Draft Beginning

If you're reading this then it's either that you've stumbled across this page by accident, or more probably you're a reader of Cognitive Blindspot, another blog that I write for, and you've come across from there. This entry won't exist for very long, it's only a placeholder until I get my first proper entry in.

This is my blog for my "101 Things in 1001 Days" project; I loved the idea of 101/1001 as soon as I first saw it, and knew that I had to take part. A little thought made me realise that I could time this just so that I was to complete it before I turn 30, and hence 1001 days after the start of this (on Tuesday 22nd April 2008) will be the day before my 30th birthday.

One definition of entropy, according to Wikipedia is "a measure of disorder in the universe." Who knows where life will take me by the time I'm 30, how much disorder will there be in my life? I don't know, but what I do know is I am going to do my best to be the best person I can be, and part of that is to undertake the following list of things. All require some measure of effort and commitment, and all, I hope, will bring some benefit to my life and those around me, even if only in the superficial sense that they make me happy.

Maybe you've never seen this page, I intend to remove it once I launch properly on the 22nd/when I format my list and blog template better. This just gives me a starting point of sorts, like 101/1001 itself.

The List (unordered and uncategorised, a taster for anyone who might be reading at this point)
1. Get weight to 15 stone.
2. Keep a diary regularly for at least six months. (0/6)
3. Be a vegetarian for three months. (0/3)
4. Stick to 5-a-day for a month. (0/30)
5. Move out of home.
6. Use face mask once a month. (0/33)
7. Get my back waxed.
8. Make a 24 Hour Comic.
9. Take part in three NaNoWriMos. (0/3)
10. Write 1001 haiku (not one per day). (0/1001)
11. Paint my large canvas.
12. Complete a ScriptFrenzy.
13. Make my Christmas cards one year.
14. Make a film of over an hour in length.
15. Renew my passport.
16. Revisit Edinburgh.
17. Revisit Japan.
18. Visit Ireland.
19. Visit five US states. (0/5)
20. Spend a long weekend in London.
21. Attend a sci-fi/comic convention.
22. Learn 5 card tricks. (0/5)
23. Learn 5 coin tricks. (0/5)
24. Learn to do ten meals well. (0/10)
25. Learn to juggle three balls.
26. Attend a first aid course.
27. Take up a musical instrument.
28. Use an RSS reader.
29. Read "Massage For Dummies".
30. Sell five things on eBay. (0/5)
31. Grow a beard.
32. Sort out my comic collection by the end of September 2008.
33. Catalogue comics every six months after September 2008. (0/4)
34. Fill Terramundi.
35. Read entire Bible.
36. Attend a film premiere.
37. See a Shakespeare play.
38. Create an interactive novel.
39. Create a webcomic (and regularly update for at least six months).
40. Enter the SFX Pulp Idol competition.
41. Write/blog about books and films that I read and see.
42. Watch the Red Vs Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles series.
43. Blog every day for a month on Cognitive Blindspot. (0/30)
44. Make an animated short.
45. Get plait presentations for all alternating 11-crossing knots.
46. Get plait presentations for all non-alternating 11-crossing knots.
47. Learn enough C++ to implement k_plait.
48. Write three more papers/preprints from my thesis. (0/3)
49. Confirm the number of stacked 4-tangles.
50. Read 101 books I've never read before. (0/101)
51. Re-read 50 books. (0/50)
52. See 30 films at the cinema. (0/30)
53. Re-read "The Sandman".
54. Re-read "Y: The Last Man".
55. Re-read "Calvin & Hobbes".
56. Read "Bone".
57. Read "Cerberus".
58. Replay and complete Ico.
59. Replay and complete Shadow Of The Coloussus.
60. Replay and complete Metal Gear Solid 2.
61. Replay and complete Metal Gear Solid 3.
62. Replay and complete Resident Evil 4.
63. Replay and complete Lego Star Wars.
64. Replay and complete Lego Star Wars II.
65. Replay and complete Killer7.
66. Complete Gregory Horror Show.
67. Complete Kingdom Hearts.
68. Bake a cake for a present.
69. Host a dinner party.
70. Cook Christmas dinner.
71. Spend a weekend in Cardiff.
72. Go on a picnic.
73. Send a Valentine.
74. Spend a lazy afternoon in a bookshop/café, drinking tea, reading books and hanging out with friends.
75. Handwrite a letter to a friend at least once a month. (0/33)
76. Have a birthday party.
77. Shine my shoes once a fortnight for six months. (0/12)
78. Learn about and understand the fundamentals of special relativity.
79. Buy my own Scrabble set and Scrabble dictionary.
80. Score more than 350 points in a game of Scrabble.
81. Use up seven tiles in a turn at Scrabble.
82. Make a will.
83. Attend a live opera.
84. Re-read Scott McCloud's books on comics.
85. Write 101 pieces of flash fiction. (0/101)
86. Write three pieces of fan fiction. (0/3)
87. Buy a domain name, and host a website.
88. Get a Flickr account and upload 101 pictures to Flickr. (0/101)
89. Find a church to go to.
90. Buy a wind-up torch or lantern.
91. Keep a regular blog about my 101 Things in 1001 Days progress.
92. Complete a crossword.
93. Make a short animated film.
94. Sort out clothes and books once a year, giving the unwanted items to charity shops. (0/3)
95. Make a list and watch twenty-five classic films that I really should have seen but haven't got around to yet. (0/25)
96. Buy a Nintendo Wii.
97. Buy a laptop.
98. Send 101 postcards. (0/101)
99. Release five books into the wild with BookCrossing. (0/5)
100. Attend a concert at a stadium-sized venue.
101. Edit and redraft my NaNoWriMo novel from 2006.