14 January 2007, 21:44 in

Christmas break

It’s been a while since I posted so I thought I’d let everyone know what I’ve been up to. I’ve had a couple of weeks off work over Christmas and go back to work tomorrow.

I’ve spent very little time in front of a computer which has been great for a change. I’ve played a few computer games including Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source as usual. Some friends got me Dawn of War: Dark Crusade as a Christmas present so I’ve also been playing that. Reviews are here and here.

Christmas was spent with my family and some family friends and involved eating a lot of food, swimming in the pool, and relaxing in the sun. Karen flew in on News Years Eve and flew out a few days ago. It was really nice to see her again and it was sad to see her go. As usual we did plenty of shopping; I got some cool new pants and t-shirts. We also managed to watch the entire Samurai Champloo anime series. It’s really good and I strongly recommend watching it!

I’ve been going out quite a bit with my friends. On Friday nights we’ve often been going to Bar Open (I think it’s called Club 234 now) for some drum ‘n bass action. On Boxing Day I went to Breakfest at Belvoir Amphitheatre; it was a great outdoor party/festival atmosphere and I had an excellent time. Last night I went to see the Plump DJs at Overflow. They played some awesome tunes and everyone seemed to like the centrally located outdoor venue. It was a shame the venue closed at 2am because everyone wanted to keep partying; most people went on to night clubs.

Over the last couple of months I’ve started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) properly again and have been really enjoying it. As of about December we have been doing no-gi training (i.e. no martial arts uniform, just shorts and rashie or t-shirt/singlet) which I like because it is more applicable to street or self-defense applications due to not relying on having an opponents gi to use as handles. I’m currently training BJJ two to three times per week and can feel myself improving which is very satisfying.

In addition to BJJ I’ve been training knife fighting twice a week with Brandon. My distancing, timing, speed, and footwork have improved. Hopefully these attributes will help my bare-hand stand-up fighting/striking.

I’m also still hitting the gym, although somewhat sporadically. I’ve been focusing on heavy compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, pull-ups, barbell rows and dips. These produce useful strength and power for sports, rather than simply working individual muscles in isolation.

Well it’s back into the work routine tomorrow and I’m going to make a real effort to keep up the martial arts training and gym! Hope you’ve all had a nice Christmas and New Years.

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