40 by Forty

So, what's this challenge all about? I mentioned last entry that there were three things I wasn't good at in school: art, music and foreign languages. We've covered art in the learn to draw challenge, now it's time for SPEAKING LOUDLY AND SLOWLY TO JOHNNY FOREIGNER. Unlike art, I did do French up to Standard Grade, but, if I'm being honest, that was only because I had to take it that far. French never grabbed me. Whether it was something about the method of teaching, the late start (I was in S1 before I ever darkened the door of a second language) or just teen-aged laziness, French never spoke to me. In return, I only ever grunted monosyllabicly back in an accent best described as "not French". Come the end of S4, I dropped it and never looked back.  Until a year and a half later.  Instead of doing sixth year at my school, I did a year in high school in the states via a cultural exchange programme where I went there and no one came here. (I

My pre-course drawings.  The bottom one is a bagel, in case you can't tell. So, what's this challenge all about? When I was at school (many, many years ago now), there were three things that never came naturally to me and to which I did not apply myself.  They were art, music and foreign languages.  (PE never really came naturally either, beyond a certain degree of competence at catching balls, but I enjoyed it enough to at least try.)  Of those three subjects, I've always quietly regretted not putting the effort into French.  I took it to Standard Grade, but no further.  I dropped it because it was hard and I wasn't great at it.  But this entry isn't about French, it's about art.  Did I regret dropping that even before Standard Grade level? Well, no.  Because I knew I was bad at art.  I knew I couldn't draw.  How did I know?  Seven years of primary school art classes on a Wednesday afternoon is how.  Seven years of boredom and disappointment as my

07 April 2018 - Alex's spelling needs work Obviously enough, I'm not doing these in order.  While I've started all but one of my long-term challenges (I have yet to begin pull-up practise), I'm going to blog about them one at a time in whatever order happens to make sense to me.  I'll also be trying to knock off some one-off challenges while I'm working through my first ten, long-term challenge posts.  That way, I'l have a buffer of blog content in case of illness, business or just plain laziness. 08 April - This is why I'm doing this challenge! So, what's this challenge all about? My dad is very fit.  Not in the modern sense of fit, mind you.  (Well, I suppose he might be.  I'll leave that to others to judge.)  He's active.  Energetic.  You might even call him spry, if you were willing to risk the Last Of The Summer Wine connotations of that phrase.  He's got the get-up-and-go of a much younger man and he uses it to enjoy th

or: Staving off a mid-life crisis by having a very organised mid-life crisis I'm 39.  Only one year away from the big four-oh.  Older enough that both grey hairs and ear hairs are becoming an issue.  Basically dead, if you ask my kids. I've had plenty of time to do things.  I've even actually achieved some of them.  I'm mostly happy, except when I'm exhausted from the children, I've got a beautiful wife who thrashes me at board games 75% of the time (ok, maybe closer to 80%), and I've got a worthwhile, interesting job that pays me enough money to keep me in board games to be thrashed at.  Things, it has to be said, are pretty good. But, and there was always going to be a but to that set up, there's a few things that niggle.  Little things I've never done.  A sense that I've let some passions slip in the daily grind.  A tiny voice muttering "bloody hell, you're a bit dull, aren't you" in my ear at night, whispering dissatis