Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
A research team at the @mrccbu
is looking for participants with different types of brain injury, to
take part in an online study about how activity levels relates to
mood. Follow the link to learn more! https://t.co/cfNeMCcMPwpic.twitter.com/M64QlEMjrL
—
Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (@mrccbu) August
10, 2020
I've
made no secret of my memory difficulties on this blog- in fact, I've
been open in the hope that my experiences of brain injury, memory and
mental health issues might help other patients, or even doctors who
are making new developments in related fields.
Hence,
when I saw the above tweet I dropped an email to Andrea Kusec at the
University of Cambridge. I wanted to be part of their project, MAPLES
(that's Mood, Activity Participation, and Leisure Engagement
Satisfaction). We had a phone call where I answered a questionnaire,
and I'm expecting a follow-up call on Thursday where I'll answer a
few more questions about my condition. I understand some webcam usage
is involved as well, between myself and the Cognition and Brain
Sciences Unit, once a week for 8 weeks.
I
expect they will still be looking for contributors, so if you had a
brain injury more than 3 months ago, that's you!
In
recent years I've undergone a number of attempts at the splits. I
failed each time, of course, but most recently I made some progress
by using the liniment Thai oil, a bizarre eastern formula used by
Muay Thai fighters everywhere, for its healing properties. As well as
alleviating bruises and sprains, it aids flexibility by warming the
muscles to which it's applied. I'd sit on the floor with my legs
against the cupboard doors, and push my heels out as far as they'd
go, measuring between my ankles. My record for this was 1m 65, from 4 years ago. I'm planning to beat it. I made it to 1m 60 recently. I only stopped
last month as I ran out of books. Well, I've just had a birthday, so
there's no shortage now...
Looking
forward, October is
BLOGTOBER,
a challenge to upload every day, and I have a plan for that (COVID
allowing). Hence, I have a number of targets: beat 1m 65, perform the
splits fully, beat some personal bests at the gym, and read this pile
of books,
Either
before October or before Oldham is lifted from this partial lockdown.
Whilst doing this, I'll keep at the gym, attempting to beat personal
bests. I'm going to try to mix into my diet healthy food that aids
flexibility, like these.
Also,
the Thai oil bottle goes out of date in November. I've wanted to do
this project for years- stuff just kept getting in the way.
A
quick sit-down gives us... oh dear. 1m 35 between the ankles. Let's
begin.
Some
months ago I took part in an interview about this blog. It was
conducted by Amanda Gene, a fellow
writer, and to be honest I can't remember much about it. I emailed
her my responses to certain questions, and mispelled the acronym
PIASOM (Power is a State of Mind), an error that neither of us
noticed until it was published.
At
the end of the interview there are some links to my social media, but
they aren't embedded and neither is the link to the actual blog. This
makes it a lot harder for readers to check out my writing. It's also
difficult to distinguish between her questions and my responses.
At
the end of July, Oldham went into partial lockdown, again, after another
spike in COVID-19 cases. I decided to go back to my pile of books and
try to polish off as many of these as possible before lockdown was
lifted (again).
The
twist this time, as nothing is ever simple on Power is a State of
Mind, is to increase flexibility by attempting the splits, while
reading, and this time, by applying Thai oil. Back in July, I described the project
and featured the 6 books in my to-read pile. Offbeat culture magazine Vice gives an insight to Thai oil, the eastern liniment with healing
qualities, its history and its gradual spread from traditional
Thailand through to the western world.
I'd
tried this flexibility-and-reading exercise before, and had made some
progress. My July '16 record for splits
was 1m 65 between the ankles. It was time to see whether Thai oil,
with its ability to increase circulation and heat muscles and
ligaments, might alIow for a 38-year-old gym nut to get closer to
doing the splits, like an ageing Van-Damme.
I
started, in July, with my feet against a full-length wall cupboard,
with 1m 42 between my ankles. I started reading. I found, before
long, that wrapping a towel around a pillow and placing that under
the butt cheeks helped alleviate numb-bum, one of the hardest parts
of the project. The Thai oil itself helped to increase circulation to
the legs, combatting the effects of sitting on a hard floor for long
periods.
The
Place of Dead Roads
This
was a middle book in a trilogy; the bookending editions I got for my
birthday after I started the project. As I'm such a neurotic bastard
I couldn't include these books in the project.
Two
Brothers
I
had tried this a couple of months ago. Set in Berlin just before the
outbreak of World War II, I found it just not grabbing enough.
The
Corrections
I
had made an attempt to read this 'acclaimed' novel some years ago. I
made it 100 pages in. I'd found it excruciatingly dull, a
beautifully-written but empty account of a family not doing anything.
The granddad develops Parkinson's and loses his mind. The mom plans a
family get-together. That's about it. I decided I'd give it another
shot.
I
had the same problems. Empty, vacuous toffs go about their lives.
Gran and Granddad go on a cruise to rejuvenate their love lives- this
results in Granddad deteriorating so much that he hallucinates a
talking, taunting lump of excrement chasing him around his cabin.
Other than that, unbearable pomposity. It's absolutely bemusing as to
why it's so celebrated. Again, I made about another 100 pages.
Bram
Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula
Classic
horror novel aside, there's little to Stoker's upper-class Victorian
life that really engages, unless you're riveted by details of some
rugby-playing toff (why do I buy books with these characters?)
visiting plays and fanboying contemporaneous poets. I made an attempt
to read this about a year ago, and had the same problem.
Legacy:
An Off-Colour Novella for You to Colour
My
first Chuck Palahniuk book in
years, Legacy features a out-of work bum bestowed, through a
relative's will, with a peach plant. Well, it turns out the plant is
worth quite a wedge, and so he attracts the attention of immortal
strippers, SWAT teams and stalkers, all intent on coming between
himself and his heirloom. As the story twists and turns, there's
plenty of opportunity to colour in the half and full page
illustrations (some provided by artists behind Hellboy and Buffy the
Vampire Slayer) depicting key points in the story. I haven't actually
done the colouring in, but I wouldn't rule it out. It's supposed to
be incredibly therapeutic (perhaps even when the drawings are of, in
one instance, a Mafia bloodbath). A great, fun story with packed with
ideas.
Make
Something Up
Another
entry from Chuck Palahniuk, Make Something Up offers 21 twisty,
depravedly twisted tales from the mind that brought us Fight Club.
The anthology style was perfect for the reading-and-splits task, as I
would only be sat in that position for a few minutes while I read
each story. Although his novels are great reads, it's his short
fiction that really bites on the nose. A brilliant read.
So
that was the pile, as was last month at the start of the project. I
started practising the splits, as mentioned, with 1m 42 between the
ankles. My record was 1m 65. In this project, I only managed 1m 60.
During
this project, I also hammered away at some long-standing gym records.
As the gym has been closed between March and July, it's been a long
time since I've been able to register strength and fitness levels,
but now that I have access to the equipment I've been able to put an
extra 5kg on my hamstring curl record. A few other PBs I'm steadily
encroaching on.
Since
taking the picture at the top of this post I've received a few more
books as birthday presents, and I'm keen to dive back into them. I'll
likely try the Thai-oil-and-splits project again soon.
