A Whole Miriade of Things Being Done!!

So much is in progress right now, it's all very exciting!

Firstly:

Number 2: Get a New Job: The paperwork has been received, completed and returned. I start school on the 5th of September, and have bought a new pencil case for the big day! I'll consider this "task" completed once I've successfully completed my first day there and no one turns round to me and says "Sorry, this is all a dream."

Number 19: Take Cookies to White City: This was meant to be a way of extending my friendship to colleagues that I no longer worked with. Turns out that I'm working with them again for my last month in my current job, so it doesn't have quite the same poignancy, but a promise is a promise nonetheless. I'm planning to bake them tonight so that they can have tasty cookies tomorrow.

Number 21: Put Up a Shelf in my New House: Been to Ikea and bought the shelf. The shelf just needs to go up now. Huzzah!

Number 22: 101 Books: Ah, the challenge that takes up so much of this blog. Firstly, since last blogging, I have read the final Tracy Beaker Book, Tracy Beaker's Thumping Heart by the lovely Jacqueline Wilson. Not as strong as her previous books, certainly not as strong as The Dare Game, but still very sweet and Tracy Beaker.

After that came Doctor Who and the Daleks by David Whitaker. The story showed its age in predictability and the level of material that at one time would have been original and moving, but is now considered twee. Not enough Dalek goodness for my liking, and Whitaker's take on the Daleks is actually quite a tame one. Didn't stir the goosepimplies like the Auton Invasion did when I was younger.

Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir by Margaux Fragoso was a difficult read for many reasons. This isn't the kind of book I normally go for, all hard hitting, true accounts of troubled and damaged childhoods. I'd seen adverts around Waterloo and curiosity led me to it. In short, the book is the memoir of a child molested by a man several times her age from when she was just seven years old. It's not just the accounts of the abuse that Fragoso suffered that makes the book a distressing read. Her father was physically and mentally abusive too, often striking her mother or even Fragoso herself when she was still just a child. Sadly, the abuse from her father is worse than that of the pedophile; if Fragoso had had a loving, home environment where she wasn't made to feel unappreciated and unvalued, then she would probably have not allowed herself to be the subject of sexual abuse for 15 years. I'm almost certain that nowadays this kind of abuse both in and out of the home would not happen unnoticed, though that isn't the reality for so many children, even in our country, our city. If Fragoso had grown up in Britain in 2011, social services would have gotten involved long before, then her story would have been very different.

Current book in progress (book 14) is House Rules by Jodi Picoult. A friend recommended it to me when I told her about my new job. It's a fictional piece surrounding a teenage boy with Asperger's with a love of criminology and forensics.

Number 28: Buy a New Music Book and Play my Violin: Well, I've bought the book; music from (cough) Twilight. The book is inappropriate for the age group, the film is nauseating but the music is fabulous with some of my favourite artists playing some of my favourite songs.

Number 58: Watch 50 Films: I've only just remembered I'm doing this one, so let's start with two days ago. Of all Pixar's films, Cars is the weakest in the franchise. So why release a sequel? Probably because it's an absolute boy magnet: it's a film about CARS!! Big, flashy, red, racing cars! That race! What little boy wouldn't absolutely love that? What could they possibly do to give it more appeal to young boys? Why, add the element of espionage! Because what little boy doesn't go absolutely gaga at the thought of cars AND spies in one, big, shiny CG package? Cars 2 is the ultimate film for young lads. There's all the gadgetry, explosions and conspiracy that makes a great spy film, plus the massive dose of CARS!! Big red brum-brums! I preferred Cars 2 to the first film, but like I said, Cars will be always be the weaker of the Pixar collection.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is an interestingly done film. It's almost an artsy film, but there's too much teen content for the art world to take it seriously. The editing department did a stellar job bringing all the game elements to life, and the creatives that came up with some of the visual ideas are semi geniuses. It's a predictable line of plot, but a funny one. And for the record, I LOVE Todd the Vegan with his vegan powers!! Now when do I float in my own globe of vegan power?

Number 69: Find 5 New Locations in London: Visited the Barbican for the Animation Exhibition, which was most definitely a new place for me! The Barbican Centre is pleasant but the real surprise were the flats of the Barbican. Pebbledashed, small and well stacked affairs, from the outside they don't look special. The residents add colour with potted plants, but the whole ensemble from the outside looks rather depressing. However, in its centre, is a large pond, wonderfully designed and maintained, dotted with large features including a small, segmented island of gardens. The contrasts on the site were puzzling yet breathtaking.

Number 78: Write My Autobiography: A rather pretentious activity, but let me explain. I enjoy writing, and sometimes I get this fighting feeling between a desire to write but nothing to write about. Call the latter writer's block, if you will. So when you're struggling to write, what better subject to write about than yourself? I know what I've done, I know me. So I've made a start on that. Already, it's interesting that one of the biggest changes in my life I remember nothing about. My brother was born when I was four, and apart from wearing a purple, gingham dress, I don't remember anything of my brother until he was about 4/5. Strange what the mind keeps and loses.

I still need more things to do, however. I only have 83 things on my list. Can anyone suggest another 18 ideas to put on my list? Only another 960 days left...