As of today, November 18th 2019 I am exactly 500 days away from turning 50 years old on April 1st 2021.
With this in mind I thought it was a good time to take stock and plan ahead for the big day. Of course it wouldn’t be me to do something worthwhile or philanthropic so let’s get into the minutiae of my exciting life.
I accept this is very self indulgent and you are of course more than welcome to ignore this thread. It would be fun though if anyone fancied joining me in this journey of self improvement and posted their progress also.
What are the challenges? Glad you asked…
Lose Weight : I bored people before about my yo-yo dieting but I need to be slim for my 50th portrait. The BMI calculator tells me that as a 5ft 10 inch male I should be 12 and a half stone or 175 lbs. I’m presently 16 stone or 224 lbs so that’s 49 lbs to lose before 50. This is well within my abilities as I previously went from 17st 8lbs to 12st 10 lbs which was a 68lb loss and I did that in about a year. This target will be attained through diet and exercise and possibly an amputation or two.
Update Blogs regularly : get
The W Movie Blog to 350 (presently 261) and
THE Definite Article Movie Blog to 250 (presently 135) : Who doesn’t like reading ill informed and badly written blogs about films that start with a ’W’ or with a ‘The’? Most people, but never mind that. I have found myself spending a lot of time rewatching old sitcoms so this challenge will encourage me to watch crappy films instead. The targets demand 204 entries across both blogs. Can it be done? Well my planner and hard drive have enough films, so it’s just the time it takes to watch and write them up that will be the issue.
Update the Lettersentertainyou thread for each letters publication event : Another self indulgent one (aren’t they all?) but what the hell I like going into forensic detail on all matters Letters, and making poor puns about people’s names. Demanded by none and read by fewer this is the one for the masochists only!
Average 12,500 steps a day : easy one to monitor on the Fitbit, this one will be hard to fudge and it’s constant too. This will tie into challenge one - the more you walk the more weight you lose. Unless you are walking to the chippy. Working days will be tough but a few 30k hikes over the weekends will up the average.
Current total is 10,331 per day.
Get 105 Letters Printed - I’ve been sat on 99 for too long. One every 83 days should be doable, especially as I plan to write in after every issue. My best year amounted to 14 printed, so this should be a shoo in.
Pass ACII : I restarted my insurance exams last year when the work introduced pay bumps for passing. I had left my efforts to gather dust for 25 years but managed to get the Diploma in a year after my past credits were allowed. I need 95 points to get the ACII and that needs 4 subjects or 11 papers. This timescale will be tight as our learning support people take a month to get the books out to you.
Get on TV Again : Everyone remembers my great appearances of ‘First Class’, ‘Weakest Link’, ‘15-1’ and ‘!mpossible’. Now whenever I meet anyone after time apart they ask ‘When are you going to be on TV again?’. Time to nail this ghost to the coffin. I will apply to a game show a month until I get on one.
Bag 50 Munros in total. Munros are Scottish mountains over 3000ft - about 1000m. There are 282 of them and I have climbed 39. This gets harder as I have done most in the Central belt and that means travelling further afield. My regular walking companion has also gone AWOL so I may have to cultivate new friends. 11 in 500 days should be doable - some folk mange that in a couple of outings!
So there you are - 8 steps to a full and wasted life! Anyone want to sign up to do something similar? I appreciate doing it privately has more dignity and leaves one open to less embarrassment and ridicule, but if you don't make it public it's too easy to let it drift.
I'll update once a month as close the the 1st as possible so that's only 17 scroll bys to go!
