yes that is correct I will be in Glasgow at the Hydro on the 18th of July, one of the lucky 13,000 that will witness the first ever Scottish UFC event and what will be the loudest ever UFC event in the history of the organisation. Dana White thought Dublin was loud, I say fuck Dublin, there's going to be twice as many of us and as everyone knows the Scots are louder than the Irish any day of the week. There's only been 9 of the 12 fights announced so far, so I'm hoping that means some trials for some of Scotland's up and coming fighters. I'm going along with the sister's baby daddy but I know of a half dozen people who got their tickets. It's the fastest sell out of a UFC event in Europe ever, 25 minutes and all the tickets were gone. To say I almost bounced off a wall when I got the tickets would be an accurate assessment, also the shit eating grin I had for a week pretty much summed up how awesome I thought it was.
Still waiting on a release date for the Alliance of Worldbuilders Anthology and will post it when I know. I know there are some issues with it at the moment, I'm not sure what they are but as I said when they are available I will let you know.
All in all not a bad report of the activities.
***EDIT*****
Oh, aye, I forgot, 53 SNP MP's in Westminster (maybe 54 if that lying Wanker Carmichael get's booted out), tae fuck wae the establishment, maybe the EU referendum will give the English the kick up the arse they need to see that the fuckin established wankers aren't working.
So, onto it, well I've passed all but one of my modules for my BSc in Computer Networking, which means a resit in August which is a pain in the ass, but never mind.
The fitness regime is lets say kicking, more I'm getting my ass kicked than me kicking ass but that's cool because I've got hard muscles for the first time in ten years, also I can do proper push-ups again and I'm starting to run the belly off, I couldn't do that with just walking and running last summer. The squats are easy, it's the crunches that are a bitch, and kettlebells are awesome even if they aren't the Onnit Primal bells, they looks so cool but considering they would cost almost £300 before posting and the import tax I can do without. Also I started to do Yoga, yes me, who always made fun of guys who did Yoga, but to be fair I made fun of the new agey assholes.
Carronade 2015 was a rousing success both for the Falkirk club which had it's biggest numbers in clubs, traders and feet throught the door this year, and for the Glasgow District club as well.
We did two displays, my own Assault on Gibraltar using Dystopian Wars (my what a surprise for you all) and a Spanish Civil War game run by Balkan Dave himself.
A few photos are below including George Dick's awesome Rock of Gibraltar, the Britianians were from Bill Robertson's collection and the Prussians are mine, some of which were I will admit whole heartedly finished the night before
I could not honestly tell you who won or how the game was played who killed what and what killed them. I was too busy talking with the many people who came to see the game. I let Bill and Sandy do the shooty shooty but ass the landing on Gibraltar never actually happened since we ran out of time I think the Britannians won by default, (BOOOO). We actually ran out of fliers for the game midway through the day, we never run out of fliers ever and the last one went to the Wargames Illustrated's roving reporter, hopefully we'll get a mention.
Details of both games are on the GDWS site.
Assault on gibraltar
There's a Valley in Spain called Jarama
Also Balkan Dave's blogpost on the show
Next up in displays will be an all aerial Dystopian Wars game at Claymore. Yes that's right all airships and fighters. Lots of aces flying around the place. Thing is though it's seven weeks away and I've got pretty much all the Britannians and Russians to paint. Thankfully the Prussians are all done.
I have finished my book I was working on and am currently in the early stages of the first edit before I send it out to have it perused by some people to get their feedback on the various aspects of it. Still on course for the March release next year, whether it's a traditional, indie or a do it myself publishing is yet to be seen.
Also I'M GOING TO THE UFC, yes that is correct I will be in Glasgow at the Hydro on the 18th of July, one of the lucky 13,000 that will witness the first ever Scottish UFC event and what will be the loudest ever UFC event in the history of the organisation. Dana White thought Dublin was loud, I say fuck Dublin, there's going to be twice as many of us and as everyone knows the Scots are louder than the Irish any day of the week. There's only been 9 of the 12 fights announced so far, so I'm hoping that means some trials for some of Scotland's up and coming fighters. I'm going along with the sister's baby daddy but I know of a half dozen people who got their tickets. It's the fastest sell out of a UFC event in Europe ever, 25 minutes and all the tickets were gone. To say I almost bounced off a wall when I got the tickets would be an accurate assessment, also the shit eating grin I had for a week pretty much summed up how awesome I thought it was.
Still waiting on a release date for the Alliance of Worldbuilders Anthology and will post it when I know. I know there are some issues with it at the moment, I'm not sure what they are but as I said when they are available I will let you know.
All in all not a bad report of the activities.
***EDIT*****
Oh, aye, I forgot, 53 SNP MP's in Westminster (maybe 54 if that lying Wanker Carmichael get's booted out), tae fuck wae the establishment, maybe the EU referendum will give the English the kick up the arse they need to see that the fuckin established wankers aren't working.
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Podcasts
So, today after a small update on how life is going, I'm going to talk about the recent introduction in my life that are podcasts, not entirely a new concept but new for me at least.
It all started for me with the Joe Rogan Experience, some of you who like me are fans of combat sports will be aware of Mr Rogan the colour commentator for the UFC in its peak period of growth, some of you older people may remember him from the 90'a sitcom News Radio, my own first experience was from his stand up comedy.
I started listening to the show because I was bored one day and came across it looking to see if he was going to be doing a stand up tour in the UK, he wasn't but I came across the podcast videos, the first one I came across waa one with Joey Diaz, another incredibly funny stand up with one hell of a life, for those of you that aren't aware of him, I recommend listening to one of the podcasts and listen to him recount some of his stories. What I was to find was not just a comedy podcast but a podcast that had everything from discussions on psychedelics to political discussions, philosophy, the nature of humanity, fighters, just about anything you could want torder know it's in there.
Now there are occasions where I want to shout and tell Joe to shut the fuck up and let his guests talk, but they always eventually get out what they are wanting to say. And because these people have said some interesting things about various subjects you want to hear more, which has lead to my listening to probably two dozen podcasts, from Daniele Bolleli's Drunken Taoist, Cara Santa Maria's Talk Nerdy, a numbet of the Earwolf, Nerdist amd Deathsquad networks' podcasts, everything I listen to informs my thoughts and how I approach evertything in life.
This had lead me to stop watching TV practically altogether, I'll now do what I did with only with Game of Thrones and wait for the whole series to finish and watch every episode in one or two sitings and because while listening to a podcast you can pop the headphones and get something else done at the same time, my productivity has shot through the roof. Where I would have to sit and watch for a couple hours every night what had been on the night before, I power through it, which is what was always great about Netflix, every episode of a series is right there to watch. I may be massively behind everyone else but so what I should be used to that by now. I now don'the even bother with music while I'm exercising anymore, I download a couple of podcasts on my phone and away I'll go, I used to unconsciously move at the rhythm of each song, which when every song has it's own throws you off, now I go at a natural rhythm which is cool.
You may be asking why I even bother talking to you about this, well I like to share things that are new to me, and if me sharing my experiences cam lead someone else to a podcast that helps them in life or even they just get enjoyment out of , that'sounds me paying it forward and doing a little good, and if you keep doing a little good every day, then it makes life and the world better a little bit at a time.
That's enough from me for the day, so peace, love and all that good shit.
Monday, 23 February 2015
I'm Back
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
It is indeed I, your favorite neighborhood wacko foul mouthed, angry Scotsman.
It has been a good long while since I posted, there was the massive the massively drunken rant over the UK blackout of events on Fight Pass, I got over it since I get BT Sports for free and just record it, but apart from that there hasn't been anything since the Referendum, which I'm just going to say much other I'm bummed about, but come May hopefully the Westminster Establishment of theives, cunts, pedophiles and wankers are going to be kicked squarely in the arse by the rolling freight train of the renewed vigour of Scottish interest in how we are governed, and how badly we've been getting shafted by the Tories, the Red Tories and the Yellow Tories.
I passed two of my units for the first half of my Uni 3rd year, the one I failed was Unix and it was the exam that I failed miserably but it doesn't help when you the study materials you have don't even remotely match what's in your exam, you can't study the whole of Unix, it's frigging impossible. Hoping this half won't be as bad, doesn't seem like it (Helps that HTML and Javascript doesn't have an exam) and I get to resit in August so won't be repeating and wasting a whole year on it.
The Dystpian Wars extraveganza is rolling on, 6000 points strong of Prussians and 4000 points strong of Russians, and while we are fighting the Battle of Gibraltar at Carronade in very early May, the Rock itself is being crafted masterfully by the great George Dick, is rolling along quickly and not absolutley prepared for it, but I'll be orgainising that little bit in the ext few weeks, emails need to be sent and the delivery of members of the clubs who cant be there's ships needs to be arranged.
On the Wargaming front still and I just spent over £200 on a new World War II American army, with the required Sherman, in 28mm for Chain of Command by Two Fat Lardies and Bolt Action by Warlord. Pictures will be forthcoming when the painting is complete. Yes, I am a glutton for punishment and always give myself more work than I can handle but screw it.
Yet again staying with Wargaming, I will be taking part once again in the Scottish Battletech Championship this year at the Schiltron Wargaming tournament, hoping to make up for last years debacle with a top half finish this year. If you are interested I believe there are some places still available for Battletech so if you pop along to the website and have a look see
On the writing side of things, I am in the middle of working on the first draft of Warrior Rising, it is the new title of my first Caleb (originally Calibern) O'Hearn novel, it is actually a completely different book from Running out of Space which along with the several books that I started since I began that, got stopped because I couldn't take them anywhere at a certain point cause I didn't feel it (maybe because I'm an idiot and didn't have a plan for any of them). This was precipitated by a conversation I had in the Pub (oh, everyone has to be surprised by that) with my good friend Ferdinand, big crazy Dutch Philosopher in chief of Rufus T Firefly, about how I always start things and have great plans for them (or not really in my case) but they always go to shit, I started afresh with a brand new book but using the back story I had created for him and a number of the characters, sat down and went through all the backlog of stuff I had written and then made a plan of the novel section by section who the characters would be that were in the story. It'll be finished at the end of August this year, drafted, read by people I trust, drafted, read, drafted and then polished up and in September I begin shopping it around publishers after that and if I don't get a bite I will be self publshing for this time next year.
In other writing news the Alliance of Worldbuilders is in the final stages of prep (I'm a lazy shit and only just wrote my Bio) the irrepresible and awesome Sammy HK Smith, author of In Search of Gods and Heroes, mother of Cats (seriously she has a whole fuck load of them), one of the head honchos of Grimbold Books is working her way to completing that, I have two short stories in there, Mr Gabriel of Alba, protagonist of my Urban Fantasy work is hacking away and shooting spells at people in there, so watch this space or my facebook or even my Google+ feed for that and if you haven't bought and read In Search of Gods and Heroes why the hell not?
This year also as part of my attempt to become healthy and fit once again, am seriously (aposed to fucking around with it for short periods) taking up Muay Thai and Brazilian Jui-jitsu as part of an MMA orientated regime, it will encompasse eventually the whole spectrum of training in MMA but I'm starting with the hard bits first. Also I begin 352 days of no Booze, that's correct no more drunken ramblings for almost year, as of the 16th of March, conveniently those 352 days land on the end of my birthday celebration period of one year and end at the beginning of the celebration period of another year, not really all that convinient since I sent the time limit. I reckon if I can go that long without booze after losing three stone over three months without it, I will be a lean mean and less angry machine by the end of the 352 days, that and I'l save a shitload of money.
That's about it for this particular blog, as I am about to eat dinner and head out to Falkirk for some Chain of Command, first outing of my new army.
Peace, love and all that good shit.
It is indeed I, your favorite neighborhood wacko foul mouthed, angry Scotsman.
It has been a good long while since I posted, there was the massive the massively drunken rant over the UK blackout of events on Fight Pass, I got over it since I get BT Sports for free and just record it, but apart from that there hasn't been anything since the Referendum, which I'm just going to say much other I'm bummed about, but come May hopefully the Westminster Establishment of theives, cunts, pedophiles and wankers are going to be kicked squarely in the arse by the rolling freight train of the renewed vigour of Scottish interest in how we are governed, and how badly we've been getting shafted by the Tories, the Red Tories and the Yellow Tories.
I passed two of my units for the first half of my Uni 3rd year, the one I failed was Unix and it was the exam that I failed miserably but it doesn't help when you the study materials you have don't even remotely match what's in your exam, you can't study the whole of Unix, it's frigging impossible. Hoping this half won't be as bad, doesn't seem like it (Helps that HTML and Javascript doesn't have an exam) and I get to resit in August so won't be repeating and wasting a whole year on it.
The Dystpian Wars extraveganza is rolling on, 6000 points strong of Prussians and 4000 points strong of Russians, and while we are fighting the Battle of Gibraltar at Carronade in very early May, the Rock itself is being crafted masterfully by the great George Dick, is rolling along quickly and not absolutley prepared for it, but I'll be orgainising that little bit in the ext few weeks, emails need to be sent and the delivery of members of the clubs who cant be there's ships needs to be arranged.
On the Wargaming front still and I just spent over £200 on a new World War II American army, with the required Sherman, in 28mm for Chain of Command by Two Fat Lardies and Bolt Action by Warlord. Pictures will be forthcoming when the painting is complete. Yes, I am a glutton for punishment and always give myself more work than I can handle but screw it.
Yet again staying with Wargaming, I will be taking part once again in the Scottish Battletech Championship this year at the Schiltron Wargaming tournament, hoping to make up for last years debacle with a top half finish this year. If you are interested I believe there are some places still available for Battletech so if you pop along to the website and have a look see
On the writing side of things, I am in the middle of working on the first draft of Warrior Rising, it is the new title of my first Caleb (originally Calibern) O'Hearn novel, it is actually a completely different book from Running out of Space which along with the several books that I started since I began that, got stopped because I couldn't take them anywhere at a certain point cause I didn't feel it (maybe because I'm an idiot and didn't have a plan for any of them). This was precipitated by a conversation I had in the Pub (oh, everyone has to be surprised by that) with my good friend Ferdinand, big crazy Dutch Philosopher in chief of Rufus T Firefly, about how I always start things and have great plans for them (or not really in my case) but they always go to shit, I started afresh with a brand new book but using the back story I had created for him and a number of the characters, sat down and went through all the backlog of stuff I had written and then made a plan of the novel section by section who the characters would be that were in the story. It'll be finished at the end of August this year, drafted, read by people I trust, drafted, read, drafted and then polished up and in September I begin shopping it around publishers after that and if I don't get a bite I will be self publshing for this time next year.
In other writing news the Alliance of Worldbuilders is in the final stages of prep (I'm a lazy shit and only just wrote my Bio) the irrepresible and awesome Sammy HK Smith, author of In Search of Gods and Heroes, mother of Cats (seriously she has a whole fuck load of them), one of the head honchos of Grimbold Books is working her way to completing that, I have two short stories in there, Mr Gabriel of Alba, protagonist of my Urban Fantasy work is hacking away and shooting spells at people in there, so watch this space or my facebook or even my Google+ feed for that and if you haven't bought and read In Search of Gods and Heroes why the hell not?
This year also as part of my attempt to become healthy and fit once again, am seriously (aposed to fucking around with it for short periods) taking up Muay Thai and Brazilian Jui-jitsu as part of an MMA orientated regime, it will encompasse eventually the whole spectrum of training in MMA but I'm starting with the hard bits first. Also I begin 352 days of no Booze, that's correct no more drunken ramblings for almost year, as of the 16th of March, conveniently those 352 days land on the end of my birthday celebration period of one year and end at the beginning of the celebration period of another year, not really all that convinient since I sent the time limit. I reckon if I can go that long without booze after losing three stone over three months without it, I will be a lean mean and less angry machine by the end of the 352 days, that and I'l save a shitload of money.
That's about it for this particular blog, as I am about to eat dinner and head out to Falkirk for some Chain of Command, first outing of my new army.
Peace, love and all that good shit.
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