X-Factor

Sent my application off today. I need to wait and see if I get an audition slot now. Then of course I have to decide what I'm going to sing and hope and pray that I get to meet The Captain. Ha, I can't believe I've even done it!

Noel Gallagher

I crossed my gig item off the list in spectacular style last night. Noel Gallagher at the SECC. I know the venue gets slated for being appalling, but I have to say I thought it was great. I was practically on the barrier, right enough. The only downside of course is (as usual for the SECC or many venues in Glasgow for that matter) was drunken arseholes thinking it's alright to push people around. It's not, it never is. Why would anyone think it could be? Pricks. But anyway, Whatever, Little By Little, Supersonic, Everybody's On The Run, If I Had A Gun. All of them absolutely outstanding. Noel can work a crowd by doing absolutely nothing. He doesn't need to do the whole prancing about, making a big show of himself thing. Never has and it wouldn't suit him if he did. The only downside for me is that it felt like it was over in no time at all. If I hadn't been getting a bit squashed, I'd have gladly stood there until next week while he played I'm A Little Teapot and loved every second.

It was, of course, helped by the fact I got to spend a day out on the sauce with some great company. What a day. What a liiiiiiiiiiii-ife. Love it.

Fannies an' that.

I sat down today and decided to cross another item off my list, so I completed an online unit. I picked cervical screening. I know all about minges now. Lucky me.

Basil

Saw a growing basil pot at a reduced price in Tesco. Bought it, cut away the dead bits, watered it. Growing basil done.

Made banana bread today for the first time. I'm not sure why I'm posting this. It wasn't to keep up with my recipe for the month because I've done two already. I didn't think I'd even like it (it's ok, as it happens, but that's by the by). I only made it because I bought bananas at the weekend and they were looking a little on the soft side today, so I thought I'd better do something with them. God bless Nigella for once again, it's one of her recipes. So, er. Yeah. That's about it really. Banana bread.

Four!

Watched The Usual Suspects this evening. I know I'm miles behind the rest of civilisation and that is why I already knew the big secret behind the film, which did detract a fair bit from my enjoyment of it. That doesn't mean, however, that I didn't enjoy it, because I did. The impact might have been lost, but the way it was revealed was clever and fascinating. Like Ed Norton, I've yet to see Kevin Spacey in a role I didn't like (I'm not saying he's only ever done superb films, but his role in them is always great). And also like Ed Norton, there always seems to be narration in the films that I have seen. Odd that, but I must like it.

So, that's 4 items crossed off.  I'm running through ideas in my head just now about how I can get rid of a few more when the weather starts warming up, and of course trying to double them up so that I can do a few at the same time. For example, I can take a train to Edinburgh, do a bus tour and visit the dungeon and knock out three in a day, if you'll pardon the expression.  Combining is definitely the way forward for this. 4 in just over a month is way off the pace!

February's Cooking

I've made two new recipes this month, so I'm well ahead on this item.

Yesterday, I made my own pizza. Dough and everything. From scratch. Oh, aye. Topped it with cheddar, mozzarella and bacon. I can't believe I forgot the onions though. I've just realised that while typing this. Oh well, it was flipping lovely anyway.

Today it was Snickerdoodles. Yeah, when I first heard of them I thought "what the flaming feck is that?" too. Well, they're quite a thick biscuit made with nutmeg and vanilla, with a texture a little like a rock cake and they're rolled in sugar and cinnamon before they're baked. Absolutely gorgeous and very easy to make. I made 22 of the things half an hour ago, I've got 14 left and they're not going to last the evening. De-bloody-licious.

Was meant to watch Unusual Suspects with the husband last night, but he went to the pub "for an hour" around 7.45 and got home around 10, so that didn't happen. The steaming great arsehole. Still, he fell asleep on the couch, I got to sleep in the starfish position for a bit and listen to him babble shite in his sleep. I've also got a film to watch tonight, so it's not all bad.

More films

I've kept up with my film watching item fairly easily. It's a piece of pee when you've got a little one to feed because both require my arses being firmly plonked on the sofa.

I've no intention of blogging about every film I watch or else this would get incredibly boring very, very quickly (and that's working on the presumption that it's not already). However, when I do come across a film that I really like, I'll mention it.

There's two films this week, so I'll write about them in the order I've watched them.  First up, American History X.  I've yet to see Ed Norton in anything that I didn't like.  Admittedly, I've not watched many films with him in, but he's great to watch, not least because he's quite nice to look at.  On to the film though, the story was great, the moral behind it was a worthwhile one (Racism is bad!) and with an ending I didn't see coming. I can normally spot a shock or a twist from a mile away, but I spent this film wondering where exactly it was going. I was not disappointed.  There's a couple of unpleasant scenes (parts of the film are set in prison. Make of that what you will), but they work well with the entire production and nothing is any more graphic than it need be. I imagine most people have seen this by now as it was released in 1998, but I'd sooner not spoil it for anyone that hasn't. Personally, I can't believe I waited so long, especially since I had a huge crush on the other Ed (Furlong) when I was a kid.

On to the next film though, which was Up. I've seen and heard plenty of people recommend this and again, I wasn't disappointed. I've said it before, but I'm really not a weepy person. However, the first half an hour of this film had me blubbing like a little girl. Up is the tale of a man who endeavours to fulfil his wife's dream after her death. The first half an hour basically follows their life from their meeting until her dying and his resolve to achieve the dream. It's a Disney number, so it won't come as much of a surprise, or a spoiler, to hear that he does in the end, but the story of him getting there and finding a friend or two along the way is worth seeing for itself. A real cheesy but feel-good film and kids will love it too.

We need to talk about this book...

I finished that bloody book!  I included it in my list because I started reading it months ago, but couldn't get into it at all. I wasn't sure what made this book quite as amazing as I kept reading it was. I was determined to find out what it was all about and so I just continued ploughing through it.

I'm so glad I did. It was great. I did figure out what the "end" of the story might be, but the book didn't suffer for it at all. It was absolutely worth every minute of the time I put into it.

The basic story is that Kevin is a high school massacre-er. I know that's probably not the word I'm looking for - hell it's not even a word, I'm sure - but I do like to coin a phrase.  Each chapter of the book takes the form of a letter from Eva (Kevin's mother) to Franklin (Kevin's father).  I'll not reveal anymore than that because if you're interested, I'd urge you to give it a go. If you're not, then it's irrelevant.

And I'm now down to 48 items to go.

One down...

I'm off out. I'm wearing Irregular Choice shoes. They're fucking stunning, too.

Schindler's List.

I watched a film from the IMDB top 20 today. A prize if you can guess which one. It's easy. Nope, too late. It's the one in the title of this entry! Yay!

It was an horrifficly good film (did I just make up a word? It doesn't look like a real one, yet it's sounds alright and is rather apt so it's staying). About five minutes in, there is a scene where a youngish Jewish man is surrounded by German soldiers and they're teasing him and cutting his hair. I choked a bit at that and it just got progressively more horrifying but compelling from there. Now, I must confess to being neither a film buff nor an historian because I had no idea it was a true story, which just served to make it more heart-breaking and warming at the same time. A 10/10 if ever I saw one.

Lazy cow...

It's been a few days since I updated this, but then it feels like it's been a few days since I've done anything. In actual fact, I'm still on track, but because the things I've been doing feel so "every day" it doesn't really seem like an achievement!  I made some spiced lamb steaks with cous cous and roast vegetables the other day, which was a new thing. I once tried making cous cous years ago, but I don't remember it being anything special, but this time I made it with stock, rather than just plain water. I don't roast vegetables normally. I steam them, as a rule, but I fair enjoyed it. The lamb steaks were great, but there was nothing new about them. I have managed to use very nearly everything in my spice rack though. There's only curry powder left to use, and while it might have been tempting to chuck some in somewhere, I think there was quite enough already going on without adding to it.  The real achievement of this meal though is that it wasn't a standard meat and three veg or meat and rice or meat and ragu and pasta type of affair AND my husband both ate and enjoyed it.

I've picked up a few new cookery books recently (they're new to me anyway, I'm sure most people have come across Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals plenty by now), so I'll get a bit more adventurous with my next one.

My photos are proving to be a challenge purely because there's been so little worthwhile taking photographs of. Of course there's the kids, but there's only so much they want a camera to the face and it's a surprisingly small amount. Charlie won't have his picture taken unless he can see himself on the small screen on the camera. I'm sure you can imagine, it's a bit problemmatic.  Thankfully, we'll be spending this weekend in Bristol so he'll have other children to play with and I can snap away while he's distracted.  The weather also seems to be getting better (I don't think we had a dry day between Christmas and last Sunday) so we'll get out and about soon.

Aw, balls.

Didn't get a photograph yesterday, but in my defence, I had bugger all to take a photograph of, other than the children sleeping, and I've already done that. I don't much want an album full of photos of Charlie dribbling into his pillow and it's been pissing down for days so it's not been park photography weather. I'll try and make up for it next week when I'm in Bristol.

I listened to my new artist of the week today. Now, I must first explain that when I say "new" artist, I don't necessarily mean a new artist, I just mean someone I've not listened to before. So, today I tried The Electric Soft Parade. I'd grant them a "hmm, aye, ok". Far from terrible, but I didn't find anything outstanding about them either. Listenable, certainly, but I don't think I'd buy an album. Thankfully, I've got a Spotify subscription, so I don't have to.

Another tick.

My first book of the year has been You Know Me, a collection of photos of Mr Robbie Williams and his thoughts on them, complied by, erm, well I can't remember to be honest and who really gives a shit? It was the Williams boy I was looking at.

We're on our way.

I've not got an item actually completed yet, but I haven't let myself down by missing out any ongoing ones yet either.

I've taken a photo every day, either with the real camera or my phone. They haven't all turned out great, but that's not really the point. I'm meant to be trying stuff out, so they can't all be successes.

I'm planning my next trip down south to see family very soon, so hopefully I can incorporate a visit to my auntie in that. I normally struggle to fit everything in that I want to when I visit home, but that is because I have to go and visit my parents and spend seemingly endless hours there drinking tea in the kitchen and watching the telly. I intend to put my time to better use for my next visit.  I think that I put too much effort in to please mum and dad, but it wouldn't hurt them to get out of the house and come to me for a change!

I've watched two films this week: Get Him To The Greek was great. Stroke the furry wall was a particular highlight for me.  Today I watched Paul. A very predictable film. I'm about to post a spoiler now, so if you've not seen it and don't want to know, just ignore the rest of this entry.

It was obvious that Zoil was going to be Paul's man on the outside, just as it was obvious Paul was going to save Graeme in the end (it was perfectly set up from the beginning), but it wasn't any less enjoyable for that. I loved Blythe Danner's "Get away from her, you bitch!" line. I'd give it a 6/10

I'm not planning to roll over these things. Watching two films this week doesn't mean that I don't have to watch one next week.  That seems a bit like cheating, especially when I've got a Sky+ box half full from Christmas. It should be more challenging once the Christmas TV season is officially over (which it seems to be for normal programming, but someone's forgotten to let Sky Movies know).  A film a week might seem like a breeze to some, but trying to squeeze in a couple of hours straight watching the television with two children to look after, plus letting them have their turn with the television, along with a husband who is a bit of a telly addict that also got Goldeneye for Christmas, let's just say, it's hard work trying to get a shot!  52 films in a year seems like a marathon right now.

I think now I might have a read through a Nigella or Jamie Oliver book and plan what my "new" recipe for the month is. Please, God, let it be a cake...

Are we sitting comfortably? Then let's begin.

So the challenge as been set. For 2012, a list of 50 things to be done. All of them totally achievable, nothing impossible, even if some of it is going to require some effort - but then it wouldn't be a challenge if it was easy.

1. Finish "We Need To Talk About Kevin"
2. Make my own profiteroles
3. Start updating my blog.
4. Learn how to use my camera and actually start using it
5. Finish at least one month with money left over!
6. Run a 5k
7. See 3 films at the cinema
8. Clear out the cellar
9. Organise a wine-tasting
10. Go to a karaoke bar
11. Learn some more Italian
12. Give blood
13. Go on holiday
14. Walk on a beach
15. See a live comedian
16. Complete an online learning unit for my degree
17. Take the kids swimming
18. Listen to one new band/artist a week
19. Read one book a month
20. Take the kids to the zoo
21. Visit a country I've not been to before
22. Get my passport
23. Pass driving test
24. Watch a new film a week
25. Cook one new recipe a month
26. Wear my Irregular Choice shoes out.
27. Take a photo every day and...
28. ...make a photo album
29. Watch The Usual Suspects
30. Visit my auntie
31. Audition for X-Factor
32. Go on an open top bus tour
33. Visit Edinburgh Dungeon
34. Visit a Scottish Island
35. Send a message in a bottle (it's just a brilliant idea! I may decide to attach a message to a helium filled balloon instead though)
36. Go on a train journey to anywhere
37. Have a DVD all-nighter
38. Watch Schindler's List
39. Complete a game on Xbox or Wii
40. Watch a sunset
41. Have a go at Urban Exploration
42. Read a newspaper a week
43. Spend a weekend somewhere north of Glasgow
44. Use each item in the spice rack at least once
45. Grow some basil
46. Watch all the DVDs I got in 2011 that I haven't watched yet
47. Write a music/book review
48. Go to a live music gig
49. Complete the IMDB top 20 (I've got 7/20 so far, excluding ones that I've started watching before and haven't finished, because they don't count)
50. Write a short story


I'm off to a flying start by watching Get Him To The Greek yesterday. I loved it, and that's my film for this week watched.  I updated my internet blog shortly after midnight too so I am thus far doing alright. I took a photo of the baby last night - or several in fact because he's a bugger for not looking at the camera, and I don't think any of them are that great for that reason, but I did it.


So, I'll update this as regularly as I can and let's see if I can't get this list done.  I hope my future updates will be a bit less rushed too.