But first, I’ll make a list of what I’ve done so far. After all, I’m half way through my summer break – I think that’s a good place to make a full summary of everything I’ve done so far. Here it goes:

1. Book that goddammed appointment.
Did this what feels like an age ago now, it’s in the first update.

2. Stop (at least) one of my bad habits.
I’m making a concious effort not to swear except in moments of pain or extreme frustration. I swear far too often, normally without realising.

3. Tell somebody exactly how I feel about them.
Unsure who to tell what to, so this’ll have to wait.

4. Dye my hair. Probably blonde.
I’m a slacker, so I’ve not sorted that yet. Am thinking of waiting until I get back from Crete anyway.

5. Start to learn Java.
I’ve continued with the basics of it too – I quite like it as a language. That said, I’ve not encounted a language I dislike using yet.

6. Start to learn ActionScript 3.
Unfortunately, lack of Flash at home limits this to what I can mess around with at work. Need to sort that out.

7. Finish all of my Computing coursework that I can without further knowledge.
I plan to have a bash at this over the weekend, should be able to get it mostly done.

8. Begin learning how to do the rest of it.
(Read above)

9. Complete a significant amount of my EPQ.
Erm… Well… Ok, nothing much has happened on this front. I’m slack, I know.

10. Sort some kind of voluntary work out for my AQA Baccalaureate.
I’m really unsure what I’d want to do or where to start, will have to talk to other people from college about it to be honest.

Running total: 3/10

11. Post in the blog at least once every four days for a month.
This one’s probably going to become a habit. I quite like routinely updating this little space on the internet dedicated to me, though every now and then I have to rack my brains for a theme.

12. Produce a game in Flash and publish it to Kongregate.
This is coming, even if it’s slowly. I doubt I’ll get it done in the next three weeks, or at least I doubt that I’ll get it done to a standard that I consider acceptable.

13. Visit at least three live music events.
I’m getting tickets to see Jack’s Mannequin and Anti-Flag (assuming the former aren’t sold out) this weekend, though Anti-Flag’s not for a while yet. I’m going to count gigs that I’ve got planned for this one, it’s a bit of a cheat but oh well.

14. Rewatch Veronica Mars.
Skins first, haha.

15. Sing on stage / In front of a crowd that isn’t just my friends.
Where I’m going to find a crowd, I have no idea. >_>

16. Get my main PC connected to the internet.
Got two monitors connected to it now, too!

17. Start swimming again.
This annoys me – I work within 2 minutes walking distance of Huddersfield Sports Centre and still haven’t been swimming once.

18. Work out at least once every day for a fortnight.
Need to make working out a part of my routine if this is ever going to happen – running out of time though!

19. Stay up all night talking to somebody.
This’ll happen at some point, though I’ve been fairly good with my sleeping recently. The wonders never cease.

20. Make a new friend.
Covered in the first update.

Running total: 6/20

21. Have some money left by the end of the summer.
We shall see, shan’t we?

22. Cook a meal without being asked.
Covered in my second update, though work limits the chances I get to cook.

23. Go for a magical mystery adventure to somewhere I’ve never been before.
Might have to find somebody like-minded for this one, as I’m crap at just deciding to do things like this when I’m all comfy at home.

24. Kiss someone to interrupt what they’re saying.
Nobody to kiss. Damn.

25. Admit to something I’ve done wrong.
I’m not really talking to anybody in-depth about myself at the moment, which is a prerequisite of this.

26. Read at least one book a week.
I’m on track for this one so far, though to be honest I’d like to be reading even more.

27. Make a comprehensive list of all the CDs I don’t own but should.
I’ve started this one, but comprehensive is not one of the things that describes the current list.

28. Begin accumulating said CDs.
I’ve bought five CDs recently, so I guess this one counts as done. Yay.

29. Keep my bedroom in some semblance of tidiness.
*looks around* Hmm, not even close.

30. Write at least three new songs. And make sure they’re not crap.
I keep having fantastic lyrics coming into my head and then disappear before I have chance to write them down. Dammit.

Running total: 9/30

31. Finish an Xbox 360 game. Properly. Every single achievement that doesn’t need Xbox Live Gold.
Still on 920/1000 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

32. Go without Coca-Cola for a whole week.
This one was covered in the first update too, haha.

33. Avoid being miserable for a whole week.
I’m fairly sure I’ve done this one – I’ve been feeling good recently. Honestly, I think that the main two factors are doing a decent amount of exercise again and talking to people more. Also, I’ve got fairly big plans for the future which I’m excited to start realising.

34. Finish the C3 and C4 syllabuses(syllabi?) before we’re even supposed to have really started them.
C3 is done, C4 is getting there. I’ve done a bit of S2 and a bit of my A2 Computing as well. Go me.

35. Decide between CompSci/Maths and just CompSci.
I’ve done this on a uni-by-uni basis: Only Cambridge and York are actually CompSci with Maths – the more I actually work with computers the more I’m feeling like the maths won’t really be useful.

36. Organise at least one going-out.
Going shopping on Sunday, yay! (This might conflict with #21 haha)

37. Print out this list and place it somewhere nobody will find.
Another one that was felled early into the summer.

38. Tweet at least once a day for a fortnight.
Having access to Twitter at work made this one fairly easy to be honest.

39. Tell somebody about everything, not just parts.
Not yet.

40. Kiss someone in the rain.
Read comment for #24.

Running total: 15/40

41. Forgive somebody.
I’ve already covered this one haha.

42. Organise all of my music library including ratings.
Working on this one, though I’m thinking of pruning a lot of it.

43. Help somebody else at my own expense.
This one requires an opportunity to present itself, something that’s not happened yet.

44. Buy an album of a band I’ve never heard of.
I bought “Mer de Noms” by A Perfect Circle on the advice of Rory from work, and it’s pretty good to boot. Success!

45. Be there for somebody when they need it.
If you’ve forgotten what I wrote 4 lines ago, you really need help.

46. Go for a walk in the rain.
Still want to do this one again. Haha.

47. Cycle for at least an hour at least three times.
Yay for exercise!

48. Read all of Bernard Cornwell’s ‘Sharpe’ novels.
I’ve reread some of the one’s I’d already done – need to grab the others out of the garage at some point!

49. Say “I love you” to somebody, completely sincerely, and mean it.
Nothing to say really. This line’s just here to be consistent with the other ones haha.

50. Give this list to Sophie and get her to devise a punishment for everything on this list I don’t do.
She’s not talking to me at the moment. Bugger. Might have to ‘adjust’ this.

Total: 19/50. Not disastrous, I guess, but I’d have liked to have been over half way there. Still, I’m progressing pretty well in my humble opinion.

Watch this space for more thrilling posts about me.
~ Godders.

Since breaking up for the summer, I’ve hardly been active on the social front. This weekend was spent coding and playing Halo 3, and I went to Matty B’s BBQ last week which has been my only contact with anybody I know outside work. Apart from bumping into a couple of friends who go to a different college and I’d not spoken to in ages on the bus home.

Unfortunately, buses aren’t the best place to have a catch-up session, especially when you’re only on said bus for 20 minutes. Alas. Anyways, you’ll be wondering what the purpose of this post is if it’s not web design.

Well, one of my closer friends has been ignoring me lately. And being ignored is a lot like passive whitespace on a web page for the following reasons:

• You can’t do jack to stop it being there, even the best designs will only minimise it.
• You don’t really want it to be there at all, you’d rather everything just fits.
• It’s main component is nothing. Just emptiness. And that sucks.
• It’s not useful like active whitespace – those points in conversations where the silence is useful, whether you’re just mulling things over or just happy in one another’s presence.

But hey, life goes on. Work is pretty good, though lack of a bass pedal for the Rock Band drum kit means everyone’s just been playing Fifa at lunch. I take the opportunity to check Facebook/forums and just generally chill out, because I suck at Fifa multiplayer haha.

So: the 50 Things update.
5. Start to learn Java.
This was fairly easy. I’ve only done the basics thus far but to be honest, picking up a new language once you know a couple isn’t too difficult. It’s mostly just about learning the syntax, and your IDE does a lot of that for you.

Am on track for 11, as long as I don’t miss one in the next week and a half.

16. Get my main PC connected to the internet.
And it is glorious. Oh how I missed having a quality computer to use.

22. Cook a meal without being asked.
I should have specified that this is for my family, not for myself. At any rate, I’ve done both: lots of crappy dinners for myself and a Vegetable Risotto for the family, which was yummy.

31 remains out of reach for the moment: am 920/1000 GS in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. 60 of the remaining points are easy to get but take a little tedium. The other 20 points could be gained in as quickly as a minute, but are for a damn-near-impossible level (Mile High Club, on Veteran difficuly. Ouch)

A tweet tomorrow and Wednesday will complete 38, thanks to the fact that they let me tweet while at work.

41. Forgive somebody.
While the injustice of what a certain someone did a while ago is evident, it’s in the past and it changed nothing. So who cares?

That makes 9/50, with a further 3 close to being done. Progress, if a tad slow for my liking. Oh, and I have ActionScript planned for this weekend. Fun times.

~ Godders.

Oh, and expect a massive Torchwood entry raving about how awesome it was on Friday.

Anyways:

1. Book that goddammed appointment.
‘Twas at number 1 because it’s the most important. And it’s done. Go me. If you don’t understand, refrain from asking.

20. Make a new friend.
I made a couple during Challenge of Management, Tom Dixon to name one.

32. Go without Coca-Cola for a whole week.
This happened without my intention, but they all count.
I celebrated by having a Coke. Damn.

37. Print out this list and place it somewhere nobody will find.
No, I won’t tell you where it is.

46. Go for a walk in the rain.
It was quite pwettiful. But not very rainy. I might yet redo this.

31 and 41 are almost done, but not quite. Oh, and 16 will be whenever Play get their shit together and deliver my USB WLAN Adapter.
That’s 5/50. At this rate, I’ll be done by… November. Dammit.

~ Godders.

Hopefully, I should be able to do a significant number of the things on the list. Wish me luck. Oh, and this list was shamelessly stolen from James. Except smaller.

1. Book that goddammed appointment.
2. Stop (at least) one of my bad habits.
3. Tell somebody exactly how I feel about them.
4. Dye my hair. Probably blonde.
5. Start to learn Java.
6. Start to learn ActionScript 3.
7. Finish all of my Computing coursework that I can without further knowledge.
8. Begin learning how to do the rest of it.
9. Complete a significant amount of my EPQ.
10. Sort some kind of voluntary work out for my AQA Baccalaureate.

11. Post in the blog at least once every four days for a month.
12. Produce a game in Flash and publish it to Kongregate.
13. Visit at least three live music events.
14. Rewatch Veronica Mars.
15. Sing on stage / In front of a crowd that isn’t just my friends.
16. Get my main PC connected to the internet.
17. Start swimming again.
18. Work out at least once every day for a fortnight.
19. Stay up all night talking to somebody.
20. Make a new friend.

21. Have some money left by the end of the summer.
22. Cook a meal without being asked.
23. Go for a magical mystery adventure to somewhere I’ve never been before.
24. Kiss someone to interrupt what they’re saying.
25. Admit to something I’ve done wrong.
26. Read at least one book a week.
27. Make a comprehensive list of all the CDs I don’t own but should.
28. Begin accumulating said CDs.
29. Keep my bedroom in some semblance of tidiness.
30. Write at least three new songs. And make sure they’re not crap.

31. Finish an Xbox 360 game. Properly. Every single achievement that doesn’t need Xbox Live Gold.
32. Go without Coca-Cola for a whole week.
33. Avoid being miserable for a whole week.
34. Finish the C3 and C4 syllabuses(syllabi?) before we’re even supposed to have really started them.
35. Decide between CompSci/Maths and just CompSci.
36. Organise at least one going-out.
37. Print out this list and place it somewhere nobody will find.
38. Tweet at least once a day for a fortnight.
39. Tell somebody about everything, not just parts.
40. Kiss someone in the rain.

41. Forgive somebody.
42. Organise all of my music library including ratings.
43. Help somebody else at my own expense.
44. Buy an album of a band I’ve never heard of.
45. Be there for somebody when they need it.
46. Go for a walk in the rain.
47. Cycle for at least an hour at least three times.
48. Read all of Bernard Cornwell’s ‘Sharpe’ novels.
49. Say “I love you” to somebody, completely sincerely, and mean it.
50. Give this list to Sophie and get her to devise a punishment for everything on this list I don’t do.

So: When I suck at doing/stopping doing things, I’m completely at the mercy of Sophie. God save me.

~ Godders.