31 tasks

List Goes Live: The Newbies

The List is complete.  And here we have the cheeky, troublesome elements that had to be dragged, ear-lobe first, by Sir to the naughty corner.  But somehow they displayed the gumption to go top-31 and here is why:

Drink: It pains me to leave the brewing task by the wayside after my impassioned rant against super-chilled, mass-produced lager (in All Work And No Play), but I intend to keep the faith with a no-holds barred pub crawl with real ale at the top of a long agenda.  Perhaps I should have done this before Abstain, but too late now…

Fall: Cliché?  Quite possibly, but there was always a strong possibility of some dare-devil craziness appearing on this List.  Whenever I turn up in a new city I feel the compulsion to climb to the highest point I can find.  Sears Tower, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, CN Tower, Sagrada Familia, all conquered but all with their feet firmly on the ground.  I find the concept of a bungee jump just too…obvious and somehow too…jolty.  But a parachute jump I can handle.  I think.

Man-up:  Too much running, cycling, hiking and climbing makes Tad a dull boy.  Well, perhaps not, but it is rather leg specific.  I like the idea of a single focused challenge on the torso.  Bench press 100lbs.  Simple as.

Beard:  Fans of Gorman may see a link here.  My aim is simply to achieve several weeks of face-fungus growth, possibly involving patterns and shapes, followed by my first proper cut-throat razor shave.  Before and after shots compulsory, of course.

Dave Gorman: Beard Compulsory. Idiocy optional.

Couch:  I’d been considering some kind of lazy TV marathon for a while, with Bond films, Star Wars and the complete Blackadder being options.  But none really fulfilled the desire to do something new.  However, unlike a large proportion of the populous, I have never seen an episode of ‘24′.  I know, remarkable isn’t it?  So I’ll put myself through the entire season 1 in a day.  Or 24 hours, whichever is shorter…

Write:  Inspired by these ramblings, I’m going to ink away until I’ve produced a decent short story.  I have no idea what my imagination will come up with.  I have no idea what to do with the output.  But it will happen.

Finally, Punt:  A few summers ago, I first took hold of the pole and steered expertly into a concrete bank.  A few minutes later I was hooked, and once I’d been unhooked and pushed in the right direction I got the hang of it and found a deep fulfillment and enjoyment in pointing the unsteerable vessel around the narrow inlets of our university cities.  My final listed task will be to take a punt out for a day, leaving the massed tourists behind, spend a night in a riverside hostelry and then punt back.

There.  Pick the bones out of that.

And a very genuine final thought: many of these are tasks that will be so much more enjoyable and worthwhile with company.  If you’re reading this, you probably have at least a passing idea of who Tad is, so if you wanted to be a part of any of these, then just let him know…