| 100 in 1000 |
- Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
- Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
Hold a conversation in Czech (only)- Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
PilsnerStaroprammen- Budvar
- Velke Popovice
- U Fleku
GambrinusKrusovice
Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are
also acceptable)Travel across the AtlanticReturn to South America- Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
- Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
Have my nose pierced- Have my next tattoo drawn
Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)- Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
- Bake Viv's cheesecake
Make David's casserole Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut StirfryInvite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner- Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
- Attend a book group for at least two books
- Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
- Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
- Take an architecture appreciation course
Join an all-girl group and sing a soloPublish in a scientific journal (top two authors)Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary PractiseHave a pedicureMaintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser- Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
- Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
- Don't eat out for one month
Find a flat and flatmate- Purchase one Joseph sweater
- Purchase one of the following pairs of
designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4
different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks,
Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
- Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
- Go hanggliding
- Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
Moll FlandersEverything is illuminatedMadam BovaryZen & the Art of Motorcycle MaintainanceCatch-22OdysseusOn the Road
- Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
- Send Christmas Cards on time
Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wallBuy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in itGo to AfricaHost an 'event' (classified as and when)Organise a 30th Birthday PartyWear a costume- Sing on stage
- Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar- Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
Win something- Draft a will
- Take a roadtrip
Go to Italy already- Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
Get plantsTake a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.- Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
- Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
Go to a dentist. *sigh*- Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
- Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
- Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
- Marvel over lack of tiredness
- Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
Bet on the nags- Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
- Walk along the Champs Elysee
- Do 100 sit ups in a row
- Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
- Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
- Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
Find a mentorBe a mentorLearn what mentoring is all aboutMeet an online person in real lifeResist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)- Send a care package to someone
Get a Tata Bojs CD- Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND
LIKE AN IDIOT!
- Order new contact lenses.
Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions- Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
Back up the blogPut everything onto an external hard drive- Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
- Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
- Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
- Join the Municipal Library of Prague
- Move to another country
Go to a live concert of a band I actually like- Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).- Get an agent (literary or theatre)
- Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
- Ride a rollercoaster
- Hold a snake
Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!) |
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| Kul-cha |
| Tuesday, 23 May 2006 |
I know, I know. I’m slack. It’s that age-old conundrum comparing LIVING a life or WRITING about wanting to live one.
I’m STILL going through the photograph collection from the holiday (and afterwards as well now!). I simply haven’t the patience to do more than about 100 in one go, since after that, I forget what it was I was supposed to edit out and ‘take the photo of’. So sorry.
Anyway, L was here in Prague for a few days. Hoorah! She managed to drag me out to the fountain for which I'm incredibly grateful. She took my extreme lethargy in her stride (I seriously nearly fell asleep at Dvorak café prior to the coffee, amaretto and water combination, and we wandered up to Vystaviště in a spell of weather punctuated with thunderbolts and lightning (insert your own Bohemian Rhapsody here).
Thursday night saw us having a night out with Adam and his mates at the Tulip. L was dutifully introduced to the wonder that is Slivovice (I believe her response was “bleargh”, but I could have the spelling wrong!) which were washed down with plenty of vodka/limetka/mattoni’s afterwards. Met David (tall, Canadian author), River (yes, really; I now know someone named geographically), Ben (the 'leader' of the politics group. ‘nuff said!) and Hans (Norwegian Ewan MacGregor lookalike).
This latter bloke gives me cause to believe that my gaydar doesn't just require a tap on the screen every once in a while (barometer style), but I should really find the instruction book, learn how to plug it in and possibly swap the current labels around! I felt so daft when Adam later informed me that there had been a point where Hans and he were, "not so much in a relationship but…you know"!!!
There goes another Scandinavian…*grin*
Miranda and Ian (my godparents, whom I hadn’t seen since the Fiji holiday in May 2004) were also in town (for a conference) so L and I caught up with them briefly (once we’d had our visages laser etched into crystal – of course – to create the ‘Sisterhood of the Travelling Cube’) and had dinner at Chicken in the Clock (literal translation). I wish I hadn’t ordered what I had (chicken in a clock – spatchcocked chicken in tasty herbs with chips) as it delayed our meal such that L had to dash off by herself to get onto the train. I won’t tell her story for her (since I won’t do it nearly so well) but suffice to say, she must know Hlavní Nádraži reasonably well by now!
Took M&I to U Stare Pani afterwards, and we watched the final set of a Bossanova crew doing their ‘thang’.
Now, the night trams (yes, it’s a tram story: buckle up people!) are interesting places, as I’ve mentioned once (or perhaps twice) before. As DPP (Prague Public Transport) seem to get the old trams out of hiding for service during the wee hours, the seating is often ‘one seat behind another down both sides, and a big aisle space’. That’s the kind of tram I caught on Friday night. I tend to sit on these things perpendicular to the correct seating position, with my back to the window and face to the aisle. This is fine until a Chippendale-wannabe gets on the tram.
Broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, Mr C-Wannabe took a position DIRECTLY in front of me (though there were many other ‘aisle positions’ available) and thrust out his left hand to hang onto the pole. With his crotch now planted at my eye height, you would understand if I was smiling from amusement not borne of the book I was reading at the time (I practically had a bookmark!). He then zipped down his jacket, and stood: left hand on hip, right still clasping pole. It was all I could do not to whistle and clap. When he REMOVED his jacket, I stopped the pretense of reading. Thankfully, the Czech stare is beginning to grow on me, so I just gazed at him (that seemed to be the desired reaction, right?). Obviously, he had no idea how he appeared, as he began to look flustered (was I obviously salivating?) and quickly moved out of my way when I put my book in my bag to get off (so to speak). As the tram departed, I couldn’t help but flick my attention back to Mr C-W who was now in my seat. Perhaps THAT’S the way to get a seat on the night tram…
A stupefyingly delicious lunch at Kogo with M&I, who’d just been around half of Prague. Warning: wear your most comfortable walking shoes. These two both ended up wearing their feet down to their ankles in the few days they were here, while L managed to get blisters in three days where she hadn’t in three weeks. Prague cobblestones win thrice more. They’d managed to get me an extra ticket for the Magic Flute – where the queen’s ushers had bizarre 1980’s rock mullets – which was simply beautiful (despite being sung in German, supertitled in Czech, and requiring more concentration than I thought could possibly obtained from me in 2hrs 35mins!).
Then I popped around to Adam’s with vodka and bonaqua citron (the closest I could get to limetka/mattoni at 11pm on a Saturday night!), and he, myself, Mollie, Ben, David and River (yes, still really!) solved the worlds problems by 7:30am whereupon we took ourselves home.
Met M&I again for lunch, managed to keep my eyes open for a trip to the National Gallery where they were showing a million pieces of art (at least). We walked slowly around one floor, before realising that there was NO WAY we could possibly get through the whole thing: so raced around the ‘bits we think we want to see’ on some of the floors. This included the 19th Century artists (Cezanne, Rodin, Tolouse-Lautrec, Degas etc.) that we all know and love.
I’ve decided that I DO like Picasso, though ONLY his cubist stuff (who’da guessed it?). I liked it back when he was learning about cubism – sufficient to be reasonably regular in his approach. Consider the juxtaposition between bowl of fruit vs. guernica. If you will. I also realised (having wandered through many an exhibition and now considering myself a COMPLETE amateur (as opposed to a complete ignoramus) on ‘art’: that the French were totally obsessed with nudity.
(oh, and for those who are interested: due to visiting the Prado in Madrid, I’ve also discovered a taste for Murillo and Reubens – pictures to be posted later on today).
After I’d seen M&I off at the metro station, I hot-footed it across to Pivovarsky Dum where Kat was having dinner with visiting French friends of hers from Vietnam. She’s had her haircut’n’all, but I forgot to ask by whom. It’s a very good cut…and since I can’t get KMS hair play moulding paste here, I need one of them instead (preferably as well as, but beggars etc.).
So after a weekend of muchos culture, I’m knackered. Next weekend: Intunition perform at Tulip (YAY!) and there’s rumour of attending the races (big hats mandatory…now where can I get a broadsheet from!?). |
posted by Nomes @ Tuesday, May 23, 2006   |
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