I have a wide range of interests which have brought me into contact with a lot of lovely people. I range from technical to geeky to musical to (slightly) sporty, which together provide me with a well-rounded and fulfilling social life.

My “Gamercard” (thanks to gamerhandles.com)

 

I play the trombone

I have been playing the trombone since I was eight years old (September 1993) and currently play with local band, Wealden Brass. While I won’t be auditioning for the London Philharmonic any time soon, I’m an enthusiastic amateur and take part in concerts in a wide variety of settings each year.

 

I can write in shorthand

I found that the college I was working at was about to run a shorthand course I could get on to for a reduced fee. I always loved the idea of being able to write in shorthand, and so jumped at the chance. I had to take 10 half-days ‘holiday’ to participate as the course ran on Thursday mornings – however it was worth every minute as the classes were fun, the people were great, and I can now write in Teeline shorthand at 50 words a minute and have a certificate to show for it.

 

I follow British Ice Hockey

I have been a fan of the Manchester Phoenix since their first season back in the Elite League after two years in mothballs. Following the team’s move from the Elite League to the English Premier League, I identified a need for a “live scores” site for the EPL, based upon the continued existance and popularity of a similar service which covered the Elite league. As the owner of the existing site confirmed that he would not be adding in the facility to cover the EPL any time soon, this (along with a prod from co-founder Anthony Lloyd) drove me to write EPLUpdates, a site which has gone from online JUST in time for the season start, to having a rink’s worth of visitors every match night!

 

I’m a lacrosse goalie

 

They say that all goalies are crazy – and I’m no exception!  I shout and scream a lot to try to keep my team informed.  I shout and scream a lot to try to put the opposition off their game (once successfully making a penalty taker miss the goal by over three feet!), I beat the posts up with my stick, I get bruises on my thighs which turn the colour of the night sky and are the size of my head – and yet I keep coming back for more.  Goalies are not built like common men.  We are built like evolutionary dead-ends.  When a rock speeds towards your head – you duck.  We put our faces in front of it!

 

I’m a Trekkie

I’ve always loved the idea of space travel, and with that came a love of Star Trek too. Yes – I have a uniform. Yes – I have all of the episodes. Yes – I can speak three phrases of Klingon and one of Vulcan 😉

 

I like to paint

You will never find me claiming to be any good at it, but I enjoy drawing and painting nonetheless. I’m starting to find my own style now (which I’m told is similar to the Fauvist style) and while I find that acrylic on canvas is fast becoming my perferred medium, I dabble in watercolours too. I’m in the process of setting up a sub-section of this site to serve as an ‘art gallery’ to display some of my work, but I’ll be posting up new stuff reasonably regularly as part of the blog.