Falling short

When you're seven and a half that half is very important. Today I am 38 and a half and whilst that half is pretty meaningless in many ways to me now, in some ways it's highly significant. It's significant as it marks a quarter of the way through my 40b440 challenges time wise. However, you only have to glance across to the left to see which challenges have turned red and been completed to realise that already I'm falling short. Until yesterday only 4 had been fully completed so with a bit of an effort (and with the help of my friend Malcolm) I've now bumped that total up to six but it's still falling short of the 10 that I should have done by now if I'm to complete them all within the 2 year period I've given myself. 


Now to be fair to myself I have started a number of others. I've done a few more legs on my Cheshire ring walk. I've now walked from Manchester to Warrington (sort of) but that's still only 17 out of 97 miles (or 120 depending on which references you read) so I'm still under my quarter way mark.

It has been somewhat wintry of late though so I think I can pick up the pace on this one over the next few months. 

 If you've been following my 40b440 journey you'll know that I'm on the way to Eurovision in May; that I've vaguely begun with the recording a song challenge and that I've danced in one of three capital cities so far. But there are an awful lot more challenges to do... more of which shortly. But first let me tell you about the two challenges I mastered last night. 

Firstly it was poker night at mine, using board game bank notes as cash (I'm not daft enough to bet real money... for goodness sake I'm the girl who until a few weeks ago had never sampled Tequila... clearly I'm not a natural gambler) So with Malcolm's tutoring (and the hierarchy of cards being displayed on a nearby laptop) I mastered the basics of Texas Hold 'Em. But more importantly I worked on mastering my poker face... frankly Lady Ga Ga would be proud of this one: 

So after beating Malcolm in my first game (ok he may have won the second) we turned our attentions to the next challenge. A nice easy one. Watching Poirot whilst wearing fake moustaches and speaking in fake Belgian accents. I think you'll agree that the tache suits me!

So that's six complete but with 34 more to do over 18 months I need to up my game so expect to see a few more turning red over the next few weeks. I will need your help though. For example if you want to walk some of the Cheshire Ring or fancy starting a Mexican wave then let me know in the comments which challenge you can help with. 

Eurovision - Making Your Mind Up!

For all Europeans you'll know and understand what Eurovision is. For those elsewhere, imagine American Idol but with every county in Europe (and a few from outside...but that's another story) represented by a contestant: Then remove 90% of the talent!

For Brits it means something a little different to the rest of Europe. Whilst Europe thinks we look down our noses at the contest the truth is we have a great fondness for it. Yes, we don't take it too seriously but that doesn't mean we don't love it. In fact we embrace the campness, the poor singing, the dance routines of people in native costumes. We applaud the absurd and vote for the maddest entry.

I've watched Eurovision for years, I've hosted countless parties complete with score cards for all but I've never attended... until this year.Today there are two UK/Eurovision Song Contest Announcements:

1) Ageing rocker Bonnie Tyler (she of "Holding out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" fame) will be representing us with a somewhat underwhelming tune called "I believe".

(http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/eurovision-2013-watch-bonnie-tyler-1748466)

2) I shall be in attendance!

( Honest no Photoshop was used here! )

This year's competition is in Malmo, Sweden (last year's winner becomes the host in the following year) and I have my plane ticket booked for Copenhagen, Denmark (which is just across the Oresund bridge), a hire car sorted and most importantly my Ticket for the big gig. Now unfortunately despite my best efforts I wasn't able to get a ticket to the Saturday night final in the stadium. The website and phone number were both chocca and the tickets sold out in just 22 minutes! (I know, who knew it wasn't just me eh?!) So I've plumped for the next best thing. I've bought a ticket to the Jury final on the Friday night. As you may know the votes are decided half by a public phone vote on the night (you're not allowed to vote for your own country) and half by a jury vote - each country has a panel of industry experts as their jury. The jury's make their decisions based on what is essentially the dress rehearsal the night before. And this is the show I'll see in the stadium. It's the same show but I'll have a better seat and be able to share my wisdom of who deserves to win in advance. On the Saturday night I plan to find a big square in Malmo where they're showing the contest and the voting so I can watch there and wave my Union Flag in support of our (hopefully not...) nil point entry. Last year we came second to last. We haven't got far to fall and thankfully as we contribute millions towards the programme it means we get an automatic buy into the Saturday night final (yes there really are semi-finals these days).

So will this year see the new Abba? Will someone like Celine Dion compete for a random country (see 1988 competition)? Will we all be shocked when a Ukrainian juggling skater rapping wins? Who knows!

I'm genuinely excited about going, not just because it will give me a chance to dance in another capital city but because it's good harmless fun. Life is about making memories and I think a few more will be made on this trip. Do I expect us to win: Not remotely. Do I hope we will despite all the obvious signs we won't: You betcha!

If you're going yourself and fancy meeting up or if you're a friend of mine and fancy a few days holiday in Denmark/Sweden then let me know. Real life can take over if we let it so why not make your mind up to do something totally random like this? The spirit of Eurovision is about unity and having a great time. So embrace the crazy... let's go to Malmo this May!

An Offer I Can't Refuse

Last week an alleged Mafia Boss in Sicily was charged with trying to influence the vote of a talent show that his daughter was on. Reports claimed that he bought phones for people with the understanding they would register votes for her. There may be no truth to this but what interests me is how unlikely it would be to see this particular story line appearing in The Godfather...

And yet the book and movie do deal with influencing show business. Johnny Fontaine's career is helped dramatically with the old horses head in the bed routine. So maybe times haven't changed so much. At first glance The Godfather trilogy seems incredibly violent set of films but it might surprise you to know that even including the horse only 18 bodies are lifeless by the end of the first movie. That stills seems a lot I hear you cry... well to put it in context the romantic drama Atonement knocked up 34, Titanic 307 and Lord of the Rings:Return of the King has a body count of 836. Doesn't seem so violent now does it?!

People arguing that violent films cause violent people might struggle using this film as an example with that data but it's not really about the death count: more about the way a film leaves you feeling.

When I saw Step Up 2: The Streets (yes I do have a varied interest in films...judge me all you want!) I walked out of that cinema with a spring in my step convinced I could bust a move. I can't! When I watched Trainspotting I was appalled by what drugs could do to you yet watching Go made me want to try them (I didn't. I'm a good girl!) So did I feel violent after watching The Godfather Trilogy? No, but I must confess that after the first two I did feel a sense of Power ... and I'd have been more inclined in that moment to wield my power for evil not good.

I first read the book of The Godfather earlier this year at a book club and truly thought it was one of the finest novels I'd ever read. So I was looking forward to challenge number 5 watching the movies. Considering how many films I've watched it's odd that I've never seen them really. I suppose I do tend to lean towards the Rom Coms over the Gangster movies generally but I do like to view the classics to judge for myself. The first movie is very good. I can see why people rate it so highly. But Mr Ford-Coppolo really does have Maria Puzo to thank for the source material as he sticks carefully to much of the novel (although I was relieved to see that the scenes with Lucy in the hospital having her operation didn't make it on to the big screen!).

Apparently Francis' first cut of the film was a full 50 mins shorter coming in at around 2 hours. The studio demanded he included more scenes about the family so it increased by nearly 50%. Frankly the second film which looks back at the Don's early life (also in the novel) could have done with a bit more hacking coming in at a brain numbing 192 minutes. No matter how great a film is there's no need for anything to be that long! The final film is all new material yet still comes close to the three hour limit (and has a body count of more than the first two movies added together).

Am I fan of the novel: Absolutely. Do I think the movies have a place in film history: Absolutely. Will I be watching them again: Not when I've still got 3 more Step Up films to watch!!

In it to win it!

So no sooner have I won one prize (see last post) than I win another! A Kindle... and just for making a suggestion at work. (Let me just be clear that my workplace does not hand out Kindles to everyone that makes a suggestion!) There was a competition for ideas to make the workplace a simpler place and mine was selected. Clearly when I heard that there was a prize on offer I filled in my form and posted it into the suggestion box as I am very much in the "in it to win it" frame of mind at the moment. For all I know there were no other suggestions. In which case: more fool everyone else! 

Now the challenge is quite clear I have to win a prize and celebrate accordingly. I have a plan in mind for my last prize win which I will soon instigate but now I've begun I feel I should continue with my celebrations. So what is a suitable celebration for winning a Kindle? Clearly it has to be downloading a book about celebrating. So it is with great pleasure that I can announce that I have just downloaded this little treasure:

I now know how to decorate wreaths and make Pfeffernuss and Snicker Doodles. Bet you wish you'd put a suggestion in the box now don't you? 

All I do is win!

Happy New Year! I come bearing happy salutations and great news. Whilst 2012 was clearly not my year for winning: 2013 is! So what, I hear thee ask, have I won? Well gather ye round for I shall tell thee. Ist thee sitting comfortably for I shall begineth...

Towards the end of 2012 I had amassed more than 400 entries into online competitions on one website for prizes ranging from a Holiday of a lifetime to various new cars to a copy of the Shades of Grey books. I had entered the lottery religiously and I had committed to several raffles. But it was none of these that came good (quite relieved about the Shades of Grey if I'm honest). 

No the competition I have won was actually linked to another of my challenges. As I intend to meet Ben Ainslie (Olympic Sailor/ handsome fella) I have been following him on Facebook in case he one day declares he's opening a fete near by or some such similar. Now the nice people that run Ben's page had a 12 days of Christmas competition (which of course I was entering every day) and on the 2nd Jan I received this email: 

"Happy New Year Liz! I am very pleased to let you know you won the signed JPMorgan BAR cap on Day 11 of Ben & Rita’s Christmas Countdown! Congratulations"

The 2nd highest prize no less! As you can see when the parcel arrived there were also badges, stickers and some Port/Starboard socks! Ok so a cap isn't exactly a Holiday of a lifetime but it's still a prize and I intend to celebrate accordingly (unless another prize is won which is easier to celebrate).

So now I have to work out what an appropriate celebration is. Should I go sailing? Or as it's a baseball cap should I watch some baseball? Perhaps I should have a pilgrammage to Lymington to try and find Ben himself? What do you think is a suitable celebration for this prize?

In other exciting progress news my family/friends were very helpful in buying me presents over Christmas so I now have The Godfather trilogy and 2 box sets of Poirot (plus fake moustaches) ready to wear and watch. Also thanks to my kind friend John and my big bro Pete I also have on loan all of the Star Wars films and a costume to wear. So look out soon for I shall be scheduling in some DVD watching weekends and I'd love you to join me.

You Win Again

Today, if I had no conscience, I could have crossed off a challenge. If only my parents had brought me up to lie, cheat and steal I could be ticking off number 12: Win a competition and celebrate accordingly.

At a trade fair I ran into a couple of my former colleagues. I'll call some Chris and Bjorn (for those are their names). They were chatting to a somewhat dull man about something I didn't fully understand. I stood and listened and after the appropriate amount of time excused myself but just a few moments later the aforementioned dull man... I'll call him Nev (Not because that's his name...just because that strikes me as a dull name)... came up to me and said the golden words to me
"Would you like to enter a competition?"
Now if you've read my previous post on this challenge you'll know that those words are like the red flag to a bull or a bottle of St Tropez to an Essex girl. So far I have entered 360 competitions through one of those competition websites (this is in less than 3 months) and I even gave up £3 of my last £4 in November for the chance of winning a Pudsey Bear. I really do go crazy for a competition so Nev offering me another opportunity to win...well he wouldn't have to ask me twice. He did have to explain the rulesmore than twice though as, bless Nev, a Gameshow host he will never make! So I filled in my entry form and he kindly then said the words that led to my inevitable downfall: "Shall we fill in forms for Chris and Bjorn too?" 

Well, had I been a statistician I may have said "No!" to this question, clearly I'd be lessening my odds of winning but because I was excited for them to potentially win I declared "Absolutely!" and Nev and I filled in the forms putting my phone number as the contact on all 3 entries.

You can imagine what happened next. I'm working away at my desk when the phone rings. 
"Hello, It's Nev here! Good news!" 
My interest in what Nev has to say has never been higher...I squeal delightedly.
"Bjorn's won a prize!"
My heart sank slightly. A lesser person than I would have felt robbed, frustrated with Bjorn but thankfully I'm a pretty good loser and to be honest I was just delighted for my friend to win something. After all if I can't win it I'm glad it's going to someone lovely. (Plus it was only a £10 gift voucher!)

So I arranged with Nev where to leave the prize for Bjorn then, as he didn't even know he'd entered the competition I claimed the prize for myself and spent my tenner

...only joshing! 

Had I been more Machiavellian perhaps I would have done this but instead I emailed Bjorn to tell him he was a winner of a competition he had no idea he'd entered and told him where he could pick it up. Because that's what friends do. 

Besides if you believe in Karma you could say I have just raised my chances of winning one of those 360 online prizes now! Perhaps next post, instead of a Bee Gees track as a title I'll be posting one by Hot Chocolate (and I don't mean You Sexy Thing!).

RIP

It is with deep regret that I write the obituary of the 40b440 plants. The plants, known individually as Nasturtium, Marigold and Morning Glory sadly lost there lives after a tragic night in frost conditions. They were just under three months of age at the time of death and will be sadly missed by their black fingered gardener, Daybarkle. 

The plants, which had been thriving only a few weeks previously had been moved indoors due to inclement weather but were put outside to gain some much needed sunshine during the daytime. However, their neglectful gardener failed to remember to bring them inside when it turned dark. They were discovered covered in ice and clearly in a deceased state. Despite best efforts to revive the plants they were declared dead on the scene. 


Daybarkle plans to hold a small service for friends and family of the deceased only. Floral donations may just be seen as insensitive on this occasion!





On the plus side Spring is only a few months away now so I guess I'll be planting some new seeds then and having another go at the challenge.

Here's a little sneak preview how one of my other challenges is progressing...

                                                                                                                 ...more on this soon!