Injury

Fact 1: I like sport, a lot.  I like watching it and playing it.  This year, I was hoping to do 6 sports regularly.

Fact 2: I have chronic tendonitis in my left knee.  I've had it for about 10-12 years but it's got a lot worse in the last 12 months or so.

Fact 1 + Fact 2 = Decision 3: I went to see a physio, who recommended reducing activity and gave me stretches and exercises to do.

Decision 3 = consequences 4: I am only doing 3 sports, having dropped running, cycling and breakdancing; and 5: I am doing half an hour of stretches and exercises a day.

Fact 6: Consequences 4 and 5 do not seem to be helping, my knee is getting no better.

Fact 6 leads to possibility 7: I need to further reduce sport, to allow my knee to heal more effectively.

Possibility 7 leads to implication 8: I may stop playing football and volleyball, and just play frisbee, until my knee is better.

Implication 8 causes likelihood 9: I will get bored and frustrated.  I am already bored and frustrated at having to drop running, cycling and breakdancing.  I will not be pleasant to be around if I have to drop football and volleyball too.

Likelihood 9 results in requests 10: if you pray, please pray for my knee; and 11: if you have any practical suggestions, either about how to help my knee or about how to deal with lack of sport in my life, please let me know.

The Sunshine Underground

This is a band I recently discovered after hearing one of their songs on Spotify at a friends house. Apart from having a really cool name, they also make quite good music.

To be perfectly blunt, I don't really know how to describe them. Indie-rocky-dancy-techno-ish I guess. Somewhere between the Klaxons and Franz Ferdinand maybe? They're not superb, I'm not going to rave about them as if they were about to become one of my favourite bands ever, but they are definitely worth a listen. They're a lot of fun. Spotify them. The best tracks are: Wake Up, Borders, Panic Attack, Spell it out, Change your mind, Here it comes, One by one, The Messiah.

Unique feelings and GCUFC

You know there are some things that cause unique feelings, that aren't replicated anywhere else?
Some of mine are:
Boxing day
The smell of Hebron Hall
Seeing teenagers worship
The final scene of LOTR
A new season for Grey College Ultimate Frisbee Club

The last one has happened recently.  I'm now in my 8th season playing for GCUFC.  The uni team asked me to join, there were several opportunities to leave, but, although I want to be as good at frisbee as I can, I want to do that with GCUFC.  And I love it at the start of the season when we start playing again after the summer and when freshers turn up to learn how to play.  I love teaching new players and watching them learn and improve.

Happiness by Hurts - album review

I discovered this band when I saw my sister and brother talking about them on Facebook. The usual research on Spotify followed, and then a purchase from Amazon.

I'll be the first to admit that Hurts are not my usual sort of band. As my sister commented, they are a bit poppy for my usual tastes. I'm not sure why I took to them really. Some of it (mainly Blood, Tears and Gold, but also Stay) is definitely a bit poppy for me, but most of it I really enjoy. I guess it's just a bit different. Elements of modern pop, but also some nice drum rhythms and cool synth work in there. It doesn't sound like much else.

Interestingly, the second half of the album is definitely stronger than the first. Illuminated and Evelyn are haunting, Better than love so 80s it's amazing, Devotion is on my soundtrack of 2010, to be publicised in a couple of months, and Unspoken and The Water are just gorgeous. Whereas the only standout track from the first half is Sunday.

If you'd like to listen to something a bit different, give Hurts a try. Don't be put off if you don't like some of it, I reckon there's enough good songs in there to make it worth your while and your money, and there are two or three absolute gems.

There are far better reviews than this on the internet - NME's is the best but the link broke just as I was trying to insert it here.  Sorry about that.