| 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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| Moments before departure...again! |
| Thursday, 17 August 2006 |
I’ve found a new distraction to play with…but I can’t write anything about it here just yet. Perhaps later. Or perhaps I’ll keep you all in suspense (oh come on, when have I ever managed to do that?).
Suffice it to say that I’m looking forward to this coming week.
A lot.
A whole lot. *bashful* Hi. My name’s Naomi, and I’m pathetic.
Anyway *shakes head*, moving right along.
As for the previous rant. Firstly, a quick thanks to all those who offered moral support and encouragement. I’m really amazed you managed not to say “but it’s a foreign country, Nomes, how could you expect it to be easy?” too frequently.
Secondly, it was officially the straw that broke the camel’s back that has now brought on more stuff-that-mustn’t-be-spoken-of in public just yet. Things are afoot. Though that upsets me for entirely different reasons (along the lines of me not liking having to ask for help – not to mention me not liking bawling my eyes out at a tram stop while hiccupping pathetically down a long distance line to Andreas).
Tomorrow I’m off to the UK: land of Boots (the chemist) and signs I can read. Mamma and G’ma are coming to the airport to collect me, and DJ Mike will meet us there. Then it’s a 2hr Nomes drive (so…er…1.5hrs, yeah?) to Ipswich, during which time I’m predicting at LEAST one argument about the volume level of the music (my pick – I’m driving – ha ha ha SUCKERS!) and many more about directions.
In the brief moments between arguments, I’m hoping that we stop somewhere (SERVICES! PETROL STATIONS! How I’ve missed thee!) for junk food that I can’t get over here. Crème eggs, crispy crèmes, crisps and coffee from Starbucks: here I come (I can hear my arteries singing in anticipated joy – while my sense of ‘stop globalisation’ shuts the hell up!).
Eventually we’ll get home, and immediately empty a bottle of wine between us – to rid ourselves of the immediate horrors of the trip. Yes, that’s right, we’ll all take turns emptying it onto the grass, for we’re all believers (and followers) of the responsible drinking campaigns. *nodding winsomely*
It’s not that I’ve done this sort of thing before – I just know my family.
Then the weekend’s hilarities really begin. I’m going to the UK for my G’mas 80’th birthday. Remember how I was telling you all about my insane family a wee while ago? Well she’s the head honcho. She’s the ‘big mamma’ of it all. We’re all just consigliere’s (who receives OED’s word of the day then?).
Of course, since we’re all similar, and there’s gonna be so many of us under the same roof…well…let’s just say you’ll have one of two things to read on Monday: the juicy goss of who did what to whom – or – deathly silence. As I slowly sink to the bottom of the north sea – having been pushed off a pier with my feet in blocks of concrete (I damned well hope those blocks are at LEAST in a mould borrowed from a reputable shoe maker!!).
Then I’m off to Amsterdam. I’m catching up with the divine Marten – of Cohort 11 and Hogmanay ‘06 fame. I can’t wait to see him again – because although we lazily explored Madrid together a few months ago - it feels like much longer has passed. Whether that’s because he wasn’t part of the recent wedding contingent or because I’m stuck in an 80’s time warp in Prague, I can’t be certain.
We’ll fly together from A’dam to Tallinn, where the next EPIET module is occurring (for all our darling EPIET groupies…we’ll be there all week!). I’m looking forward to seeing the gang again (it’s a wieldy 2-cohort meeting too, but that just means double the fun). I’m not really looking forward to the ‘constructive criticism’ that my poster and oral presentation will receive. I know it’ll be worthwhile, the final outcome will be much better than the start product, but at the same time, I take criticism like the Taurean snake I supposedly am (good Lord, if you check that link, methinks it's somewhat incorrect - one would hope the alternative: "she's a moody cow with multiple personalities all of whom have their own set of neuroses" option out there too!). Poorly. Right everyone-who’s-ever-met-me-in-real-life?
I’ll briefly spend another moment in Amsterdam (It’s a great shame ‘One Night in Amsterdam’ doesn’t quite fit the beats, isn’t it? “Get high, you’re talking to a tourist, who’s every move’s among the impurest…I get my kicks below the waistline sunshine…” etc.) on the way home. Whereupon I shall collapse onto my (still comfortable!) futon with a sigh, before getting up and starting the whole laundry debacle again.
I wonder which of my friends-I-haven't-seen-in-7-years will phone me while I'm away to inform me that they now have a wife and two (!!!) children, as occurred in Slovenia in the weekend (it's taken me this long to get over the shock). A big shout out to Moe if he's reading this.
And if all things go well up until this point (and I MUST put this get-out-of-jail-clause in because I’m nearly 30 and somehow that supposedly translates into "I must start being sensible about these sorts of things, despite my ridiculous nature saying optimistic things like “it’ll be fine” and “of course it’ll work out” amongst other, more terrifyingly unlikely scenarios it plays for me"), I might be hosting a visitor to Prague for a bit after I return. Hosting: as in proprietor, not escort.
Just to clarify. |
posted by Nomes @ Thursday, August 17, 2006   |
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