Gepetto's So-Called Wunderkind

I'm feeling creative. I have been reading my friends' blogs - namely Valiant Skipper, Beers On The Corner and a travel blog chronicling the international exploits of some good friends of mine - and it has filled my brain with ideas/thoughts/feelings/impulses. More than I can possibly handle at one time - but it gave me an urge to do a great many things. One such urge was an immediate desire to do something creative. Now I'm no where near as blessed in the art department as many of my friends, but I am not without some element of creative flair.

I had 3 ways in mind to express my creative impulses. The first is the picture below.


Not much I know, but just a brief shout out to some upstanding pillars of the international community. Granted BxOxTxC might not mean alot, if anything, to most of you, but it is a reference to something that I have for too long neglected. See the aforementioned blogs for an insight. I have not made a video for quite some time and it was today that I had the vision of what my next one shall be; said theme being BxOxTxC. Stay tuned for more developments on that one.

The other avenue for creativity is Codename: BetaDog - which some of you are now aware of. My friend Chris and I have been putting together various ideas for t-shirt designs, just to see what we can come up with. Have a look and see what you think or if you have any ideas for any new t-shirts yourself. Anyway, this evening I busted out 4 new designs - so have a gander.

The other main thing that sprang to mind while reading my friends' blogs was my urge to flee Britain once again. I know I go on about this all the time, but it's a hard feeling to keep in. I'm not going to rush off any time soon as I currently have a cool job which pays well and this is a good situation for me to be in right now. However, I've been reminded that there are so many amazing places out there and I really need to go visit them sooner rather than later. To this end, I've currently been saving about £1000 a month and will continue to do so until the time to act is upon me.

I can't help but feel that our youth is like water in our hands. You may think to yourself that you have plenty of time, but if you don't make the most of it while you have it, it'll have run out before you even realise what happened - et voila, before you know you're an old man wondering what the hell happened.

Granted it could all be a combination of the recent sunshine, the energetic music I keep listening to, my lack of patience and having friends abroad - but I'm feeling a big tug towards the great unkown [Ed. Well, unknown to me].

I'm so buzzed and excitable recently - maybe it's all this healthy food I keep eating. Who knows. All I know is that I need adventure. I feel a bit like the Anti-Pinocchio; he was so desperate to become a real boy and it's a fate I'm trying desperately to avoid.

Codename: BetaDog

Chris and I have been designing t-shirts - have a gander and see if you like any of them. We're making new ones all the time. If you want one printed or want to submit a design yourself, then give us a shout. So go check out Codename: BetaDog.

You can follow Codename: BetaDog on twitter too to see when new designs come out.

Mind Over Matter

I think this has to be the highlight of the £12.50 diet - watching/smelling Chris eat a giant roast beef sandwich (also containing roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding and gravy) followed by a generously portioned white chocolate rice crispie cake for lunch, while my lunch consists of an apple.

Boy is this a great challenge.


[Ed. I'm probably going to have to abandon the challenge tomorrow. Not due to budget constraints, but I am going away for the weekend and it'll be way more hassle than it's worth trying to continue the challenge. However, I would like to state that had I been staying in Sheffield over the weekend, that I do have enough food in the house to continue the challenge if circumstances had been permitting. In other words - 'cop out'.]

Stalemate

Am I the only person who thinks that Ginger Nut biscuits are nicer stale than fresh? They become all soft and chewy - it's ace.

Guess I better bust out a quick update anyway. Firstly, the £12.50 diet - it's going alright so far. Mostly been eating lots of fruit, salad, tuna, baked beans, whole grain bread and some Ginger Nut biscuits. My daily calorie count is pretty low on this diet, but it's covering all the essential food groups I reckon. So you're is unlikely to get malnutrition, but given the low calorie count, you couldn't keep it up indefinitely I suppose. I have so far spent £9.42, leaving me with £3.08. Granted it's only Wednesday, but I have enough food at home to last me for the rest of the week. I will probably use the £3 on Friday to get more fruit for the weekend. The only thing that has made this a bit tricky is that I have had the dreaded ManFlu since Sunday evening.

A rare strain of flu so powerful and so deadly it can only be matched by the Bubonic Plague and Aids. A incurable virus which has adapted to only effect the "XY" gene found in men. The virus attacks the immune system 10,000 times harder than the average flu virus, causing excruciating pain for the victim. Man Flu has no cure and prayers can save the forsaken life of the infected. The often deadly virus is mostly laughed at by women who sadly cannot contract "Man Flu".

Woman: Is he ok?
Doctor: I'm afraid not, I'm sad to say he has Man Flu

- Quote from UrbanDictionary.com

Secondly, as many of you may be aware, I was on BBC Radio 6 on Monday. I was on George Lamb's weekday show. I'm sure I came across as the div kid that I am. If you want to listen to it, you should be able to catch it here for a limited time.

Other things that spring to mind:

- If you're planning to lose weight, I'd suggest the self-imposed budget restraint method rather than Rami's IDOYT diet, as even though I am sure there are merits to both systems, I'm pretty sure no-one ever suffered chronic kidney failure from beans on toast.

- From what I've listened to so far, Rokysopp's new album seems on a par with previous efforts and, as such, is well worth a listen. You can listen to the entire album on their website.

Pain vs Gain Part II

All the Paracetamol are driving me mad. Today I ripped a leftover red nose from Red Nose Day in half and it kind of looks like the sliced open, dismembered head of a World War 1 soldier from the book I'm reading...(great book by the way, I highly recommend it)

Booked a dentist appointment for Friday. Decided that general members of the public shouldn't be encouraged to go on the IDOYT diet.

Pain vs Gain

Further to Andokun’s most recent blog, I have also inadvertently stumbled across an exciting new way to keep food bills down… drugging myself!

After dealing with hideous toothache on Sunday, I decided that the best way to deal with the pain before going to the dentist would be to swallow enough Paracetamol to sedate a rhino. As well as this having a lovely numbing sensation to the problem area as well as the rest of my body, another positive side effect to this is that I seem to have lost all of my normally vigorous appetite. I haven’t eaten in 24 hours and I’m not the slightest bit peckish!

Forget the Atkins, the South Beach and Slim Fast… try the new Ramaldo “I’m Drugged Off mY Tits” (IDOYT) Diet! This incredibly cheap system (a pack of 16 Paracetamol only cost 15p these days!!) not only takes the edge of dieting but also off life. Side effects MAY include major liver damage but who can put a price on losing those stubborn inches?!

I’ll update you on this miracle diet drug soon (If I’m still alive).

Healthy vs Wealthy

I'm sure many of you are aware of a recent news story regarding a British family who are all claiming disability allowance on the grounds that they are all incapacitated by obesity. The family claims that none of them are able to work due to their weight problem and as such require benefits.

Now many could use/have used this to whinge about tax payers' money and idle layabouts etc in a very Daily Mail-esque manner, however none of those things concern me. What I am interested in is their budget. The family supposedly receives the equivalent of a £30k a year salary between the four of them; from this they say they have a food budget of £50 a week to feed four of them. They have claimed that this an insufficient amount to feed a family of four and they are therefore unable to eat healthy foods (such as fruit and vegetables) due to the aforementioned budget constrictions. As such they are forced to always opt for unhealthy options (ready meals etc) as these are cheaper.

It is this that has particularly intrigued me and lead me to my next personal challenge. Next week - commencing from Monday 23rd - I am going to try and survive for the week on a budget of £12.50 (1/4 of their £50 weekly budget) for all my food and drink requirements. I'm not trying to prove a point or be clever; I am just interested to see how difficult it is to have a healthy balanced diet (which is what I'm all about these days) on such a meager budget. Will see how it goes anyway - stay tuned.