101 Update - Sat Nov 5

Well, I had thought I’d been doing badly, partly due to the work of the Eyes Off The Ball Department… because with the 101 List, it always pays to be vigilant!:

#21. See 3 gigs by bands or acts that could be described as “among my favouritest bands ever”. I had to miss a gig by New Model Army (possibly my favouritest ever of all favourite ever bands) - playing at Northampton flipping Roadmenders no less! – cos it clashed with the launch of our new open mic night. Well, that and I only noticed it was even happening only a few days before it actually happened... What a dimwit! (signs up to ticket notification website immediately). And to make matters worse, Chumbawamba are playing in Luton in Nov and I can’t go to that either!

#92. Listen to the Top 20 NME Albums Of The Year for 2010 / 2011 / 2012. In fact I was about to congratulate myself in this entry for having now listened to all of the Top 10 for 2010 when I re-read the original list and spotted I’d actually challenged myself to listen to the Top 20! Focus, Matthew! (smacks self repeatedly on side of head)

But actually, having a look at the list again this week it’s not been too bad a month. I delivered three very big bags of old clothes, books and DVDs to Willen Hospice last week (#18, Reduce the amount of clutter I own) (which they were very pleased about!), and I’m not stopping there. Why would anyone need to own a couple of hundred CD singles from the 90s and 00s in this day and age?

Cathy’s been assisting me with #56 – Eat 50 foodstuffs I have never had before... in the last couple of weeks I have had some Halwa and some Membrillo. I wasn’t too sure about the Halwa, I’m not mad keen on sesame-y flavour, but the Membrillo was very nice! Tart, but pleasantly so!

And I actually managed to cross off: #39. Play some version of “Halo”! As it was the cheapest on Amazon, I bought “Halo 2”, and have begun to try and come to terms with it. Now, I must say early doors, that it’s not “Doom”. I’ve got to try and get to grips with using the keyboard and the mouse together, for a start. So far, the gameplay experience seems to consist of running around a spaceship with a bunch of my space marines colleagues who expertly pick off marauding aliens while I repeatedly bump into walls, rush past carefully secured vantage points and fail to climb any stairs. But I’ll persevere.

Meanwhile, in the Not Long Till The End Of The Year Department, we come again to #71. Visit Every Estate In MK Every Year. Quite apart from my recent Fenny adventure, Brian’s been helping me with this at lunchtimes sometimes when we need to get off campus. Have recently been to Greenleys with him, and for the first ever time to the exciting new development at Brooklands! Blimey! That’ll be worth a proper visit to check out come the Spring, I reckon!

Ticked off four of the last ones on a chilly walk on 17^th: Two Mile Ash > Wymbush > Bradwell Abbey > Bradwell. Only a few to go now. Didn’t see too much of interest on the walk, almost nothing worth reporting anyways. Though I had forgotten how exciting the tunnel between Bradwell Abbey and Bradwell looks all lit up:

and saw this inspiring piece of graffiti by the cricket pitch in Bradwell. Amen.