Update

40) Go to see an international football match  -  DONE (29/07/12)

45) Complete a Final Fantasy - DONE (05/08/12)

50) Finish writing HK'09 journal - DONE (07/08/12)

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [96/100]

• Slumdog Millionaire - 
• Auschwitz - 
• Grave of the Fireflies - 
• Get Him to the Greek - 
• Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee - 
• The Cat Returns - 
• Ocean Waves - 
• Only Yesterday - 
• Whisper of the Heart - 

92) Watch the entire Studio Ghibli collection - In Progress [14/19]

• Grave of the Fireflies - 
• The Cat Returns - 
• Ocean Waves - 
• Only Yesterday - 
• Whisper of the Heart - 

95) Make a short animation  -  DONE (03/08/12)

Update

3) Donate blood 3 times - DONE


32) Get a 1st in my degree - DONE


58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [87/100]

• The Dictator - 
• Tyrannosaur -
• The Avengers - 
• Moonrise Kingdom -
• Attack of the Block - 
• Drive -  

67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [8/10]

£2 paid. £2 won.

Update

2) Get a job - DONE

Contract sent off (eventually) and certain checks are taking place. Getting a job has always been a nagging worry at the back of mind all throughout university - especially in today's climate. As soon as I mention that I'm doing a Maths degree to family/family friends, 'accountancy' or 'teaching' seems to be the only words to leave their mouths. Jobs-wise, I was always aiming towards an engineering/mechanics based role. "But you do Maths, you don't  know anything about engineering!" is a common response I get. Well, Maths is not just working with numbers. In fact, it's not working with numbers at all which is 'numeracy'. I just thought I would make this clear to the many people who look towards me when working out splitting bills etc. "You do maths though". Yes but I'm not a living calculator.

Anyways, I digress.

The next 4 years of my life is now sorted but who knows where I'll end up afterwords. In the meantime, I am very much looking forward to this opportunity and to actually apply what I've been working my arse off to learn the past few years to real-life.

30) Go hiking 5 times - DONE
See below.

38) Actually complete a whole Scrubs marathon - DONE (06/04/12)
After an exhausting 6 days (see below), I could think of nothing better to do than to stay in bed all day watching Scrubs. And what a day it was.


39) Go watch Newcastle Utd win a Premiership match - DONE (09/04/12) 

After a couple of failed attempts (0-2 Blackpool last season and 2-3 West Brom this season) I started to believe I was a bit of a bad luck charm. A coursemate from Bolton made the trip up on Easter Monday and we took our seats in the Gallowgate end. An uneventful yet tense first half continued in the same manner for the second half. That was, until Ben Arfa's moment of magic which sent the fans into raptures. Cissé's celebration in the goal was pretty magic too. A great result but we were made to wait for it!

42) Do the coast to coast walk - DONE (31/03/12 - 05/04/12)
I knew this would be one of the most challenging items on  the list and boy, did it not disappoint. It was  a close uni friend and myself embarking on the Hadrian's Wall route. There's a lot to talk about, so I'll put it in a separate post.


58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [81/100]

• The Muppets - great feel-good film with the added bonus of Jim Parsons and music by Bret McKenzie. 
• Hanna - was recommended this and it didn't disappoint. Exciting and surprisingly has a great soundtrack owing to the Chemical Brothers.

63) Figure out what I want to do with my life - DONE 
As mentioned before, I want to apply Maths to practical situations and come September I get a chance to do so!


67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [7/10]

Another pound down.

 

Update

2) Get a job -  In Progress

Design Engineer at Thales Research & Technology. After many applications and many rejections, I wasn't expecting to get even a telephone interview with one of the biggest (although also being relatively little-known) companies in the world. But luckily I did and then got put through to the assessment centre in Reading. A very long day - an hour group exercise, 90 min written exercise, 15 min presentation + 15 mins questions, hour interview and then 3 aptitude tests. Exhausting but well worth it. Received a call the following day and was offered the job! Now I'm just waiting for the contract to be sent. A massive load off my mind and I haven't been this happy in a long time.

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [79/100]

• The Inbetweeners Movie - has taken me a long time to watch this but it didn't disappoint. Never has a series/film been so cringeworthy yet hilarious.
• The Foot Fist Way - no.1 of small film marathon. I know a lot of people are fans of Danny McBride but he's not for me. Film was nothing special and pretty yawn-worthy. 
• Machete - no. 2 definitely made up for the first. A classic Rodriguez film. 
• Grave Encounters - no.3. I'm not particularly a fan of 'horrors' or 'thrillers'. This built up very slowly, seemed like any other film in the genre and resorted to pretty standard scare tactics. They work though.
• Case Closed: The Lost Ship in the Sky - Typical Japanese anime detective story. I've been watching these since I was a kid, being brought up on  the typical Asian influences. The anime has been around since 1996 and I still can't understand how they can keep devising new plots and 'mysteries' to solve. Because of this, each film seems fresh even though this is the 14th one.
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Now to a slightly different detective. With Sherlock airing on BBC as well, detective fans were out in force, myself included. A lot more complex than the first but still compelling and exciting. A must-watch.

67) Buy 10 scratchcards - In Progress [6/10]

Another £2 down the drain.

72) Join a society and actually go  -  DONE

I was part of the Hiking Society last year but I don't feel like I made the most of that... This year, I've joined the Photographic Society to actually learn to use my camera properly...  I don't think I've learnt much new but at least I've met some cool people!

90) Read the 7 books I got from Borders 90% off sale  -  DONE (07/11/11)

• Innocent As Sin by Elizabeth Lowell

99) Visit 3 people at their unis - In Progress [2/3]
Edinburgh to visit a good friend's cousin, who is now also a good friend! It was New Year's Eve and we had tickets to the Hogmanay street party. Packed full of people as you can imagine and getting from A to B was a hassle but the live music and fireworks more than made up for that. The former were the best that I've seen, filling the sky and drawing a chorus of 'wows'. Friendly Fires then finished the night off before I headed back the next day. 

Update

43) Learn to read/write Chinese - DONE (10/09/11)
一二三四五六七八九十百千周沛樑大小多少沙上下中左右出入人口心牙手足面目舌日月水火虹江井尺布刀杯叉天地山田土木石米瓜豆肉竹果花草菜站走坐長短河風雨湖海牛羊兔狗虎蛇蚊狼狐耳父母春夏秋冬哭笑睡前後馬貓鼠魚鳥

100 characters of varying difficulty. An average Chinese person knows a few thousand. Oh dear.

58) Watch 100 films I haven't seen before -  In Progress [73/100]

• Around the World in 80 Days - Watched purely for Jackie. Not great but not the worst thing I've seen either.
• 10,000 BC - Boring. Could've been alot better.
• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn - Really enjoyed this. Didn't know what to expect at first but the animations were amazing and there was humour thrown in too. Things seemed a tad convenient at times as is always the case in these sort of films but it didn't spoil it.

79) Willingly eat a kebab - DONE (16/09/11)

Never felt the urge to have a kebab but thought to myself 'why not?'. Then thought to myself the many reasons 'why not'. Went for a chicken kebab as the safer option and to be honest, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever eaten.

Mmm...

87) Attempt Centurion - DONE (23/09/11)

A Manchester Ultimate Programming Society run night. Nope, I hadn't heard of them either. Played Wayne's World on a big screen and 'programmed' a countdown from 100 every minute. Shame that me and Harry were mistakenly taking double shots for the first 40-odd. We still managed to finish the 100 and were a bit drunk by the end.

99) Visit 3 people at their unis - In Progress [1/3]
Okay, so it was Newcastle Uni but it still counts. An old housemate who is now studying medicine as a postgrad living it up Geordie-style. Made the trip from Manchester, done a bit of sightseeing (since when did the Millennium Bridge have a tilt schedule?!), checked out the digs then hit town. Customary trebles in Basement then Bar 42 before hitting The Cut. Very strange being out in town with people from Manchester but was a very good night. Only spent about an hour back at my house though and saw my parents for 20 mins so I couldn't really couple it with a visit home.

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...