Four years ago, in 2002, I was coming to the end of my second year at university, living in a small house in Heworth, York, with one guy and two girls. The World Cup was about to start in Japan & South Korea - henceforth known as Japorea - and it was a very exciting time. Several trips were made to ASDA to buy some booze in. I remember by the end of academic year and coincidentally the end of the World Cup, some four weeks later, I had gone through 72 bottles by myself.

Skip forward four years, and the next World Cup has begun in Germany. Excitement was building once again, memories of Japorea resurfacing. Now back home in Huyton, Liverpool, trips to ASDA were once again made to buy in the alcohol. During the first week of matches, many bottles have already been consumed.

I went to the pub on Friday to have a few drinks with my mate, and much fun was had by all. Then on Saturday I got a text from another friend who was back home from university for the weekend and wanted to go the pub. So, Saturday night I ended up at another pub. I decided to take it easy given the week previously, and I didn't drink. At all. Apart from maybe two. And you know what? It was still fun.

So that's when I learnt that you could go out and socialise without alcohol and still enjoy yourself, provided you are doing it with good mates. With this theory in mind I went to watch the England match on Tuesday in the pub, and limited myself to a couple of cokes. Again much fun was had by all, and the best thing is that due to my non alcoholic night I was able to drive there and back, saving £10 on taxi fare.

This has opened up a whole new world to me. I can go to more places now because I don't have to worry about how to get there - driving is possible (parking still tricky)! Where will this amazing epiphany lead to? Only time will tell...

And I'm feeling good.

New, cleaner design. New blog engine. Unleashed upon the world today! I couldn't keep up with all the spam the old site was attracting (mostly via trackbacks) so I have killed it off. It is gone, deleted, it is a dead parrot. Cunningly I have migrated the old entries over to this one so it looks like I have been very busy adding content.

The design isn't 100% finished as yet but it will become the design of the site as a whole to create a coherent, unified approach. I will also be adding new sections shortly, such as a BRAND NEW photoblog.

Watch this space...

Satori.

Here's the dictionary.com definition of this word:

sa·to·ri ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sä-tôr, -tr, s-)
n. Buddhism
A spiritual awakening sought in Zen Buddhism, often coming suddenly.

I've come across this term many times as I read about Eastern philosophies. Though my core beliefs are more closely aligned to Daoism, I have a keen interest in Zen. The concept of satori is a curious one, and it's only recently I came to understand it. You can't go questing after enlightenment, it just happens. There's plenty of stories where something innocuous occurs to a person, and they become instantly enlightened. My favourite Zen story, however is this:

There is an Indian story of a marvelous medicine that could cure all ills. However, it only worked if you didn't think of a monkey when you swallowed it.

Always makes me smile, that.

I watched National Treasure the other day. My sister told me it was pap - somewhat enjoyable pap - but still pap. Undaunted, I went ahead and watched it anyway, because that's the sort of rebel I am. And you know, I really liked it! Sure, there were massive plot holes and cheesy dialogue, but it was so much fun! An adventure! I love adventures! Especially anything that mentions history and secrets and freemasons and Templar and the Illuminati! I'm no conspiracy buff, but I am genuinely interested in these groups from a historical perspective.

I also read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code yesterday. Yes, I finally took the plunge, despite resisting for a long time. As with National Treasure, which closely resembles this book, I really enjoyed it. Again, there were massive plot holes and it had a cheesy writing style, but it's fun and I do like adventures!

Most of us won't ever have an adventure like the characters in National Treasure or The Da Vinci Code, but we can still have our fun. Some time ago I stumbled across a wonderful little website called The Stone. It's a puzzle game where you have to interpret the images and clues to uncover the answer, utilising all the resources the internet offers you. Access to the site required the purchase of an eponymous stone, but there were a few free puzzles to try out. Imagine my surprise when I had a look here the other day to find it was now free for all to play! There are around 200 puzzles on there, some better than others, all interesting, and some will leave you stumped for a long time. It's worth it though, as when inspiration finally hits, you wonder how it took you so long to get in the first place.

Satori is a wonderful thing.

I often like to read for a while in bed before going to sleep. I'm not sure it's really the best thing to do, after all to read properly you need to concentrate, and concentrating hard before bed isn't always easy. So, in a break from tradition, I've decided to write instead, because writing needs no concentration!

In keeping with the reading theme, I'm going to review a few of the books I have recently read, so that you (dear reader) may know whether they are worth getting hold of, or are more appropriate as a gift for a loved one you don't really like.

First up: Spartan by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

It has a rather bland cover. Seems to be mountainous terrain with a rather ominous red sky above it. In the middle is a giant floating helmet, slightly rusty. On the back is a smaller floating helmet, slightly rusty. Little to recommend so far.

I've not read any other Manfredi novels, so I thought I'd try this standalone one before venturing into the Alexander trilogy. Good job too. It starts off well enough. A cripple born to a Spartan family is left to die and found by a Helot who raises him as one of his own. Then it goes into some mumbo-jumbo about him being the Chosen One or some such, destined to free the Helots (despite him being a Spartan). Some nonsense about his Spartan brother teasing him, calling him a big girl. Then it gets better, the Battle of Thermopylae! 300 Spartans versus A Big Load of Persians! Then some other nonsense involving that brother again.

I've only got halfway through this and I'm not thinking of carrying on. Perhaps it was better in the original Italian; certainly, the language feels clumsy at times. However, there's a deep seated nagging feeling that simply, the writing is poor. The plot isn't in any way interesting. It's bland, floaty, and slightly rusty.

I rate it 2 hoplites out of 5.

Next up we have Rubicon by Tom Holland

The cover is an orangey red affair, with a nice embossed gold coin and a frieze along the bottom of the altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus. Marvellous stuff. On the back there is a small photo of the author, looking stern. A nice touch. Lets you know who is telling this tale. Clearly he is a man of knowledge. Perhaps he was once a Roman himself. Perhaps.

The tale of the Roman Republic, from the end of the line of Kings (well, call yourself Tarquin? What nation wants to be ruled by a Tarquin?) up to the end of the Republic itself in AD 14. Everyone knows of Julius Caesar, but just as important are the Brothers Gracchi and their reforms; Marius and Sulla and the civil war that lead to the city-state's first dictatorship; Cicero, the outspoken orator; Pompey the Great, first man of Rome and Caesar's great ally then rival; Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome and wielder of immense power and influence. Their story is told in a wonderful narrative, as Holland leads us through time whilst relating every event to the nature of the Republic itself.

At the start of the book Holland compares the world's first superpower the world's latest superpower, but ever afterwards it is left to the reader to draw the similarities between the final tumultuous years before the Empire, and the world we live in today.

If you're less historically minded, you could just compare it to Star Wars, if you like. I know the thought of educating yourself may be a foreign and scary one to some people.

I rate Rubicon as 5 gladiators out of 5. Highly recommended!