Welcome to my Blog. I'm a practising member of SGI-UK a lay buddhist organisation practising the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin. It is often described as a practise of Active Humanism which I think reflects it perfectly. The basic practise is the chanting of 'Nam Myoho Renge Kyo' on a daily basis and putting the practise into use in our daily lives thereby making this a practical rather than esoteric form of Buddhism. For more information, please follow the Buddhist links on the right of this page


“Prayer is the courage to persevere. It is the struggle to overcome our own weakness and lack of confidence in ourselves. It is the act of impressing in the very depths of our being the conviction that we can change the situation without fail. Prayer is the way to destroy all fear. It is the way to banish sorrow, the way to light a torch of hope. It is the revolution that rewrites the scenario of our destiny... Believe in yourself! Don't sell yourself short! Devaluing yourself is contrary to Buddhism, because it denigrates the Buddha state of being within you.”.
Daisaku Ikeda.

Knackered and OUCH !!!!

So finally after 16 years, the Midget Submarines finally came together for a proper rehearsal .. we booked a room and even a new drum kit .. was pretty weird at first sitting behind it but soon got into it though I found my confidence had gone so ended up (mostly) keeping time and very little else ... which made it fairly uninteresting. Quite amusing though that we naturally seemed to play everything slower at first .. must be age ... even Paul 'Boo' Woods !!!

As time went on, I must admit that I enjoyed it less and less and by the time I got home, I really didn't want to do the gig and am still undecided, though I need to make my mind up pretty quick so they can find a stand in if I do drop out. Number or reasons really but one was that I was completely exhausted after drumming for 2 1/2 hours .. I like to think I'm reasonably fit and nothing really ached .. just feel completely drained of energy .. which is probably why I'm so grumpy about playing, so we'll have to wait and see I guess. If we do play, we definitely need to do the sets shorter and sharper !

With a bit of luck, there'll be two clips here later which might swing my mind one way or the other .. have to say it sounded pretty bad from where I was but the others thought it sounded OK and it can sound bad from behind the drums to be fair. Best quote of the night was Ken 'why's my beard grey' Popple who said .."... hey .. it sounds really good with earplugs" !!

Also .. I think I need to refine my technique ... as well as hitting the snare, I end up wacking my leg at the same time and my leg looks like a piece of tenderised steak today !!!!























Anyway .. here's couple of pics taken on my phone .. poor quality though:




















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