#604 Let me bore you to sleep

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland and this is let me bore you to sleep. The podcast where I bore you to sleep. Yeah.

Only please only listen when you can safely close your eyes. So I hope you're well. Hope you're happy.

I hope you're doing all right. Yeah. And this is the second day of me using my new Shure SM7B microphone.

Yeah. And I think I said yesterday. I'm just going to check it.

Top podcast. Top podcaster. Highest earning podcasters.

I know who the top one is anyway. Why is it taking so long to open up? That's weird. Ah.

Who's the highest? Joe Rogan. The Joe Rogan experience is podcast. Blimey podcast made 50 million US dollars in 2019.

Blimey, he gets up to 200 million downloads per month. 200. Andre, behave.

200 million downloads per month. 200 million. It is me getting excited that I'm getting close to the 3 million mark on my podcasts.

Not a month, obviously. Blimey. 200 million.

200 million. I'm at 2.7 million in two years. So wow.

Wow. And I know that he got paid. And I don't know what it is.

He signed a contract to go from YouTube to Spotify. And he got paid huge amounts of money to do that. But he's I do watch some of his videos on YouTube, actually, because I think he still posts them on YouTube as well.

I think the new ones. I don't know. But anyway, he's he's good.

And he uses the whole point I mentioned in him that this similarity between us is we're both bald. Although I shaved my head, I think he is bald, but he might not be. Naturally.

I haven't seen him naked. And he uses the same microphone that I use. So it's good enough for the top podcaster in the world.

It's definitely good enough for me. Oh, yes. So yeah, that's why it's not why I've got this podcast because he uses it.

I only just found out yesterday that he uses this podcast. The reason I got this podcast is because after months of research, I came to the conclusion that this is the best one within, you know, financially able to purchase it. I mean, if I had 10,000 pounds to buy a microphone, I could get the most amazing probably microphone in the world.

But, you know, if I had 100 grand, I could get one that's made of gold. Why would you want something like that? I don't know. I think some rappers have gold microphones.

Got to be proper heavy. And I, blimey. So I mean, there are some microphones on Amazon that are about four grand.

But I don't know. You know, I don't know if it's their foreground because that's how much they should be. Or it's a scarcity issue.

There's you know, maybe there's the only ones available. Because sometimes on Amazon, if you look for a book, it's like the Handbook of Scarecrow Making from 1932. There may be a book on there and it is selling for like, you know, 900 pound.

And you think, wow, that's a lot of money. And then you find it for 7.49, £7.49 later on as you're in your search. It's just that some people put stuff just really expensive.

I don't know why. So that might be the case for those particular microphones. I'm just going to pick up my phone and read out a message of sorts.

I had a message. Where was it? So I hope every I do. Honestly, I hope everyone's okay.

Everyone's doing groovy. So they had a few messages on my YouTube channel. Andre, I'm not even going to pretend that was Andre from Jennifer.

Very This is for a video that I uploaded today. Reduce your anxiety in less than a minute. Very effective.

Great for busy people who don't have a lot of time, or a long attention span. Thank you, Jennifer. And yeah, so that's the main that's the only message really.

But oh, wow. The I've been uploading a few videos. I've been working on the Premiere Adobe Premiere video editor.

I'm just gradually getting to learn how to do bits and bobs and the thing is, I spent over two hours this morning editing a video, a short video, I think it was that one, the one I just mentioned, editing it two hours. That's a long time just for a video that's already been made. You know, it's already been recorded.

Two hours added on. And that's without the time it took for it to render and to process. And that's without the time it took to upload it to YouTube.

You're talking about three hours pretty much. This is a very time consuming process. However, my subscribers have gone up to 539.

So I've had nearly 10 subscribers in the last week. Not a lot, but it's a lot compared to normal. It's been very stagnant for quite a while.

So the things I've really been working on is a couple of things like editing a video. The one thing that I'm struggling with is adding the audio on top. And I'm just, I'll admit I'm struggling with that.

I spent a few hours today trying to do one, trying to add the podcast audio. This is from yesterday's let me bore you to sleep onto the video, even though the video ran out after about 40 minutes, but I'm still going to upload it and then just let the audio and you know, run on. I couldn't sync them together.

And I went on YouTube trying to find out how to do it and a little bit frustrating, if I'm honest, a little bit, just a little bit. So I've still got the video, you know, I've uploaded the video. And I've also made another video.

Well, this is from one of my motivational videos. Be kind to yourself. So I've, it's only a short, I think it's 33 minutes long.

So I've edited that video. And that's all processed. All I need to do is upload it from my PC to the to the YouTube.

So I'll do that after I've done this. Can't do it whilst I do this because the computers too loud. What's the point in getting a microphone that doesn't have lots of background sound, and then having a computer with which is okay, it's not quite that bad, but it's a bit Yeah, it's a bit, you know, it's a bit noisy.

And what other video I've got. I uploaded loads of videos that are on that you can't actually watch on YouTube. They're not listed.

Just because I was gonna play around with them and see what I wanted to do. What's become of a broken dream? So I guess I'm just gonna look I uploaded one yesterday, didn't I? A quite good thumbnail. In fact, it should be right at the front.

Where is it? That's weird. It's not there. I definitely did one.

Because I did a silly picture. Well, I can't find it. That's very weird.

I wonder where it went. That is strange. It's nowhere to be seen.

It's literally disappeared. Unless it's being removed. Why would it get removed? Why? Why? It's gotta be somewhere.

That's weird. That is very weird. Because I had a picture.

And it's a very colourful picture. There's no reason why it shouldn't. It should pop up like it should be.

Oh, there it is. But it ain't. Well, I know how to find it.

Facebook. 603. Let me bore you to sleep.

Oh, no, I didn't make a video. I did. That's it.

And it's not on YouTube. Because it's not YouTube. It's a podcast.

Yeah, number 603. I'm recording this on my new microphone. And so there's I did.

I'm trying to improve what I do, including the images, thumbnails, and the audio, you know, that's probably a bit boring. I keep going on about it. Stop banging on about it, Jason.

You said it 757 hundred and fifty five times. That is enough. Now let's talk about your stats.

Come on. I can imagine it's like you're getting so bored of me talking about the microphone and the video editing and stuff that you actually want me to talk about my statistics for the podcasts. Can you imagine getting to that point? Oh, we should tell us about this.

Please. How many statistics you had in the last hour? Please, sir. We need to know.

I won't. I won't bore you. Although what I will tell you is this.

I don't know what it's been. What is it? Last week, I had 68,524 downloads. So there.

But that's because I uploaded. Well, so today I've had 5731 downloads. So Monday, the first of March.

It's not bad, is it really? Not really. The day before that, Sunday, 5343 and then 6308 the day before. The day before that was 11,704.

You could say, yeah, in other words, it's going down. Yeah, you can look at it that way if you want. You don't have to.

You don't have to now. Oh, let me bore you to sleep. Yeah, that's doing all right.

How many have I got? 232,938. So I'm hoping I've reached the half a million for the let me bore you to sleep podcast by the end of this year. I'll be happy with that.

And to reach a million for 123 others. Yeah. No, that would be good.

So I want to reach I don't know, I don't want to I don't want to spend too much time on YouTube videos at the expense of the podcasts. So if you're thinking, oh, oh, you're going in a different direction, my son. You're moving in a different direction.

Why are you focusing on the videos? You only care the YouTube viewers. You don't care about us anymore. Us podcast listeners have been supporting you and been, you know, listening to your podcasts for years and years and years and.

You're wrong. I'm the podcast is. What? Why? I managed to turn all the way around.

Why do you think I invested in a really good microphone is for the podcasts? Trust me, that's my focus. However, YouTube was my first home. And it will be my last home.

YouTube was the place that I grew, really the place that I established myself. So. Revisiting it.

And I know it's going to take a year or two to get back to the point of having to get a few thousand subscribers and to be doing OK on YouTube. And there's a chance that YouTube will never, it may never catch up with the podcasts because. In a year's time, even though the YouTube channel will be growing, the podcasts will also have grown and the audience will have grown as well.

And there'll be more and more podcast episodes for people to listen to that you can download or stream on my website, you know, all that stuff. So YouTube may never catch up with the podcasts that I do. So, you know, it's it's not competition, it's.

It's sort of kind of the same, it's all part of the same thing. But I'm thinking regarding the YouTube videos. Between now and when I get the camera that I need to make YouTube videos, I'm going to just make maybe one YouTube video a day.

At the very least, maybe two, but maybe one a day. Based upon old recordings, like good quality podcast episodes. And I will make some videos based on that.

With video footage of spirals or forests or, you know, all kinds of different things. And then when I get the camera. I can start recording all of the live, what the podcast recordings I do, record it live.

If you know me, not not broadcast it live, but, you know, film it while I'm recording it using the microphone on the camera rather than with the podcast. And hopefully the camera, the microphone on the camera will be good enough so that I can just upload it, do a little bit of editing, you know, a little bit, and then upload it and it's done. And then continue to make some other recordings, other, you know, audios and other sort of special videos along the way as well.

That's my plan. And all going well. By the end of this year, I might be in a position to be able to monetize the YouTube channel, which will just help me move towards being able to be self-sufficient and to be self-employed.

I'd like within the next year or two to be in that position so that I can be self-employed and also be in a position where it doesn't matter where I live. I can earn a living, which means I can travel, perhaps go, go, you know, go traveling maybe even not anytime soon, but you know, maybe in a few years time or just go and live somewhere nice. Perhaps, you know, it's just possibilities.

The possibilities are as endless as I can be creative. So, you know, really, I'm the only one that can, that can produce that. I'm the only one that can make that happen.

But right now the most important thing is, to me, is to make the best quality product, product, it's not a product really, I'm not selling it, but a service. It's a service. It's a free service, whether it's a podcast or whether it's on YouTube, it's still free.

Yeah, there's adverts, but there's adverts on YouTube whether or not you monetize or not. I was listening to a video of mine on YouTube. I've not monetized it, but at the end of my video an advert played.

I'm not getting any money out of that. So, as far as I'm concerned, isn't it better that I make money from adverts that YouTube are going to play, rather than them just making all the money. If they're going to play the adverts anyway, I might as well make the money.

After all, I'm the one doing all the work. Well, that's how I see it. But I don't really want adverts played at the end of my videos, just at the beginning.

But for some reason, YouTube automatically plays adverts at the end. Don't really know why that is. Don't know why.

I think they may be making fun of me. They're mugging me off, mugging me off. They are mugging me off, right off.

So, yeah, it's... I feel as though I've been fairly productive. Although, from a podcast perspective, I haven't really. Because this is the first podcast episode of the month so far.

And it's 1st of March 2020. And I'm actually quite late making it as well. So... More done.

And I think once I start hearing the difference, I think that it will encourage me to want to make more recordings. Because I hope it will also encourage people to want to listen to more recordings. Because it's a nicer sound.

Now, I know there's going to be some people that aren't even going to notice the difference. It's like, you still sound weird anyway. You always sound the same.

Sound like you've just come out of the bath. The bath. Thank you.

You sound like you need to blow your nose, young man. Have you never thought about blowing your nose? You're just, you're all blocked. You sound like you're all blocked up.

I see you sound like you're all blocked up. Hey, I don't sound like that, do I? No. So yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's getting there.

You know, there's a lot to do. But, I'm quite pleased with how it's going. You know, as I said, I hope at the end of this month, to get the camera.

And then I hope by the end of next month, to get the mixer, the Rode Podcaster mixer thing. So that'll be your end of April. And then, yeah, it's this, this never ending equipment I need.

It's just constant. This sounds weird, but it is. It really is just, you can never have enough, you know.

Yeah, I could sit here with a little dick to, my little dick, um, to record a thing, you know, like I used to. Yeah, pay 20 quid or 30 quid for that. And then just do podcasts on that.

And the sound would be horrific. Like it used to be. Yeah.

But I think the point is, is, I think just generally in life is about progressing. It's about improving. Improving? What the hell are you talking about? I think it's, for me, I just want to, I'd like to, it just dawned on me, like if I've had all these people listening to me, even though the sound quality for a long time is very bad, but really, really quite awful at times, yet people were still listening.

That just shows that I must be doing something right. Must've been doing something right, content wise. So to have really quality sound, quality sound, I even sound, if you notice, as I get closer to the microphone, I actually get posher.

So I'm going to move away from the microphone. And as I move away from the Wi-Fi, I sound like this, I talk like this, actually I talk, but as I get closer to the microphone, I was like, you know, I really talk quite properly. And I'm not quite sure why that is, but it definitely seems to have a remarkably positive effect on my particular vocal style.

So yeah, so I'm fairly pleased with it. Yeah. I haven't learned how, well I've not even really started on using the Adobe audio software.

I will, I will, but it's, I mean, that's 50, 49 pound 99 or something a month, 49, 49 or something a month, 50, 50 pound a month for the Adobe software, for the Adobe cloud. So basically what you do is you pay that, and you can only do it on the PC, which is why I've got the PC, so I could do editing, can't use it on a tablet. Brilliant.

Because you, what you do is you sign up, and then you download the software onto your hard drive for each thing that you want to use, whether it's the video editing, the audio editing, Photoshop, whatever it may be that you're using on the Adobe cloud. And it's quite, it's quite a few things on there. And I still don't know what some of them are even for.

So it's going to take, you know, I reckon by the end of the year, I'll have, I want to have mastered the software, but I will definitely be clued up on how to use the software. You know, it might take a couple of years to get good at it, but by the end of this year, I'll be able to edit videos, do do special effects and basic special effects. And use the editing audio software as well to improve the quality of the audios.

That is one of the aims. But at the same time, I don't want to spend that much time on it. I think one or two hours a day is enough to be spending on using the Adobe software.

However, it's really easy to spend longer due to, and it might, it might just be a personal thing for me, but I get very caught up in what I'm doing. I really do. I don't, I just, it consumes me, consumes.

See, I say consume, as I move away from the microphone, consume mate, it consumes me mate. It consumes me. I'm touching the microphone, I don't know if this is making the microphone go weird.

My lip. So I still haven't learned quite how far away from the microphone to talk. So if there is a little bit of, by the looks of it, there's a few jumps in here.

So if the, if the volume jumps a little bit, it means I might got a little bit too close to the microphone. So please, please forgive me. I'm only learning how to use it.

What do you mean you learn how to use the microphone? What, 15 years into making podcasts and now you're only just learning how to use the microphone. Don't you speak in one end, don't you? Yeah. But with this microphone, it, you need to be fairly close to it.

With the other microphone, I didn't need to be that close. There was a pop filter in front of it. And, you know, it was sometimes I'd be a bit too far away from it, to be honest.

But this is closer. But at the same time, I might be getting too close, too close, too close at times. And maybe my voice raises, which could be why the, the jump on the needle as it works.

I'm looking at the screen of the tablet. And it just shows you the if you've ever seen editing, audio editing or anything like that, just it bubbles up and down. And there's quite a few jumps.

But I won't know until I listen back to it. What those were, you know, if there's any kind of obvious, like really loud, ear bleeding, screeching, then I will increase the volume on those ones, of course. Now I'll delete those.

Or I can. There's different ways of doing things with those. But once I learn how to use the Adobe audition, which is the software for the audio editor, and recorder, I should add, and I should have a much better quality recording, even more so than it will be anyway.

So yeah, I'm always looking to, I'm gonna, I'm going to continue to look to improve what I'm doing, even to the point of, at some point, getting myself a keyboard, and trying to compose some music, some relaxation music for background music. So producing my own background music. Now, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

But I think I might look into doing that. It will be, I'm just thinking, remember those little keyboards you used to be able to get, and they've like little drums built in? No, it didn't really have, there wasn't a proper drum, wasn't anyone inside drumming. It was like a little, like, that kind of stuff.

And it just be, I used to love it. And I've had probably about 10 different keyboards over the years. And obviously, I can play chords, kind of, you know, I've got, I've got a musical ear, I just don't have any musical talent.

So, but I can probably, because I'll be, I know what I want, from relaxing background music, I know what I want. So I think I could probably produce something with a little, well, with a lot of work. And it'd be very basic, you know, probably like four keys, and that'll be about it, or four chords rather.

So yeah, I might do that in the future. I mean, you know, I'm not completely without musical experience. Oh, he's going to tell us about the trumpet again.

Blimey, why does he always ask, and the violin, oh, don't tell me he's going to talk about the violin. Jason, you were 10 years old. Why do you have to keep talking about stuff that happened so long ago? It's like 100 years ago, man.

That's not 100 years ago. It's 40 years ago. There's a difference, me old fella.

Blimey, 40 years ago. I left school 35 years ago. 35 years ago, I left school.

One more time, one more time. It doesn't even seem possible. 35 years, 1986, and it was about this time, March, maybe April, March or April, 1986.

1986, 35 damn years ago, and I just think to myself, what a wonderful world. I think to myself, wow. And back then, I had no ambition.

It's not totally true. I did want to be a Kung Fu man. I wanted to go to Australia and learn monkey boxing.

And I don't mean monkeys boxing, I want to actually box monkeys. It was a style of Kung Fu, monkey style Kung Fu boxing, monkey boxing. And there was this Sifu, not see through, you can't see through him, Sifu, Sifu.

He was a teacher. He taught monkey boxing in Australia. He'd been to, I don't know, I think he probably learned it in China in a Shaolin temple somewhere.

And he took it to Australia and he was the first. Because I'd already studied, no I hadn't at that time, but since then, I studied with a similar situation where there was this Wing Chun expert who studied in, I think, China again, Shaolin, I think, Shaolin temple. But anyway, he's in China.

And he, he had the lineage. Wait a minute. Not Wing Chun, praying mantis Kung Fu.

No, I did, I did Wing Chun as well, but that was a different club. That was later on. Praying mantis Kung Fu.

It's in Stratford. So this man, I remember seeing him in the Kung Fu magazines. And he'd been interviewed and he said, yeah, he'd spent years in China studying this style of Kung Fu praying mantis.

And he'd basically decided to come back to England with the permission of his instructor that he could continue the lineage of that style of Kung Fu in England and introduce it here. That lineage. I'm not saying that there was no one else in the country doing praying mantis Kung Fu.

I don't think there was, but there might have been, but he, his particular lineage, he was the one. And so you think I'm lying. I'm going to, I'm going to Google it right.

Um, UK praying mantis Kung Fu. Okay. You ready? Northern praying mantis Kung Fu.

Oh, there's also the Chao Ga praying mantis Kung Fu. And there's a Southern mantis martial arts. And then there's the Chao Ga Southern mantis, Southern mantis, Paul Whitrod.

He's the man. Check it out if you want. It's chaogasouthernmantis.com. Paul Whitrod.

Chao Ga Southern praying mantis. And he, he's UK representative for the Chao Ga Southern praying mantis Kung Fu. And he's been doing it for years.

It's literally Paul Whitrod. Let me tell you officially, right? Paul Whitrod, Saifu or Sifu started martial arts training at the age of 13 with Kaiyokushin karate, karate, though he had trained in unarmed combat at the age of nine. Although at only 13 years old, he remembers the training being quite tough with lots of sparring and lots of students getting hurt.

As this particular form of karate is famous for its knockdown rules. He stayed within the system for one and a half years. Okay, so then later age of 15 in early 1975.

Wow, this is a long time. He started Chao Ga praying mantis Kung Fu under the tutelage of Yip Chi Kung Sifu who came to London in 1974. Okay, so he didn't go to I'm pretty sure he did go to okay, he didn't learn in China, but he learned it from someone that had come from another place.

I've got some of it right. I know that he regularly goes back to wherever it was that the style of praying mantis Kung Fu comes from, because when I was there, they were organizing a trip. So there you go.

So he started under Yip Chi Kung Sifu, who came to London in 1974. Yip Chi Kung Sifu Kung Sifu is a son of the famous great master, my grand master, Yip Shu, who was the foremost authority on the Chao Ga praying mantis system until his death at 93 in 2004. After only four or so years in London, Yip Chi Kung Sifu went back to Hong Kong.

Okay, so his instructor Paul's instructor went back to Hong Kong. And so 1979, this would be. And when he got there, he extended an invitation to Paul, to Paul Whitrod to come and study in Hong Kong.

Told you. Okay, I said China. But Hong Kong.

He's in China, isn't it? Yeah, it's right in China. So I don't know why I think Hong Kong is Japanese. But Hong Kong's in China.

It's because I think it's because Hong Kong was owned by England until the late 80s, I think. So I've, you know, still think of it as being just like the Isle of Man, you know, just like a, I don't know, like Cornwall or something, you know, just like, just a place to go. But it's it's owned by China now.

After 100 years, 100 years. So he did go to Hong Kong, Paul Whitrod went to Hong Kong to study. So that's, so I was right.

I just didn't realize that he'd started studying in the UK beforehand for four years. So it says Accommodation was no real problem, as Grand Master Yip Hsu wanted Paul to stay in his Hong Kong home so that he could be under the Grand Master guidance 24 hours a day. Wow.

It was from here that Paul Whitrod was to complete the Chao Gar Praying Mantis Kung Fu system, as well as Dit Da Medicine, fall and hit medicine in brackets, that deal with massage and injuries due to martial arts practice. He became a closed door student and went through the ritual of giving the tea, Sifu tea, to Grand Master Yip Hsu. So he could learn the finer things of this unique art and being situated right at the heart of the system placed him in a perfect learning environment.

In the fall 1986, now I really should have said in the autumn, because this is a UK website, but never mind. In the fall 1986, Paul Whitrod opened his first full-time school in London, and the following year invited his Yip Hsu Sigung and Yip Chi Yung Sifu to London. It was at this time they made Sifu Whitrod as the UK representative of the Chao Gar Praying Mantis Kung Fu as of June 1987.

So I'm thinking this is 1986 he came back to the UK, so I'd have been reading the magazines about 1984, I probably would have read the magazine about him being in Hong Kong, yeah being in China, China, China, and yeah so that so yeah makes sense. In the early days of training in Hong Kong there were many contests Paul Whitrod had to go through, some crossing hand, some testing of skill involving other martial artists. There were no hold barrel contests, no hold barred contests, and took place in Hong Kong and in the UK.

Paul Whitrod has gone on to promote this unique system of Kung Fu through articles, videos, and UK television appearances etc. He now has worldwide, now has worldwide, I think I should have been probably traveled, he now has, he has, he now has many students of his own teaching in Australia, Europe, USA. He still continues to enlighten his followers and martial artists worldwide about the Southern Chao Ga praying mantis Kung Fu.

He still can, he still goes to Hong Kong regularly, keeping his roots strong and paying respects to the late Grand Master Yip Shui and his family members who are also involved in training. This also includes Grand Master's students who have been an inspiration to his training. He currently travels and teaches the traditional martial arts that he has studied over the years.

Wow, so I came across him, this, well first of all it was in the magazine when I saw him, I was like wow, I mean it was, it was a similar kind of situation as with the monkey boxing in Australia, but I bought a book by that person because they, they were all, I guess they were promoting their book on monkey boxing, so I bought the book.

I had lots of martial arts books, different styles of martial arts, Kung Fu, all kinds of things and you know I really wanted to do that, but I also wanted to go to China and learn praying mantis Kung Fu, and then in 1991 or maybe 1989 I forget, whenever it was, I walked past this big building and it had praying mantis Kung Fu, Chao Ga praying mantis Kung Fu club, so I went in there, he was in there and I was like wow, and then later on they, they got rid of that club, the, I

think the the landlord took it back or whatever and he ended up, not ended up, but he was renting a place closer to where I was living in fact, just up the road from Maryland train station in Stratford, just up the road, and then that was being closed because a lot of building work and renovations were being done in Stratford at that time, so from the looks of it, he doesn't train at a club anymore, like one place, because I clicked on courses and it's an instructor's course and medicine course, but really, really nice person,

really nice and I think the problem at that time when I was in my 20s, my focus was on other things so I didn't have, I wasn't as interested in, for a while I wasn't even interested in any kind of exercise, I had a very physically manual job, very physically laboring, so you know, I didn't have to worry physically because I was getting lots of exercise all day long and so I wasn't, didn't have to worry about that.

The weird thing, I think really most of, I mean I did get back into the gym and stuff when I was about 26, I started really getting back into the gym and getting myself fit and then really with the martial arts I got more into it when I was in my 30s really, so I got back into it, Wing Chun Kung Fu, did a little bit of Jiu Jitsu, did boxing and then I went and did Taekwondo.

So you know, I've been, I spent quite a bit of time at three different clubs and I didn't, didn't do any gradients with the Wing Chun, I don't even know if they really did gradients, I was there for over, well over a year, but wasn't really about belts, it was about more than that, but with the Taekwondo I did I think three or four gradients, first class pass every time, oh yeah, just like when I was a kid, I think I did four gradients when I did karate when I was at school and got first class pass every time.

It's true, it's true, true that, I wouldn't lie to you, yeah, blinding light brings back memories, just sitting in my little room at the top of the house, teenager, 14 or whatever I was, reading through these, um, I can't even remember the name of the magazines, just martial arts magazines, Kung Fu Monthly or something like that, um, loved them and I'd have books on Kung Fu and I'd be practicing, it'd be like, not stick insect, not stick figures, stick insects, not stick figures, but little figures of the movements of the different forms in kata and

the different punches and the different movements and I'd practice them and rehearse them in my room, it was like a dance really, yeah, those were the days, yeah, I think if it hadn't been for leaving school, I'd have still continued, but that was a bit of a jolt to the system, I left school and suddenly I had to get a job because of the situation I was in, I had no choice, I couldn't, I couldn't continue being a teenager, you know, I was 15 and suddenly I was, I had to sort of fend for myself

and it was just, oh, I just, I don't know, everything kind of stopped, you know, if it didn't, I stopped going to karate, I remember I used to see my instructor, he said, when are you coming back?

I said, I'll be there tomorrow, never did, never went back, it's a shame, I still have that little longing, little longing for a black belt, you know, there's a little bit and with my back and stuff, I'm not really suited for kicking anymore, not being kicked, but you know, kicking, it's so, I don't know, I mean, I suppose I could do something like jiu-jitsu or something like that, but I don't know, maybe, I'll have a look into something, I'd love, I'd really love just to get a black belt, even if it was a case of

just getting through it and then quitting as soon as I get the black belt, just, just to, you know, spend two and a half, three years to say, yeah, I've got the black belt, yeah, especially, and just like, oh, you can't do it at 50, well, why not?

You just say, I can't have a black belt when I'm 53 or 54, and the thing is, with things like karate, taekwondo, jiu-jitsu, very similar, you know, very similar moves, very similar kind of punches and blocks, so once you kind of know your way around that type of thing, there's a bit of muscle memory there, so yeah, we'll see.

Once, there's actually, I don't know if I've told you, there's a karate club opposite where I live, I mean, I could walk over there barefooted, it's that close, but it's been closed for about a year and a half due to the situation at the moment, but the, I went once, and for some reason I didn't go back, I think part of the reason is because it was full of kids, and there was no adults, the only other adult was the instructor, and I didn't feel very comfortable with that, I mean, there was a young, there

was another kid there that was bigger than me, but he was still like only 15 or something, and I don't mind there being kids, but they need to be adults as well, if for no other reason, just for someone to talk to, you know, you go to a place and you make new friends in there, and and sparring and things, you can't spar with an eight-year-old, you know, it's embarrassing when they make you cry, oh, help me, he's only six months old, yeah, but he kicked me in the shin, I think I just banged the

microphone there, but anyway, blimey, it's time for me to go, doesn't time go so quickly when we're having so much fun?

So I'm going to go, thank you for listening, remember, remember to be kind to yourself, because you deserve to be happy, so do something nice for yourself today, and plan, plan something nice for yourself for tomorrow, and I know this, there's a few limitations, maybe, there's always going to be some limitations about, you know, what we can do, whether it's physically, whether it's financially, you know, whatever, there's always something you can do every day that gives you a chance to show yourself some love, so take care, and I shall speak to you again tomorrow.

Thanks for listening. Lots of love. Bye.