Ok, so as I contemplating my day last night as I dozed off to sleep, I started to realise that there were a plethorer of secondary reasons for me starting the blog. I think the main one is ensuring that my life begins to be exciting. I don’t want to fall back into lazing around the house all day, you can’t write about that in a blog, therefore I’m forced to do something exciting.

I was awoke this morning with the offer of a McDonalds big breakfast which I accepted. Doh. Not exactly the start that I hoped for, but not to worry.
I headed off into town this morning to pick up a few bits and pieces. I was definately still groggy from the flu and it showed as I felt really awkward in my movements and overall I didn’t feel focused. I had one chance to open up a small set of 3 in HMV, none of whom were worth anything more than the opportunity for practice. I chickened out. Failure. My approach anxiety is usually bad but it was through the roof today. I decided to blame it on the flu, there will be more chances down the road that I WILL take. It’s all about the first one. Once the first hurdle has been defeated, I believe it will be a lot easier and approach anxiety will significantly decrease.

I was feeling particularly generous today. I ended up giving a busker a couple of quid then donating to an organisation called ‘Unite against fascism’ which is an organisation made to raise awareness of how terrible the BNP (British National Party) is. Their website is www.uaf.org.uk, definately worth a look. The current government that we have is terrible, but the answer is not voting in these fascist, homophobic, racist pigs.

Ad I’d decided to look into taking up some new hobbies, I headed to an electronics shop to check out some camera gear. Photography is something I’ve had a fair interest in for a while. The cameras there were in the range of 3 hundo which is way out of my price range. I’ll just stick with my camera phone and see what sort of shots I can get with that.

Gym session was good today. I managed to complete the whole workout, despite the fact that I hadn’t been this week because of illness which I am rarely able to do.

Mastodon’s new record, ‘Crack the Skye’ was spun again today. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to this record, it’s perfection. The following is probably my favorite lyrics from the whole record:
“Spiraling up through the crack in the sky
Leaving material world behind”
You can just hear the emotion pouring out of them. I get goosebumps every time I hear it.

Later this evening I went for a run around Herrington country park. That place is pretty amazing and it’s right on my doorstep but funily enough I never go there. I knew I was unfit, but man I didn’t realise I was that bad. My muscles were screaming out in agony and I felt like I had been sitting in an oven after a mere 20 minute run. I took a few snaps with the phone camera which I may upload at some point.

I’m feeling like shit at the minute. It’s a mix of exhaustion and the fact that my flu is flushing itself out now and I keep passing gallons of snot through my nose. Will probably call it a night soon then wake up to watch the Hatton fight later.

Albert Einstein once said “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting to get different results.” When I first read the quote, it really resonated with me. It’s a mindset that I’ve had for a long time but have never really acted on, and has therefore been pointless. After watching the film ‘Yes Man’ I decided that I wanted to take more risks. I don’t want to coast by doing nothing and being a nobody all my life so I’ve decided to make some changes in my life. I am recording my progress for the foreseeable future in this blog is mainly something I’m doing for myself to keep a personal document of how I’m doing, but I would be thrilled if others could draw inspiration from it.

The name of my blog is “Audentes Fortuna Iuvat.” The quote can be translated to “Fortune favors the bold.”

The phrase has become a sort of personal motto to me over the past few weeks and has prompted me to go through with this. I will get the phrase tattooed somewhere on my body at some point throughout the course of my blogging when I’ve decided on a place to have it done.

The Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla was said to believe in the influence of the goddess Fortune in his life. He was a consummate risk-taker, achieving martial distinction by taking risks on the battlefield such as wearing disguises and living among the enemy. He was also the first of the great Republican Romans to march upon Rome- a great taboo, but one which cemented his power and influence.

I have a number of specific aims to this blog that go along with the general aim of becoming more active, healthy adventurous and generally a better person:
1) Get “Audentes Fortuna Iuvat” tattoo.
2) Become more friendly with people, manily the opposite sex.
3) Concentrate on my passion for guitar and music even more. Just start practicing a lot more and start WRITING material.
4) Improve my diet. Start a healthy, protein heavy diet. Cut out fast foods and fizzy drinks.
5) Build up cardio fitness. Start going on runs around different areas of Sunderland, even if it means I have to drive to a different area because I’m bored of the same route.
6) Continue with my muscle workouts at the gym.
7) Take up new hobbies
8) Take more risks
9) Spend less time on the internet. Currently I think that I spend way too much time browsing the internet and would like to channel my efforts on more worthwhile things.

This is just a general outline that I might add to and change throughout the excersise.

Technically today isn’t a proper blog. I haven’t been able to do much this week because I’ve been stuck in bed with a flu (and no, suprisingly enough its not swine flu). Providing I’ve fully recovered by tomorrow which I feel like I should be, I’ll be blogging from tomorrow. I will probably not get into this full swing until around mid-June because of exams and college commitments but I will do my best to maintain this attitude.

Thanks for reading, David.