Update

4) Go camping - DONE (25-29/08/11)
Armed with a £20 Tesco tent and the essentials of a couple of crates of Stella and some bread, we headed to Leeds Festival. Glorious sunshine for the first day but the heavens opened for the second. Luckily, our tent survived and stayed bone dry inside, which is more than can be said for a couple others'... Some sleepless nights and an aching body by the end might persuade me to bring an airbed next time.


10) Make sushi - DONE (24/08/11)
Wanted to do this for a long time. Tasty but ALOT of effort. 

43) Learn to read/write Chinese -  In Progress
I've been trying to learn as much as possible over the summer but it's been pretty stop-start. I have, however, hit 90 characters so far. The thing is, with English, if given a word you can have a fair whack at writing it down, even if it is just phonetically. The difficulty with Chinese characters is that there is very little meaningful structure to them. They are made up of separate parts but how they are put together is far from obvious, especially someone learning the language from scratch. See ideogrammatic compounds. I'll wait until I hit 100 before ticking this off.


50) Finish writing HK'09 journal -  In Progress



About 2/3 of the way through the first draft. Found this in my photos...






58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [70/100]

• 4 Lions - Muslim extremist bombers wouldn't be my first choice to making comedy gold but it worked extremely well.
• Pom Poko - See below
• Dinner for Schmucks - Apparently a shoddy remake of a hilarious French film. Well, I thought it was funny...
• My Neighbours the Yamadas - See below
• Sherlock Holmes - Brilliant. Apparently a new one is coming out soon? Can't wait.

69) Get to level 80 on WoW - DONE (07/08/11)
Yep, I'm a geek. However, it has taken me 3 years playing on/off during summer. Good fun but not even close to being addicted as the majority of players are. Sad really. 

92) Watch the entire Studio Ghibli collection - In Progress [9/19]
[These two are not directed by Miyazaki, but by Isao Takahata]

• Pom Poko - Another story centred on saving the forests. This time about shape-shifting raccoons and a cameo from the sly foxes. Typical Japanese, mystical, magical tale which was actually quite humorous at parts. 
• My Neighbours The Yamadas - I don't think I've seen a film anything like this. Very basic animation (which gives it its charm) and revolves around the life of a not-so-typical Japanese family. The film is split into different aspects of their lives and is almost like a sketch show. Funny at times but starts getting dull the longer the film goes on for.

Update

7) Dye my hair -  DONE (25/07/11)

Hadn't done so in a while so I thought 'why not?' The typical Asian colour to go for is red (which I've had a few times) so I decided to go for something a bit different...purple! TBH I wasn't expecting it to show well since I didn't bleach my hair beforehand but I held hope regardless. Well you can tell when my hair's wet...or it's in direct sunlight. Otherwise...it's jet black. My fingernails were died purple due to the stupidity of not wearing gloves when washing the dye off. Fail.

9) Go to a festival - DONE properly (23/07/11)

I kind of cheated myself by claiming that throwing paint at people for Holi counted as 'going to a festival'. I fixed it though by going to the Ben & Jerry's Sundae Festival (which was ironically on Saturday). Bit of a last minute plan but definitely glad we went. £17 for many live bands (Gary Numan, Maximo Park etc.) and the best bit? ...Unlimited free Ben & Jerry's ice cream with every possible flavour. Only managed about 10 in the end but all in all, a nice chilled day with good music and ice cream. What more could you want? 


32) Get a 1st in my degree -  In Progress
As always, Maths results were not out on the day that they were meant to be - which happened to be the day before I jetted away to Malta. Eventually they were released as I was on the train down to Leeds. These exams were the worst I've taken, especially one in which I failed to even put a coherent answer down for 2/3 of the paper. The saving grace though was scaling. Massive scaling, all across the board (by an average of 20 marks it seems). So...averaged 77 this semester coupled with 82 last semester gives me a healthy total to take into my final year. I need somewhere in the 60s to overall average a First. Let's not screw this up now. 


33) Do a proper all nighter -  DONE (09/06/11)
Summer Pangaea 2011. Theme: Go Wild. An epic night dressed as a zebra. Walking out and down Oxford Road at 6am with the sun out, passing giant portable speakers blasting drum and bass with students still raving away on the SU steps, was a surreal experience. 


41) Win Premier League with Hartlepool... - DONE (28/07/11)
Eventually done. Fifa 11. World Class. Successive promotions from League 1 to the Prem then winning the league comfortably after 1 season. The lads should be proud of themselves. Star man? Aaron Chow of course. What a player. 

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [65/100]

• The Hangover Part II - Glad to see Mr. Chow having a bigger part in this. Comic genius. Like the first part, good fun but it was the photos during the credits which produced the most laughs.
• The Damned United - Brilliant. Even someone with no interest in football would enjoy this. Maybe.
• Taken - I was so looking forward to seeing this after many rave reviews but was left a bit disappointed. Pretty standard action and nowhere near as 'thrilled' as I thought I would be.
• The Informant! - Part of a pile of copied DVDs I had bought from Marmaris. Quirky little comedy. Left me slightly confused with what was going on though.
• The Last King Of Scotland - By recommendation. Such a great performance by Whitaker and I was stunned by the realism, story and the relationships developed between the characters. Fantastic film.
• Green Lantern - I wasn't expecting a blockbuster and because of that, I thought it was actually alright. Nothing clever; a glorified fairytale about having the will to fight fear.
• The Adjustment Bureau -  Had comparisons to Inception which I could see why, not that I necessarily agree with them. Still, great to watch but it would always be difficult being compared to (in my opinion) one of the greatest films of recent years.
• Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame - Mixes my Mum's love of detective stories and...well, being Chinese. A bit far fetched at times and CGI wasn't great but it was quite original and watch-able.
• Porco Rosso - see below
• Hobo With A Shotgun - Very Grindhouse-esque (infact, it is based on a winning trailer of the Grindhouse trailer contest). Lots of gore, violence and great lines make this a memorable film. Although mentally blocking out some of the scenes is probably for the best. 
• The Good, The Bad And The Weird - Possibly the first Korean film I've ever seen. Good fun though although a tad slow at times. 
• Transformers: Dark Of The Moon - Had to wait a while to see this although others who had seen it didn't really think much of it. Giant robots beating the sh*t out of each other on the big screen. What's not to like? 
• Black Dynamite - Brilliant. He really is one "super-n*gger". (Not nagger).

67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [6/10]
Another £2 down the drain.


88) Get into the habit of rewriting/looking at notes after the lecture - DONE...kinda
Started...but after a week or so I just didn't find it useful at all. More time consuming than anything. Not worth it.

90) Read the 7 books I got from Borders 90% off sale - In Progress [6/7]

• Who Is Charlie Conti? by Claus von Bohlen
• Rain Dogs And Love Cats by Andrew Holmes

92) Watch the entire Studio Ghibli collection - In Progress [7/19]

• Porco Rosso - A pilot pig. Strange enough as it is but throw in pirates and fully grown men asking to marry little girls then you have a Japanese film. Not one of Miyazaki's finest in my opinion.

100) Go on nights out in Liverpool and Leeds - DONE (16/07/11)

• Leeds - for MJs birthday at a farm/outdoor centre style place in Leeds. [This counts, right? If not then Leeds Fest surely does. Either way, I'm giving this a big tick]. Almost didn't make it there due to car trouble - the car I had bought only a few days earlier. Not the best start to a party having to sort things out with an RAC guy but thankfully the car managed to make it to Manchester the day after. Shame it broke down there a week later...

Update

3) Donate blood 3 times - In Progress [2/3]
The University recently had a big blood donation drive and opened up a building specifically to get new people giving blood. I went between lectures but didn't expect it to be so rammed! Had to wait quite a while but it was worth it for the free muffin/biscuits...and it was for a good cause of course.


11) Go skiing/snowboarding - DONE (02/04/11)
On mine and Harry's mind for a while when an offer of a whole day lesson for 2 people for £200 came up (pricey but a bargain compared to the standard prices) at the Chill Factor next to The Trafford Centre. We were in a group of around 7-8 and we picked it up pretty quickly. Only a few tumbles to recall, including a major 'snowball effect' style tumble at high speed. Exhausting though but definitely a great experience and would recommend it to anyone - they always have new offers, check them out below:

21) Use Twitter/Buzz - DONE (30/01/11)
I thought 'why not?'. I'm not a 'tweeter' though, mainly use it to stalk celebrities. That is the main use, right?


30) Go hiking 5 times - In Progress [4/5]
For someone's birthday, she decided to arrange a hike/BBQ at Edale. Nice to be in the great outdoors again. This time, someone had a map so, in theory, we knew where we were going. Ended up, sheltered from the wind, behind giant rocks setting up the disposable BBQ. I'm afraid that veggie sausages were a failure. Chocolate in bananas, however, were a great success. 


54) Be vegetarian for three days - DONE (08/03/11 - 10/03/11)
Not just 3 days...but for a whole week! Housemates didn't believe I could do it so they bet me a steak dinner on them if I complete it. This set off a '1 week challenge' throughout the friendship group with people giving up tea, wearing black, cooking ready meals etc. I cooked 1 meal the whole week. Every other time, I ate out (I didn't plan it like that, it just happened). It was a straightforward week but I don't think I'll be doing it again. It severely limited what I could make/choose which made me realise what a dependence I have on meat! Anyway, the steak dinner was well deserved.

The steak is there...somewhere

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [52/100]

• Memento - Confusing but what I could make out, it seemed a very clever film and one which I'll need to watch again.
• Black Swan - Caught a late night showing because we didn't have anything better to do. Dark and psychological - not what one would expect from a ballerina film. Very well done.
• Get Smart - I seem to be quite pessimistic about comedies nowadays but this was a good laugh and better than what I expected.
• 3:10 to Yuma - Couldn't understand anything that Bale was saying and turning the volume right up made the gunfight shots reverberate around the whole house. Never really watched a western before and this confirms that they don't really appeal to me. 

62) Spend over £100 on a shopping trip - DONE (23/02/11)
KFC, jeans, football trainers and socks, Focus mag, lots of DVDs and Blurays, headband for my sister and a few snacks conclude a productive shopping trip. 


67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [5/10]
Won £1 back again. Double woop!


92) Watch the entire Studio Ghibli collection - In Progress [6/19]

• My Neighbour Totoro - the classic. The most memorable film of my childhood and watching it again brought back the memories. I remember someone writing how it is one of very few children's films in the world which doesn't have a 'bad' character in which is difficult to do in itself, never mind creating such a rich and sweet storyline based on a simple premise - family move house, little girl gets lost. My housemates were impressed although they found it stranger than Spirited Away. Really? 

96) Get a double chicken burger with cheese from Geminis - DONE (19/03/11)

Everyone else ordered Chinese, I jogged down to Geminis. This one had cheese in, thank God. 

100) Go on nights out in Liverpool and Leeds - In Progress

• Liverpool - Surprisingly nice city. I would even say it was beautiful. I guess I had the stereotypical image of council houses and scouse version of charves running riot (it's not just me who thinks this, right?) which I feel bad for now. Anyway, went to see Russell Howard at Liverpool Echo Arena (he was hilarious) then went for a drink in a pub after.

Update

12) Get fit - DONE
Playing 5-a-side every Monday for Snake Face (awesome name, I know) has been the real kicker. It started off with me being knackered after 10 minutes (competitive 5-a-side is bloody intensive) to being able to finish the whole match easily and not ache the day after! Training sessions midweek helped as well and now I feel the fittest that I've ever been. Let's hope I keep it up.


13) Pass driving test -  DONE (05/11/10)
After learning over summer, I tried to book in for my test before coming back to Uni but there wasn't any available slots. This meant having to come back over Reading Week, have a couple of lessons then hope for the best. The day came I felt fine - no nerves whatsoever. Sitting in the car at the start of the test was a different story though. Didn't help that my examiner was a intimidating figure (6' 6"?) although having a Rhod Gilbert look to him. Breezed through the test though and ended up with 6 minors - most for going too slow! Not planning on getting a car though, but I'm glad it's over and done with and the pink driving license is on the way!


17) Go to 5 gigs - DONE (15/11/10 - 27/11/10)

• Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem
• Anberlin
• Paramore
• Jimmy Eat World
• The National

and also Biffy Clyro (3/12/10).


LCD Soundsystem were fine but by the time Hot Chip came on, I had lost interest. Anberlin were troubled with the sound balance again unfortunately. Paramore and Jimmy Eat World were both top notch and I was pleasantly surprised by The National - great gig! Biffy Clyro, however, were amazing. Best gig I've been to.

51) Perfect the yorkshire pudding pizza -  DONE (18/11/10)

With help from housemate Josh with the Yorkshire pudding recipe, me and Harry finally perfected it! About time too. Great reviews all round from my housemates and me and Harry blew a sigh of relief, probably with a mouthful of tasty tasty pizza. 

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [48/100]

• The Social Network - A film about Facebook. A film with a surprisingly rich background and storyline. Aaron Chow like this. 
• Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 1 - I'm not a Harry Potter fan. Not read any of the books and only seen the first film (vaguely). Cousin had a spare ticket though so I thought I may as well. I'm guessing I would've enjoyed it if I knew the background. Maybe.
• Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - Third of the series and like the others, enjoyable and exciting to watch. Encouraging me to read the books.
• 3 Men And A Baby - A 'classic' apparently. Good fun though but would probably not bother with the sequel.
• Hairspray - The second of an unplanned late night film marathon because no one could be bothered to get up and go to bed. Enjoyable. Had to replay the end because of a set of drunken Santa Claus (Clauses? Clausi?) interrupting. 
• Sweeney Todd - Been meaning to watch this for a while and it was great. Not been much of a fan of musical films but the past two say otherwise...
• Back To The Future - Can't believe I've not seen these yet. It was on in the background whilst we were having a family get together/meal and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and now understand where many parodies were derived from! Will need to watch the sequels.

61) Invent a food - DONE (18/11/10)
Yorkshire Pudding Pizza - see above.

67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [4/10]
Won my pound back. WOOOOOO!


81) Buy christmas presents for friends/family without being told what to get - DONE
My parents always insist on choosing their own presents - I guess I can see the logic in it by not having to return it if/when they don't like it but it's not really in the spirit of things. Anyway, this year I decided to do things differently. A success as well apart from someone buying my sister the same book as me. Dammit. 


86) Sell my first year maths books - DONE (30/09/11)
Found a website which gives students the opportunities to buy/sell course books so I stuck mine on. A week later and the 2 books I had were gone with a healthy wad of cash in hand. 

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

1) See a film at IMAX - DONE (07/08/10)
Inception at the Odeon at Metro Centre. Is there actually any difference between the IMAX and a normal screen? Seriously underwhelmed; it was a good thing that the film itself was amazing, otherwise I would've felt hard done by after parting with what seems to be an unreasonable amount of money. 


30) Go hiking 5 times - In Progress [2/5]
Met up with Jack and Sam at Lancaster Station then set off to Kentmere (after a quick stock up of munch). It took us a while to find a decent route, but when we did, it was a decent hike. Weather was great, scenery lush and plenty of great photos taken. Lunch in the shade by a stream, countless sheepish sheep, skipped stones at a reservoir, admired deep chasms and climbed mountains of slate. Decent hike indeed.

47) Win a bet on the football - DONE (07/07/10)
£3 at 22-1 on Spain vs Holland in the WC final. A few other lost bets on the WC brought the winnings down to £50. Not too shabby.


58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [30/100]

• Avatar - One of the first films I have seen that lived up to the hype. Watched it on Blu-ray with my American cousin Hugo, his wife and two kids, and my sister; all of us crammed into my room. Visually stunning and a story which actually had a soul.
• District 9 - A film which my cousin's kids had to miss out, much to their dismay (although they had 'Where The Wild Things Are' to entertain them). Not what I was expecting but still entertaining. Fookin' prawns.
• The Princess Bride - An unknown gem recommended by Hugo. A simple, yet sweet fairy tale which had the kids sound like a stuck record afterwards. Inconceivable! Inconceivable! ...(many hours later)...Inconceivable! I didn't mind one bit.
• Three Kingdoms - Resurrection Of The Dragon - Pretty much your run-of-the-mill traditional Chinese war story. Nothing special.
• The Pursuit Of Happyness - Beautiful, powerful and inspirational. One of Smith's best.
• Karate Kid - I had almost forgotten about Jackie Chan but he returns in a 'remake' of the classic. A less familiar role (in Hollywood) allowed him the opportunity to show what a great actor he is - along with the kicking arse bit. All in all, I didn't expect it to match the original; it didn't.   
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - A parody of Walk the Line, a parody on so many levels higher than say Scary Movie or the like. Very funny without the use of idiotic gags and overall very entertaining.
• Disturbia - Me, Kevin, Hamish and Andrew in a hotel room in Birmingham with nothing to do but eat pot noodles, drink beer, play cards and watch Robot Wars. Disturbia came on in the background but we were soon giving our attention towards it. Decent thriller but I just can't take Shia LaBeouf as a serious actor after Even Stevens.
• Inception - As mentioned above, this film made the extortionate amount I paid worth it (just...). After being warned to pay attention the whole way, I can't see how else I would've watched it. I was captivated throughout and thankfully rarely got lost amidst the intricate plot. Would definitely watch again.
• The A-Team - I had never seen the original series so I can't really compare it to that. Entertaining nontheless.

67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [3/10]
£1 scratchcard on the plane to Marmaris. Since when did planes start doing scratchcards?? £1 lost. 


68) Sit in a sauna - DONE (17/08/10)
In Marmaris we decided to go for a full-on Turkish bath with the works which we booked from one of them random excursion stalls on the street. A couple of hours later at our hotel, we were warned not to book one there and to go for the hotel package instead. We didn't have the heart to tell her that it was too late...(we still booked one with the hotel though). But I digress, the sauna was painful. Who would've thought they would be so hot! The heat itself was alright but I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes as sweat dripped from my forehead. God, it burns. It was an experience though.


84) Buy a Newcastle shirt - DONE (11/09/10)
As a reward for passing my theory (see below), I decided to treat myself to the new Toon home top. It just so happens that if you buy a top this weekend, you get a name and number on the back for free! It took a while to decide between the home/away then even longer for the name. So much so that I plucked for Nolan...then after waiting in the (massive) queue for printing, had a change of heart and went for Lovenkrands. Value for money right?


91) Pass theory test - DONE (11/09/10) 
50/50 on the multiple choice and 57/75 for the hazard perception (which I was a bit disappointed with but a pass is a pass! Incidentally, 44 was the pass mark). Now onto the practical!