July 15, 2007, 12:03 am : 80 94 things to do before I die
Filed Under: 94 ThingsDiscussion: C[0]mments
There are loads of books of things to do before you die, websites too, mostly with a number around 100 at the start of the title. I even own one, it came free with a magazine. Some of the things in it are very interesting, so I will steal a little from there, but some things on this list are just things I want to do. Oh, and I could only come up with 80 for myself, but that’s still quite a lot when you think about it, esspecially when some lists only have 10!
Here’s hoping i didn’t repeat any:
1. See the Aurora Borealis
2. Set up a home for older pets
3. Visit New Zealand
4. Swim in a bioluminesent bay
5. Adopt or foster children
6. Write something worthwhile
7. Own a house
8. Walk on Lava
9. Swim with dolphins
10. Grow a sunflower
11. Learn French again
12. Buy the DVD’s of all my old videos
13. Learn to drive a motorbike
14. Walk through a proper waterfall
15. Write a will and include a charity
16. Sleep under the stars for a night
17. Find and, at least, write to my uncle Tim
18. Donate blood
19. Do something good for someone I don’t know
20. Watch the sunrise on a beach
21. Ride in a horse-drawn carrage
22. Take a proper photography course
23. Hold a bird of prey
24. Go back to school
25. Teach
26. Buy a plant and keep it alive
27. Go for a proper walk on the Moors
28. Read the Bible until I can’t stand any more
29. Ride a horse at sunset on a beach
30. Stroke a killer whales tongue
31. Watch a lightning storm at sea
32. Learn the constellations by heart
33. Buy a sandwich in a shop and give it to a homeless person
34. Fly a plane
35. Eat an unusual species (non-endangered)
36. Clean up a natural area
37. Take a first aid course
38. Buy a balloon from a seller on the street and give it to the first kid I see (with parents permission)
39. Build a bird house
40. Be vegetarian for a month
41. Visit my old schools
42. Write my family tree
43. Meet a bonobo
44. Take one photo a day for a month with a disposible camera
45. Plant a tree
46. Help someone with a mental illness
47. Kiss someone under mistletoe
48. Work on a farm
49. Make and bury a time capsule
50. Volunteer
51. Visit a graveyard and tidy up some forgotten graves
52. Learn Chinese
53. Keep a small flower garden
54. Go canoeing
55. Have a picnic with friends
56. Send shoe boxes to Africa
57. Make a scrapbook
58. Give a bunch of flowers to a random stranger
59. Live aborad
60. Learn more about Buddhism
61. Start swimming again
62. Walk more
63. Send Friends Lotto tickets
64. Enter a photography competition
65. Spend a night in a tree
66. Go to New York
67. Sheer a sheep
68. Milk a cow
69. Help build a house
70. Own a newfoundland
71. Learn to knit
72. Hold a snake
73. Holiday in a caravan
74. Backpack around the country
75. Sit in a feild for a day reading
76. Build a natrual shelter and sleep there for a night
77. See Rocky Horror live
78. Grow my own vegetables
79. See a rainforest
80. Take up horse riding
**UPDATE**
81. Visit Easter Island
82. See Niagara Falls
83. Visit New England in Autumn
84. Go to the Grand Canyon
85. See giant redwoods
86. Go to the Great Wall
87. Visit Polonnaruwa (Sri Lanka)
88. Visit Tad Lo Falls
89. See the Plain of Jars (Laos) with a guide
90. Photograph Notre Dame
91. Go to the Rhine Valley
92. Visit the Giant’s Causeway
93. Visit Stonehenge
94. Visit Prague
I will be posting about these things if and when I ever manage to do them. I have actually started #44, I took a rather random photo yesterday and will do another later today.
July 9, 2007, 5:36 pm : Random Funny Picture
Filed Under: Cute, FunDiscussion: C[0]mments
July 9, 2007, 5:02 pm : Better picture of Franc
Filed Under: Cute, PetsDiscussion: C[0]mments
She’s settling in well. She loves running around my room, and when she isn’t doing that she likes to sit on top of the guinea pig house.
Thinking about it, I haven’t posted an updated picture of Honey since I got her. She’s a bit of a wriggler so its hard to get a good shot, but here is one of her right before she fell off the wheel.
July 5, 2007, 4:14 am : Bunny Rabbit
Filed Under: About Me, Cute, PetsDiscussion: C[0]mments
I had my day nicely planed out on Tuesday. First i had to drop my sister into work so i could have the car for the day. Then i had to go to the doctors office to pick up a letter, then back to town. I parked in the mall and walked the short distance to Blue Banana, went to the back of the shop and asked for my eye brow to be pierced. They told me the room was being disinfected but i could fill out the forms and pay then and come back at midday. It was a little longer than i had thought, but i went window shopping in the mall as i had planed to do after i got my eye brow done. It had been suggested i have something to eat before i went back so i had an early lunch then headed over.
Long story short, i bled, a lot. I’d had it pierced before but that fell out, so the new one went through scar tissue, which hurts as well as bleeds. But it does look good in my opinion, it’s purple and in my left eye brow.
I intended to spend the rest of my day doing art at my local Mind, i don’t normally go on a Tuesday, but thought i would for a change. Of course as soon as i got there i was told the art group was cancelled due to lack of staff and everyone had to be gone by 2pm, this was about 12.30pm so i decided to sit there and chat a little until 2 so i actually had something to do before having to pick my sister up at 5.15.
Of course, after i left the group i still had 3hrs to kill so thought i would go to the market at the bottom of town. This is where things went wrong in a very good way. There is a pet shop in the market, which i don’t like very much. I got my hamster there and still feel she was too young to have been sold. Another thing i dislike about it is the tiny cages they put rabbits and guinea pigs in. One of the cages is at most 2 foot by 2 foot and tucked under a load of other cages so it’s almost out of sight. In there was a small silver rabbit hardly moving. I did ask if she was ok in there and they told me she was fine, they just told me they sulk when in smaller cages, my only thought was, “of course, they have no space for anything else.” I thought a while about if i could afford to keep a rabbit and in the end i just thought i had to get the poor thing out of the tiny cage, if it then turned out i wasn’t able to look after her i would find her a good home that could. So i paied for her and told the shop staff i would be back about 4.30 to pick her up so she didnt have to stay in a(n even smaller) box for too long. I walked around the market a bit but that doesn’t take long so soon enough i was sat outside the pet shop just waiting. After a while though, the keeper came out to me and explained that the breeder had called and was worried about the rabbit, they weren’t well and wouldn’t be sold to anyone, the breeder was coming in to take them back and bringing two healthy ones with her. I said i would have a look at them and decide if i still wanted one (i was thinking that if they were the same sex they would both go in the larger cage so i would leave them, but different sexs i would take the female (so the temperment is more likely to be suitable with the guinea pigs). It turned out it was a boy and a girl, both completly black, netherland dwarf / lionhead crosses. They were beautiful, but i could only take one and the girl was kept aside for me. It wasnt too long from then until i had to get my sister so i got the rabbit box and walked back to the car. Securing the box in the front seat i drove to the car park by my sisters work and got out the bunny to hold while i waited.
She was late coming out, and in that time i saw an old science teacher come and go from the car park and even had someone mistake the rabbit for a puppy, but they still thought she was very cute. Finally my sister came out, but once she saw the rabbit she asked a bit about it then asked to take it in to her office to show some people how cute she was. Few minutes later she was back in the car and we headed home.
I think the rabbit softened the blow of the metal in my head, there were fewer comments on that than the new fluff ball. She settled in very well to her new home and is getting along great with Shammy and Connie.
So, here is the latest member of my furry family, Franc the rabbit:
And to explain the name, like with pork products for hamsters and cosmetics for guinea pigs, rabbits are named after money as males are bucks and females are does. Don’t worry, the logic works for me!
June 30, 2007, 6:54 pm : Doctor Who Finale
Filed Under: Random LifeDiscussion: C[0]mments
It starts in 15 minutes. I hope its a good one, i’ve been so built up about it all week. Unfortunatly because of the weather my TV signal keeps going, with my luck it will cut out for all the key moments and i won’t have a clue what’s happening. Oh well, at least i’ll get to see the ever so sexy David Tennant and John Barrowman.
June 29, 2007, 7:40 am : Work, Work, Work
Filed Under: About MeDiscussion: C[0]mments
Another blog! However will i cope with it all.
Oh well, another day at my art group ahead, better get dressed.
June 18, 2007, 2:14 am : Random Funny Picture
Filed Under: FunDiscussion: C[0]mments
June 13, 2007, 9:44 pm : State Of Panic - Updated
Filed Under: About Me, Photography & ArtDiscussion: C[0]mments
Well i’ve spent my day updating my art site, check out the news page to see what’s been added. I will be adding some more soon, just have to find it all and sort it out.
June 11, 2007, 1:42 am : Guinea Pigs
Filed Under: Cute, PetsDiscussion: C[1]mments
Recently one of my friends bought a guinea pig and called him Oscar. Well right at the back of the shop are two pens, the nearer of them had two boy guineas and and a boy rabbit, the pen behind had three girl guineas. I spent a while talking to the shop assistant, which i normally hate doing, but i get hyper and talkitive when i haven’t slept. So, after about half an hour of asking about what cage, and how to care for them i said i’d think about it, see how much money i had and talk to my sister before i decided.
When i got home i told my mum what i was thinking and, surprisingly, she liked the idea (though she did tell me she would never hold or touch them - she has mild rodentophobia). She thought that instead of talking with my sister i should surprise her and get them before i picked her up from work. I gave my room a quick tidy, so the cage had a place to go, and checked i would have enough money in the bank for it all, which i did, just, then headed back to the pet shop.
I spent about another 2 hours in the shop. We, the shop assisant and i, talked more about do’s and dont’s of guinea pig ownership and took a look at the three girls (the boy’s were already sold). There were two tricolour and one brown girl, all short haired. The assistant first picked up the brown one to show me but noticed one of her eyes looked watery and swollen. She checked it with the manager who agreed the guinea should be seen to by a vet before they could sell her. They had told me they had a seven day returns policy if any health issues showed up but if i took the brown one home knowing about its eye that policy would be void. I felt bad, but we looked at the other two, the tricolours. They were beautiful, the markings one them were totally different so they could easily be told apart. One of the things i had brought up with the assistant was that i knew guineas were social animals and needed a lot of company, and it was generally better to go with another guinea than a rabbit as they have been known to harm guineas and that chances are my company wont be enough. The result of this is of course i had to buy two of them, and as the two tricolours were more than likely sisters they were most likely to get along and both looked generally healthy.
So that was it, i decided to buy them. The next thing was to sort out what cage i wanted. The pet shop i went to is brillient, they have a starter kit for every animal. So, in the case of the guinea pigs, i could get; a cage big enough for two with house, bowl, water bottle and hay rack, a bag of complete food, a toy, bag of hay, bag of straw, bag of sawdust, mineral lick, animal friendly disinfectant and a book on guinea pig care for £55.99, i added a wodden tube, a portable carrier and a cage fan for hot days to it. It’s a good thing i don’t believe in omens as things wouldn’t have been good for me, first with the brown guineas bad eye and then when i chose the cage i then found out they were out of stock, only had the one on show left. But they agreed to get that one down from the wall and clean off the dust. The day was boiling hot and even in the air conditioned store i was feeling thirsty so i left to get some water at a near by shop while the assistant got the kit together, when i got back it was laied out so all i needed was to pay and get it all to the car. Paying was easy, if painful to my bank balance, but i needed help getting the cage out so a male shop assistant was asked to help. I left the guineas in a box in the shop deciding i would come back for them after taking everything else out so they didnt have to sit in the hot car while i fumbled about with everything. Once the guineas were in the car i made sure all the windows were open and the box was secure in the seat and headed home.
I took the guineas in first then needed dad to bring the cage in while i carried all the bags of supplies up to my room. i quickly set it all up, put in the beding, food, water and furnishings, then opened the box to put them in their new home. As tempted as i was to get a first photo of them i thought it best not to as they were cuddled up in a corner looking quite scared, they had after all been in a small dark box for about half an hour. Lifting them carefully i put them in the cage and left them to settle in. Of course being me i couldn’t just give them average names. For hamsters the name must be some sort of pork product, rabbits should all be currency (as males are bucks and females, does), but i never really seriously considered guinea pig ownership before, so hadn’t thought what route to take. I did think a while ago that naming after countries might be an idea, but it wasn’t too appealing to me. Of course i then ralised what guinea pigs are most famous for - scientific testing, cosmetics inparticular. After that it didn’t take me long to think of Shampoo, and for a secong guinea pig, what goes better than Conditioner?! Of course i like to shorten names, so my two little girls are called Shammy and Connie.
It wasn’t long before i managed to get my first video of the two so here it is; The larger one with an orange bum is Shammy, and the smaller ove with red only on her ear is Connie. Both are still settling in but are much loved in their new home.
June 7, 2007, 3:40 am : On the Floor
Filed Under: Random LifeDiscussion: C[0]mments
I steped on a little bit of plastic and it stuck to my foot, so i picked it up and it was a tab you have to pull out before the batteries of a “batteries included” item will work. I have no clue what it came from, but i guess it can’t be too bad seeing as obviously i did remove it.
