tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61633975061361310882024-02-14T20:52:21.574+00:00Mark KA frustrated creative's struggle to understand why?Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.comBlogger382125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-85707432330512245652024-01-20T11:44:00.005+00:002024-01-21T06:09:25.848+00:00New Finds in 2024. Every once in a while, whilst watching something on TV, a piece of music pops up, be it in an advert (not so much lately), or a film, or series, that makes your ears prick and your brains blurts, "Hang on! I like that! What is it?"Well, I stumbled across a new Polish Police drama, titled FORST, the trailer for which I'll post below, as it'll save me blabbing on in a poor attempt to explain Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-14289927433786738672023-12-16T00:31:00.001+00:002023-12-16T00:31:11.389+00:00Almost Christmas.Where has the time gone? So much of it has slipped by since my last posting of June. Scary.But then that's the way life is as you get older, and you put your head down to get on with the everyday business of working, living, relaxing - when possible - and dealing with whatever curveball hits you from out-of-the-blue.I've now stopped working full-time in theatres at the hospital, and instead I Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-61410236863108911782023-06-18T03:46:00.010+01:002023-10-24T14:33:02.668+01:00To 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 Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-33095071613193450652023-04-21T12:52:00.005+01:002023-04-24T00:21:25.257+01:00Time Passed.Copyright ©2023 M. KellyAll 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 Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-14065797378393857242022-12-14T23:00:00.006+00:002022-12-14T23:02:04.838+00:00Passing of TillyEight week old Tilly.Copyright ©2022. Mark KellyOnce 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 Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-42634293139574984122022-08-21T20:17:00.031+01:002022-10-27T15:54:12.461+01:00Time.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 Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-12534376418600458222021-09-17T10:37:00.004+01:002022-09-21T13:18:31.082+01:00Quick 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 Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-21621290456872029552021-09-10T16:11:00.018+01:002022-10-27T16:00:01.014+01:00Dragon Warriors, The Watermill - Session #13Copyright © 2021 M.KellyDragon 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 Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-4453301228168238832021-08-26T18:40:00.028+01:002022-09-21T13:41:26.464+01:00Passing of Darcy.Copyright © 2021 Mark KellyI 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, Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-50206708323123802972021-08-18T22:36:00.003+01:002022-09-21T13:25:40.368+01:00Training 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 Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-79325719521524594972021-08-15T21:20:00.010+01:002021-08-16T12:00:46.100+01:00Life is Full of Surprises.Every now and then, life throws you a curve just to let you know it's not predictable and you don't know everything.This is how it happened to me today. Out in the garden standing next to our goldfish pond - a small affair I built back in 2018, and populated it with six goldfish, some plants, including a water lily and some oxygenators (under water grasses) to keep the the O2 levels up and filterMark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-63193640705379304752021-08-11T14:31:00.004+01:002021-08-11T16:02:25.876+01:00The Psychology of Control.Since this whole world seems to be turning upside-down I've been wondering 'How the hell can this be happening?'Many out there will cite 'Orange Man Bad' as the reason, and even today, still have a bad case of 'anti-Trump' syndrome. But now the US has a senile, child-sniffing pervert for President, it seems that's ok, and everything he does, tries to say (when he can remember), or palms off to Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-17001202799319473452021-08-10T11:02:00.002+01:002021-08-10T11:02:17.076+01:00Down The Rabbit Hole. Be Warned...Not much I can say regarding this post, except that if you're watching this, then you have a mind that is enquiring enough to look a little further than the mainstream media would like.It is a long one, an hour to be precise, but after watching this myself, I now feel that I have more pieces of the puzzle in place, have a more steadfast and positive position on my choices and now feel more Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-19899506141689241012021-08-09T19:47:00.003+01:002021-08-09T19:47:36.634+01:00The Muse - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow.How does one define a muse? The dictionary definition would describe it as the following:1. (In Greek and Roman mythology) each of nine Goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who preside over the arts and sciences.2. A person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.Many an artist had a physical person as their muse, the object of their affection, Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-16372571203029336462021-08-06T07:50:00.020+01:002021-08-08T21:32:15.595+01:00Friday Morn. Half-light, half-gloomHalf-awake,the bedroom.Gentle sizzle-sounding rain against the window pane.Sighing wind foretells the day,no matter what, you can't stay.Up and moving,stretching, yawning,look outside,greet the morning.No matter what, no matter how,procrastinationis not for now.Seconds and minutes,the arms tick by,your day awaits.Please stand by.Copyright ©. 2021 Mark Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-30927708280236418712021-08-05T10:31:00.042+01:002022-10-27T15:38:17.890+01:00Flash Fiction: 'Law of Attraction.'The glint in her eye was all he needed. Her heavy lashes batted seductively, framing the perfectly shaped iris, flecked with gold on a background of lavender. The stunning combination framed in an almond-shaped setting that took his breath away. A cascade of dark hair irritatingly hid half of her face, her head tilted forward enough to maintain the luscious veil in place.For the briefest of Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-87691797580684547692021-08-03T22:11:00.023+01:002021-08-06T06:29:22.197+01:00MMORPG Wasteland.And so August is upon us, but the weather is not so typical of the season. Windy-wet days interspersed with patchy sunny days, then overcast and ultimately baking hot sizzlers that turn your home into a storage heater, seeping out the day's heat throughout the evening and well into the night, making your sleep a sweat-soaked misery.At least that's how it is here in the UK.Moving on. The great Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-32974979440908305652021-07-29T23:07:00.007+01:002021-08-03T22:15:04.892+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 29 - FAILED!The challenge is over - it beat me and I've failed. How? I decided it would be a core session this evening, so out with my bench. All going well until I decided to perform a set of Static Back Extensions. The bench was weighted down with a 60lb training vest, with my feet hooked underneath said bench. All going well with one set complete. Midway through the second set my hamstring pulled. Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-77344047232177680242021-07-28T23:55:00.019+01:002021-08-07T15:40:05.058+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 28.Cardio session again. Thirty minutes of hamster wheel peddling in order to go nowhere fast.All I can say is, I'm so glad I've got Netflix. Alas, tonight I have very little to comment on at all. You're all familiar with cardio and its aims, so I'm not going to bore you with redundant information. Instead I will leave you with Talking Heads, and 'We're On The Road To Nowhere'. Have a great Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-46987086794622510972021-07-27T23:41:00.008+01:002021-08-07T15:39:07.314+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 27. Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads and Lower Back - that was tonight's session, finished off with 20 minutes on the Renpho. And guess what? It didn't kill my butt - I'm either getting used to it, or the seat is beginning to soften.I've had my post-session smoothie: hemp protein, egg white protein, turmeric, a pinch of black pepper, cinnamon, MCT oil, collagen powder, creatine, organic bio yogurt, Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-72681266764875795602021-07-26T21:47:00.009+01:002021-08-03T22:14:16.409+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 26.Getting, oh so, very close now. Earlier finish tonight at 2126hrs. Time enough for a light salad, bath, and bed - once this is taken care of, naturally.Tonight's session focused primarily on triceps and upper back, with a smidge of biceps and delts by default. No 'Hell Set', tonight, but the 4 x 20 Incline Dumbbell Press came close, as it was last-but-one exercise out of the complete seven. Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-89407511179974640802021-07-25T11:46:00.021+01:002021-08-03T22:13:57.898+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 25.Cardio day. Yay.Yeah, I find it rather difficult to get excited, enthusiastic, eager or revved up to hop on to my nut-crusher of an exercise bike seat and crank out 30 minutes of fat burning hell. But I have, and now it's done and my legs are quietly tingling with blood gorged veins and capilliaries, and my butt is breathing a sigh of relief - and no, that's not a euphemism for farting. Shame on Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-90665130597843628362021-07-24T23:08:00.003+01:002021-08-03T22:13:39.361+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 24. Keeping this one very short and sweet as I'm really in need of sleep. Apologies, but today was a heavy one at the clinic, and being up since 0430hrs courtesy of our old, deaf, partially-sighted and slightly senile dog, Darcy, I'm now running on fumes.Hell Set - YES! We have a winner! In this evening's session, it was all about the arms. About two thirds through the session was a bicep curl Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-15790033067169693612021-07-23T22:58:00.031+01:002021-08-03T22:13:19.617+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 23.Muscle strain. It really is a pain. But one you cannot afford to ignore and leave untreated. I should know, I've had several during the course of my life to date - note how I say 'to date'. I can't be sure I won't suffer another at some point in the future. No one can. Not unless they are genetically blessed, of course.I've had my muscle strain (which in reality are tears within the muscle fibre,Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163397506136131088.post-81183645793284923932021-07-22T23:20:00.025+01:002021-08-03T22:12:54.113+01:00July Challenge ~ Day 22.I'm tired. Really tired. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. All due to a multitude of things cascading together in a steady waterfall of circumstance. My one relief is that the day is now over and tomorrow is my rota day off. Short lived, though, as I have people to see at the clinic in the afternoon, the upside - the weather is going to be dry, sunny and perfect for a motorbike Mark Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002166292175980928noreply@blogger.com0