Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Another Appearance - Another Challenge

Had another appearance on BBC Radio Nottingham this morning which went okay. I thought it was perhaps a little disjointed. For some reason when I've not been on for a while I don't think it flows as well as when I'm on more regular - I guess I just needed to practice more and the early starts don't help, especially when I've got used to not fully functioning until midday!
My next appearance will be on Monday July 26th and I've decided to set myself a little challenge. I've written down what I want to achieve by my next appearance, so I thought I'd share it with you as follows:-
1) Read 5 books from the BBC Top 100 Reads
2) Go or at least book surfing in Scarborough
3) Make a short film
4) Write to a well known cookery programme to see if I can cook with a celebrity chef
5) Investigate baseball (still haven't heard back from the Nottingham team, so I guess it may have disbanded)
6) Investigate skinny dipping (ooh la la!)
7) Start to learn French
I'm itching to get into the twenties with tasks completed, so I will report back over the next couple of weeks on how I get on!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Radio Nottingham

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm on BBC Radio Nottingham tomorrow from approx. 8:30am. I'll be doing the normal paper review and updating listeners on my blog.

Learn How To Play Chess

For some reason, the game of Chess passed me by as a youngster. I never learnt how to play it at school. I never had lessons from my Father or Grandfather, so I knew this wasn't going to be a simple one to complete.

I started to learn approx. 2 months ago. My Line Manager at work begin to teach me, then got bored after a day or so. Then I found another work colleague that was willing to teach me, but then I left work, so that came to an end. A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I was going to learn this game once and for all, I set up my chess board and started to read my 'how to' book, but something was missing - I needed to play against someone if I was ever going to get to grips with this game. Thank goodness for my wonderful I-Pad touch! I managed to download an application where I could play against the computer and voila, today I actually got the computer to check.


According to the experts, it takes years to learn the dynamics of Chess, so no doubt I will continue to learn, the more I play. I'm just happy that I managed to finally pick up the basics and it's definitely something that I will carry on with - it's kinda got me hooked!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Cook With A Celebrity Chef - Plan B

Just in case Plan A doesn't go according to plan to cook with the lovely James, there is always Plan B - www.chefsunite.co.uk. For £10 you can enter into a raffle to win a whole host of celebrity chef foodie experiences and raise money for Children with Leukaemia at the same time. Can't think which one I will be entering...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Update

It's been a little while since I published an update so I thought I'd prove that through my silence from blogging, I am actually getting on with tasks!
1) I've just finished my 84th book from the BBC Top 100 Reads (Terry Pratchett's Guards, Guards - which I actually quite enjoyed). I'm hoping that I should finish this task no later than August.
2) Chess - I still require a bit more practice on this before I officially sign it off as complete - hoping to complete this by the end of the month.
3) Get my own column in magazine/newspaper - I'm starting a book club at the local library, so I'm going to approach the local paper to see if they want to run a piece on the books that we cover each month.
4) Go to an international football match in the new Wembley - was going to book this and go prior to the World Cup starting, then I got made redundant and couldn't justify spending that amount of money. There are more fixtures planned for the end of the year, so hoping to go then (job permitting).
5) Rescue an animal from captivity - still no news on the animals that I've campaigned to release as yet.
6) Go surfing - hoping to go to the Scarborough surf club at some point this summer.
7) Go to a Baseball match - awaiting to hear back from a Baseball club based in Nottingham.
8) Make a short film - have to admit I've been incredibly lazy on this one and haven't got round to working out my camcorder and then booking some time with my friend to film him.
9) Cook with a celebrity chef - again been a bit of a lazy bones with this and haven't got round to promoting a sub-blog re this or writing to the said chef to go on his tv show - hoping to at least get round to doing this by the end of the month.
10) Skinny dipping - currently looking at options of outdoor swimming.
11) Learn a new language - I think once I've finished the Chess and Top 100 reads - this will be my next goal - hoping to complete this by Sept/Oct.
So, keeping incredibly busy at the moment and hoping to at least clear a few more tasks off my list pretty soon.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

His Dark Materials - BBC Top 100 Reads 82/100

I'm not a great fan of 'fantasy' fiction, which is probably why I had never heard of this trilogy before. Of course I saw the film 'The Golden Compass', of which the first book was based on, but not realising it was part of a trilogy, I didn't really get it. However, from the moment I picked up the first book, I was hooked. Yes at times, the plot becomes a little complicated with the many variety of man/beast involved, but the story is so thought provoking, so intense at times, that once finished, it stays in your mind for hours afterwards, whilst you digest what you have read and comprehend the imagination of the author.
Whether you are young or old, I highly recommend all three books to read this summer, it will certainly change your mind over 'fantasy' fiction.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Boo!

Don't worry I've not forgotten how to post or anything. I've just been really busy job hunting and also reading the BBC Top 100 reads - currently reading the last of Philip Pullman's trilogy - completely blown away by it.
Hope to have some news on the completion of a few more tasks soon!