Month completed: February 2009

Today marks the six month mark of when Nat and I landed in London to embark on our two-year adventure.

The adventure now looks likely to extend past the two years, because we are having such a great time. This six months has just flown by.

One of the main reasons for coming to London was to use it as a base to see Europe. So far, we have been able to make the most of this plan, with trips already to:

• Ireland
• Belgium
• Amsterdam
• Venice
• Edinburgh
• Bath

Luxembourg is coming up next, and then I have trips to Bali (to catch up with the family) and Japan (to catch up with a great mate) in May to look forward to.  Sorry if my listing of trips is making you jealous, but while over here, Nat and I are trying to do as much as we can. We are realising now just how far Australia is from the rest of the world.

Highlights so far include:

- Falling in love with Guinness, and going to the Guinness factory in Dublin

- Going to Edinburgh for New Year’s Eve

- Watching England play soccer at a packed Wembley stadium

- Finding a place to live within 24 hours of arriving

- Eating Belgian waffles and drinking Belgian beer in Brussels

- Having access to cheap theatre, and seeing my first ever pantomime

Only lowlight is Nat hurting her hand in Edinburgh, which required emergency surgery and has meant she is now eight weeks into a twelve week physiotherapy recovery. I think she is enjoying having me doing more of the cooking and cleaning though!

If you are ever in the London area, let me know. I am always looking for an excuse to indulge in a pint.

This photo overlooking Queen Street Mall in Brisbane, with a big old Project 183 magnet in the middle of it, has just been selected as the official photo of the Queen Street Mall in the sixth edition of Schmap, a company that produces travel guides.

Emma from Schmap sent me an email a while ago to let me know that the photo was up for consideration, and I just found out today that it was selected.

Very cool indeed.

I can’t take the credit though – the photo was taken by Shane, who received magnet #30 one of #183 limited edition Project 183 magnets last year. So well done to Shane.

I still have a small handful of magnets left, so if you want one – get in quick before they are all gone. Just leave me a comment on this post.

Month completed: January 2009

First came the record player.

Then the radio.

Then the TV.

The Boom Box.

The Sony Walkman.

The MP3 player

Then the iPod.

Who’s know what next!

As the years have progressed, so have the number of things around us that make noise.

Most of them are pleasant, otherwise we wouldn’t have them, but what I have also found pleasant is to be surrounded by nothing but my own thoughts.

Which is why I am really enjoying walking to work at the moment – it gives me 45 minutes in which to consume myself with thoughts and ideas, with the only distraction being the constant sound of traffic, and impatient London commuters barraging along the footpath.

So, this goal, to spend a day in silence, while sounding hard, was actually one I was really looking forward to.

It could only be done while Nat was away, so I chose to do this goal last weekend while she was away in Dublin with a friend.

Achieving this goal meant adhering to the following:

• Not uttering one word
• No TV
• No radio
• No music

Basically, nothing that involved noise.

Of course, noise from the traffic outside, and the birds flapping their wings were still there, but these are hardly controllable.

And by the end of the day, I had made a few interesting discoveries:

• I felt the urge to speak to myself many times
• The allure of having a TV on is very strong
• I like music in the background
• You can still communicate with people without uttering a single word
• You achieve a lot when you spend time in silence

Point 4 was most intriguing – here is what I achieved during my day of silence:

• Wrote half a dozen postcards to send back to Australia
• Did the grocery shopping
• Made a stirfry
• Washed and dried all the dishes
• Bought a doona and sheet set
• Learnt all the features of a new digital camera bought the day before
• Did a load of washing, including some hand washing
• Ironed the shirts for the following work week
• Read 80 pages of a new book I just bought
• Went out and photographed the snow that had just started falling
• Put all the clean clothes away
• Prepared the next day’s lunch
• Put out all the rubbish and recycling

Most of this list seems like mundane chores (which they were) but to get them all achieved meant the following few days were much more relaxed, and I could come home without the need to do them hanging over my head.

Communicating with the staff at Argos, where the doona and sheet set was purchased, was interesting. I found that without saying a single word, I was still able to get my message across, and didn’t feel at any time like I needed to speak to communicate what was required. I had a new appreciation for what it is like to be mute, as well.

Some people may say that to really spend a day with silence, that day must be spent in a secluded forest with no access to anything apart from the trees. I argue that to spend a day in silence while in extremely close proximity to a TV, radio and iPod is many times harder to achieve.

So, if YOU are feeling like everything is becoming too busy in your life, why not spend a day in silence. Or at least, unplug the TV for 24 hours. You will have a very fulfilling day, I guarantee.

Although you will look like this towards the end of the day!

Month completed: February 2009

If at first you don’t succeed; try, try, try again

Or in the case of this goal:

If at first you don’t succeed, leave it for a year, then try again just once more

I really like Sudoku puzzles. They are based on a simple concept of finding the right box for the right number, they require systematic logic to solve, and there seem to be limitless number of puzzles available.

Most of the time a puzzle is classified as easy, medium, hard or difficult. But I had heard of a Sukodu puzzle that was considered the world’s hardest.

AI Escargot.

Here is a description of it from it’s creator, Arto Inkala, a Finnish mathematician -

“AI Escargot demands those tackling it to consider eight casual relationships simultaneously while the most complicated variants attempted by the general public only require people to think of one or two combinations at any one time.” Read more.

So of course, completing this Sudoku, and thus saying I had officially completed the world’s hardest Sudoku, offered immense appeal.

Early in 2008 I tried to complete it. I used my usual system of solving a Sudoku puzzle, but despite close to 40 attempts, I could not crack it. I was extremely close on one occasion, completing the puzzle only to realize that one row had a duplicate number in it.

After 40 attempts, I thought I had been though every possibility and was deriving nothing but annoyance from the puzzle.

So I stopped trying. I put it away. To try again another day.

Until last weekend, when I decided to have another try.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, to my utter shock, on my first attempt, I cracked the puzzle. As you can imagine, my jaw almost hit the ground.

What I take from this goal is a great sense of accomplishment, but more so I take away the lesson that sometimes when in a situation that looks to have no answer, the best thing is to just leave it alone. Forget about it. Go do something else.

And when you re-visit it, with fresh eyes, the answer might just be staring you in the face.

A year long wait might be a bit over the top though!

If you want to see my completed AI Escargot, click here. But don’t click it until you have had a go.

UPDATE – One of the comments below also contains a correct answer. Interestingly it is different to mine. Please avoid the comments if you want to work it out for yourself.

Even from the other side of the world, where I am in London, it is difficult not to be upset by what is happening in at the moment.

The bushfires that are thriving during the heat wave have now killed 135 people (with numerous more not yet accounted for) and are the worst Australia has ever seen.

Even the famous have not been immune, with respected newsreader Brian Naylor and his wife both perishing.

Mother Nature certainly has a cruel and unforgiving nature, and to hear that some fires have also been deliberately lit is beyond belief (although I hold out hope that these people will get what they deserve).

The only thing I can do from over here is pray that the winds of change will come through soon, and things will stop. And that the brave fire fighters doing their best in an unbeatable situation will be able to save as many lives as possible.

The other thing I can do is donate to the CFA fund. And you should too – just call 1800 811 700 or go online and pledge what you can to help.

Out of all of this, it must be remembered that, like the winds, things can change for the worst VERY quickly. So don’t let life slip you by; make the most of every day you have left on this very peculiar planet.

Month completed: January 2009

As suggested by several people, I made sure that some time in January I found the time to get acupuncture. Last Saturday was that day.

Because it was the first session, the first 20 minutes were spent doing an assessment of my health. This involved looking at my tongue, and asking me to describe the current state of my number 2’s (among other things).

The diagnosis was that I needed some stress relief and that I had an on-going cold – both true.

I then got to lie down on the bed, and while listening to the nice relaxing background music, the needles started to go in.

Because there wasn’t too much wrong with me (and it was only the first session), I had only seven needles put in (one in the head, one in each arm, and two in each leg). Most gave a bit of pain or a weird sensation when they went in (apparently this is good, said the acupuncturist, as this means that she found my Chi).

This photo isn’t much good, unless you get the magnifying glasses out to see the needles. You might be able to spot the one near the base of my right leg.

While the needles stayed in for the next half an hour, she gave me a neck and shoulder massage, which was nice.

As the session finished, and she took the needles out, she mentioned that I may experience a sensation that the needles are still stuck in, for the next few hours. But this is normal, so don’t get concerned.

So as I started to get ready to leave, and I felt this feeling in one of my legs, I thought nothing of it.

Until I noticed that she had left one of the needles in!

She blamed having to take photos with throwing her rhythm out – not that I was too concerned – I almost got a free gift to take away with me.

So – my verdict on acupuncture.

For stress relief it worked. I was left in a great state of calm and care-free for hours after the session, and it did feel like it  had temporarily lifted a weight off my shoulders.

For curing a cold, it didn’t do much, but it was only the first session, and the fact that London is experiencing the heaviest snowfall for 18 years probably doesn’t help with that.

Will I go back?

Yes. The next time I am stressed.