Draft: A new decade’s resolution.
I’ve been thinking about this ever since my friend – one that I’ve met just months ago – pointed out that she shared what was once my dream. Ever since the age of 6, and I learned about commercial air travel (I didn’t call it that), I’ve been looking forward to being old enough to travel. As far back as I can remember, I’ve wanted to fly to and live in America. However, it was only about a year ago that I began to question this. More to the point of this article:
Over time I’ve accumulated a list of ideals; ideals I wish to share with you in the following article.
Represent my town playing Hockey
Just field hockey. I used to be, well, I won’t kid myself: I used to be ever-slightly-above-average. Always told that if I took it seriously – invested time – I could join and train with a Worthing hockey team and play for my town. Since attending BHASVIC, my college, I’ve let this slip further – I don’t want to lose hockey, one of many important parts to my century so far.
Own a train
I decided (since founding the business) that I needed a measure of success. I wanted something to aim for with my life, and I’ve finally found it. I want a train. Not being a train-spotter, I don’t want an old-fashioned steam train to reminisce with; I just want to own an electric commuter train. I’d write ‘best not to ask’ but I realise quite how severely that defeats the object of documenting it; and I may want to save that line ’til the end.
Learn to ice-skate
Now, ice skating is something that’s astounded me since I was introduced to it at a very young age. I just can’t comprehend balancing on two thin treads with almost no control over speed or direction. I couldn’t understand why anyone’d want to do it, and didn’t question that until a Twitter follower (I feel terrible, but I have no idea who this was) questioned me on why I haven’t touched ice hockey. At the time I was broadcasting tweets regarding the results of our team’s matches. It was then that I realised: there’s no ice rink for miles and every time somebody even mentioned skating, it’d result in an excuse for their painful limp (“I know I can’t walk; I’m not weird; I tried skating, that’s all. Honest”) or bruised arms.
Meet:
- Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry, as a person, is one of the few that have always fascinated me, though on a far deeper level than his apparent omniscience. His back-story, his biography, is fascinating and explains a huge amount of his traits. My urge to meet him is to simply to see him in person, how he is beyond the camera. A sick curiosity, if you will. Either way, I’ll never stop admiring him. - Michael Palin
Having met him only a few weeks ago, I intend to meet him again one day – I found myself so awestruck at his wisdom that I lost words and watched Georgina make a (I’m sorry) terrible joke about missing trains. - David Tennant
Many awards support my argument that Tennant (naturally, a stage name) is the single best actor to grace the century. Another aim of mine is to see a live performance of his; since he is one of the few people whose performance I’m proud to admit shedding a tear to. - Anthony Horowitz
The inspiration for a majority of comments I Tweet, document or share aloud – I’d be nothing without his creativity and talent. He inspired me to start writing, to focus my energy in linguistics (in particular phonetics). To be fair, I’ll give him ‘loose credit’ – at no point did he suggest this, but it was his writing that inspired that very thought path. - Derren Brown
Doesn’t he just fascinate you? As a result of his hit TV appearance and reading his biography, I’ve long wanted to meet him. The field of Mentalism will never cease to fascinate me, especially when people like Brown prove films like Sherlock Holmes and TV series like Mentalist to be true. - My Father
Having contributed roughly half of my DNA, I’ve always thought it to be my responsibility to find and meet my father with an open mind. I owe him dismissal of my preconceptions for at least a day – I haven’t seen him for over a decade, and I look forward to the day I finally discover what he looks like.
See the northern lights
I’m a geek, yes. I’m a geek that appreciates a beautiful sight, yes. Anyone to catch a glimpse of the Sun’s electrons bombarding the Earth’s outer atmosphere, resulting in marvellous glows of any colour you could so much as attempt to imagine, is captured. They become bound to evangelise the sight for the rest of their lives.
Explore Sweden
Sweden (perhaps an odd choice, you may think) has long fascinated me. Not for the gorgeous snow-ridden landscapes (though, that is an attraction) but for the creativity at the heart of the country. Many of the most fascinating people the invention of the internet has given me the pleasure of conversing with were born in (and a fair majority remain in) Sweden. The socialist, clean, contemporary environment has been slowly edging into my focus for the last few years. I want to see this for myself; albeit for a few days or weeks.
Live in America, Travel the UK, and otherwise disappear.
This used to be my biggest priority. Always having wanted to live in America, I’d never really given the time to question this. Is ‘the land of the free’ really a step up from the thriving country I’ve been brought up in? I intend to document my thoughts on this question in a different article.
Either way, I don’t intend to move anywhere permanently until I’ve given the U.K. a chance. This is a mistake of my friend’s that I hope to rectify: I’d hate to see her leaving for the U.S.A. without having experienced the wealth of diversity that England, Wales and the rest of the U.K can offer. If it means I have to drop everything, drag her onto a train to be taken around the country, I’ll do it. For myself, if for no other reason.
It means a lot that I’ve got someone with similar dreams, similar thoughts and exceptionally similar views that I can rely on; and I hope that my open mind is gift enough for us to remain friends for a long time to come. If you’re reading this, know that you’re inspiration for this article, among potential others to come.
Makes me feel like I still know you a little. Not even sure why I’m reading this, but you sound more like the guy you were. The same dreams. Seeing your father, fuckoffsized-betterthanvirgin-ubertrain, stephen fry & the constant threat of someone going to America. Oh & I told you not to give up hockey. Hope you have a good year.
I am not going to be original this time, so all I am going to say that your blog rocks, sad that I don’t have suck a writing skills