To a Long Lost Friend - Belated Congratulations.

 Time moves so fast. So-much-so that we lose track of the important things in life, and before you know it, too late. Your time is done, and there is none left to say the things you feel matter. 

So as a very tenuous link, I'll just share my own personal thinking regarding friendships and relationships and the metric of time. My personal belief is every relationship has its own "shelf life", an allotted time span before it draws to an end. It could be measured in days, weeks, months or years. But all relationships, no matter what form they take, come to their natural end, one way or another.

Back to my "long, lost friend"...

Time Passed.

Copyright ©2023 M. Kelly
All Rights Reserved.

This is more of an acknowledgement to myself than anyone who may stumble across this by accident, as I highly doubt I have any followers who actively read my posts any longer. But time has passed, and I have done some thinking.

Yes. I've taken time to consider aspects of my life, few as they might be these days, and I've raised a few questions as a result. But consider them I did, and I've come to some conclusions in answer to said questions.

The main one being: 

'Where am I going?' Sad truth is, nowhere. I've ground to a halt, like some old digging machine left out in the desert, rusting and alone. Parts seizing up, and ageing as time insists and nature obliges, my physical being has become less efficient in function than I'd like. Totally my fault.

'What am I doing?' Another sad truth - very little. The physical has bearing on the mental, and when mind and body are out of favour with each other, the machine as a whole decides to adopt a 'non-compliance' policy. Unruly little bastard.

Passing of Tilly

Eight week old Tilly.
Copyright ©2022. Mark Kelly

Once more I find myself faced with this difficult task, the loss of our beloved Tilly (Trotter) on Thursday 8th December, at roughly 1430hrs.

Tilly, then called Frodo, (as Lord of the Rings was just released in the cinema, and it was believed she was a male cat) came to us as an eight week old, grey-striped bundle of attitude and sass, and for something so small, wasn't afraid to give a smack.

At the time we lived in Llantwit Major and had recently lost Baila, our very first cat - such a sweet, gentle and loving soul - and Thomas our tom cat was now alone.
Enter Tilly. Like a thunder bolt, Tom's life was turned up-side-down by this wild bundle of grey-striped fury and fun. 

Tilly was as loving as she was mercurial - one minute purring from being stroked, to swiping you with her claws with a hiss. She was, at heart, a semi-feral cat, discovered as a kitten running wild on a golf course in Bridgend, evading capture for three days. Of her mother and possible siblings we knew nothing. We had adopted her from the Bridgend Cat Rescue centre.

Time.

A strange concept, Time. We are governed by it throughout our lives. We race against it, try to make it up, we waste it, we value it when it comes to a break in our daily work routine, we complain about it, and even reminisce about it. It can feel as if it is flying by, or dragging slowly. Sometimes we measure it by success, or failure. We can invest it, or squander it. But when it comes down to the final moments when we are faced with the inevitable passing of a loved one, we always wish for more. 

More Time...

More Time to say the things you were scared or afraid to say, to express your feelings, say how much you love them, to say you are sorry for something maybe said or done, or not in some cases.

Quick Training Session.

This is going to be a very short post - I'm working the late shift at work, which is a 1230hrs start and a 2100hrs finish. So a quick blast training session done, and here it is:

Warm Up:

5 x 10 push ups -> 10 Mountain Climbs -> 10 Body squats. (three exercises = one set)

3 x 20 Bent over rows with dumbbells - I use incline bench to rest chest so to isolate movement.
3 x 12 Superman - hold for a slow 12 count, rest for a 12 count.
3 x 20 Tricep kick-back (10 reps left, 10 reps right)
3 x 10 Farmer's Squats with Hammer curl (1 squat into hammer curl, repeat)
3 x 20 Lateral dumbbell raise.

Optional - Exercise Bike 30 minutes (fat burning).

Fini.

So I leave you with Hooverphonic, and 'The Night Before'. Enjoy. Until next time.

Dragon Warriors, The Watermill - Session #13

Copyright © 2021 M.Kelly

Dragon Warriors is a fantasy role playing system dating back to the 1980s. It's the first system I've ever run consistently with a regular group of friends / players.

I took a rather long break from running a regular game session - it used to be every Sunday evening without fail, kicking off at 1800hrs, sometimes earlier, depending on the routines people had for the following Monday. We'd normally end a session around 2200 - 2300hrs, accordingly.

I have to say, those are some of the best memories I have of my life; friends gathered round my table, laughing, joking, sharing adventures together and forgetting the outside world for a while, as their alternate egos / characters, travelled over hills, through forests, villages and towns, exploring the dark, dank depths of a dungeon or crypt, daring to enter the larger, more densely populated cities, whilst seeking to earn fame and coin for deeds untold, some even heroic.

Passing of Darcy.

Copyright © 2021 Mark Kelly

I don't know how to title this post. Whatever I've considered just doesn't do it justice. To be honest, I've struggled immensely to sit down and write this, as I'm grieving so hard right now, as is my darling wife, but I don't want to leave it go any longer.

Our beautiful, gentle, loving girl, Darcy slipped away peacefully at home at 1430hrs on Monday 23rd August, with help from the vet. My wife cupped Darcy's head, giving her kisses and telling her how much we loved her and would miss her, as I stroked her neck and back.

The previous day she had been slow walking due to the arthritis in her back legs, but come Sunday night, Darcy kept pacing, panting and looked miserable, so Vanessa and I took her to the Emergency Animal Hospital in our area. This was around 2330hrs Sunday 22nd August.

Training Night.

Back again, into the swing of punishing myself for goodness-knows-what kind of sins I acted out in my previous life, or lives?

Now the hamstring is quiet and behaving itself I've eased back into 'exercising' mode, albeit a late one again. But dammit, YouTube is the devil's work, and once you click on one, you click on another, and another... you get my drift.

I had good intentions to push this one through during the day. Anyway, what's done, and all that.

So rather than mention any particular 'Hell Set', I thought I'd just list the whole session below, followed by the usual musical offering.

Warm up (obviously)

3 x 20 Sumo squats
3 x 10 Prone leg extensions (on bench)
3 x 20 Calf raise
3 x 20 Incline bench bicep curls
3 x 20 Incline bench rows
4 x 20 Tricep kick-backs
3 x 20 9-to-3 (you'll have to search back through my July challenge for that one)
4 x 20 Mountain climbs

Fini - cool down with stretches.

So there you have it. If any of that makes sense to you and you give it a go, have fun, but don't injure yourselves. 

Now to the music. A great track I heard on late night tv in an ad for some perfume or other. I finally hunted it down and here it is, Emma Louise and 'Jungle' from 2012-ish.

Enjoy. Until later.