I've had to remove the ability for people to add comments. I was getting a dozen or more hits everyday with links to less than desirable locations.

I've reached the half way point in my Hapkido training. In December of 2005 I attained my Blue belt status and am now working hard at Red-Tip. Wow, have I got some work in front of me.

My next grading involves several kicking combinations, most of which are fine. There's only one kick I've got real trouble with - the jumping spinning heel kick. From a standing poisition, while facing an opponent, I must jump in the air, turn 360 degrees, target the opponent and kick out with my heel at the last minute - this involves lowering your torso to get the leg up. Trust me, it's not easy.

I've resorted to targeting a socker ball hanging from the clothes line on weekends for extra practice !

Rex is now about 7-8 months old and doing well. My last visit to the vet (regular checkup for parasites acquired from live food) revealed Rex might actually be a girl. Everyone finds it difficult to say 'she' instead of 'he' so I'm happy for everyone to refer to Rex ever how they feel comfortable. I have to admit, I also find it weird to call Rex a 'she'.

Rex is approx. 13 inches long now (32-33 cm) from head to tail and last weighed in at around 120g. (S)he has slowed down somewhat due to the cooler weather but still loves her crickets and vegetables when I provide them.

I currently have our 4 foot fish tank on eBay to make room for Rex's new upcoming home - a 4 foot reptile tank. The current 18" tank is becoming too small.

It was the fish or the lizard ! No prizes for guessing who won.

I started Hapkido in March and I'm happy to report I love it. Last night's training was the first session I've missed due to illness. It was hard to make the decision to skip training but I think my body needs the rest to recover.

I'm currently on blue-tip level (white to yellow to blue-tip) so I progressed a belt per month. I am having some trouble with my current belt. I have 4 kicks to perform, two are easy (reverse back kick and butterfly kick) but the other two are driving me nuts (spinning heel and sweeping round house). These two are difficult because my feet seem to plant themselves into the ground/mats and so I cannot spin. I purchased some 'martial arts' training shoes at AUD$135 (discounted from $159) but all I seem to do is erode the mad surface. Quite annoying, but I won't give up.

Another aspect causing me problems is flexibility in my legs. My groin is either strained or weak and my hamstrings are too tight. I just cannot stretch them enough. I'm doing some stretches and will soon be working on some resistive based excercises to see if it helps.

Wish me luck.

It's been about 6 months since I finished my swimming lessons. At the time I stopped I could swim 50m before my breathing was out of whack. My breathing is the only thing that lets me down. I think this is a condition I've had all my life. Even during normal day-to-day activities I find myself having to take regular deep breaths to, what feels like, equalize my lungs. I wonder if I stop breathing when concentrating !! An interesting thought. Might follow up on it one day !

I have an urge to get back into swimming though, just for the fitness. It's finding the time that is difficult. I'll work on it.

Approximately 2-3 weeks ago I started Hapkido, a Korean Martial Art. My two boys have been doing it for about 2 years now.

I love it. Great workout, heaps to learn and plain good fun.

I've done a little taekwondo (about 18 years ago) so I have fortunately picked up the beginner stuff quite quickly.

I'm hoping to grade for my yellow built in about 3 weeks time. At two nights per week, let's hope it's enough to learn everything....

I just realised there's a hot new topic I haven't been blogging about. Rex, my new lizard.

Yep, ever since I was a young child I always wanted a pet lizard. Over the years I've made the rest of the family happy by providing their ideal pet; I figured it was finally my turn.

I applied for a "Reptile Keepers" license ($120 for 5 years) and then attended a short course on looking after lizards. Even with all my Pathology training I wasn't game to assume I knew everything I needed to know. After all, animals are not humans.

Rex is a "Centralian Bearded Dragon", AKA "Pogona Vitticeps" and is about 9-10 weeks old. The sex is currently unknown. From here on-in I refer to Rex as "him/his" rather than "her".

So why the name "Rex" ? In brief, my two boys love Dinosaurs; especially the T-Rex. Say no more.

I've taken some photos on my medium format camera. As soon as I have them scanned I'll post them.

Being the scientist I am (was) I've started to record his length and width: 175mm long and 28mm wide. I'll post updates on this as well.

Today I gave Rex his first feeding of approx. 30 small crickets. What a feast ! All gone within a matter of minutes. Even though it was the middle of the day it looked like he needed a sleep after it.

He's certainly fun to watch and hold. In future posts I'll write about some of the more interesting facts I learned about Rex on my course.

Well, I've completed my swimming 'training'. I've pretty muched reached a peak over the last 4 weeks or so. No major progress has been made (but then I have not had much time to put in the extra effort required). My work has pretty much stopped me from going to the gym or swimming. I'm swimming much better now and at least have enough 'training' information to work on it at my own pace. Better still, I'm going to make more time to get back to the gym and the swimming. That's the plan anyway.

It's been quite some time since my last post. Not because I've given up....I've just been extremely busy.

I've moved to the 'advanced' adult swimming classes now (even though there is no class available). I'm currently sharing my time with the beginner class. I have a good instructor so I'm not complaining too much.

I can now swim 50m before losing my rhythm (and breath). The funny thing is I discovered a few weeks ago I can swim 25m under water in one breathe (from a standing position in the water).

I should have been born a fish !

Last Tuesday evening I went for a swim and it was much the same as usual with some additional experimentation. You see, I have a bad back and neck which makes it difficult for me to follow the recommended techniques. For the past month I've been working on different styles to find something that suits me better.

After my hour or so in the pool and went to relax in the spa. While sitting there I went over a mental assessment of what I had done during the past hour to determine if there was anything that I was happy to keep trialing. After 10-15 minutes I got an urge to go back to the pool. This never happens so I figured it must have been a message to go back. On that note, I got out of the spa and went back to the pool. Would you believe it......50m without stopping. I was so proud of myself - I had just gone twice the distance.

Thinking it might have been a "one off", I went back to the pool today for my Saturday lesson and started off with the intention of swimming 50m before doing anything else. I did it. It's not a fluke.

I still have a long way to go but these small steps are encouraging.