Alton Towers

It feels rather good to have crossed something off the list so quickly. One of the bits in the travel section - completed. It was a fast made plan, to go to Alton Towers with Lyndsey her friend Chloe and Rob, Chloe's boyfriend. I had never been before, the only theme-park I had visited was Flamingo Land in Scarborough (which despite a shit name, is actually good..)

Entry was relativity cheap due to 2-4-1 offer, and just had to pay extra for the fast tracking, something hugely recommended due to amount of time it saves . We headed straight of to Air, which was fairly cool. Then onto Nemesis, much more enjoyable. A little walk was had through the valley, which was really nice, and permitted me to put Lyndsey in a bush overhanging a steep drop, something which she didn't really appreciate...

Onwards to our first queue, with Thirteen, which was again a good ride, although not scary. Oblivion was great, good fun for my dislike of falling as I plummeted towards a chasm in the ground.. Rita was the best though, its speed making it so good, as you shoot off reaching 60mph in 2.5 seconds. Or so Lyndsey says.

I didn't know that Alton Towers was so spread out, across some rather beautiful grounds. It is a place I would certainly go again, both to try out the roller-coasters again, and to enjoy some of the other rides too, as well as perhaps making more of the grounds and castle, if I went over two days, could ride oneday, and photograph the grounds and house.

All over the World...

I want to be travelled. I aim to get around the world in my life, but for the first score years, I haven't really been anywhere. So, with a new passport now in my possession I should really make the most of it. If I am sensible enough with my money, then I should easily be able to afford a good holiday or trip each year. Sometimes, maybe even two.

So far, the list is as follows:

• Visit Auschwitz in Poland
• See the Acropolis in Athens
• See the Colosseum in Rome
• See the Leaning tower of Pisa
• Visit the Eiffel Tower
• Visit New York again
• Have a proper beach holiday abroad
• Go to Amsterdam
• Visit one of the other Nordic countries
• Scotland
• Ireland
• Go to Stone Henge
• Go to Alton Towers

Already being arranged, is visiting Auschwitz, something myself and my friend Chantelle have been saying we'd do since we were at college. She is so desperate to go she said she'll take me for my 21st! So I just need to save some spending money up. I am hugely looking forward to this.

I also happen to live with someone who seems to have as much desire to travel the world as I do, and I am sure that Amy will accompany me on a trip or too to some of the countries I want to visit. I want to visit Ireland a few times, one of which should be on St. Patricks day, which is my best friend's birthday - always a reason to celebrate. Maybe I can get that one in 2011. Alton Towers is already on the cards, since I am going on Friday with my girlfriend, hugely looking forward to that one.

Let's see how much use I can get out of one little passport..

The Odds and Sods

There are a few things that I really want to be able to say I have done, which don't fit into other categories. Just silly little things, like reading the paper every day. This list will have more added to it as I think of things.

Save More Money

I used to be a really good saver. That was when I was 15 though, back in the days when I had my paperrounds, and the only thing I needed to spend money on was topping up my mobile. Then, I managed to save up most of what I earned, however that came to a dramatic end the day I discovered play.com, Amazon, and eBay. Since then, I do nothing but spend my money, and since coming to University, I have actually got worse. So, I need to save much more. I have already started working towards this goal, with Premium Bonds, which I will blog about later on..

Learn Recipes and Cook Better

I live in awe of my Mum's memory for different recipes. The way she can just knock up a Lemon Meringue from her memory. I want to be able to do the same, just know how to do a lot of baking from the top of my head, not need to follow the recipe book religiously, know the weights, the measurements, the temperatures and all that jazz.

I also want to be able to do more from scratch. Screw using a jar for a Lamb Rogan Josh, I want to make the sauce myself. Moussaka flavouring? I don't want to have to rely on a packet. I want to be able to do more of my cooking completely from scratch.

Eat more variety

I want to try and eat a larger variety of cuisines. I want to try cooking different dishes from around the world, Greek, Spanish, French, Thai etc. I also want to have tried eating most of the common types of fish. I also want to eat Kangaroo, Ostrich, Crocodile and Veal.

Benwick Bygones II

In 2008, I co-produced a book on the history of my home village, Benwick. It was awesome to do, and the feedback we got was amazing. I want to produce the follow up - based on peoples memories of the village. I used to get people stop me all the time and tell me stories of when they were younger, working on the farm, or drinking in one of the seven pubs. Everyone seemed to have incredible stories to tell, and I want to get these documented before it is too late.

Go to the Festivals

For me, there are two big festivals I want to go to. Leeds, and Glastonbury. I missed out getting a ticket to go this year for Leeds, and so next year I think I need to make sure I go. I have always wanted to go to festivals, and it seems like the time I should.

Community Work

Back home in Benwick, I was involved in a lot of community stuff, the Village Hall, Residents Association, Parish Plan, village website etc. I found all this to be hugely rewarding. I really enjoyed helping organise events, and fund-raising for things. I want to get involved in something up here in Manchester.

Learn to play the Bass

I borrowed one off of a friend last year, and gave it a little going. I really want to pick it up properly, learn it properly. It would be rather awesome to be able to say I can actually play it. I am sure, that if I actually commit myself, I can learn it well in five years. I would like to be a bit better at the guitar too, just chords and bits, I am not going to fool myself into thinking I could be as good as some of my friends are.

Get better at Photography

I have myself a nice little Canon 400D SLR camera, which I really want to get the most out of. It seems to just sit on my shelf, barely used at the moment - which is a huge waste. I want to use it far more, and get really good photos with it too. I want to learn to use it properly, and really work on my composition and all the technical bits behind taking a decent photo...

Read the Paper..

...everyday for a whole year. Doesn't sound like much, but it would be good to do. I am a regularish reader of The Times and The Daily Telegraph, so it would be one of those to, everyday it is published. I will give this one a go in 2011...

Into the Blog...

I got really bored the other day. I had nothing to do, just drifting around my room, listening to music and soullessly browsing the internet. I have just finished my first year at university, studying Human Biology at Manchester Met, and now, all I actually have to do is go to work at the weekends.

It dawned on me how much time I actually waste. How little I actually have to do, and so I thought I needed a project. Blogging has always appealed to me, but I could never think of anything to blog about. I have friends, who have blogs featuring their artwork and such, but I don't possess a morsel of artistic talent. Then, my mind drifted to the film "Julie and Julia" which I had watched with my flatmate Amy, about Julie Powell, who set herself the target of cooking all the recipes from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and blogged about the process. So, a goal orientated blog seemed like it would be good, something to document some achievements, something to give me something to do in the small hours of the night which I so frequently spend pointlessly on Facebook or eBay.

I then had to set about thinking about what goal I could actually have. I have some obviously, passing my degree to a good standard, getting onto a PhD programme and whatnot, but that isn't something that you can really blog about. So, I set my mind about thinking what else I wanted to achieve, and a flutter of things came to my mind.

• I want to travel more.
• I want to read more.
• I want to save up some Money.
• I want to have new experiences.
• I want to learn the Bass.

Hang on, some of that could definitely lead way to an interesting blog. I then had to think about time scale. I am never one to do things in small measures, so, I thought - FIVE YEARS, is a decent time-scale. A long term project requiring severe dedication.

In five years time, I will be 25. I will have finished university and hopefully be enrolled completing either a Masters or a PhD. But, what else can I get done in that time? I decided to kick things off today, Tuesday June 1st 2010, halfway through the year.Project ”Life” will run from 01/06/2010 – 31/05/2015, 1826 days. With that length of time, I think I need a decent list of things to do.

Having chosen a time-scale, I think I now need to create a list. A long list of EVERYTHING I want to complete in 5 years, and some rules to go with it...