I’ve got friends who are leaving FaceBook. I can’t blame them. The place is a bit of a cesspit. But I miss some of those folk, so I’m making a conscious effort to be back on this site more often. Hopefully I can keep it up.
And in other news: today I managed to return to my feet from a martial forward roll for the first time in probably two years. The arthritis in my knees is fucking horrible, but I’m damned if I’ll let it dictate terms. The pain and reduced mobility had been increasing steadily for some time.
I switched a few things around. Reduced the numbers of some exercises, and changed them so I do them in the evenings, not the mornings. It’s working. Shit’s still painful, but I’m handling stairs without the railings, and yeah, there’s that forward roll thing.
Gonna keep working on this. I will not be controlled by my goddam failing knees.
The Last Bastion 
Welcome back!
I think my whole body would break if I attempted at forward roll these days. So you’re doing fantastic! Though you are a typical bloke that won’t let pain stop you from what ever the heck you want to do!
Not typical, I’d argue. I have good reasons — the students and friends who work with me, for example. And the simple fact that the pain and inflammation in my knees is made worse by lack of use. If I DON’T exercise those knees properly, they deteriorate sharply in the space of perhaps a week.
There is, of course, also a certain bloody-mindedness to it. But that has always been the case. The day they come for me, in whatever form they come, they’ll find me with my back to a wall and a circle drawn by swordpoint around my feet. And the sword and I will be waiting for the first one to cross the line.
If I may paraphrase Q in ‘Never Say Never Again’ “Welcome back, Mr. Flinthart. I trust there will be lots of gratuitous sex and violence occurring”.
Works for me, amigo!