Thing #41: Learn to like these foods

This Thing is about trying eating new things and see if you like them or not. I am not 10 anymore and eating broccoli isn't a torture anymore (don't think it ever was) so this is a relatively easy Thing to complete. In fact most of the 'awful' things I actually like - lettuce, carrots, peas etc. So growing older has some good aspects too after all!

Thing #48: Watch these movies

I was coasting on the information highway (this thing called the Internet) and I came across a post with a list of films. Apparently, if you have watched more than 85 movies in the list you don't have a life. I thought to give it a go instead of using the list provided by the book. And the sum was... 89, which is good enough to prove I don't have a life. Well, we already knew this, as I have spent more than a year on this blog right? Actually, I would have scored MUCH higher if the whole Star Wars saga was included in the list. Anyway, having watched more than enough films, I think I will continue my endevour of doing something interesting with the my remaining of my life - before I get too old and too boring.

If you want to try this for yourself here is the list:

{ ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
( ) Grease
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
( ) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
Total:

( ) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far:

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far:

( ) Harry Potter 1
( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far:

( ) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
( ) Robots
Total so far:

( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG
Total so far:

( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumb & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween H2O
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber
Total so far:

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far:

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
( ) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far:

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
( ) Ocean's Eleven
( ) Ocean's Twelve
( ) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star State of Mind
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog [both versions]
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far:

( ) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
( ) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Boss's Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds [both versions]
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
Total so far:

( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
( ) Wizard of Oz
( ) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
( ) The Terminator
( ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3

Total so far:

( ) X-Men
( ) X2
( ) X-3
( ) Spider-Man
( ) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
( ) The Little Mermaid
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
( ) Shrek
( ) Shrek 2

Total so far:

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old-virgin

Total so far:

( ) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
( ) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
( ) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
( ) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far:

( ) Love & Basketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devil's Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three

Total so far:

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
( ) Monsters inc.
( ) Titanic
( ) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far:


( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
( ) Hook
( ) Chronicle Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld

Total so far:

( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
Total so far:

( ) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
( ) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
( ) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
( ) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far:

( ) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America World Police
( ) Red Dragon
( ) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
Total so far:

Thing #81: Research Your Family Tree

Finally! I got around to do a bit of research and come up with about 80+ family members spanning 7 generations using a software programme I installed on my PC a few months ago (always proactive eh?). These cover about a time frame of 130 years, albeit most of them are as expected in the second half of the previous century. Still, it was interesting to see the past unfolding in front of me, even if this only involved scratching the surface. Good enough though to claim Thing #81 done!

Summer holidays

It has been sometime since my last post - and I find myself turning into an old and boring person! So I thought to put some effort into getting back to the treasure hunting!

Before that though let me update you on a previous Thing I completed. I found myself lately into a flower-buying mode. If you can't grow something.. buy it! So I got a few bamboo plants which are great! A touch of water and a bit of sunlight can make miracles. They actually grew leaves after a month or so. This is a major success considering my track record and ability in gardering and taking care of flowers. So, I suppose Thing #24 is more complete now.

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/.

Progress!

Is a single leaf progress? Yes!

Is a tiny leaf progress? Yes!




I don't think this will grow any further, but at least this should be good enough. After all, I was never good at 'gardening' and even this is considerable progress!

PS: I supposed something like this would have been more better:

Third time lucky?

I used the little wooden box I got from the money does not grow on trees kit and used it to plant a few lentils. They should grow up within the next 2-3 days. It's high time I got this right and completed this Thing!

What shall I do next?

It's been a quiet month, but I am now ready as ever to complete more Things. In fact I am thinking of trying planting a seed (#24) for the third time and the far more fun Thing (#51) of spending £47.6 on something I like. I will keep you posted of any developments!

Thing #61: Join a club

For Thing #80 I had to start a secret society.. and of course join it! It would have been though contumelious to put this forward claiming this Thing done.

So, for Thing #80 I will put forward myself joining a book club. The only thing is that I have never attended the club's meetings (well I found myself once a table away from their meeting - does that count?) ! In my defence, I did buy two of the proposed books for discussion but never got around to reading them. After all, I have not even read my Wired collection yet!

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 #79: Build an Igloo

You find yourself stuck on a mountain in the middle of winter. Soon it will be dark. It's time you put your survival skills to work. You decide to build and igloo. You could follow the easy instructions shown in the video below (instructions are always easy until you apply them) but this seems like hard work. What if there was another way?





And indeed there is! The only catch when you want to build an igloo is that you need to have... snow. And today it did snow, for 30 minutes. I knew it was not going to be enough. It was not going to be hard enough to pack in blocks either. So, I decided to innovate and build an igloo mini-prototype.

The idea is simple, albeit it can take some time for it to work and if you are in a hurry this is not Place a strong enough tent-like shape in preferred position and... wait. Do something else for a few hours and when you come back you have your igloo ready. Simple!





In our case the transparent walls provide 360 degree views making this igloo not just a revolution in prefabricated igloos, but also a special place to protect you and your loved ones when stuck in the mountains.

Thing #15: Fart and Burp

Check out this image at PostSecret.com.






PS: and in case you are wondering no it wasn't me who posted this. Still as completing this Thing by finding something so relevant is far more difficult than actually farting and burping, I think I deserve to claim this Thing!

Thing #42: April Fool Someone

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

Thing #42 completed - no no for real!