Cheshire Aesthetics Lounge Launch

Wednesday night saw the launch of Cheshire Aesthetics Lounge, a purpose designed clinic, in Nether Alderley offering a vast range of beauty and aesthetic treatments.

Here are the musicians for the evening: the marvellous Acoustic Cats.

In attendance were Gemma Merna, Carmel Valentine in Hollyoaks, Sarah Jayne Dunn,  Mandy Richardson in Hollyoaks, Leanne Brown and Lauren Simon from Real Housewives of Cheshire, Sonia Ibrahim, Mel Maguire in Coronation Street, and Nikki Sanderson, Maxine Minniver in Hollyoaks.

Goody bags included nice sweets from Candy Hearts and complimentary drinks provided by Bespoke Bar Services. 

A great event by Go:PR and Events. Here's the MEN writeup.

Come watch UFC 240

Coming up on the blog: 2 launches, a night out and UFC 240, the latter of which I'll be watching in Genting Casino. It's the bast place to watch the fights. Hit me up if you're going. Max Holloway defends his featherweight strap against Frankie Edgar, and Cris Cyborg- after losing her featherweight belt to bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes last December- faces Felicia Spencer.

I've just read Aliens vs Predator: Fire and Stone, a graphic novel I picked up at Oldham Comic Con a while back. There are 4 species battling for supremacy here- humans, aliens, predators and some other humanoid, one of which is called Elden, who speaks English and tries to reason with the aliens and predators. It doesn't really work- neither for him as a character, nor for the plot. When one of his legs gets cut off, he can still kick with the other, like that weirdly optimistic knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail. I don't think the authors intended it to be that way. Another implausibility- why doesn't the aliens' acid blood melt the spacecraft's hull? That has always been an issue.

Hmm. Not as good as the earlier graphic novels, although the illustrative detail has come on a long way.

Developments on Last Year's Burgalry, Other Positives

View this post on Instagram

#manchester #graffitiart

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Jul 21, 2019 at 10:24am PDT

I mentioned back in May that I was burgled the previous July, now over a year ago. I know exactly who did it. I just don't have the proof.

The culprit- we'll call him Kenny- was recently evicted from the Littlemoor estate, and I hadn't seen him in months. On Tuesday, I saw him on George St in Oldham in a wheelchair, being pushed by another man. Is this the result of a degenerative disease? Or an assault? Or is it an attempt at benefit fraud? Does anyone know anything about this? If so, hit me up.

Recently, police raided a scrapyard in Oldham, and found parts of my stolen car. They're planning to prosecute, so I made sure I reminded them about the the connecting man.

In other news I hit 90kg on vertical grip bench press, a PB I haven't beaten since 2011. This is largely due to Oldham's main sports centre not having a chest machine with vertical handles. Chadderton Sports Centre, where Oldham's Andy's Man Club is held, does. I fit in a cheeky session before the club meets.

Today I visited Orton's Writers Circle in Nexus Art Cafe. I got some great feedback on a poem I wrote. I'll polish it up and you'll see it here soon. They're keen for me to write more of the same style.

Free haircut

Tuesday was training day at Oliver's Club bar and Barbers in Wilmslow- I dropped in for a free haircut. The young apprentice who cut my hair did an excellent job and got superb tuition from the staff.

Friday night I joined 20s and 30s in Manchester, which if I recall is a meetup group although I can't find it. I've joined a private group on Facebook, an offshoot of this, where events are organised. I joined the group at Manchester's The Ivy  for cocktails.

View this post on Instagram

Salted caramel espresso martini. Why I bought this when I don't drink coffee is beyond me. @theivymanchester #cocktails #manchester #nightlife nice though

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Jul 12, 2019 at 11:42am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Peach daiquiri @theivymanchester #cocktails #manchester #nightlife #spinningfields I'd like to remind everyone that this is totally not gay.

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Jul 12, 2019 at 12:41pm PDT

As you can see, I spent the rest of the weekend following suit.

View this post on Instagram

Sakura @refineryspinningfields nice raspberry flavour #manchester #cocktails #nightlife

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Jul 13, 2019 at 9:08am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Rhubarb. @refineryspinningfields sweet #cocktails #manchester #nightlife #spinningfields

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Jul 13, 2019 at 10:48am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Moscow mule. Man's drink. @vesperbarmanchester #manchester #nightlife #cocktails

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Jul 13, 2019 at 1:00pm PDT

Fun weekend. I also read a lot: Lady Mechanika was a short steampunk comic about a woman with metal arms and no memory- not my thing, tbh- and I polished off Shallow Grave & Trainspotting, a screenplay omnibus by John Hodge. I know Trainspotting, a collection of tales about 4 Edinburgh down-and-outers, inside out, but it was interesting to see little bits that were cut from the completed movie. Shallow Grave I remembered very little of, but it was good to return to the tale of three flatmates, a newcomer, a bag of cash and subsequent murder.

The Black Dahlia

I've just finished James Ellroy's semi-fictional account of the real-life murder mystery, The Black Dahlia. In reality, the 1947 unsolved murder of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short shocked California. She disappeared one night in January. Her body was found cut in half and drained of blood in a vacant lot in the south of the city.

The book blends facts and fiction, and I honestly don't know much about the real case so I can't comment on how and where, but the story twists and turns, much like the reader's stomach once the murder details are revealed throughout the investigation. A love triangle, an obsessed young detective and a few other brutal murders create a rich tapestry of violence and police work. The 50's jive talk is easier to get through with google at your side- the average dictionary won't clear up confusions about long-gone dialect. There are a thousand reviews for this book out there. It's great. If crime mysteries are your thing, this is for you.

There are meetups happening in the city: Young Professionals in Manchester are meeting at The Wharf in Castlefield: perfect for a warm Saturday evening. There are plenty more if you search the site.

V for Vendetta

I found a classic graphic novel at a Manchester Golden Orbit comic fair a while back: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. Released in 1988 and set in 1997, it predicts a totalitarian future in which a shady British government watches the every move of all of all of its citizens, including a browbeaten young girl whose parents were sent to a concentration camp, and a masked, caped figure determined to change the shape of the country by any means necessary- including violence.

The story follows both the girl, Evie, and the government officials trying to track down the elusive V, a classically educated, lethal terrorist. There are twists, turns, murders, bombings, and even a few cabaret acts mixed into the horror-laced world of 'future' London. A weighty, fascinating, relevant and gripping graphic novel, although the introductory red-on-black text is an eye strain.

There is a movie adaptation that I've yet to catch up on (it's typically not on Netflix).

Social Dieting

View this post on Instagram

Gold medallist. #smoothie @tgifridays #manchester #nightlife

A post shared by Matt Tuckey (@matttuckey) on Jun 21, 2019 at 11:00am PDT

I'm trying to find the middle ground between eating within a strict healthy diet, to which I always fail, and binging on takeaways and 400g bars of Galaxy. I've made many attempts, detailed on this blog, to get back into the shape I was in in 2010.

I was 28, though, getting my mum's healthy cooking and still riding off the back of years of Muay Thai training, which had left me with an incredible physique. I'm now 36, turning 37 in a month, 25kg heavier, hammering weights and cooking my own food, with variable levels of fat in each meal. At the time, I could eat a cheat meal once in a while, and it wouldn't have much of an effect on me. My weight would stay constant and I still had a 6-pack.

I moved out in November that year, and within weeks that toned stomach had gone for good. Year by year, the gym work I did put more and more bulk muscle onto me, but it came with more and more fat on top of it.

A couple of years ago, after numerous bouts of neuropsychology, counselling and psychotherapy, I caved in and started a course of antidepressants. I'm now on 30 mg Mirtazapine.

A couple of weeks ago I was sat in TGI Fridays on Cross St Manchester, with a group of mates I met through Meetup. The waiter came over to ask us if we wanted to take a look at the dessert menu. Of course we did. I ended up hammering a sticky toffee pudding and ice cream, to the point where I could burst. It dawned on me at that moment that I would never be able to stick to clean eating, but that there was one way of making things fair.

It all starts in the supermarket. If I just buy clean food, plenty of veg, no chocolate, no pre-made food like microwave meals or pizzas, but raw ingredients, then I'm only going to eat healthily. When I'm out with mates, which is every couple of weeks or so, I might drink or have food. And at those times, I can treat myself. Buy healthily alone, eat treats socially. Social dieting. And considering I rarely eat socially, the rule of thumb should result in me losing a few kilos in the next month.

Last time I weighed myself, Tuesday, I was 86.7kg. I'm aiming for 80 dead on, and aiming to get back into some trousers I haven't been able to wear for ages. This starts today...