Beer!

One of the challenges that I am most excited about is drinking all the beers made in London.  Thanks to the lovely Phil Howes, I love a local ale, so I anticipate spending any hard-earned cash (no job as of yet, though) in old man pubs and hipster hang-outs in order to find yet another pint of something with a faintly amusing name.

However, my dad, the creator of this challenge, might have been a tad ambitious. A quick internet search (http://www.londonbrewers.org/) reveals at least 28 London breweries, stretched from Hackney to Kew. I'll be drinking as many of their products as possible, but I can't guarantee I'll be able to drink them all; I don't fancy putting "find a liver transplant" on my 26/26 list.

As I remember, I've already sampled beers from Camden Town Brewery, Fullers (London Pride, obviously), Redemption (brewed up the road in Tottenham) and Sambrooks. Now it's onto the next 24!

Getting Started - The Swim

Preparations for The Swim (it definitely needs capitalising) have begun. I'm so dedicated that I swam every day even while on holiday. I mean, it helped that it was in the sparkling azure waters of the Adriatic, but whatever, you can picture me doing it amidst the battering waves off northern Scotland if you want. I will be posting similarly unattractive photos like the one below for probably all my tasks, so remember to keep checking back!

Here's me swimming in the Adriatic.

And away we go...

Using the Random Number Generator (http://www.random.org/), I now have my 25/25 list:


23: Harrison - 25 Shades of Grey
26: Harrison - bake 25 different cakes
08: Sarah S - attempt to sneak backstage at a concert
22: Harrison - go around London and only converse with people in Urdu and hand gestures for a day. Pretend you don't speak British
10: Zanny/Rob - go to a rave
20: Laura S - learn how to drive and pass your test
09: Sarah S - make a cookbook for family and friends
19: Laura S - start a niche dating website
01: Noel/Jacob - finish the novel
06: Jacob - stage or participate in a flashmob
27: Harrison - be an honest-to-God hipster for a few days then write an article about your experience
05: Jacob/Sarah S - learn how to breakdance
32: Mum - enter a picture in the summer exhibition
16: Rachel G/Dan - mile-long outdoor swim
12: Zanny - get someone famous to sign your body
11: Zanny/Rob - go camping
31: Graham - learn one awesome but completely useless talent
18: Laura S - go to a Tory party function
07: Sarah S/Harrison - read an ambitious book
24: Harrison - recreate a fun childhood photograph
15: Rachel O/Leo/Graham/Pat - come to the US (and do the run-and-chug)
30: Graham/Mum - try 25 new foods
33: Dad - sample all the beers made in London
29: Graham - introduce two people with the goal of, and succeeding at, starting a relationship
14: Sarah B - Climb Mount Snowden

Some of these require more participants (e.g.: the flashmob), so I'll be recruiting over the coming months. There won't be much progress until after the dissertation's done (September 17th = party time), but I'll be knocking them down like it's my job. Which it might be, if I can't get a real one.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS!

The Possibilities

Through some very unscientific choosing (the more outlandish suggestions are the result of blind finger-pointing, others because I want to do them) we have...dah dah daaaaahhhhh.....

The short-list:

1. Noel/Jacob - finish the novel
2. Lizzie - proofread her dissertation
3. Dan/Isobel - do cheese-rolling
4. Dan - pretend to be Mary Poppins all day then wander around London telling people you were in the London Olympic opening ceremony
5. Jacob/Sarah S - learn to breakdance
6. Jacob - stage or participate in a flashmob
7. Sarah S/Harrison - read an ambitious book
8. Sarah S - attempt to sneak backstage at a concert
9. Sarah S - make a cookbook for family and friends
10. Zanny/Rob - go to a rave
11. Zanny/Rob - go camping
12. Zanny - get someone famous to sign your body
13. Zanny - set up a stall in a market for a weekend
14. Sarah B - climb Mount Snowden
15. Rachel O/Leo/Graham/Pat - come to the US (and eat cheesesteak)
16. Rachel G/Dan - Mile-long outdoor swim
17. Rachel G - run a 10k
18. Laura S - go to a Tory Party function
19. Laura S - start a niche dating website
20. Laura S - learn to drive and pass the test
21. Pat - do the run-and-chug
22. Harrison - go around London and only converse with people in Urdu and hand gestures for a day. Pretend you don't speak British
23. Harrison - read half of 50 Shades of Grey then report back
24. Harrison - recreate a fun childhood photograph
25. Harrison - create a 25-point visitors' guide to London with places that have some significance to you
26. Harrison - bake 25 different cakes
27. Harrison - be an honest-to-God hipster for a few days then write an article about your experience
28. Graham - start playing the saxophone again
29. Graham - introduce two people with the goal of, and succeeding at, starting a relationship
30. Graham/Mum - try 25/26 new foods
31. Graham - learn one awesome but completely useless talent
32. Mum - enter a picture in the Summer Exhibition
33. Dad - sample all the beers made in London.

And, if I start earning megabucks (hahahaha), then I have these places and people to visit in addition to going to NYC/Philly/DC: Italy (Chris), Malta (Alison), Canada (Adil) and Seattle (Isobel). Can't wait!

So now I just have to whittle away or combine the thirty-three into twenty-five, and then get cracking! This will be done by the end of today, as I'm off to Croatia tomorrow (not sure I can do any of the things on this list there, though).

25 25 25 25 25!!!

Thanks for the cake, Mum.

I'm 25! And being 25 means the start of my 25/25 challenge. Twenty-four people made eighty-seven suggestions, which is exciting. Some suggestions are death-defying (bull-riding, spelunking, swimming the Channel), others almost certainly embarrassing (only speaking in Urdu, pretending to be Mary Poppins, singing a song on the London Eye), others heart-warming (everyone who said I should come visit them....awwww you guys). An excellent list has been made by all of you, and I really appreciate it.

Here's the long list:

NOEL

• finish our novel

LIZZIE

• Proofread her diss

DAN 

• Enter a conker competition
• do cheese rolling
• swim the english channel or other great feat
• hitch hike to somewhere as far away as possible
• learn to irish dance properly
• pretend to be mary poppins all day then wonder around london telling people you were in the london olympic opening ceremony
• Baotashi

PAT

• Do the run-and-chug

ADIL

• Visit Canada

CHRIS B

• Come to Italy

JACOB  

• ‎I've already mentioned learning to break dance, but to clarify, I'm serious about that one.
• Write a novel/short story. (This can be traditional fiction, but erotic novels or various sorts of fan fiction are also allowed.)
• Stage/participate in a flashmob.
• Kayak on the Thames.
• Choose a food you like, find 25 places that do it well, and visit them all in an epic day (or weekend). So for example, if you really like cookies, find 25 great cookie places and then go have 25 cookies.

SARAH S 

• Learn a new instrument
• Eat strange foods you’ve never tried but that people swear by
• Make a cookbook for family and friends
• Read an ambitious book
• Attempt to sneak backstage at a concert
• Take an art/dance class
• Visit every pub in London
• Go to Italy

ZANNY 

• Go to a rave
• Go sailing in the Solent
• Tell everyone your name is Bobo for a full day
• Go on the London Eye and start signing out loud at the top. You must complete a full song!
• Ask someone to marry you!!
• Busk - and gamble youre earnings!
• Camp out under the stars
• Go white water rafting
• Bungee jump
• Get someone famous to sign your body!
• Swim the channel (without dying please)
• Climb the tallest mountain in Britain in fancy dress
• Audition for a screen play
• Set up a stall in a market for one weekend

ROB

• raving
• camping

SARAH B

• Three Peaks challenge
• Climb Mount Snowden
• Go fishing

RACHEL O 

• go to Philly and eat cheesesteak

LEO

• Come to Philly

CLAIRE

• Paragliding
• Go Ape

CHRIS B

• Come to Italy

RACHEL G

• Mile-long outdoor swim
• London 10k

ALISON

• come to Malta

LAURA S 

• go to a Tory party function
• get married
• start a niche dating website
• learn to drive and pass my test

ISOBEL 

• come to Seattle
• do the cheese run

HARRISON

• Go around London and only converse with people in Urdu and hand gestures for a day. Pretend you don't speak British.
• Read half of 50 Shades of Grey (aka 25 shades of gray). And report back to us.
• Cook something impossible. Preferably that incorporates molecular gastronomy.
• Do you have a name-twin? If so, you should meet her. Apparently you do! http://www.thenrgroup.net/info/people/Jaenicke/H-Jaenicke.pdf
• Try and tackle your old high school physics/maths homework and see if you can (still) do it.
• Try and hunt down an elementary school teacher and say thanks! (Or screw you, depending...)
• Recreate a fun childhood photograph.
• Create a 25 point visitors guide to London with places that have some significance to you.
• Bake 25 different cakes!
• Read infinite jest, War and Peace, Ulysses and gravitys rainbow. Or just the entire animorphs series.
• try playing one of the classic rpgs e.g. Earthbound, Final Fantasy, or Zelda all the way through.
• You should be an honest to God Hipster for a few days and write an article about your experience

WILL 

• go spelunking
• go bull riding

GRAHAM

• Start playing the saxophone again.
• Introduce two people with the goal of, and succeeding at, starting a relationship (aka, play matchmaker)
• Have an adventure with your brother 
• Have an adventure with your parents
• Re-read a favorite book from your childhood
• Visit America
• Remain cool in hot weather
• Learn one awesome, but completely useless talent
• Make 12 new friends (1 for every month)
• Try 25 new foods.

MUM

• Alphabet food (eat foods from countries or places in alphabetical order)
• Make a piece of clothing
• Join a choir
• Enter a picture in the Summer Exhibition

DAD

• Sample all the beers made in London