These Days I Lead A Very Templar Hating Life

 

Since being home from university, my life has consisted of few things. These include (most but not everyday) job hunting, training, Ps3, deciding what food to eat in the evening, golf and cricket. Mixed in between go reading and TV watching. Yes, that's right it doesn't sound exciting and I can guarantee you it isn't. It was fun for all of 3 days, but everything gets old. Golf and Cricket becomes frustrating (18 bad holes Monday and a shit loss Wednesday), job hunting becomes unsuccessful and begins to get you down, and the others become boring once done to death. The main things that have kept me from getting to the point of writing this blog have been the ps3 game Assassins Creed: Brotherhood and the book "The Sword of the Templar's" by Paul Christopher. To be reading and playing Templar themed entertainments simultaneously came around by complete coincidence.

Now both items are written upon a certain layer of truth. The game was researched well and is based upon truth but then bends it a bit for the story. This made for a confusing but shocking end to the game. The book is based more upon truth and could feasibly be a true story as all events are real and don't delve into the realms of fantasy the creed games do. The book is not finished but already shows the Templar's to be evil, Nazi related catholic colluding nasty pieces of work.

The book and game are similar in that they both portray the Templar's to be deeply intertwined with the Roman Catholic Church. Now being a religion skeptic it's not very hard for me to hate the Templar's and by proxy the Catholics. The game is designed to make you hate them, and hate is a strong word and I'm not committing to it. I'm simply saying it'd be easy to hate them.

The game is enthralling, and no gamer I have spoken to has not enjoyed it. It takes plenty of time and the storyline running through it is superb. You feel like you become the assassin Ezio. Now Ezio is just a memory in the game from 15th century Italy , played through a simulator by a subject called Desmond. The more time in the simulator the more he becomes like Ezio. Desmond is a descendant of Ezio and is supposedly the true savior of the people. He is the chosen one to defeat the Templar's. The majority of the game is based in Rome and is realistic and believable as the story of the cerebral assassin Ezio. It takes a turn for the weird, like previous games, towards the end and this is where my mind exploded out of my ass.

The story uses religious mystery that strays away from reality. The assassin's of the past speak to Desmond in a hologram and advise him to make a decision that shocks every gamer who will have played this game, me included. It almost makes you feel sorry for the Templar's. Almost. Although I have rambled on about Templar hate and the very confusing story of a series of games (that I have tried and pretty much failed to cram into about 6 lines), the theme of this blog can be simplified. Theory's of ancient societies, be it Templar's, Assassins or The Masons interest me. They fascinate me, and I cannot get enough reading material on them. Stories breed strong feelings like hate and empathy and without them being a little based on truth they wouldn't be able to keep me interested and not depressed in my current life period. I am even tempted to buy the Assassins Creed books. Bet you can't wait for my rambling review on them...

The Most Important Time Of Day.... For Men

One of the stranger but greater things I learnt from my dad is the importance of knowing when to take a break from your day, and use the toilet. Yes, I am writing a blog about toilet time, which as most men out there know is the most important time of day. Toilet time is the only time in a day, when you can get away with doing what you want and have the perfect excuse. Now women or non-believers out there may think toilet time is limited but alas you are wrong. See the main thing I use it for is reading, to make damn sure I get through my books quickly, I always have a book close to the toilet in order to read whilst parked. You can also read the paper, do a sudoku, do the crossword or for the tech savvy you can use your laptop from the shitter. Twitter from the shitter, maybe I'll patent that one. (See that's four things there completely off the top of my head, take that non-believers).

Now we've established many things can be done during toilet time, I will go on to stress the importance of it. It is usually the only 20-30 minutes in a day (combined between or as one whole) that a man has peace, quiet and an excuse to do what he wants. In this day and age that is massively sought after. Peace and quiet is important to all men. We can ponder our thoughts over a good read, relieving any stress and all of this without having to provide any reason other than: I was on the toilet. The genius of toilet time is it's simplicity.

Lastly reader, I am not the only one who appreciates toilet time. My dad stressed it's importance to me and it wasn't until mature enough to appreciate it I realised so. Other esteemed colleagues of mine have shown a fondness of toilet time. Be it Steven Pettiford with his sometimes hilarious "Toilet Tweets" or Tim "Seppo" Macy who drafted his NFL fantasy team "Fried Stuff With Cheese" from the karsy. I'm sure there are many more out there who don't admit a liking for toilet time, and hopefully this article will show them that there are others who appreciate its genius.

P.s

Even slightly famous people appreciate toilet time as Sam Halpern is quoted in the book Shit My Dad Says “Son, you’re complaining to the wrong man. I can shit anywhere, at any time. It’s one of my finer qualities. Some might say my finest.”

Exam Pressure, Reading and Golf... a Wierd Combo

So it's been quite a while since I last blogged. A month minus 5 days to be exact. It is not for the lack of things to write, there have been many things of interest and a long list of things that have pissed me off in the last month. (Lib Dems, Tories, Revision, Poor Lecturers, Missing Contact Sport and Arguments to name but a few). As for me I have been keeping fairly well, back in the gym and feeling good before I descend into exam doing, hardly leaving the house disgust mode. This is when I stop shaving and don't move from my desk for revision and cough.. procrastination. The past month has had ups and downs, ups being dominating Aber 7's with 7 tries and coming home in third to win the trophy. A sophisticated afternoon of coffee and chocolate meltdown cake (Iceland thank me later.. kudos Samuel) as well as the food I've been eating. Downs have been revision, and just generally not feeling with it.

Exam stress is getting me down, 5 exams in 2 weeks. Combine this with useless lecturers and lecture notes not telling you any facts and it makes for some fun revision time. I always get stressed out during exams and end up a mess, and this shows in my post exam blowouts that leave me in ridiculous states for days. This year I am trying to keep working by not procrastinating and staying healthy by hitting the gym. Luckily I have now got bored of Madden having played so much of it in the last 5 days. With that out of the way, nothing can stop me on my path to revision and good exam results..... apart from the ever growing yearning to improve my golf game... .....shit. (perhaps buying new clubs was not such a good idea)

My latest book conquest has been The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It's the follow on to Angel's and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. Having enjoyed the other two books, I sought after the new one and once I got into it I found it hard to put down. Not only was it fast paced and interesting, but it blew my mind with the secrets it told. If your interested in secret societies (much like the Illuminati from Angels and Demons) then this book will open your eyes. It sheds light onto the secrets and wisdom of the Masons whilst showing a more sinister side of what can actually happen. It also tells unknown secrets about Washington D.C's landmarks and features and shows they were built with hidden reasons behind them. I found this fascinating. It made my mind explode out of my ass, and if you read it, it'll do it to you to.

The Fighter.

Not such a cryptic title today. Its been nearly a week since I last wrote and that's been down to three things I feel. 1) No inspiration to write (even though as I sit her writing I'm actually slowing myself down from writing complete drivel) 2) Re-discovering my love of books. On "holiday" in Weymouth I read 4 books in 6 days. And I didn't even spend all day every day reading, I was just quick and couldn't put the interesting good books down (for those who care they were Friday Night Lights and the last three Harry Potters). 3) Being busy spending time with my girlfriend and her family, which was really fun and a nice change. So yeah my week in short? Sun,relaxing,walking,reading,food, quality time with Lucy.

The fighter is a great film. I have watched it twice now, having gone to the cinema to watch it originally. It is a brilliant true story of the boxer Micky Ward that beat adversity to finally showcase his talents, come out of his brother's shadow and become a world champion. The film tells the story of his rise from perennial bum and stepping stone to his first world championship fight that he wins as the fight ends. Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale put in brilliant performances. Bale was rewarded by his Oscar and it was thoroughly deserved, he shed a lot of weight to really look like the junkie ex-boxer he was playing. He was superb in the performance, capturing the hopelessness of a smack addict whilst still being funny and showing potential to recover. Wahlberg is solid as ever, and gets into brilliant shape for the boxing scenes. They are ably supported by the surprisingly hot Amy Adams as well as Jack McGee who puts a comical spin on the female dominated George Ward.

I implore you to watch this film, boxing fans will love it but it is so well done anyone can enjoy it. Make your women watch this film! If your any kind of boxing fan you will have seen wards 3 fights with Arturo Gatti that are mentioned in the end of the film. These fights were wars, and some of the best I have ever seen. Something else to add to what the film did, if like me you were captivated by the story surrounding Micky Ward, watch the three fights with Gatti and whether it's the first time in a long time or first time ever you will not be disappointed.

The last part of my blog is dedicated to a little recipe I've been using for years. It is the best flapjack recipe I have ever seen, I came across it 5 years ago in comprehensive school cooking lessons. After having lost it 3 years ago, I always searched for it, and finally found it when in Weymouth when absentmindedly reading one of Lucy's sisters Cadbury recipe books.

Makes 24. 15 minutes Prep (yeah right) 25-30 minutes cooking.

Ingredients:
255g/7.5 oz unsalted butter.
255g/7.5 oz light muscovado sugar.
175g/6 oz golden syrup.
300g/10 oz Cadburys Chocolate
400g/13 oz porridge oats.

1. Grease a 28x20 cm/ 11x8 inch shallow baking tin. Melt the butter with sugar, golden syrup and 75g chocolate and leave to cool completely.

2. Mix together the rest of the chocolate and the porridge oats in a mixing bowl. Add the syrup mixture and stir until evenly combined. Place the mixture into the tin and level out.

3. Bake in a preheated oven 180 C/ Gas Mark 4 for 20-25 minutes until just beginning to colour around the edges. Leave in the tin until almost cold, transfer to chopping board and cut.

Best flapjacks ever and my tip is: If your going to fuck up the timings or your oven is dodgy, undercooking is better than overcooking!