Thing #92: Have your own plot in the garden & Thing#57: Plant a tree

One of the benefits of doing the 101 Things when are you older (but not boring), is that you probably live by yourself and have a house that YOU call home. This house may come with a garden, even if it's a small one. Now I am useless when it comes to gardening and my garden looks like a 'plot' rather than a garden. Still, there are some green plants that grow there every year by themselves (I have tried many times to prevent them, but so far have failed miserably). As I think this is as close as I will ever get at completing this Thing I will just consider it completed.

On a more positive note when it comes plants there is another Thing, #57, that is similar to #92. For this one I was supposed to plan a tree and climb it when I was to be older. We used to have a tree and I used to climb it until we had to cut it. Then my parents planted a few more trees but I don't think I can wait for them to grow for me to climb them. You've probably started wondering how I can claim this Thing completed. Well the answer it that planting alone is not enough and that watering is equally important. So, I spent a whole day digging a trench to install an automated watering system. Believe me.. digging that trench under the sun is enough to claim more than 10 Things done! Anyway these two are enough, as the watering system not only waters the trees but all the garden!

Thing #63: Things Your Parents Say They'll Tell You When You're Older

I am trying hard to remember what they used to say, but I am failing so far. In fact, they seem to prefer the more generic but universally applicable: "You will see when you grow up". I've now grown up and I can testify for their infinite wisdom. More worryingly I have started using the very same words... Moral outcome of the story: "If you are still young and not boring, then listen to your parents!"

Thing #44: Teach your grandparents something new

Teaching my grandmother to use a mobile phone may be difficult but is not difficult enough. So I thought to scale this up and teach 50 elderly people (we can debate all day who's old and who isn't, so lets not go there) how to use the Internet and various related applications, such as VOIP, social networking etc. To achieve this I had to organise a full day training event and get a few volunteers to help out. The session has not taken place yet, but the sheer organisation effort to make it happen is enough to claim this Thing done!

Thing #56: Know who your friends are

I was checking the evaluation form that is suggested by the book in order to figure out who my friends are. This included items such as:

1. Lied to you: how would I know?
2. Humiliated you in front of others: I can do that by myself, but any help is always welcome
3. Told other people your secrets: perhaps I am telling them 'my secrets' so that they can actually tell other people
4. Refused to apologise for something they did or said to you that was wrong: not really, after all they don't want me moaning to them for the rest of their lives... oh and I will most certainly do so
5. Borrowed money from you and not paid it back: nah, good bills make good friends
6. Blamed you for something they did: that would not work, as I am beyond any suspicion
7. etc etc

Well, I could not fault anyone I know which either means I have many good friends or that the evaluation list requires a reevaluation. Either way Thing #56 is a thing of the past.

Thing #23: Learn to do a card trick

This was straight forward and worked first time, although I could have had a bit more practise to make it look more convincing. You may remember my previous awesome magic trick too. Check it out here.

Thing #91: Send a Valentine Card

This is a relatively easy Thing to complete provided you remember to do this! I forgot to do it last year, and I had to wait for a whole year for Valentine's day, before I could send out my card. So, without further delays, I can claim this Thing done!

PS: Happy Valentine's day if you are celebrating today (if you are a florist you are are most likely celebrating anyway!). If not, no worries, those in love have a day to celebrate their love. Those single ones, have 359 days to enjoy!

Thing #44: Teach your grand parents something new

Well, I did get to teach my grand mother something but video conferencing with her is probably as close as I will ever get to completing this Thing! Perhaps I should teach her how to blog and socially network too!

PS: This is the first time I manage to complete all Things in a row in my To Do table in the panel on the right!

Update: Another take on this Thing

Thing #101: Decide what you want to be

Too late for that... I am already what I decided to be. Well, sort of! More than 15 years I was asked that very question. My answer was rather 'ambitious'. No, I did not want to be an astronaut. Neither did I want to be a super star of any sort. Not even a pilot (that's something I want now). I wanted to be a mathematician, physicist and analyst (not of a specific sort - I just wanted to analyse stuff!). The teacher said I could not be all those things. She was 'right' after all. You need about a decade just to study those things at an undergraduate level. Still, I was lucky to combine all the above, and more, and for that I can only be grateful.

It got me thinking though, how easy it is to dismiss other people's dreams. We all do it (and not just for dreams). What a silly thing to do though. Dismiss a dream? But, it's a just dream! Let them live it. Help them live it. Encourage them to try and when they fail be there to push them further. Failure is part of the process and the process is what matters, so failures matter too. How we deal with adversity says a lot about us after all.

Same thing applies to you too. If you want to know who your friends are (Thing #56) then see who supports you - without asking. Not just those who will say 'yes' all the time. Those who trully care about you. Those who think about your step #2 before you even take step #1. Those who invest in your happiness. And when you know who these people are, make sure you keep them close.

Thing #50: Pretend to be ill - convincingly

Faking anything is a matter of time. You need to get people off guard otherwise you have about 0% of succeeding. This time of the year is great to pretend being ill as everyone has a cold (those of you who have not got one yet - just wait or even better just say: I am not going to get one). So when I got a sms from a friend who was looking after relatives with a cold I thought to give it a try. So, I replied that I was in bed with fever and that I needed to go to the hospital. OK, there was no face to face contact, neither was there any voice chat involved, but one should not underestimate the genius required to pull this off within 160 characters. Anyhow, within 3 sms I got my friend relatively upset as I was not 'planning' to go to the hospital despite my fever (I am stubborn what can I say?). I could not torturing the pure thing any further (the good man I am) so I put an end on it. Good news? Thing #50 is now complete!

Thing #58: Start a band

Attitude, enthusiasm (and good looks) can get you a long way in the music business. As I have not completed Thing #8 (learn to play a music instrument) I have decided to be the lead singer. And, as I have not found any musicians (who needs them anyway) I have decided to replace them with Karaoke CD. Many of them! They are widely available in music stores and can provide endless hours of entertainment... and potentially humiliation if you are not good enough. Of course the latter does not apply! To give you a taste of what a karaoke night involves, see the video below!



Want to try your skills: Check out this link!

Thing #10: Have an embarassing moment

Based on true events: A friend of mine (we will call her M. K. to maintain her anonymity) managed to complete three Things in one go, when it was revealed that she was to be blamed for the funny smells in the classroom and not the poor student sharing the desk with her. In doing so, she had an embarrassing moment, she completed the fart and burp Thing and also blamed someone else for it. A truly remarkable achievement!

If you have any great stories to share, then please do drop me a line or leave a comment!

Thing #7: Prepare yourself for fame

It's too late to 'prepare' myself for fame (although I could have claimed I was born ready - what a cliché!). I am too old for that. The question is now whether I became famous or not, which as always got me thinking: How do you measure fame? It turns out, I am not the only person who thought about it and there is even some research on this. For example, Schulman and Boissier came up with this (notice this was published in the Annals of Improbable Research Online a site worth-checking).

Actually rewinding my thought recording tape, the very first thing that came to mind was not whether I was famous or not (we all now the answer to this - after all you are reading my blog!), but how do you deal with not becoming famous when you grow up. It is very harsh to wake up one day and realise that your dreams have not materialised. Yours dreams were filed under 'I don't-know-what-happened' and will probably stay there. You are not going to be someone 'special'. You will not even claim your 15 minutes of fame on TV... you get the picture.

Well, not everyone needs to be famous. What matters more is to be important for those around you, those who care about you. That's something you don't appreciate when you are 10 years old and fame seems like a priority. If you are 10 and reading this keep on dreaming, but remember one day you will wake up and you will not be 10 anymore. You've been warned!

Thing #42: April Fool Someone

Happy... April Fool's Day! (You know who you are!)

Thing #42 completed - no no for real!

Thing #38: Make a time capsule

I received an email a few minutes ago that made me think (not that I was not thinking before or that I will not think later on) of how many time capsules we make for other people.

A friend had kept all the letters I had sent 15 years ago. Yes, for those of you who are not yet old and boring, that was before email. It's rather scary to be able to narrate stories that took place 15 or 20 years ago, but what can you do about it (other than invent time travel)?

Looking back, it is "strange to notice how we were obviously less experienced in life, yet how little our characters and ideas have changed since then. 15 years ago, imagine... We're getting old", but not boring!

As this blog is not just about me, but those close to me too and as it seems that it has made a really good job of turning 'insignificant random events' to things worth sharing, I would like to put forward my friend's time capsule and declare Thing #38 done.

Thing #4: Learn how to tell if someone fancies you

Internet, such a wonderful thing! It can actually provide a much-sought solution to an ever-lasting problem: find if someone fancies you. Well, since I marked this as done, I came across a nice way of figuring this out.

Just try: http://www.loveanalyst.com, but use it at your own risk ;)

Happy new year!

It's 2008 and I have another 78 things to! No hurry; in 2 years time I will be there.

So, let's get started. My first Thing to do (16) will be to make a swear box and fine myself, if I say a bad word. Hmmm, that's semi difficult to keep track of, but I will try to put 10p as suggested in a box for every single word. Then, I will spend it all as Thing 51 suggests.

It actually suggests saving pocket money, but as I don't get any from myself, my swear-box will do. Interestingly, the average pocket money given in the UK is 8.35 pounds, i.e. 33.4 pounds in a month. By starting today, I will finish on the 13th of Febrary. I guess, the question here is whether I will swear more than 334 times until then to collect more money than the average pocket money. That's a bit more than 11 words a day! Easy!

Thing #35: Learn how to ask someone out

You would have thought that years of practice would have made this easier. Think again! I guess people don't get better at asking other people out as such. They just handle rejection easier. Then, it is so much easier to ask someone one! Before you get old and boring you tend to take things personally a bit more than you should really do. When you are old enough, and wiser if I may say, you realise it's not the end of the world if you get reject. In fact, even if you do go on a date, you will need to probably ask someone else out sooner or later (that's what statistics say anyway). I guess this is why this Thing is actually called 'Learn how to ask someone out and... how to dump them'! Both useful social skills for emotionally balanced individuals!

Now if you are a girl reading this blog please read this: How to ask a guy out (as if you really need to!). If you are a boy reading this blog please read this: How to ask a girl out (you most probably need this!). Either way, if you still struggle, get the "101 Things to do before you are old and boring" and pretend you ask someone out only because it's in the book. It's a good way to start a conversation about the Things you've done, it proves you are not yet old and boring and if at the end you get rejected... you can always blame the book!

Thing #70: Spend Christmas in another country

Hm... what's the definition of 'another country'? I live in the UK, but I was not born here. So technically, 'another country' could be considered as any country other my native one. Hence, spending Christmas in the UK qualifies me for this Thing.

On the other hand, this is not really exciting as I have been doing this for... well, for ever! As such for this Thing to be completed, I will consider my trip to China a couple of years ago for Christmas and New Year's Eve.



A photo from the New Year's Eve party!