Thing #67: Build the Ultimate Sandcastle and Have Fun in the Sun

They did not specify what exactly they meant by "ultimate", so I thought to innovate...

Thing #82: Learn to Skip Stones

I used to do this when I was a kid. I could typically  get 4-5 skips which was not that bad. So I thought to try this again. I travelled to the beach and start throwing stones to the sea. I will not comment on my performance. Instead.. I will just show you a more interesting video.

Think #54: Be a Daredevil

I'd prefer that thing was called Be Daredevil, in which case I'd have prefer to be Hulk or even better Iron Man.

I did try a roller coaster recently, but I think to claim this Thing riding the crystal clear cabin at Ngong Ping 360 was sufficient enough. 

Happy New Year

It's customary to look forward to the New Year on a day like this, but it may be more appropriate to step back and see what took place the past 12 months. Sometimes we feel an urge to discard and forget, pretending there was this black box that can encapsulate all that we want to leave behind us. I suppose it's only to be expected. We want to forget the bad moments and look forward to the new adventures that lurk just around the corner. However, there seems to be a gap in between the two: the good moments, which as per always we don't treasure enough.

You may start thinking that I have fallen into the cliché holiday trap and that I have already started compiling lists of new year's resolutions! Actually, I have not, although ironically I am thinking of compiling such a list just now. It's just that for me it has been a good year, overall. Actually, the last couple of years have been good, very good indeed. Not everything was perfect, but they were good! Despite the difficulties there were these 'special' moments that made every struggle worthwhile. I guess without them they would not have been special. Now, what I came to realise is that during the past 24 months I more or less got closure in many challenges I had set for myself over a decade or so. It's like 10001 Things to do before the decade is over! It sounds dramatic, probably because it is. Well, for me anyway! It's a great feeling to be happy with your place under the sun, know where you are coming from and have a direction. No I have not figured everything out and neither do I know how things would turn out. I am just happy that I can shout: so far so good!

With a tabula rase as my to do list and a clean email inbox (does not happen often), I am ready for 2011 new adventures!

All the best for the New Year.

Thing #34: Hide treasure and leave a map

X marks the spot, right? Wrong! Well there is no map, so there is no X. Instead, I am thinking of using Bookcross for this Thing. BookCrossing is defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise". The term is derived from bookcrossing.com, a free online book club which began and encouraged the practice and aims to "make the whole world a library". To search for books or even release your own books in the wild visit http://www.bookcrossing.com/.

Thing #22: Invent a secret code

When I was a kid I thought it would have been cool if we had a secret code to chat without being understood. By chat I don't mean... online! The Internet as we now it today did not exist back then. So, I reinvented the wheel by adopting a straight number for letter substitution. It was not difficult to crack but assuming you could the substitution quicker than those that you were trying to fool (i.e. the other kids) that was fine. If you want to see how this works click here. So I would like to retrospectively put my ingenuity forward and tick the box for this Thing.

By the way, secret codes are very helpful things, especially if you are to have your own secret society, right?

Task #14: See a ghost (done!)

You may wonder why I have not updated the blog for so long. Well, I was undercover looking for ghosts! It takes some time to spot one you know. And I did spot on! I even caught it on camera, but this is not for the light-hearted!

Messages in bottles

I started thinking about messages in bottles and remember of the movie with Kevin Costner (imbd). Basically, a woman finds a tragic love letter in a bottle on a beach (yeah! where else?), and she decides to find the sender. There was also a 1979 song by The Police, from their second album, Regatta de Blanc.

I also did a quick search and you can order messages in bottles for £19.90 (not even £19.99). You have up to 2000 characters to express your feelings which are then put in the bottle. Then bottle is then sent to you; so you won't have to look for it at your nearby beach. It even comes with its own chest.

Actually, if you are to get a message in a bottle gift you may as well go to messageinabottle.com. They have a great selection for all occasions! I checked their frequently asked questions but they have nothing on how strong their bottles are and if they will survive in open sea.

Thing #1: Send a message in a bottle

This is NOT difficult. Or is it?

The first thing that came to mind is where to throw the bottle. It will have to be somewhere in open sea so that there will be a chance of it going far far and even further away. On the other hand it will probably get lost. Possible solutions: try multiple sites to ensure higher chance of at least one message surviving.

Second issue: what kind of bottle will it be? It has to be something that will be friendly to the environment but at the same time it will last the journey. The key here is perhaps the seal. I used a cork it will probably won't last too long.

Third point to think: the message. The book has a couple of suggestions. I could use both of them if I was to send out more than one bottles. It also suggests that the message is translated to different languages. Make sense. I could use Babelfish or even ask my friends to translate it for me. Eh... ok Babelfish it is (this was almost a joke).

So, it seems I have now a plan!

New year resolutions

I am one of these people that connect things in their head piece by piece and then they have the big Aha! moment (you know the moment with the flashing bulb over your head?). Well I had one of these moments today. I have been thinking of something interesting to get myself involved with for sometime and came up with a long list of things. Mostly involved creating collections (or databases if you prefer) of things and putting them on the web. What's the point after all if you are to do something and keep to yourself?

I also wanted to start writing again. Not that I ever stopped. But I could not find anything to write about. Of course it would have be something interesting, otherwise no one will read it (remember the sharing concept?). It would also have to be interesting for me too, otherwise I will bore myself to death and this is supposed to be fun.

I struggled for sometime and then watched CSI.

Grissom: So, let's see. You surf, you scuba dive. You're into latex, you like fashion models and Marilyn Manson. And you also have a coin collection?

Greg: Weird, ha?

Grissom: Well, I race cockroaches.

No I am not going to get involved with any of the above (especially racing cockroaches!). It was just a reminder that I was probably spending too much time thinking about what I want to do instead of actually doing something. So now, well yesterday, I got determined, but still lacked the idea. And the idea came this morning.

I have a friend who listens to this random music called Jazz. I like Jazz; sometimes, not always, but that's another story. Anyway, he said why don't you try the '101 Things to Do Before You're Old and Boring'. The book gives you ideas and encourages you to log your experiences. This is the moment I had the flashing bulb over my head. I can do 101 things and then blog them. Sounds reasonably cool.

Actually I had already read '100 Things to do before you die'. Typical me, I read the booklet (very short read), highlighted the interesting bits and then filed it under 'Useful for quotes'. I guess you have figured the plan already. I follow the books and do what they say. Some of the stuff in this type of books can often be crazy or so improbable that they end up being crazy for my taste so I won't or I can not do them. Everything else I will blog and keep you updated of my progress.