Update

5) Volunteer - DONE
My second year as a PASS (Peer Assisted Study Support) leader for the uni. the role involves  facilitating 1st and 2nd years in their studies whilst helping them settle in and provide a bridge between them and the lecturers. Well, not much of that actually happens and it really boils down to guiding through their weekly example sheets. Should be `fun' to relearn all past material that I've forgotten (which is a lot).


6) Climb a mountain - DONE (26/09/10)
Decided to join the Hiking Society along with Jack (and housemate Sam is on the committee) and the first hike of the year was Coniston in the Lake District. It started of steadily but the last half an hour was hell. Steep and after hiking for a good 3 hours beforehand, I felt like giving up. Eventually reached the Old Man of Coniston at the top which was a lofty 803m high; the general definition of the height of a mountain is 600m in the UK (although there is no real height definition).  


26) Shave my head - DONE (01/09/10)
Used to do it in my early high school years so I thought 'Why not?'. Pulled out the clippers and went for it. I forgot how round my head was. Kinda like a bowling ball. Safe to say I won't be doing this again anytime soon.

30) Go hiking 5 times - In Progress [3/5]
See above. Hopefully the start of many more hikes this year.


58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [41/100]

• Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - With the second in the series out in cinemas, I figured it would make sense to watch the first...first. I'd never read the books but was impressed with the film which bodes well. 
• Ong Bak: The Beginning - Amazing fight scenes which are typical of a Tony Jaa film. Very enjoyable.
• Girl Who Played With Fire - The 2nd of the aforementioned series. Again, a good film but ended quite abruptly, leading onto the final instalment of the trilogy.
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Brilliant. Really enjoyed this and everything was pretty much spot on. Acting, music, effects and script were top-notch and makes me want to start reading the comics.
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I've never been an avid X-Men fan but have found the past films pretty good. This falls in the same category.
• Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind - See below
• Professor Layton And The Eternal Diva - I've considered buying a DS just to play the Prof. Layton series and I might still do so since this film didn't put me off. Quite far-fetched at times as opposed to say Detective Conan but was still entertaining. After growing up watching Japanese case-solving programmes such as Kindaichi and DC, this is another series I'll be keeping my eye on. 
• Grown Ups - A choice between this or Marmaduke and me and Katie went for this. Wrong choice. 
• 2012 - Great visuals but just your standard end-of-the-world storyline with not much substance. 
• Shrek Forever After - Same as every other Shrek. 
• The Other Guys -  I know people who hate Will Ferrell. Well these people are just fools. I was expecting another standard 'comedy' with 1-2 laughs across the whole film but I was pleasantly surprised to be watching a film on par with Step Brothers etc. Okay, maybe not as great as Anchorman but still containing plenty of dry humour and Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg complement each other perfectly. 

90) Read the 7 books I got from Borders 90% off sale - In Progress [4/7]

• Frost On My Moustache by Tim Moore
• The Lottery by Beth Goobie

92) Watch the entire Studio Ghibli collection - In Progress [5/19]

• Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind - the first in my list of Ghibli films. Released in 1984 and featuring the now classic animations and rich storyline showing that Miyazaki has been consistently brilliant right from the off.

101) Get back in touch with my artistic side - DONE
Used to draw a lot as a kid and I've missed that. Now, rather than pen and paper, I've been keeping up with the times using the laptop. Concentrating on studies seems to have suppressed my creative side and I hope I won't lose this side to me.  

Update

9) Go to a festival - DONE (06/03/10)
Holi - a Hindu 'Festival of Colours'. This wasn't what I had in mind when writing the task (mainly thinking of Leeds/Reading), but I guess it still counts. I didn't even register in my head that this was a festival until on the way back from it. But it was a good laugh - there's something oddly satisfying about rubbing paint onto a stranger's face. Washing my hair afterwards was almost psychedelic. I'm still wanting to go to a music festival at some point though.

28) Be part of a flashmob - DONE (14/03/10)
There was a Flashmob arranged for a few months ago in Sainsburys but, for some reason, it never happened. But then I was surprised to be invited to a new Flashmob, in the same place with the same aim (stand completely still for 5 minutes) but on the weekend coming. Over 200 people were put as 'Attending' but I could forsee it being...well...a big failure frankly. Needless to say, me and Harry still went; and also needless to say, we dressed up as Mario and Luigi.
...Wait. What?
Yeah, it was an interesting experience standing in the pizza section each posing holding a pizza. Shame there were only about 5 people in total taking part. Big failure indeed.

32) Get a 1st in my degree - In Progress
Got my results a few days earlier than they said...and it was still a week after everyone had theirs. Averaged 74.5% which I am very pleased with considering I was expecting a 2:1. I suspect that everyone was marked up though but I'm not complaining.


41) Win Premier League with Hartlepool... - In Progress
Hartlepool are now in the Premier League! After 2 successive promotions, Mr. Drunkenmo has propelled this lowly club to the dizzying heights of the top tier with star players such as Bjornsson, Liddle, Brown along with new signings Moses, Kightly, Mched...michyle...Michy among others performing admirably. This season will be tough but the players are ready for a relegation dogfight. Bring it on!

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before - In Progress [13/100]

• Boat Trip - A film about two straight guys thrown on a gay cruise. Hilarity ensues surely? Well, as long as you're not expecting a clever film then you will get some laughs out of it - mainly through the many predictable clichés.
  
• Finding Nemo - I still don't know why it's taken until now for me to see it - I probably didn't believe the hype. I mean, I could pretty much quote half of the movie before even seeing it thanks to Danielle and Aarti. Still, a great animation with good laughs.
  
• Up - Disappointed that I didn't see this in 3D but an enjoyable film nontheless. It amused, entertained and managed to deliver emotion at the same time. Impressive.
• Walk The Line - Great film even though I knew nothing about Johnny Cash beforehand (except Ring Of Fire). Brilliant acting by Joaquin but I wasn't so sure about Reese - I'll always just see her as a ditsy blonde lawyer. Anyways, as the great John Dorian once said, "Yeah, I know I'm not exactly the jockey type, but I watched Hoosiers last night and I like sports now." And I like Johnny Cash now.

67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [2/10]
I am now starting to regret having this as a task - it seems to be a bit counterproductive. This one brings the total to -£4.

78) Dress up as Mario - DONE (14/03/10)
It wasn't for the Flashmob that we dressed up for - that was just a coincidence (if you can call it that...). The main reason was for Debbie's birthday. Heroes and Villians. All we needed now was a Princess Peach, some goombas and a Bowser. Many ideas came up - mostly ludicrous like paying a hobo to shuffle sideways slowly whilst we jump on his head, or making a shell, putting it on someone random, and beating the sh*t out of him. Okay, maybe not so much ludicrous as demented. Anyways, it was an...average night, mainly due to the fact I wasn't drinking. I mean, who's going to want to hire a hungover plumber in the morning?
92) Watch the entire Studio Ghibli collection - In Progress [2/19]

• Kiki's Delivery Service - Realised I had a few of these films on video back in Newcastle so thought I would watch a random one during my 'surprise' visit back home. This is such a simple, charming film which many people could relate their childhood to - not a small feat by Miyazaki since the main character is a witch. One of Miyazaki's finest.

101) Get back in touch with my artistic side - In Progress
A lazy sunday morning culminated in a session on Paint doing what I used to love best; drawing random things. I was only planning on drawing the one thing but it became a pretty good template so I just kept going; spending 5 minutes average on each one.

Update

3) Donate blood 3 times - In Progress [1/3]

Thursday 9th Feb - My first time
along with Danielle. Pretty straightforward and I was surprised how normal I felt afterwards considering I have had quite a low blood pressure since childhood. I'm not going to say no to free biscuits though. Giving blood has been high on my list for a few years but I've never gotten round to it. If you're the same then I urge you to book an appointment...now!

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before - In Progress [7/100]

• No Country For Old Men - a very long...and slow...film... But good nontheless.
  
• Funny People - even longer. It felt like a full 90 minute comedy film...with an extra hour drama thrown in. I'd rather Sandler stuck to Zohan-esque films.
  
• My Name is Khan - Could a film possibly be longer than the previous two? Yes, but I didn't mind one bit (except for the numb arse). This was a brilliant feel-good film with bags of emotion and an ounce of humour. There was an abundance of overacting but what else can you expect from a 'Bollywood' film.
• The Island - Rubbish.
  

75) Find 10 'Space invaders' around Manchester - In Progress [1/10]
First one found on Sackville St. ...which I've walked down many a time and never noticed it before. Ah well.

101) Get back in touch with my artistic side - In Progress
My 'leave-it-too-late-to-get-a-decent-costume' t-shirts for Chloe's birthday night out. Shame I didn't have any fabric pens. Sharpies didn't do it justice.

Update

12) Get fit - In Progress
Moved onto at least 100 reps and 50 situps a day quite quickly. And now with hiking hopefully being a regular event, along with badminton and football, things are looking up.

15) Get someone else to make a list - Done (recently)
Not just one but two! Maybe a few more who seem interested. Seriously, it's something worth doing. Most of these things on my list are things which I've always wanted to do...but have never been motivated enough to actually fulfill. Now that it's written down, it seems a hell of a lot more manageable. Even if you're not convinced, give it a shot anyway - it won't do any harm.

30) Go hiking 5 times - In Progress [1/5]
Sunday 31st Jan - only decided the day before to go and, even in the morning, we didn't have a definitive destination. We ended up in Glossop, Derbyshire and spent a good 5 hours out covering alot of ground. Barbed wire fences, wet feet, ice, Peak vs. Lake District arguments and geordie cows. All in all, a decent hike.

41) Win Premier League with Hartlepool... - In Progress
Harry has broken Fifa. No further comments.

101) Get back in touch with my artistic side - In Progress
It's coming back slowly but surely. My snow penguin didn't turn out bad. The blog header is my rubbish attempt at using GIMP but it's a start at least. And thanks go to Paul for sorting out the HTML.