40 by Forty

Want to play a game? Guess how many times I'll have cut myself by the end of this week's challenge! This challenge is courtesy of... Jennifer Wallace, who wants to see me bleed. What did I ever do to you, Jen? The challenge Whittle a thing. Nothing more specific, so I'm aiming for the easiest thing I could think of: a spoon. "Because it would hurt more, you fool!" Obviously, mine is going to be made of wood. Whittle while you work Whittling is the sort of thing that crops up in every other fantasy novel. Inevitably, the hunk-of-beefsteak-and-death-strong-but-silent-type will whittle kids toys that he donates to street urchins to prove he's deep and meaningful. It's always described as a peaceful, absent-minded activity. I would suggest that none of these authors have ever whittled anything... Anyway, to the whittling. Firstly, I spent a good twenty minutes looking for a decent knife to whittle with. For a while, I thought I was going to...

This challenge is courtesy of... Stephanie Santschi, who I can only assume likes people more than I do.  The challenge Ask a stranger what their passion is. I'm interpreting this pretty strictly, so this is going to have to be someone I've never met before. I am going to allow it to be in natural conversation, though, not just wandering up to a random and asking them straight out.  But that would count, too.  The Problem I don't like talking to people I don't know. My dad would have this challenge done in twenty seconds without batting an eyelid, but I take after my mother when it comes to social situations. Generally I retreat into a corner and avoid eye contact while wishing I was back home. This makes discussing passions with strangers rather challenging.  The solution Fortunately, I was in America for a work conference this week. The Americans are a garrulous people and I have a very distinct British accent, which is th...

Previously on 40 by Forty... Four months ago (give or take), I started forty challenges that I'm trying to complete before I turn forty. As it's been a third of a year - and because I've not completed a challenge for this week due to children with chicken pox and my going to the States for work on Saturday - I thought a quick recap on progress was in order. Long-term challenges These are ongoing tasks that I expect to take (or be doing) for the whole year. With a couple of exceptions, they're not really things that I'll "complete" as such. Each one is linked to its respective blog entry. Learn French (me) - Going ok I suppose. I'm keeping up with doing it most days, but it's slow going. I am reminded why I disliked learning French at school. Learn to draw (me) - More fun than French! But also, oddly, harder to keep up. I've fallen out of the habit of doing twenty minutes a day and now tend towards one big drawing a week, which isn...

ACTUAL IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER! Don't gamble with money you can't afford to lose. The house always wins in the end. This challenge is courtesy of... Andy Law. Thanks Andy.  I guess... The challenge Buy 40 scratchcards. Technically, I suppose this challenge didn't specify which scratchcards nor what I should do with them once I'd bought them (make a collage, preserve them in amber for future archaeologists, fashion them into a dress that is both stylish and a comment on our modern obsession with unearned wealth), but slightly boringly I chose to get 40 £1 National Lottery scratchcards and then scratch them off.  Still, I feel this was the spirit of the challenge. The purchase Slightly worryingly, the man at the Morrisons Losing-Money-and-Getting-Cancer counter didn't bat an eyelid when I asked for forty quid's worth of scratchcards.  His only concern was that he didn't have 10 of one of the types I'd asked for, so I ended up with 10 of one sort, ...

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER! Don't try and break into shit you don't own! This challenge is courtesy of... Me!  The challenge Learn to pick a lock.  Why?  Well, if you've ever played any RPG on your games system of choice (or, indeed, a pen and paper RPG), you've undoubtedly encountered a lock picking mini-game. If you've read any amount of crime fiction, you've read about a character finessing their way into places they shouldn't be with just the aid of a few bits of metal.  As I've done a fair amount of both in my life, I've always wondered what's actually involved and just how hard it is. Thanks to the internet, lockpicks and some basic instruction are now just a simple Amazon Prime one-click order away.  Time to learn to pick locks! Challenge accepted. The Theory The transparent practice lock, a pick and a tension wrench (All this refers to Yale type locks. Deadbolts are a different kettle of fish.) Put at a needlessly reductionist l...

The visitors continue to be visiting, the puppy continues to chew absolutely-fucking-everything and my challenges have taken a bit of a back seat to life this week. I've missed a few days of French, I've not even picked up my drawing stuff except to fashion a quick card for my wedding anniversary and I thought I was heading for a week with no one-off completions. Thankfully, the last challenge on my list turned out to be 2/3rds of the way done already, so a quick diversion on Saturday and boom, blog for the week! This challenge is courtesy of... Graham Rogers. The challenge Visit three local tourist attractions I haven't been to before.  That'll be easy, right? Challenge accepted. Attraction 1: Yellowcraigs Beach Due to vaccination status, Cooper had to ride in the buggy to the high tide line. We went here last week.  Despite it being only 14 miles away - and lovely - I've never been to this particular beach before. We had a picnic, we let Cooper p...

So, I've actually had this one complete since early May, but I've kept it dans la poche (French note: this is actually an idiom that means "a done deal", but I'm using it in the British sense of keeping something in reserve) for a week when life intervened to mean that I couldn't tick off another challenge. With visitors, birthday parties and puppies, this is that week. This challenge is courtesy of... Andy Law, whose challenges you can identify by the "40" theme. The challenge Paddle out to neck deep in freezing cold water and stay there for 40 seconds.  I'm taking "freezing" to be colloquial here, so just the usual bloody cold Scottish sea temperature will do. Also, due to being really, really tall, I'm going to cheat a little and count bending down to neck level to count, otherwise I'd be wading out for hours! Challenge accepted. There was, briefly, a sudden heatwave during May.  After an almost eternal winter, we ...