Thank you for listening to the show today. We had a great interview with Samar Wafa talking about the Census and Kelda Remington from People and Planet chatting fairtrade and ethical and environmental campaigns. We will post up the interviews soon.
If you have stumbled across us from the amazing blogspot that is hackflash then welcome – thank you for visiting. Thank you hackflash and Helia for our guest blog.
If you haven’t come via hackflash you are still more than welcome have a read about the Kieran I want challenge and Student Bucket List feature; all suggestions welcomed!
I’ve watched as throughout the last few years friends have been having mini melt downs when their 30th birthday approaches. There is little doubt that when I was in my formative teenage years I was convinced that I would not make 30 and that it was such a seminal and preloaded date with various connotations connected to it.
When one of my closet friends turned 30 I did what all good friends should do and facebook hijacked him with a list of all the ways in which he had changed as a person written as if by his own fair hand
I’m 30 ‘I’ve changed’ I think you all saw this coming as I:
Have bladder problems and need to pee every few seconds (in fact just reading about wee makes me want to go)
Feel comfortable telling everyone I get my eyebrows plucked
Suffer from hangovers – if you can get me down the pub in the first place
Have not been near a club in years, when you say club I think biscuit
‘Extreme’ is a word I now use to describe the weather
When you say Stella I think ‘that’s a nice name for a girl’
Think hooters is a sound a car makes
Think a gentle ride in a canal boat was a good idea for a stag trip
My super bike now has peddles
My winkle pickers are now slippers
Then just last week I realised that it was 34 weeks until my 30th
Far from dreading it too much I am pretty excited it’s like Albert Camus says: ‘At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures - be what he is. And, above all, accept these things’.
So I started writing things I’d like to have done before I’m 30:
Milk a cow, Learn to Eskimo roll a kayak, Have a go on a Unicycle, Learn to sign a full sentence in Sign language, Roller skate to work, organise a Karaoke eve, Go to a Michelin star veggie restaurant, Walk up Ben Nevis/Scafell Pike, Sleep rough/work in a soup kitchen, Watch dancer in the dark and Last of the Mohicans, Clear out inbox, Fix bike, Place a bet, donate sperm, be an extra in TV/Film, be a life model/ get portrait painted/caricature, make some money for charity, give blood…
But this all seemed a bit self indulgent. I’m fortunate that I have done many things some quite major in my short life in no small part to all my friends, family and random acquaintances so it struck me that I should ask them what they want me to do for them that I can add to the list, stuff that I promised to do but never got around too for example pre 30 I would like to take mum on a weekend away as we missed out last year or finally go and watch my mates band. Basically stuff they want me to do with them…or something they want to teach me or something they thought I should see/read/watch (you get the idea).
Kieran I want…(your suggestion here)
So I’m giving them a few weeks to send in their suggestions. I sent this out last week and so far its great to know that my friends what me to:
Have colonic irrigation please
Get your hair permed again
Find a nice girl who appreciates you (surprisingly not from any family member)
One friend said ‘It's hard to consider what someone else should do without bringing yourself into the process’ which I liked as lots of requests involved the responder or were asking me around for food, visiting flats or new homes, to go for a cup of tea or for a pint. I’ve had offers to help with suggestions on my list, been sent some unachievable ideas and many ‘Kieran I wants’ which I’m waiting on…hint hint. Some other examples:
Kieran I want you to:
Write a blog post about this for the hackflash blog (consider this achieved)
Find somewhere to learn a flying trapeze
Trek Everest base camp
Walk Hadrian’s Wall
Take me to Glasgow or Liverpool
Bake a cake for my charity event
Come with me to the bingo
Take me to see a cracking band of your choice
Get the portrait done with a friend (take me!) at the Moulin Rouge
Come around for dinner and watch little shop of horrors
Get into Metal (I’ll provide the CD) and watch A Headbangers Journey
Go to diggerland (don’t you dare go without me)
Come to my treatment room and have a chest or leg wax
I wanted to have a bundle of ideas as I still want them relatively spontaneous and not feel contrived but I find that if all else fails making a list is a good start to focus the thoughts (is that my age speaking!).
It’s nice to see that things I’d been meaning to do over the last few years; various visits et al are things that friends want, so this way if its on a list it gives it that bit more focus. It’s so easy to put off trips, visits, or cups of tea so over 30 weeks I will try and do 30 things or more. I’m not going to laminate the list or set it in stone so it can change and then obviously I can have a party to celebrate.
As excitingly The Kieran I want idea sparked a feature for a radio show http://www.cardifference.co.uk/ on xpress radio. Alongside my personal Kieran I want we are creating a Student Bucket List – all those things you should do before leaving Cardiff, some I have already stolen for my list:
Experimental travel around Cardiff by asking bar staff what they drink and where they would drink it then going there and so on and so on
Partake in Photo marathon
Have photo taken under Brains advert like in Super Furry Animals album
Go to Barry Island and act out some Gavin and Stacey scenes
Take a Roald Dahl book to the Roald Dahl Plas or the Norwegian Church where he was baptized and have your photo taken
Go to Splott Market
Buy a Love Spoon and send to a stranger
So I throw open the challenge to the world and see what bounces back.
If you don’t think this is too contrived or egotistical and have any suggestions, comments or thoughts send me an e-mail at cardifference@gmail.com
Student Bucket List ideas….
Kieran I want…..
Following the progress of the list and Kieran I want on this very blog http://www.cardifference.blogspot.com/ as I will update as we go along.
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