364 Days to Go - Let the List Begin

Bad Blogger
Ok, I'm really going to have to try hard at this stuff as I'm notoriously shit at keeping up with blog and social networking type things, and I really struggle to take them seriously. I know it's fashionable to vent your spleen for all the world to see or to blog and Tweet work-related stuff, but I have to confess I love posting photos of dogs that look like cocks. What can I say, it brightens my day. But I promise, I will at least try to behave.

The List So Far...
With the help of my buddies I've started putting a few ideas together for ways to torture myself over the next year, which you can find below. I have to say that I'm really excited about most of them, but I feel my fear of heights and spiders may induce an anxiety attack on a couple of them.

•  Eat sushi
• Go fishing
• Abseil
• Win a pub quiz
• Crowd surf (last enjoyed circa '99)
• Get a feature published in a national magazine or newspaper
• Rollerskating (not done since around 1990)
• Tandem bike ride
• Hold a tarantula
• Paintballing
• Sphereing
• Speed dating
• Snowboarding (only had one lesson)
• Horse riding*
• Smoke a cigar
• Give blood
• Urban exploration
• Make a mixtape of my favourite 20 tracks of my 20s - yeah, that's right, a TAPE
• Do a Dear Photograph
• Do a Sleeve Face
• Planking
• Headless Horse Manning*
• Play a round of golf
• Complete Zelda (this project has been on and off since I was 10-years-old, but never completed)
• Learn new slang the kids are using these days and use it in everyday speech (lookout for 'peng' and 'sket' coming your way soon)
• Read a Charles Dickens (it's his centenary after all)
• Go ten pin bowling (again, not done since around 1990)
• Watch the original three Star Wars films in one sitting
• Do some night time photography
• Visit a museum or art gallery I've never been to
• Visit a town or city I've never been to
• Cook something new
• Eat an entire meal with chop sticks (anyone who's seen me eat spag bol with a knife and fork over the course of about two hours will know this one is going to be tough)
• Use my limited sewing skills to make something new out of old clothes I no longer wear
• Go vegan for a week
• Seven day cheese nightmare challenge
• Fly a kite
• Take part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge
• Get a new tattoo

* Is it possible to combine these into a headless horse riding task?

All thoughts and suggestions on other stuff I can do are very welcome. Also, I may need my hand holding for some of these so please volunteer your services! Think of it like helping an old lady cross the road.

364 Days to Go - Fear of Turning 30

One of the biggest fears people have about turning 30 is the thought they'll be old. I'm no different. The thought of watching my face sag towards my chest and my arse start slapping against the back of my knees fills me with dread. But it's not just the vanity of getting old that I fear, it's also the thought of becoming a dull fucker.

Watching my 20s slip away has made me all too aware that I've become stuck in the rut of day-to-day monotony. Being a creature of habit maybe safe, but it's also incredibly boring. I feel the need to shake it up a bit and I don't just mean with gin.

My working day, including the commute and the hanging around, clocks up around 11 hours, leaving me with little time to myself. You would think this would motivate me to get off my arse and use my time wisely, but no, I come home with just food and sleep on my mind, while the thought of doing it all again tomorrow lurks in the background. And come the weekend? Yep, food and sleep are probably the most important parts of that too - as well as a huge helping of music obviously.

Of course, there's another big fear that shakes you to your core as you approach 30 - have I achieved enough? Have I done everything on the list? It's pretty silly really as turning 30 doesn't equal death, but still, there's often a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I haven't achieved enough in the last three decades...

It took me until I was 27 to bother with the business of graduating, I don't own my own home (and have resigned myself to the fact I will never earn enough to do so), I have left Europe only once, I haven't learnt to snowboard yet, I don't have a dog or enough tattoos and I still haven't got into the habit of having my hair cut regularly enough to not spend half of every year looking like a hobo. I've never seen Rocket From The Crypt live, been on a tandem bike ride, smoked a cigar or eaten sushi - although to be honest the last one really doesn't bother me, I just feel it's something I probably have at least had a go at before now.

So, in order to cross a few of these things off the list and prevent myself becoming a sad act before my time, I'm aiming to recapture the fearlessness of my youth. The 365 days I have left before the dreaded 30 arrives are my key to eternal youth (well, almost), a last chance to be bold, be brave and misbehave. I'm making a list, mainly of silly things, that needs to be completed by 1st March 2013 - wish me luck!

Oh, and suggestions (that don't involve nakedness) are always welcome.