One small step for man...

... one fuck-off, scary-ass, massive, life-altering trip of a lifetime for Aarayan and Paul.

Mum, dad... we've got something to tell you.... we're gay.

Nah, not really (well, only a bit) - we're just going to live in Thailand for a year.


Following a period of epic unrest for me and a lengthy period of what can only be described (providing you're a bit middle-class and pretentious) as ennui for Paul the fates have presented us with a set of circumstances which are never likely to align again.

1 - I'm still young enough to make a go of training and fighting full time to see how far I can get
2 - I'm about to be out of a job
3 - Paul is bored senseless and wants to re-train as a teacher (fool)
4 - We were planning on selling the flat anyway

As such, we find ourselves young (well, I am anyway), child-free, moneyed up (I hope) and unemployed.

This will Never. Happen. Again.

So, what's the plan?

We're moving to Phuket, so that I can train and fight full time with Tiger Muay Thai, which appears to offer excellent facilities, for a reasonable price, and with good promotion connections. I want to get as much fighting experience as I possibly can, come down a weight category perhaps, get ridiculously fit and come back to Scotland and kick some ass :)

Paul's going to work probably teaching English, perhaps doing some web design, spend alot of time grinning his head off, drinking on the beach and learning to dive (not all at the same time, I hope).

He also thinks we're getting a pet elephant. I haven't got the heart to tell him it's not the same as owning a dog.

We'll get a flat on the island, and try and really enjoy our year in Thailand properly. I'm learning Thai with Bun down the road, and Paul's going to start lessons next week, I'm going to get as fit as I can before I leave to avoid too much unneccessary delay before fighting when I arrive.

Before all that, though there's all the unfamiliar territory of visas, work permits, selling our flat here, finding temporary homes for our pets, putting our belongings in storage and somehow managing to say goodbye to the people we love.

Paul, at least, has done this before and has some experience of saying goodbye, coming back and finding he hasn't been forgotten. He has many friends whom he sees intermittently and whenever their paths cross.

I'm finding the idea more difficult because, to be perfectly honest, I don't have many friends, but the ones I do have I love very much. There's Kal, Fran and Giles; Ally, Ann, Scott, Tessa and the guys from training; and the girls at school and saying goodbye is going to be very, very tricky. I've been in Edinburgh quite some time, and it's taken me this long to feel like I belong, so leaving it all feels like a big risk. All I can say is expect a very, very emotional Aarayan at our going away party (which, by the way, will be huge!)

So, I'm going to have plenty to write between now and July, when we leave, and even more after that!

Stay tuned, folks

A x

You can't win 'em all

Yesterday was fight 4, at the Ladykillers II show in Wythenshawe and before hand I wouldn't say I was confident as such, but I wasn't pessimistic either. I was more determined to do my best, and of course I didn't want to get my first loss.

However, there's a first time for everything and lose is precisely what I did do, in fairly spectacular fashion.

I was fighting a girl called Sarah McCarthy from Bad Company and she was just too good. Her clinch was excellent, I had no match for her knees and her boxing was very strong. The first right hand she landed did something very painful to my nose which, whilst not broken is sore, swollen and blocked. Her kicks weren't painful at least and, as usual, I've got no bruises whatsoever (apart from my nose and my eyes).

Round one she definitely dominated and it was quite a shock. I don't remember much apart from being put on my arse twice - once she caught my body kick and kicked out my standing leg (which was *my* plan - bugger) and I think the second time must have been in the clinch or something, but my bum ended up out of the ring between the ropes, which was dignified.

Her straight knees were epic - very strong, very Thai, very, very effective. I haven't stopped feeling like I'm going to vomit since then.

In the corner after round 1 Ally told me to keep busy, keep out of the clinch, box strong and body kick so I can out all guns blazing at the start of round 2 and landed 4 or 5 decent, unanswered shots. However, then she got me in the clinch and proper fucked me up, putting me back on my arse again at some point. In the last 10 seconds of round 2 she did.... something painful which got me my 3rd standing 8 count and when the ref asked me at the end if I wanted to continue, I said no thank you. I knew I couldn't win by this point unless I miraculously KOd her, and the chances were much stronger that she would KO me pretty quickly - every punch she threw sparkled me.

I can't pretend I'm not disappointed. I know there's no shame in losing to someone who's better than you, and no-one can win all the time, but the fact that I gave up doesn't sit well with me. It was the sensible decision, but I feel like a coward.

Paul says not to be a daftie, and referred me to the following video, which I watched in floods of tears whilst going "owwww!" because crying makes my nose sting:



However, he has a point.

Anyway, it's only 4 weeks until the next fight and I'll just keep training and try to put this behind me and learn from it as best I can. For now, however, it's beer time!

2nd Time Lucky...

As you might recall, last year I was supposed to have my first fight on the Ladykillers show in May along with 2 or 3 other girls from the gym, but pull-outs are common and my opponent pulled out at the last minute, leaving me both in the lurch and in a very, very bad mood.

Well, several of us SMTC girls are matched again this year on the Ladykillers II, and here's hoping that we're all still matched when the day comes, because I know we're all keen to go down and fight with some different gyms, on what is a very unusual show, given that it features an entirely female line-up.

Women are obviously less common in this sport/martial art (that's a debate for another time!) than men, and our fights tend to be fewer, further between and subject to greater change. Because there are fewer opponents, therefore there are fewer options when your match falls apart, and many many women miss out regularly on fights because their opponent pulls out and nobody can be found to take their place in time. So, 6, 8, 12 weeks of training are not put to immediate use, a match is made for a show in another couple of months time, and you carry on training.

It's something you're supposed to get used to: every fighter will experience it many times, and at the last show I basically acted like a twat because I was disappointed. So, whatever happens this year, I promise not to act like a twat. I think that definitely needs to be one of my New Years resolutions: not to be a twat.

But between now and then, alongside my ongoing war with twattery, I mostly intend to train my ass off (metaphorically and literally, because it's currently HUGE), and do the best fight I can on the 16th.

Cue Rocky music...

Results....

Well, it's not quite the unblemished record I was hoping for, but it is, as they say in East Lothian "No Bad". I got a draw this time, against an embarrassingly young (15) female fighter called Hayley Thomson from Fighting Fit Gym, but who I can safely say is tough as old boots.

Another C -class 3 rounder, I was much more tired during this fight than for the two previous ones, for various reasons. Initially I was supposed to be fighting a different girl at 64kg, who pulled out at the last minute because of weight issues, and was rematched with my opponent, Hayley Thomas, at 62 kgs. This did mean a 2 kg weight cut in the 5 days before the fight, which was no fun at all, especially since I also had to go away on school camp the weekend of the fight. Have you ever tried sidling up to a chef at an activity camp and telling him his pizza and chips looks fab, but would he mind heating up this bowl of Weight Watchers soup? No? It's embarrassing.

Anyway, camp was great fun, but did unfortunately involve forfeiting the usually standard rest period before a fight and swapping it for 17 hour days of abseiling, archery, trapeze, raft-building, and child entertaining. Not a plan of action I intend to ever repeat again. Turns out that looking after 10 children on an outdoor activity weekend, in the cold on 800 calories a day is actually not much fun at all, but I am glad I went even still.

So, in addition to all that, obviously I had no access to a sauna or a salt bath, so the day before the fight ran thusly:

06.00-07.00 - 3 mile run in a sweat suit.
08.00 - fruit for breakfast
09.00 - 10.30 - abseiling
10.30 -12.00 - archery
12.00 - 14.00 - Lunch (soup) and general child coralling
14.00-15.30 - trapeze
15.30-17.00 - Raft building (sat on the side for this one - didn't fancy dunking myself in a freezing cold muddy pond!)
17.00-18.00 - child minding and dinner (soup)
18.00-19.00 - 3 mile run in a sweat suit
19.00-20.30- Child activities
20.30-11.00 - getting children to sleep
11.00-06.00 - lying awake worrying about weight

Come fight morning I was mostly grey, spotty and knackered and in a final fart in the face from fate, spending a weekend with 50 hormonal girls brought my period on with no warning, on the morning of the fight. Nice.

So, a very kind colleague gave me a lift back to Edinburgh at 06.30 from the camp just north of Perth, getting me back to my house at about 08.30 on the Sunday morning, and Ally picked me up about an hour later and we and Kim drove through to Baillieston for the weigh in at 11.00. Come 12.15 my opponent hadn't arrived yet and rather than risk me going out and hunting down a ned for sustenance the referee officiated my weigh-in so I could get down the serious business of eating..... EVERYTHING.

Or, at least, everything that was left after Ally got his grubby paws on it... ;)

The fight itself is a bit of a blur - I remember various points with particular clarity, such a the moment when John shouted "push her off and high kick", so I pushed, stepped in and threw my hip, only to watch my "high-kick" hit her just above the knee.

"Hmmmmm...", I thought. "Shit."

I remember thinking "Holy fuck, I'm tired. I wish she'd just go away!", but she didn't, so we fought it out to the end. I beat her on the outside because I'm stronger and more technical, but she beat me in the clinch because she's fitter and had a much higher rate of activity. In the end it was announced in the ring as a win to me, but it was a mistake and was in fact a draw to us both.

To be honest, I'm happy with that - I felt at the time I didn't deserve to win, and I'm more comfortable with that decision. However, I am disappointed not to have another win, obviously, and I'm also a bit disappointed in myself because I know I can do better, and that I didn't prepare well enough for the fight.

However, I learned alot from it - I know exactly what I did wrong and why I didn't win, and I know how to fix it, and next time I definitely wont be making the same mistakes again.

So watch out ;)

Check out the photos of the show here, I'm about halfway down, looking, erm, photogenic as ever:

http://www.marktimmphotography.co.uk/gallery_99026.html

Yet another fight

Righty-ho: those of you who know my oh-so-secret and well-guarded identity, this is fair warning that I'm fighting again in just over 2 weeks on the SMTC show in Baillieston (near Glasgow).

This show here, in fact:






This will be my 3rd fight, provided I can get matched with someone before then, as my original opponent has pulled out due to apparent weight issues.

It's looking like I'm going to need to weigh 60kg for this fight, that's 2kg less than I had to weigh for the last fight, before which I was so very very hungry, so wish me luck!

In other news, happy birthday for tomorrow to Ally (my instructor)

Hip hip, HOORAY!

A x

Aarayan - 2, other folk - 0

Hooray - I won yesterday's fight in Ayr, so I'm feeling rather chuffed with myself today and not too sore either.

Getting down the the weight was quite a struggle this time and I was very very hungry and very very dehydrated by the time I weighed-in, but I was quite a bit under weight which means I can fight that little bit lighter if I need to. Mind you, everybody was under, so it might just have been the scales. Anyway, the weigh-in was interesting as me and my opponent were the only two females on the show, and whilst she had rather sensibly changed into her shorts before the weigh-in, I just merrily whipped off my jeans and displayed the pants which it had seemed perfectly reasonable to put on a 5am that day - a pair of polka-dotted knickers with lacy trim. Hmmmm. I may not have done my reputation any good there, but at least they might ask me back. Especially as I was standing there in my pants for what felt like about 4 hours while they tried to get the scales to work. Nice.

I got a good look at her during the weigh-in anyway and it was pretty obvious that we were very different builds - I was quite a few inches taller and alot slimmer than her which is definitely an advantage as it means I've got further reach and more leverage in the clinch. That helped to boost my confidence a bit although my stomach still felt as though I'd just eaten about 15 very angry snakes.

I was on 5th which was about a 3rd of the way through the show, so I didn't have too long to wait to go on. I had my medical check, which goes:

Doctor: Alright?
Fighter: Yup
Doctor: Any injuries?
Fighter: Naaaaah.
Doctor: You understand the risks?
Fighter: Yup.
Doctor: Here, sign this. Good luck!
Fighter: Ok, thanks.

After that I got my hands wrapped, changed, gloves on and warmed up. The waiting around before-hand has got to be the worst thing - I felt like I was going to vomit pretty much the whole time, but I was trying to look hard and confident because my girl was warming up outside and she was having a very good look at me.

In general I don't remember a huge amount of detail about the fight. I know that I came out in the first round and landed quite a few head-kicks since I wanted to take advantage of her height deficit, and I know I did most of the moving forward for the duration of the fight, but beyond that I didn't have a particularly clear idea that I was winning.

I felt we were fairly even in the clinch inspite of her height, and although she didn't actually hurt me, I think she might have been a bit fitter because she was very very busy the whole time. I remember hearing Ally screaming at me to get my hands up and thinking "oh, whoops" having not realised they were practically around my waist, and I'm aware she did catch me 1 good right hook as I have a nice bruise on my jaw.

However, I'm very pleased with how I did, I think it was a good fight and I can't wait for the next one, although I'm anticipating a much harder fight next time.

In addition, it was quite nice as our fight was announced as "Fight of the Night", so I got two trophies instead of one, *and* the MC said he fancied me - what more can a girl ask for, eh?

Now for a day of lounging, movies and food

Huzzah!

Another fight

I'm fighting for the second time in, oh, about... 10 hours in Ayr.

In a cage in Ayr.

That got your attention, eh?

It's not a cage match, it's a regular Thai Boxing fight, but it's at an MMA show where they have to fight in a cage because in a regular ring they run the risk of accidentally rolling out under the ropes whilst they're doing all that terribly manly and not at all homo-erotic wrestling on the floor.

Nevertheless, it'll look Damn Cool. Yeah, that's right - capital D, captial C. Damn Cool.

Obviously, I can't pull a fast one on you: it's 4.44 am and I'm awake an writing rubbish in my blog, and this would be indicative of the fact I'm very very nervous. I run through scenarios in my head: what happens if she does this, what do I do there, which way do I go to seal the ring, again? And it doesn't help that in order to make the weight I've had to de-hydrate to the max and so my head hurts, my lips and mouth are bone-dry and I'm starving hungry having barely eaten yesterday.

But it'll all be fine soon - the weigh-in is at 10.30am and then I have until my fight to eat and drink myself back to normality. I've got pasta with sausage, sundried tomato pesto and mushrooms, 2 bagels with cream-cheese and smoked salmon, various Lucozade drinks to re-hydrate with, sugar-free Red Bull (to make up for the sleep I'm not getting tonight), a Galaxy Caramel and a bag of Thorntons treacle toffee.

"Is that all?" I hear you ask - Why, no! No it's not. Apparently the gym who're hosting this show, Wossobama, also do a mean buffet for the fighters after the weigh-in, which includes a selection of tray-bakes, so don't worry about me, I'll be fine ;)

Anyway, in the spirit of confidence and positive thinking, I intend to win very convincingly tomorrow, since fighting at another gym's show generally means you're less likely to win as the judges, referee and crowd are sometimes a tad biased towards their own fighter. As such the best plan is to "stop them or drop them", meaning put them on their arse repeatedly to knacker them and make them look bad, or KO them before the end of the fight and then there's no doubt about who won. So, that's the plan. Expect an update on Monday - we're looking for Aarayan 2 - World 0 ;p

Wish me luck!

A x