If we can't protect the Earth.....

....you can be damn sure we'll avenge it!


Avengers Assemble came out this week, I've gone to see it twice. It's incredible. Possibly the best movie I've ever seen. It's brilliantly funny and awesomely action packed, if you haven't seen it yet, go see it. Now. Seriously, stop reading this and get your ass to the cinema to watch this movie. I'm a fan of superhero movies, especially the Marvel ones and especially the Iron Man movies, but this.....this was something else. 

Iron Man is awesome.

Everyone has their favourite hero and mine is Iron Man, I mean the guy can fly and shoot lasers as well as all the other cool shit he can do. He's awesome, Robert Downey Jr. plays his part excellently in both the Iron Man movies and he's even better in Avengers Assemble. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the cast are brilliant too...Chris Evans  as Captain America shows him growing into the role and stepping up to lead the Avengers against whatever foes they face in their efforts to defend (or avenge) Earth. I've never been a big fan of Thor, he's a good character and he's played well but I'm not a huge fan in all honesty. Same as Hulk, Hulk is great and has some very good moments in the film but as a hero? He's not for me, he's too....easy. Anyone can get behind a hero that can't die and is impervious to all forms of harm, but to me he's a character with no character. The harmless doctor with a raging beast inside that if you piss off the doctor releases the beast? Too simple, at least in my opinion. You could argue the same about Tony Stark being a shallow egotistical billionaire playboy philanthropist but then you realise that all of the adjectives above (maybe ripped from the movie trailer a little bit) show he has alot of character and he's also hilarious. Iron Man is my favourite by far, however Black Widow (played by the stunning Scarlett Johansson) is a close second, but that's not just because holy crap is she hot. She's a master assassin turned SHIELD Agent/Avenger. Despite having no real powers or special abilities unlike the other Avengers, she's still a bad ass and does more then her fair share of ass kicking in the movie, she just happens to be incredibly hot (She's called the Black Widow for a reason). Her and Hawkeye make quite a nice addition to the movie I feel, showing that you don't have to be a god, technological wizard, enormous green rage monster or a super soldier to be awesome and help save the world.

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow.

Which brings me along to another superhero-esque movie that I watched recently. Kick-Ass. It's a film about a guy who wonders why there are no real life super heroes and so sets out to change that. Personally, I think the film raises a good point. There are nowhere near enough genuinely nice guys (or girls, guys is just a general term referring to everyone but I thought I oughta make that clear) out there that would try to lend a hand when someone else is in need. I mean, I do what I can to be a nice guy. I know I can be an ass at times but we all have our moments. I don't set out to be a nice guy because I expect to gain anything from it, but because being an out and out asshole doesn't achieve anything. I don't want to sound like a cliche but the world would be a much nicer, safer place to live if people weren't such assholes all the time. It doesn't take much, a simple thank you for holding a door open for example. It's not much but it makes a difference none the less. Of course the movie takes a far more active and dramatic approach to the issue really, but it is a movie, what did you expect? They make money by being entertaining, watching an hour and a half movie of some guy being nice to people is hardly entertaining....Vigilante justice being illegal and stuff kinda prevents that kind of thing from happening but you can't help but wonder what if someone went out there as a caped crusader and helped? Would the world be a safer place or would there just be another nutter running around out there, trying to help but going unnoticed? It's definitely an interesting thought, but I guess for now super heroes will just have to stay in comic books.


On a more realistic note, we finally got the keys to the house for our next two (three in Alex's case) in Lincoln. I personally can't wait to move in. We've already been up there to look around and check everything's on the up and up. It looks great and we've already christened the place with a couple beers and a pizza to celebrate. Now we just have to wait til September to move in which should be awesome. Living with the guys next year should be a really good laugh. I'd post some pictures of the place on here but I've probably rambled enough for now, maybe next week.


Catch ya later folks.

Another sleepless night....

Updated every Monday.....yeah well I've been busy okay? Not that anyone reads this but hey.

Well I'm finally back in Lincoln. It's good to be back. First training session was knackering and showed how rusty I am after not playing for three weeks but it was good to get back on the pitch again. Finally handed in my chemistry report, it's now outta my hands which is brilliant. Now it's just botany to go and it won't take too long....famous last words right?

Tuesday was another early start for the second crime house practical, it was the assessed one so I really needed to bring my A-game, meaning I needed a decent nights sleep, which I didn't really get. I didn't wanna be the one who dropped the ball and screwed up for the team....which I might well have done...luckily I was the recorder and got to play with the camera all day which I'm relatively good at that so hopefully I'll be able to make up for my drowsy-ness and possibly fucking up, but we'll see.

Things are beginning to heat up here and I'm beginning to feel the pressure. I mean anyone who knows me, knows that I'm normally quite good when working under pressure and it takes a lot to effect me. I mean A-level was worse for exams, something like 11? I can't quite remember but I know it was definitely more than the 5 I've got this summer. May 29th is my last exam and I'm incredibly tempted to go home that weekend but not entirely sure since if I do that I'm going to be pretty bored for quite a while. I'd ask for opinions but I doubt many people read this or care enough to give an opinion. One of the highlights for this summer is July 7/8th where I plan on being back in Lincoln playing in the Stag on Ben tournament for Ben's stag do. Of course there's also the annual War and Peace Show which should be awesome as always.

Luckily I've got tomorrow off which will be good, hopefully be able to catch up on some sleep. I'll have to crack on with my botany report at some stage tomorrow or I guess it'll never get done.

Sleep paralysis.

Not alot to say about the past week really. Nothing has happened and I've spent most of my time working on the couple of assignments I've got to hand in. I remember sitting in bed last night thinking "I might write my blog post early, I doubt anything's gunna happen that'll be worth reading about, much less writing about it. However I'm write about sleep paralysis because I woke up at 1:00am 'cause of it and it's the closest thing to terrified I've ever been.

I haven't been sleeping so great while I've been at home, no idea why, I just haven't. It doesn't help that the duvet here is alot heavier than the one in Lincoln and it makes me get stupidly warm during the night and anyone that knows me knows that when I'm tired I'm next to useless and  have no patience for anything.

Anyways, sleep paralysis. For anyone that doesn't know, sleep paralysis is where you wake up suddenly, completely unable to move except for your eyes which search the room frantically for the unseen danger or whatever woke you up. It's one of the most frightening moments of your life, you'll be sound asleep one moment and then wide awake but stuck rigidly in bed with absolutely no idea why the next. You are intensely aware of your arms and legs, you can feel exactly where they are but when you try to tell them to move it's as if they can't hear you and just lie there uselessly and then when you try to call for help you can't. It's as if the words get confused somewhere between thinking them and saying them so just back track and run around in your head for a little while. All the while you're lying there sense of terror rising as you become painfully aware that you're lying in bed absolutely helpless to defend yourself from whatever it is that woke you up which adds to the building wave of panic. Then comes the thunderous noise from within, your heartbeat tripled by fear causing your breathing to become short and shallow. My favourite (sarcasm right there) part is next, where your eyes continue to dart around the room but as you've just been woken up, your mind is still in a somewhat hazy state in which every shadow seems to take on a more sinister and fearful shape, adding another layer to the panic. Suddenly you regain control of your limbs, all at once with no explanation as to how or why and only your racing heart to remind you of what the hell just happened. All this can happen in a matter of seconds or can drag on for minutes and in some extremely rare cases, hours. I can't think of a more hellish experience then being frozen in bed, looking around the room for hours unable to move or call for help...I'm not a fearful guy but waking up unable to move is genuinely one of the scariest experiences anyone can have. This isn't the first time I've woken up like this, doubt it'll be the last either. You'd think you'd get used to it eventually but you don't, it's just as mind numbingly terrifying every time it happens.

No one is sure of the exact cause of sleep paralysis as there are several forms and it can be brought on by many different things. One such thing is increased stress which, right now, I can vouch for due to impending deadlines and the exam period just over the horizon. I guess this is just another sign that the pressure is beginning to take its toll and that I'm not as unshakable as I once thought...but I thought A-Level results day proved that last year....but hey ho! It's a bright new day so best crack on with some work, I'm slowly running out of time.

Catch ya later folks

No place like home....

Well I've been home for a week now and I can safely say that I've never been more bored. Don't get me wrong I'm glad I'm back, it's nice to see the family and old friends but there's nothing to do here! I mean Lincoln isn't exactly full of things to do but least there's training to take up some of my time. Here there's just the occasional pub night catching up with the gang. I've thought about heading back to Lincoln early but most people are still at home and training isn't back until next term so I'd just end up spinning my heels in the flat being lonely and bored instead of just bored.

Can't say it's been a particularly eventful week in Billericay. Spent a few night up the pub catching up and celebrating Connor's birthday, went for a walk around Norsey Wood with Ali 'cause we were bored and took some photos but other then that it's been pretty dull here.

Norsey Wood was a laugh with Ali though. We're both quite interested in photography and decided it'd be a fun way to kill time. We spent the day kinda wandering on and off the beaten path which produced some mixed results. Some detours were good, others not so much and the same applies to the path. Ali took a more professional attitude to the day, choosing to take time and set up his shots carefully, whereas I was just kinda glad to be out and doing something so I took a more carefree attitude to it and ended up perched atop a fallen tree for a little while and spent the day taking random photos of things that I thought looked interesting. Also learnt some new techniques from Ali and got to use some of the skills I'd learnt during the Forensic Photography module but I still have quite a ways to go. The weather was pretty good as it didn't rain but the shifting cloud cover made the light intensity a challenge throughout the day as it kept changing making us have to be wary of over and under exposures. It was time well spent, we got some good photos and it killed some time which was great. Although I'm a little pissed that I missed a brilliant photo opportunity with a squirrel but the bastard ran off and disappeared up a tree. All in all it was a good day out.

We're planning on heading into London at some point in the next couple weeks and pretty much doing the same thing but in an urban environment. Landscape photography can be great and like I said we got some decent photos in the woods, but there just didn't seem to be anything around, hopefully there'll be more to photograph and turn out some really impressive stuff. Due to the environment we should be able to play with shutter speeds and exposure times to greater effect, hopefully get some really good shots from it provided it works of course.

Now it's Monday I've gotta start on the work I've got for the start of next term. Been working on my chemistry report for about 2hrs and made very little ground. It'd be a massive help if I knew what we were aiming to achieve in the experiment, then I'd have something to work with but hey ho. I'm sure I'll get it done eventually. I haven't even looked at the biology report yet, although I do know it can only be 4 pages long so how bad can it be? Famous last words right?

Catch ya later folks

One helluva weekend.

I can safely say that after this weekend I was absolutely shattered. Playing in an Ultimate tournament is just as tiring as I remember it being. Best couple days I've had in ages. 

Left to right, Me, Lex, Adam, Morridge, Alana, Katy and Brian.

We didn't win any of our matches but I still had a great time, it was awesome. Had a great team to play with, Lincoln 3 consisting of Brian, Morridge, Katy, Sarah, Alana, Sayer, Adam, Lex and myself. We started off a little shakey but by the end of the weekend we were working really well as a team. Unfortunately we lost Sayer to a shoulder injury kinda early on in the first day which hampered us a bit. If he didn't injury himself then we might have been able to win a couple games with his pretty impressive offense once we'd gotten our defensive wall established properly, but that wasn't the case. In all fairness though he did injure himself in a really impressive layout D that saved our ass so least it wasn't for nothing, good effort buddy.

Our first game was against a team called Danger who are incredibly good. They ran us round the pitch something fierce and were absolutely relentless, exploiting every opportunity. Needless to say we lost but not without first getting a point on the board. I can't quite remember who threw the crucial disc but I remember catching it in the endzone and everyone cheering and shouting "Yeah Spud!" and stuff. I didn't know it at the time but Danger are pretty awesome and I didn't think it was anything special, all I thought was "Least we won't get bagel-ed." (that's losing something-nil btw). They were a good team to play and really kept us on our toes. I think it was good that we got put up against one of the best teams there first as it showed us what we needed to work on as a team for the coming games.

Katy (blue) scoring a point against Saints (white).

I can't remember the exact order of the matches after that but I do remember us coming up against All Saints (I think) and it being the closest match we had all day. It was one incredible match. We traded points for the entire match until about 10secs from the end when we're tied and they managed to move it down the pitch and score just as the buzzer blew. It was such a tense match, it was awesome. This was the match where Sayer injured himself while pulling off an awesome layout D.

One of the other matches I remember well is the game against BFG, a team of players that are all above 6ft 3" and really good. Needless to say we lost but we never set out to win against them, they had one helluva height advantage and work so well as a team. We did however set out not to get bagel-ed, and we didn't! I think it was Lex (although it could easily have been anyone else, it definitely wasn't me) who scored the point for us in this one and even though we lost, we did what we set out to achieve so that's a win in my book.

Me (yellow) marking Judge (blue).

Both days were full of their ups and downs with everyone having their own moments of glory. One moment that will stay strong in my mind for a while is trying to out jump Judge and almost managing it. Judge is our ex-president (Wetty replaced him earlier this year) and one of our best and tallest players. I think Morridge threw a long disc for the endzone which I've sprinted back to try and get, planted my foot and just leapt for it. Judge having the height advantage just managed to get a hand to it before I did and although I didn't catch it I still think it was one helluva moment. Lincoln 2 really put up a good fight, but in the end their offence was just that bit better and managed to over come our defence in a couple places.

Me throwing a breakside pass round Roofie.

Even though we didn't win any of our matches some of them were really close and we just had a few unlucky drops and discs that might have changed the situation. It was still a brilliant weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it's a shame it ended when it did as by the end of it I think we really got a feel for each other as a team and had begun to work out who'll do what when and stuff like that, for example whenever Morridge was on the disc and I was open for a pass I remember shouting "Morridge!!!" and after a while he knew that I was open for the disc. But that's just one example of how we gelled together as a team towards the end. Hopefully we'll get to play together as a team again sometime as I really enjoyed playing with them. I have to take my hat off to Morridge who played for more then one team all weekend and was in 21 matches. He never let it show how tired he must have been, playing consistently well in every one of his games, that man is a machine.

I'm back home in Billericay for 3 weeks now which should be good, it's good to be back but I wish it was still the weekend, had such a good time out there, hopefully we'll get to do it again soon.

Catch ya later folks