Starting to remember why I left Blonde now.

The same few people arguing, slinging insults and being generally very unpleasant to each other. It starts in the Politics thread, but they follow each other on to other threads and continue the mud slinging throughout the forum.

In the early days there was a zero tolerance on trolling, aggression and rudeness of any kind. I received a few (perfectly justifiable) short bans myself for losing my temper and over stepping the mark, but for comments and behaviour that's a mile short of the tone of discourse I read on the forum today. There was a real family/community feel that just isn't here any more. It's a real shame, because it was a really nice place to hang out back in the day.

It's only "age inappropriate" if you feel there's something wrong with same sex marriage that children need to be protected against.

No one is teaching the kids the mechanics of sex, straight, gay or otherwise. It's about respect, acceptance and inclusion.

Bigots gonna bigot.

Dany completely losing her shit like that seems out of character compared to what's been developed in the previous 7 seasons. Yes, win the battle brutally with collateral damage, but not AFTER the battle is won torching the very people she sought to liberate and rule. She's definitely a gonner now though. Just a question of who does her in.

I agree that Cercei deserved a better death than that. Not sure how I feel about Jaime. At first I was a bit against the whole redemption arc they were giving him, but suspected the King Slayer's final redemption might be killing Cercei. I actually think him reverting to being a Lannister loyalist and going out by Cercei's side makes the most sense.

Clegaine Bowl was a bit meh, but had to be done and they both had to die.

Not sure where I am at the minute. I’ll take a measurement soon using the same scales at the gym I used for previous weigh ins for consistency.

Both the 16% and the date of beginning of July are soft targets to be honest. There was money on the challenge at work with a firm end date, so I gave that my full focus (£40 for 3rd, missed out on £80 for second by 0.2%, £160 for 1st was miles ahead. The lad smashed it).

I’m thinking about it as a permanent lifestyle change, rather than specific date/weight/fat targets. The way I see it, my body shape is the result of an equation. I wasn’t happy with the result I was getting so I’ve changed the input in terms of fuel, and the output in terms of exercise. Feeling a ton better in myself but won’t be disheartened by a slowdown in the numbers.

Will report progress when I take new measurements

Not a thread I've ever been involved in, but I'm on a bit of a health kick at the minute. Started with a % fat loss challenge at work Jan-April. 16 of us took part and I came 3rd.
Started out at 13st 9lb and 32% body fat
finished at 12st 3lb and 24% body fat

New target is 16% body fat by 1st July. Not bothered what the weight is at the end, but currently sat at 12st.

Cleaning up my diet was pretty easy. Cut out the crisps, chocolate, and alcohol. Balanced meals with sensible portions.

Joined the gym and am averaging 5 visits a week. I've got a routine I can be in and out in about 50 mins, so easy to fit in to my busy life;
5 mins warm up on bike

Roman Chair, 3x10 @ 12kg
Goblet Squats 3x10 @ 20kg
Leg press 3x10 @ 160kg

Chest press 3x12 @ 45kg
Pec Fly 3x12 @ 66kg
Seated row 3x12 @ 45kg
Lat pulldown 3x12 @ 45kg

Supers set 3x10 of;
Tricep body drops from bench @ Body Weight
Bicep curl @ 2x10kg (together and narrow)
Tricep Skull crushers @ 2x10kg
Bicep curls @ 2x15kg (individual by sides)

5 minutes rowing in intervals 30 secs steady, 30 secs full blast.

Can we have a separate Woodsey /  Kukushkin thread please?

Amen

Glad to be back for this sort of thing  

Glad to hear that things are going well for you and the family Adam.

Cheers Ralph

Great that someone has started a new diary, because Tikay's is crap

Glad to see all is well, and that your venture back into poker has been fruitful so far.

Look forward to following, and hopefully seeing you've binked!

Hadn't really intended on it being a diary
Just saying hello as it's been a while since I posted and I got spotted lurking.
See how it goes I guess.

Still active as a gigging musician, but it's not full rock bands any more. I spend my time providing acoustic accompaniment for a very talented female vocalist (www.facebook.com/songbirdami if anyone's interested).

I was interested. WP, as they say.

I seem to remember your boy getting into guitar when he was young. Did he keep it up?

That's right, he got his first electric guitar aged 8, and I seem to remember posting some videos on here of his early progress, playing along to some AC/DC. Unfortunately, it was soon after that my daughter's health became the main focus of the family for a few years and Joe's tuition took a back seat. However, very happy to say that since we got Charlotte back in a good space, I've been able to help Joe get back on track. He's a budding rock star in the making, with a growing collection of his own guitars, plus access to my (un)healthy collection. School is tough for Joe, for complex reasons I won't go into here, but playing guitar is his outlet. We've even managed to negotiate a slightly adapted timetable for him where he can spend some time playing his guitar in the music room, rather than sitting in some of the classes he has no interest in. His plan in a couple of years is a modern music performance course at college, then on to stardom. Every gig I take him to enthuses him more. In the last few years I've stood him in front of the likes of Guns N Roses/Slash (3 times including Download last year), Iron Maiden, Extreme (twice), Metallica, and this year he has Ugly Kid Joe, Sacred Reich, Gojira to look forward to.

He's going to be the rock star I wanted to be, before I gave it all up for my dream job in compliance

Guns N Roses?

If both of you are into that sort of thing, one of the best "Rockumentaries" I've ever seen is Duff McKagan's "It's So Easy (And Other Lies)" which is shown from time to time on Sky Arts or BBC Four, I forget which.  It's a lengthy view, best part of 2 hours, but a thoroughly good watch, as it tells the warts & all story of a rock star as he plumbed the depths of alcohol & drug addiction, then sorted himself out.

Thanks, will definitely check that out.

Sorry to hear about your daughter's illness, but glad to know that that it's coming good now.

Also pleased that Joe is still into his music. Go Joe!

You should post another vid sometime.

All in all, it seems like you have a lot of reasons to be proud of yourself.

Thanks. I/we are in a very good space now after an extremely challenging decade or so. Been through the ringer with schools, hospitals, mental health services, etc. Still facing challenges, but I'm battle hardened and ahead of the curve.

Still active as a gigging musician, but it's not full rock bands any more. I spend my time providing acoustic accompaniment for a very talented female vocalist (www.facebook.com/songbirdami if anyone's interested).

I was interested. WP, as they say.

I seem to remember your boy getting into guitar when he was young. Did he keep it up?

That's right, he got his first electric guitar aged 8, and I seem to remember posting some videos on here of his early progress, playing along to some AC/DC. Unfortunately, it was soon after that my daughter's health became the main focus of the family for a few years and Joe's tuition took a back seat. However, very happy to say that since we got Charlotte back in a good space, I've been able to help Joe get back on track. He's a budding rock star in the making, with a growing collection of his own guitars, plus access to my (un)healthy collection. School is tough for Joe, for complex reasons I won't go into here, but playing guitar is his outlet. We've even managed to negotiate a slightly adapted timetable for him where he can spend some time playing his guitar in the music room, rather than sitting in some of the classes he has no interest in. His plan in a couple of years is a modern music performance course at college, then on to stardom. Every gig I take him to enthuses him more. In the last few years I've stood him in front of the likes of Guns N Roses/Slash (3 times including Download last year), Iron Maiden, Extreme (twice), Metallica, and this year he has Ugly Kid Joe, Sacred Reich, Gojira to look forward to.

He's going to be the rock star I wanted to be, before I gave it all up for my dream job in compliance

Head of UK Compliance for a multinational gaming outfit?

Wow, what a role that is these days.

It's a topic that's hard to discuss on blonde as a) it's infinitely boring to most & b) I'm still with SB&G so I can't talk too much out of school.

It's an extraordinary thing these days in Gaming, Compliance. In business, all sorts of things go off, but there's one Team who rule the roost in any well-run Gaming Business these days & that's Compliance. What Compliance say, goes, no arguments, no question. It's amazing how many things it affects, & what a Gaming Business can or can not say or do now. And as you will know, the GC are doling out monster fines for those who fail, especially in areas like KYC & AML. 

This week is a big week, too, with the GC Verification deadline.

Fascinating to some, but I guess boring to most.

Anyway, you are clearly doing well, that's a serious job you have, well done. 

Glad to hear the kids are well now too. Can't believe they are both teenagers. Blimey.

Oh yes, Compliance is a job for life. Suits a certain personality type I think.

Yes, considering I think I had one 2 year old when we first met, the kids' age demonstrate well how much water has passed under the bridge.

Hi Adam,

Good to see you back.

Are you still with Bell-Fruit, or whatever they are called?

Do you remember that night at Gala Notts when you got mugged as you left the casino?

You still into MMA? It's still way too violent for me, but I have become a bit of a T J Dillashaw fanboy, or at least, i had before he popped for EPO.



(Apologies if I have mixed you up with someone else, the memory is getting a bit unreliable).

Hi Tikay
Not still with Bell-Fruit, but still in the industry. I'm now Head of UK Compliance for a multinational gaming company. I've come a long way since joining the industry as a pub fruit machine tester in 2006.

I certainly do remember getting mugged outside Gala. Would have been around Feb/Mar 2003. I'd been doing martial arts on and off since 1994 and it was as much use as a chocolate tea pot when jumped by 3 lads in an alley with a knife. Bit of a game changer for me and got seriously into Real Life Self Protection stuff for the remainder of my martial arts journey. Finally packed all that in about a 2009/10. Don't miss it one bit, but glad I did it too.

Still watch MMA, although not as obsessively as I have in the past. Got into NFL about 5/6 years ago and and that's my main sport of choice for half the year. Go Jags!!!

Still happily married to Sara and the kids are growing up fast; 14 and 19. Been a rocky road with them health wise, but all good now. That was one of the main reason for stopping playing. Family comes first and all that.

Still active as a gigging musician, but it's not full rock bands any more. I spend my time providing acoustic accompaniment for a very talented female vocalist (www.facebook.com/songbirdami if anyone's interested).

Been a very long time since my path first crossed yours and Thewy's in the Nottingham Gala. Feels like a very different world, and poker is a VERY different game from then, and even more so from the boom years in between. Looking forward to playing a bit more, but it'll only ever be a hobby for me now. Any ambition of making a living from the game got washed out of the system a long tome ago.

Oh, also, I really wasn't a fan of this super-ante thing DTD have got going (is it common across the industry?). Sure, the board says 250/500 with 500 ante, but it's 250/1000 blinds in all but name. Just felt really weird to have this bloated BB spot.

However, I've adapted my play to it and it's not ruining the game for me. Still, very odd development.

Good luck at the Grand Prix! Trip report would be good.

Be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the live game/experience has changed since you last played.

Yeah, I can do that.

Last time I "came out of retirement" a couple of years ago, I felt really out of sync with the game in so many ways. This time has felt different. Almost like the game had taken a step back a decade and was quite 'Harrington' style. I appreciate I'm only playing at £50 freezeout level, and it's only a couple of tournaments so far, but I found a pretty ABC, play in position, change gears in relation to stack/BB ration strategy worked a treat. Last week I felt like I cruised to the final table even though I was virtually card dead. I just made a few moves at the right time and flipped well in a couple of spots where I needed to. If the experience so far turns out to be typical, I'm looking forward to playing in these tournaments when I hit a few cards as well.

It always amuses me to see the same behaviours/attitudes and hear the same conversations, just with different faces. New ex-dealers making their way as players, new young players taking themselves very seriously with the shades and headphones, new grinders trying to carve out a living from the game, and even new 'old-schoolers' splashing around and playing in that pre-boom style (you know what I'm talking about). Also nice to see some old faces that I've known as far back as the Nottingham Gala days. I'm sure to most of the current regulars, I'll look like a new face in the building. I used to be a new kid, now I'm an old timer. How did that happen?

I've always done pretty well in GPs, and used to cash more often than not. Would be great to get out of the blocks with a good run next week. Hope to be posting from the Final Table.