Get it together - think before you kick box

Health problems. Yup, we all have them from time to time.

And yes, they’re annoying every single time and every single one of them.  Health problems can stop you doing what you want to do, stop you having fun and usually we ignore them or set ourselves up to have them.  Oh yes.  True story.

Let’s take me for instance.  For you noters and haters out there – yes, I use myself as an example quite often. Why?  Because my mama bought me up to respect people and therefore I only use examples about me because I know me, I can’t presume to know you or anyone else.  My examples are not because I’m some egotistical swell-head.  If you think otherwise, you’re a tool.

So, like I said, down through the years, I've been a great example of what not to do and what can happen as a result.  Thankfully those days are long behind me, I’m waaaaay smarter now.

Yup, I’m so smart these days.

S.M.R.T. like a fox.

Now this post is not some “woe is me” or “check me out I do martial arts” or some ego driven rant to impress, no, the story you’re about to read about me is disappointing.  It’s not a cool story about my past at all.  It’s dumb and embarrassing. 

I’m hoping that by me sharing this, you’ll get up off your a$$ and go to the doctor if you need to or you’ll change something you’re currently doing that’s not good for you long (or even short) term.

So here we go;

Back some 25 something years ago, I used to fight professionally.  Yep, fighting.  Punching, kicking, kneeing, elbowing, the works.  No, I was not in some underground fight club or in a circle of cars with their headlights on.  This was actual international kick boxing – back then it was all very new here in New Zealand but just what I needed to get fight trained rather than just learning how to fight. 

There was a big advertised fight – my last professional fight as it turned out, doctors’ orders.  I was in the headline title bout, the main event.  The promoters were serious about getting in the big crowds and were going nuts on advertising.  A prize purse to the winner, smaller peanuts to the looser.  Either way I was going to be able to buy a nice car since all I had was my Mum’s calf poo coloured Mazda 323.

My opponent (who I’m not going to name – you’ll see why further down) and I were the heavy weight contenders.  We were both interviewed on Radio BOP, 89.8 Kiwi FM and some hip hop station in Auckland who’d signed on as a sponsor. 

I remember the fight night, spectators were something around 3,000 and I was nervous.  I was geared up though, 6 months’ worth of prep under my belt and leaning in at around 6% body fat.  I was confident, had a good record in the ring with a few knock-outs, no losses and plenty of training behind me.  I was ready to rock n roll…so I thought. 

My opponent had a better record in the ring since I didn’t have too many fights (I didn’t like the attention) and he had a longer reach – he was 6.4ft to my 6.2ft.  Odds going in were with him, although I hadn’t been classified as a long shot by any means.  It was to be a legitimate fight for a new title – BOP Heavyweight Champion. 

Round one and my opponent show boated immediately – crowd favourite - and he did his best to make me look bad, fairly successfully as it turned out.  End of round one I was ahead on points, he was up in popularity.

Round two.  He was moving around like Mohammad Ali, openly mocking me and laughing at any technique I missed, and there were a few.  The crowd were eating it up and I remembering feeling like I should’ve never signed up for this, he was beating me up mentally and I knew it.  It’s weird being perceived as the bad guy when you’re not a bad guy. 

Round two finished up with him ahead on points and on popularity.

Now we’ll just stop here for a second.  You might be wondering what all this has to do with health problems.  Keep reading, trust me.

Round three and that’s when things went sour.

“Lemon mixed with sour lollies mixed with more sour lemons” sour.

It went bad.

Early in the third.  He raised his arms above his head and wanted me to kick him in the side. 

I complied.  It went red immediately but he took it.  He also (unfortunately) stayed standing and laughed it off.  I knew I’d hurt him but less than I hoped.  He was still playing up for the crowd, made fun of my kicks power.

Middle of the third started with a hiss and a roar after I knocked him down (nothing fancy).  He got back up and got me to kick him in the side again.  The crowd went nuts.  I remember the noise from the crowd being deafening.

I ignored the crowd for a bit until they starting turning, they got really rowdy and booing started – booing me.  Then the abuse came, particularly nasty too.  All this negativity aimed at me, by lots and lots of people, all people getting really angry because I was refusing to put my arms up.  Even my opponent’s corner staff was mocking me.

Now like most of you know already, I’m not one for bending to peer pressure, even from crowds. 

But on this night, I did.  All because I’d been getting annoyed. 

And that was my bad decision.

We traded about 5 solid kicks each before I started to feel “off”, like something was wrong.  He had still been going strong, loving it just like the crowd were and I was getting hurt. 

I remember thinking I was going to lose and prove all of them right. I was going to be the bad guy who got a hiding from the good guy.  I knew I wasn't the bad guy. 

I put everything I had into the next three kicks and I hit him with everything I had left.  After the first kick I saw his face change, the second I really hurt him, and finally when he really started fading, I finished him off quickly as I could, much to everyone’s surprise.  Third round TKO.

After the fight I found out he’d put together this game plan that involved us trading off kicks until I dropped – he’d wanted to make me look like a fool, a loser.  This went well beyond normal pre-fight media stuff.  He was subsequently fined $2k for bad sportsmanship which was lucky for him since he’d taken a bribe ($2k) if he could do it.  As a side note, the promoter is no longer a promoter anymore either. 

Now I don’t look back on this as something cool or something awesome.  It was a horrible night and I paid dearly for that bad decision in the ring. 

But why should any of this make any difference now to you, 25 something odd years later?

Well, I may have won that fight…but I lost a kidney. 

I also couldn't work for about 18 months as doctors did angiograms, angioplasty’s and opened me up to stent the damage trying to save it.  Eventually they called time and sucked it out. 

That single bad decision to lift my arms up affected me three weeks after that fight (and scaring my new doctor half to death with a blood pressure reading he’d never seen before) and forever more.

I’ve been on blood pressure medication to keep my BP under control since that day, taking two pills every day which I will have to do for the rest of my life.  

Even just last week doctors changed my medication and neglected to tell me there’d be side effects of dizziness and nausea as my system adjusts.  This had me off work sick for several days. 

All this from a decision I made in a fight I had over 25 years ago.

So what can you take out of this stupidity of mine and hopefully avoid anything like this yourself?

My suggestions are easy.

•      Simple one first - don’t professionally kick box for a living. Money is good but the body punishment is not.
•      Like the old proverb goes:  “if you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow”.  Same goes for listening to stupid people, avoid them. Trust your instincts and follow them instead.
•      Pay attention to the world around you but never give in to peer pressure unless it feels safe and right for you – it’s your decision, not your peers. People abusing you should not be enough to make you do what they want in any circumstance.

And the two most important ones of all…

•      Take care of yourself – if you “think” something might be wrong with you, don’t wait for it to get worse.  Act.  Right at that moment.  Go get something done about it
•      Be pro-active with your health – especially you men reading this. We’re all shocking at going to the doctors, time to change that. Go get a check-up.

Health is all about the choices we make, big, small and otherwise.  

You've read the articles on sugar, the benefits of this and of that and now here is an example about how one moment/one decision can change things for a life time.  Now sure, my example is a little on the extreme side, but how many choices do you make every day that could affect you for a life time?

·      

•      Do you drink a couple of bottles/cans of energy drinks every day?  How good do you think that is for you?
•         How many coffees do you need now to get through your day compared to a year ago?
•         With smokes so expensive now (and proven to be deadly) what are you doing about it?
•      How much alcohol do you drink?  Do you think that much is okay?
•        Do you have to make excuses because you can’t do something because your body won’t let you? 
•      What about that pain you've got that keeps coming back every now and again, are you going to do anything about it?

Please take responsibility for your health people.  

Everyone else and I reckons you’re worth having around.

Bro' fist bump. Bring it in.

2015 - "Come at me bra', it's on like Donkey Kong"

​Hey! It's you! Wow, you're looking good!  Welcome back and welcome to 2015!!

I really hope your Christmas and New Year celebrations (if you had them) were everything you wanted them to be, whether it was partying like a rock star, doing cartwheels on a main street or curled up on a couch watching a movie.

So we're a few weeks into 2015 now, perhaps you're still trucking along with your New Year's Resolution or perhaps it's become but a distant memory.  Or maybe you long ago decided you're way too old for that kind of palaver (note I wrote palaver just then, not Pavlova, you're never too old for Pavlova). 

Whatever the case, I'm hoping that this coming year is going to be way better for you than 2014. 

I'm planning on mine being awesome, perhaps legendary. 

But how can you set yourself up for likelihood of success rather than inviting in potential failure?

Well, as always with these crazy posts I put together for you, the answer is again surprisingly simple, hence why I thought the first post for the New Year should really focus around;

"Start out how you intend to finish"

Yes, I heard you sigh, but hold up; it's not as laborious of a statement as you might think. They are wise old words and if you can open your mind a little bit, you might just have one of those light bulb moments that could change your 2015 for the better.

So the obvious question you have to ask has to be; ​

I'm kidding :) Read on and I'll do my best to explain.

Starting out how you intend to finish is really just a mind-set, it's an attitude adjustment to put you in the ring with the best possible fighting chance. 

Stress is one of those things that can knock you out, kick you when you're down and generally wail on you when you're running out of gas.  It's one of those things that can take the toughest of us out without much of a problem.  If you let it, it can be like the Hulk, but bigger and angrier and wanting you pasted.

So, to start out as you mean to finish?

Make 2015 the year you take pro-active steps to learn how to defend yourself from it.  Like every fight, know that you're never going to come out unscathed, but know that a little bit of stress is actually good for you, even long term.  But again, it depends on where YOU let your stress get to.

Take this fighting analogy a wee bit further.  In the ring, would you let someone swing for your face in the exact same manner after they hit you the first time?  No, you would see it coming and move out of the way, right?

What about getting hit a second time in the stomach after the exact same wind-up?  No to that too, I'm guessing.  If you see a pattern in movement, you can avoid the result and take appropriate action.

So then outside of the ring in your normal life, consider these few statements…

• You hang with people who every time you see them, deliberately make you uncomfortable or feel like a loser
• You have a fair-weather friend – a person who remains friendly with you only as long as you don't do better than them – but things are just beginning to improve for you and they're starting to turn everyone against you
• You hang with people you know are constantly lying to you, yet you keep them in your life
• You do the same thing over and over and over, the exact same way but you keep expecting a vastly different result

My question for you is this - how are these examples any different from being in the ring and dodging or moving out of the way of punches or kicks you can see coming?

Simple answer – they aren't.  They're the same.  Each will end up with you feeling stressed or injured if you don't choose to take action.

To start out as you mean to finish, the time has arrived for you to take the control over your own life and to see the patterns you keep falling into that keep giving you the negative stress.

It's time to find a way to make things work for you and give yourself the best chance for success.

In the interests of helping with a work thing, let's take the stress of emails for instance. 

If your outlook inbox is as crazy as mine with 200 something emails firing in per day, then simply managing this volume can be a stressful task all on its own.  

So how do I manage it?  Quite some time ago I set up a [insert word that sounds like "hit" but starts with an "s") load of email rules so that Outlook manages a great deal of the emails for me.  It saves me time, stress, gives me the ability to find emails quickly and keeps me on top of most things.

(For help on this, see:  https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manage-email-messages-by-using-rules-50307363-0e79-4f6a-95c0-04b922a2ff13?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US )

Why work harder, right? Why would you do it any other way?

So this post is really just an "open your eyes to the possibilities" kinda post, telling you that YOU have the ability to sort pretty much any issue that might come your way. 

It is simply a case of how you decide to act and the attitude you decide to have at any given time.

Will you let those same punches keep coming, or will you evade the obvious and fight back by being smart about it?

So like I've said a few times now...the same adage still applies.

"Those who go looking for trouble are never a problem for those who are ready for them"

Start out as you mean to finish, my friend.  

Ding ding.​

You're up.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Whoa. It seems like only yesterday we were winding down toward 2013 Christmas and New Year's celebrations and now we're in 2014 and in the same position! 

Seriously wow. Where does time go exactly? 

I do have a theory if you'd like to hear it?

Wait.  Why am I asking you? This is a blog. If you're not interested, you'll just click away. However, if you have a curious mind, then read on.....​

So, I figure "where does the time go?" might just be quite similar to my washing machine, or at least have something significant to do with it. 

Yes, you read that right. And no, I'm not crazy. That I know of.

My theory;
Whenever my washing machine is off balance, it rocks around like it's in a mosh pit pogoing to punk music, similar to how life goes when things are not going so well.  

When my washing machine is balanced however, it's smooooth sailing. I can make it play Christmas music with a complicated amount of button presses whilst standing on one leg and I can even add in fabric softener if I want my clothes to feel cudderee for me. 
(click this link TV Advert for this statement to make sense) 

But it is the tenuous love/hate relationship it has with my socks where my theory of "where does time go" comes into play. 
Yes, I can see you nodding already.

So take a moment, think about it a bit more. If time is so elusive AND so is the mystery of missing socks, then doesn't it stand to reason that the two enigma's might be related??

I am almost convinced that wherever time does go? I'm betting that place has the exact amount of odd socks that I do. 
Now if only I can get there without having to step through a wardrobe with ski-boots on. 
Yes Narnia, I'm looking at you. ​

Anyway, back on track.

Christmas (or January/February) holidays are a time where you can just relax and begin to decompress from all that stress and intensity you've handled throughout the last 12 months as well as look back and celebrate on the wins you may have had, small or large as they may be. 

It's also an excellent time to spend that much needed quality time (or tolerance time) with your family and friends.  How often is Life so busy that you are forced to overlook the little things? How often do you have to keep on keeping on so you don't get time to sit down with your kids/grand-kids/nieces/nephews or random children and play a board game?  

Or set up the sprinkler in the backyard for them to jump through? 

Or maybe just having the patience to listen through one of their terrible jokes that starts with the punch line, then has an "oops" and then comes back with hysterical giggling for the back story?

I have to say my favourites are delivered by my step son Finn. He loves to try and be funny any chance he gets. Add any kind of sugar product and he's almost inconsolable in his mischievous giggling.  Now his jokes are almost always fart or bum related – and no, don't look at me like that either. 
I'll take this quick moment to remind you that yes, I just might be that "my Dad is tougher than your Dad" Dad in all those stories you've heard. I'm sure you're picking up what I'm putting down here now and I suggest you hang your head in shame. 

Fart jokes ARE funny and I won't hear otherwise. 

But I digress (again).
  

Now like me, I'm betting at this time of year you're juuuuuust starting to wind down and feel that "far out, I need a break dude" for all the hard work you've put in over this last 12 months. 

I'm also betting you've been getting a little bit more tired last few weeks, maybe been feeling a bit less tolerant with those closest to you than say Jan through October or perhaps you've been burning the candle at both ends and feeling a bit worse for wear all of a sudden.  Or maybe you haven't been feeling any of those things and you're feeling more rambunctiously awesome in fact than ever!

Either way, now is the time for you to realise that this time of year can be both hard for some (especially those of us who have lost people), ho-hum for some and great for others.  

Now is the time for empathy and understanding, not to mention reaching out if you yourself need some help or even just some company during this time of year.

With all this in mind, I'd like to put a little something out there for you to consider regardless of which camp you've fallen into. No, it's not anything new, ground-breaking or original by any means but it will make a difference for both yourself and those around you if you choose to roll with it.  

So what is it? 

I would like to challenge you to; 

​

Pay something (anything) forward.  

Yes. Be better. Think better. Make a positive difference for someone where you make no personal gain whatsoever.  It can be a genuine kind word, a cup of coffee, anything, to a stranger, a friend, anyone. 

But don't be anonymous. 

That's right. Don't.

In order to make a difference, you actually have to be present in the moment. Human conversation, human contact.  It's not that difficult, it simply takes awareness and empathy on your part. 

Sure, it might feel awkward, yes it might feel uncomfortable but I assure you, it will enrich the person's day, if even only for a moment.

But that's it. That's your challenge. Give it a go. I'm absolutely going to. 

In fact I've already (with my beautiful fiance Andrea) carried out a good deed by helping someone move house to get out of an unhealthy relationship. It wasn't much for us to help her but it made a world of difference to her and all it took was a few hours of our time, my car, some gas and us paying for the trailer which was all of about $35.  

I hope this inspires someone out there in blog reading land (YOU) to open your eyes to the world around you so you can see perhaps the plight of someone less fortunate than you, or perhaps someone who is just having a bad day.

Now as a final wind up for 2014, this is the last blog I'll be posting for the year and I want to wish you and your family the greatest of all Christmas's and an even better New Year for 2015. 

​So a massive season's greetings to you, my friend!  Have a good one and we'll no doubt catch up in the New Year. 

And now that all that's done and dusted….pull my finger.

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!

Congratulations to Cassy!!

Cassy was drawn out of a hat (well actually both my hands cupped to hold all 42 names) and works in the same business as me, however in a vastly different part. 

She was very happy to win, gained a round of applause from myself and few in my team and is an excellent recipient of the first round having been a long term reader and follower of the "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight" intranet blog I write for my work place.

I am sure you will all join me in wishing Cassy congratulations!

Have a great day!!

Darren

Who will win the Samurai Jack?

Samurai Jack figure is up for grabs 

TODAY!!

In a few hours time I will be drawing the name of the person who will inherit the Samurai Jack figurine.  Will it be you? Have you signed up to follow me? If not, no, it won't be you at all.

to be in the draw

YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW ME BY EMAIL.

sign up now.

My old band recordings plus a new track

No More (original track)

Fallen From Grace (original track)

Aenima (Tool cover sample)

A Toute Le Monde (Megadeth acoustic cover)

Lightning Crashes (Live semi-unplugged cover)

Back when I was frontman in a band named "Humbucka" for the first three tracks - our band was named after the active pickups on an electric guitar. 

"Fallen from Grace" and "No More" were two original songs written by myself and the Lead Guitarist Glen Peters, little bit grunge, little bit rock. We could've gone somewhere I reckon, a good team.

Glen and I also covered a few other songs (the other links) prior to us forming the band with the drummer (Jappa) and bassist (Flange). Our band went its separate ways early 2000.

The quality of the sound is not the greatest given they were all recorded with a tape-deck in the open space of the warehouse that we lived in...but you get the idea.

The next track below is a more recent addition (last month) with myself and some friends from work (2 x guitarists) working on a Jeff Healey track I really like.

Hoochie Coochie Man (cover) RnB track

Enjoy!

Google +

A link to my Google + page.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108899641923622890619/posts/p/pub

Getting Older

Hi all, 

I haven't written a post for a while - very much same as you - I've been flat out with life. 
But here I am and I'm glad you could make it too.

By now you've seen the subject I put up - "getting older" - but aside from when normal people complain about getting older with things like achy bones, wrinkles and "the roomatiz", what would I possibly cover with such a title?

Well y'see, it's a bit like this....

Recently I've returned to martial arts training again (so far only 2 sessions) with a fellow martial arts instructor by the name of Javier. 

Javier (pronounce Have-ee-air) is originally from Argentina and does an art known as Pa Kua*.  He's been all around South America, Spain and France helping instructors be better at what they do and how they fight/act/think –something very similar to what I've done locally minus the overseas travel. He's a genuinely nice guy, a man I now count as a friend, tends to approach life in a similar way that I do, is a 4th degree black-belt and like me, enjoys the challenge of pitting his skills against someone equal, better or higher graded.

In truth, each night we train, both of us laugh most of the time as its just plain fun for both of us. Instructors don't ever get much opportunity to square off against each other since the fighting can be fast and does often result in strikes/kicks/throws that could seriously injure the other if either of us allowed them to "follow through". For he and I, the differences in styles and approach are easy to see but the similarities are also just as obvious. 

After classes he and I often discuss philosophy, martial history, new skills for teaching others, tried and tested self-defence techniques, new ones, carry out weaponry displays, then the normal guy stuff and joke around.  

Now the point of this little background story is....

He's 31 years old.  And I'm 43.

Given this, generally speaking compared to Javier - a young man who has an infectious zest for life and has dedicated a great portion of his life to the pursuit of Pa Kua and all it stands for - I am an old man, somewhat the edgy result of a life led slightly hard (one kidney, fused lower back, very few nerve endings left in my shins etc) and who works in an office 45 plus hours a week with work done at home too.  

Logically, given the age difference and the fact that I have more surgical steel in my body than most, this should put me at a HUGE disadvantage right?

Yes. Absolutely.  

He was being born when I was entering my teen years. So there is no way I could be any kind of challenge…right? Seems logical he'll just outclass me and beat me up...

Well, funny thing.

The actual answer is "No".  

And welcome to the point and the reason I've put together this post for you.

The moment Javier began circling me on that first night and we began trading kicks, elbows and punches, I realised that we are only restricted by the things society tells us, by the things we tell ourselves and by the things we have endured up until that moment. The moment he realised I was going to be at least a challenge for him in the early rounds, a healthy level of respect between us developed too. I'm partially sure he may have thought he could outclass me too based on my age and "more salt than pepper" beard, and I wouldn't have blamed him one bit.

Sure, in some ground work I did expose my kidney to a little bit of uncomfortable aching when I refused to give up when I should have, which made me feel like a bit of an idiot as the night got cut short due to pain - and some concern - and played on my mind for the remainder of our session. But Javier was very gracious about it.  

So at my age am I as fit as Javier? No. But will I be in time? Yes. 
Could I also keep up as we cycled through round after round? Yes early on, no later on. Again a stamina issue.  The rounds had to get shorter and shorter but (a good thing for my own pride) Javier was struggling to breathe a bit too.

So the moral to this post - some insights I would like you to think about;

1. Had I have told myself that I was too old/unfit to fight Javier, I wouldn't have tried. I would have lost before I started. I also wouldn't be now possibly challenging another 5th degree black belt who is visiting NZ from the USA.
2. Had I have believed society had already counted me out as a real contender after the age of 25, I wouldn't have tried and I would have lost before I started again.
3. Had I have believed my own self-doubt that crept in that I couldn't be a worthy opponent for a 31 year old 4^th degree black-belt; neither he nor I would be having as much fun as we are 7:30pm until midnight and building a great friendship along the way. 

So ask yourself - how often do you defeat yourself before you even start?

The world and the people in it can occasionally pass judgement on you prematurely and count you out when you have plenty left up your sleeves.
I would like to suggest that if you are ever faced with a situation in which you don't think you can do it, or you can't succeed because you "might feel silly", "discover limitations you didn't know you had", "fail" or "waste someone's time" then try anyway. 

Dont deprive yourself of an opportunity to discover something about yourself, to grow.

If you don't try, if you never apply, if you never actually decide to get into the ring of your own life – then you will never know what you are capable of and what opportunities you could have with the right approach and attitude.

Above is a picture of the New Zealand Pa Kua family. Javier front right. 

You might recognise some other faces in the background too...

If you would like to know more about Pa Kua, I strongly suggest you go along for a few sessions if you have a school nearby. 

For those of you who live in Tauranga NZ - it is in Greerton directly across from the Library - and tell him I sent you - your first class is always free. 

Pa Kua is excellent fun for your children, grandchildren and even for yourself.

And new friendship aside, I am happy to say that Javier is one of the best instructors of martial arts in the Bay of Plenty and if you have an interest in self defence, archery, yoga, philosophy or Tai Chi, go see him or feel free to discuss with me/flick me an email if you would like to know more.

Parting shot - don't let those around you or yourself decide what you can or cant do with your life. 

You only get one, live it well. 

*Click for the Pa Kua International Website​

Follow Me and WIN!

Hi you!!

Something a bit different today.

Above is a picture of a "Samurai Jack" figurine (possibly a McDonald's toy, about 15 centimeters tall) which sits on the window-sill next to my desk at work. 

He's a bit dinged up, bit worse for wear (like his owner) so he may not look like much but I assure you, he means a lot to me.

This little figure has served as a constant reminder of where I have been and what I have learned, challenges I have faced and overcome and as a reminder of where I still want to go in life without losing who I am.

All that from a McDonald's toy?? 

'Fraid so.

This little figure is the essence of the core belief that has kept me strong every single day and is partially responsible for the title of my blog (even though mine's called Fall six, Get up Seven).

He is not a religious item, nor a false idol to be worshiped etc he is simply a small plastic toy that if you press it down, it pops back up when it's ready. 

And it ALWAYS pops back up.

So this morning I decided it's time for him to go sit on someone else's window sill. 

And yes, that someone could be YOU.

To be in to win this figure, please return to my blogging homepage at 

http://thesunsetdragon.blogspot.co.nz/ 

and enter your valid email address (please no scams) 
into the FOLLOW ME BY EMAIL section up on the right hand side. 

And that's it. 

No scam, no jumping for numbers to get paid somehow, nothing. 

I just simply want to send Samurai Jack on his next big adventure and for the thing he stands for with me, to be passed on to you. Easy.

I would ask however though that the winner takes a "selfie" of themselves and Jack together wherever they are in the world and send it to me to post up on my blog. 

I would also hope that once they deem it necessary, that the winner then passes "him" on to someone in need of the "Fall down seven times, stand up eight" purpose and they could then too email me with their picture with Jack and so on and so on.

This competition is open for the next 2 months, closing on the 15th December 2014.

I will contact the winner by email, ask for your name and address and post Samurai Jack direct to you, absolutely free of charge, to anywhere you might be in the world. 

So what are you waiting for?

Go follow me! 

Win your very own Samurai Jack!