Meet Me At Day Zero

DONE

My brother and his friends and started going to a pub quiz, not every week, but regularly enough. 

I asked him one week if I could hijack them and tag along and they were nice enough to let me in.

It was great fun. I might have got the first question wrong but I’d like to think I proved my worth throughout the night. I got a fair few questions right, some of them they wouldn’t have known so it was nice to feel part of something.

DONE

I don’t really know why I wanted to do this. I suppose there’s an element of freedom by going on your own, you can react to the film however you want without being conscious of who you’re with.

Anyway, I went to see Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. I’d been meaning to for a while and considering it had been for a good few weeks I was prepared to be the only one in the screen. However, I was pleasantly surprised as I would hazard a guess and say there were probably about 30 people.

I loved the film. I think if I were pushed, I would still say i prefer the first film, but it’s truly impossible to hate a film with a cast like that and an abundance of ABBA songs.

I also liked the fact that I heard ABBA songs I hadn’t before (I had this with the first film as well). They’re so well known for their ‘obvious’ songs (for want of a better way of phrasing it), that it’s nice to see - and hear - a mixture of the well-known and not so well-known.

DONE

We went to Italy, obviously well known for its ice cream, and so couldn’t leave without trying some there.

I chose melon. I think I’ve had melon sorbet before but not ice cream. It was really nice, though difficult to eat when it’s over 30 degrees. 

DONE

You know when you go to hotels and they have tea and coffee facilities in the room? We stayed in a hotel the night before we were due to go away and they the normal tea and coffee stuff but it included different types of tea bags, as well as the English Breakfast.

I saw it and was reminded that this was on my list so thought I’d give green tea a go. 

When I tried it I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t find it disgusting (I wasn’t holding out much hope, obviously). I even decided that I would get some green tea bags to take into work because then I wouldn’t have to bother bringing in milk.

DONE

This was difficult, this one, because how do you know when someone becomes a friend?

I started my job about 18 months ago and it always takes me a bit of time before I get used to new things and start feeling comfortable with people but I did eventually and that was mainly due to the people I was working with (a particular few in particular, obviously).

But it’s not like I’ve gone out with them outside work or anything; I only spend time with them when at work, so I did have think about how I consider friends are made.

I decided to mark this as done on the basis that there were people at work who I look forward to seeing, who I enjoy working alongside, who I like talking to (about work and other things), and who I have learnt a lot from (again, about work and other things). And that, to me, suggests a level of friendship. Even if you don’t see each other outside of work. And even if you can’t know for certain whether they would also class you as a friend.

DONE

I have done this. Not quite in the way that I’d like to, but I’m marking it off because I have gone to a Christmas market.

Last Christmas I went to a local Christmas market (literally 10/15 minutes away) in the grounds of a castle. There were little stalls, and fake snow, and I had mulled wine so I definitely got into the Christmas spirit.

IN PROGRESS

I was a little bit stop-start with this but I did finally finish a mindfulness course on FutureLearn.

It was okay.

That’s pretty much all I can say about it. Maybe it’s because I didn’t try to carry on with the exercises (like the meditations), I don’t know. I liked learning about the theory behind it but I’m not sure whether practically it’s something for me.

But maybe I’m not being fair, or haven’t given it enough of a chance, because I know some people find it really useful.

DONE

My parents gave me a voucher for a tour and tasting (wine and cheese) at a local winery.

Me and my dad went. We were shown around the winery itself, where the wine gets made and bottled. The amount of thought that has to go into it, and how scientific it has to be, was really interesting to see. Also, the sheer scale of the equipment, even though this was a relatively small winery compared to the larger companies, was amazing.

Then we went through to the tasting. I think we had five samples of drink and four of cheese (I think it was meant to just be four drinks but they gave us an extra one). The drinks included one sample of a cider they make there. We were meant to try to guess which cheese had been paired with each drink (I got some right, some wrong). 

I even tried the soft cheese - which I was expecting not to like, and my opinion didn’t change. Although, there was one wine which altered the taste of the soft cheese enough so that I didn’t mind it so much.

It made a change to actually focus on the taste of what I was drinking. I suppose I do a bit, like, I obviously know if I don’t like something but to sit there and consider the taste of it was something new.

DONE

I’ve always liked crime novels and TV programmes and considering Agatha Christie is one of the most well-known crime writers, I’d always meant to read some of her work but just never got round to it.

Then I went to a table top sale which had a table full of second hand books which included a stack of Agatha Christie. I bought these (along with others) and picked 4.50 from Paddington to read first.

Needless to say, I loved it. It was actually really interesting to see the similarities and differences between it and the more modern books that I had read. 

IN PROGRESS

Trying to be more productive with this one. Part Nineteen done:

1820. What keeps you from being happy? Over-thinking.

1824. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? If you like.

1843. What are you dependent on? Escapism.

1862. What makes something "literature"? Also, what makes something "art?" If it manages to make a connection with someone other than the creator.

1871. We are spinning on a bright blue bulb that is bursting with life. How could you possibly feel alone? It’s not about the amount of people you have around you. It’s to do with the connections and relationships you have with the people around you.

IN PROGRESS

Managed to get Part Eighteen done today as well. Selection below:

1722. How important is testing to education? Not as important as we’re led to believe.

1740. Do loud noises make you tense? Yeah, quite often.

1749. Do you feel that if a coincidence occurs it means something? Sometimes you need it to mean something, and if you attach meaning to it, then surely it means something?

1764. If you were to start your own business what kind of business do you think it might be?

Second hand bookshop.

IN PROGRESS

Kind of feels like this is taking forever but Part Seventeen is done! (I think a few questions may have been missing from this part because the numbers randomly skipped).

1607. How long is forever? Depends on how old you are, I think. For a child, a week is like a lifetime. Time goes quicker as you get older because you realise you don’t have forever. Forever itself, is just that: until the end of time. But what that is depends on the perspective of the person you’re asking.

1609. Who would you be afraid to have angry at you? Someone I respect/admire, whose approval I would like.

1612. Do you like the direction your life is going in? I don’t know what direction my life is going in. Imagine a sat nav that can’t find a signal. Like that.

1634. What is your favourite thing that is red? Wine.

IN PROGRESS

Have done Part Sixteen! Some answers below:

1512. Are you afraid of a global nuclear war? Well, I’m not enamoured with the idea. 

1522. When people are born is it predetermined whether they will be a good or bad person? Not predetermined. Some are born more likely to be one than the other but I don’t think it’s set in stone. 1539. What are the most cruel words someone could say to you? Something which confirms what I most fear about myself.

1546. Is truth sometimes stranger than fiction? Definitely. Sometimes things happen in reality that would seem unrealistic if it were in a book or TV show.

IN PROGRESS

Part Fifteen is completed! Selection of answers below:

1402. What's more important, first impressions or lasting impact? First impressions are important but you’re a fool to cling onto them if every other impression a person gives you is completely different to how they first presented themselves.

1450. Are you afraid of the future? Bloody terrified.

1463. What do you want to get out of life? Enjoyment. A sense of fulfilment and purpose. A feeling that I’ve done my job and done it well.

1469. Do you look people in the eye when you talk? I have to make a conscious effort to, especially if I don’t know them or I’m not particularly comfortable with them. It doesn’t come naturally to me but I do try.

IN PROGRESS

Part Fourteen done! I'm taking my time but getting there...slowly.

1311. Are you afraid of living in oblivion? Yep, but sometimes in an attempt to notice everything, you can end up missing things you would otherwise have noticed. 1327. Do you perceive reality differently from others? I’m not really sure? How is reality normally perceived by others? I don’t know how I perceive reality. This question’s confused me, I can’t sort my thoughts out at the moment. 1340. What is the saddest thought you can think of? Loneliness.

1351. Have you ever wished for wings that work? When I was little I used to think I could teach myself to fly. I’d jump off of steps or the settee and flap my arms and try to make it to another spot (like from the settee to a little kids’ stool/step thing) and there were points where I was convinced that I was actually “flying” further. So yeah, I guess I have.

DONE

I have a slight confession, in that I didn't realise I had completed this until after I'd done it.

We went away for a few days and stayed in a little cottage and they had a few board games in one of the cupboards that you could use while you were staying there. So my brother and I had a look one night, we played Scrabble (I've played Scrabble before, that wasn't the new one) and there was also a Simpsons version of the Game of Life. I've never played that before (which my mum seemed surprised about but seeing as we don't have the game at home, I don't really know why). But anyway, I pulled that out and after a quick read of the instructions we gave it a go.

You never quite realise how complicated a game's instructions are until you try to understand them for the first time! I reckon it's one of those games where if you'd played it as a kid, you just have a basic understanding of it without even trying whenever you go back to it. Like Monopoly - we seem to be born knowing how to play Monopoly.