V is for Vagitus*

Challenge: To learn violin and be able to play a popular tune by the end of the week.

Difficulty: 4/5

Skills developed: I learnt the basics of violin and violin upkeep. I also improved on my playing by 'ear' AND I learnt how to upload youtube videos... which take ages by the way... and I learned a new word- 'vagitus*'... 

Overview/Rant: This challenge was very enjoyable. I love the violin and learning to play it was really fun. The string layout of a violin is similar to that of a guitar, provided you strip it of its higher strings and leave only the G, D, A and E string. This makes learning the notes relatively quick and easy, although unlike the guitar you don't have the aid of frets to help identify where to place your fingers, thus making it quite challenging at times. Realistically you want to have a good ear to identify when you're hitting the correct note or whether you're a semi-tone off.

The hardest part of the violin, in my opinion, is the bow technique. Granted it looks simple when you watch someone else do it, but trying to keep the control and not allow your hand quiver over a note is extremely difficult to do. In the end I found I was concentrating completely on the bow and hoping my fingers would hold the correct notes at the correct times. 

A fantastic modern day violinst, that you should totally (like omg) try catch, is Nigel Kennedy. He is a stylist b**tard who has no airs about himself. I got the opportunity to see him perform several years ago and it was one of the best gigs I'd ever been too. During the performance he heckled an audience member who turned up late, "You just missed the whole f**king concerta!," and he played a mix of classical and popular pieces (you can find him doing Jimi Hendrix covers on youtube). A really brilliant showman who makes classical music interesting and fun to watch. He also succeeds in eliminating the pompous attitude often associated with classical music. Here's one of his classical covers of Vivaldi's "Spring." (Those who sat the Junior Cert music exam around 2003 should be pretty familiar with this one!)

Suffice to say- I did not achieve this standard of playing. The melody I attempted to learn was the opening credits to the Buffy spin-off show 'Angel.' Below is how it should sound. 

Take note that the 'Angel' theme is played on a viola which has a lower register than the violin. So everything I play will sound distinctly higher pitched... and shitter... here is what I came up with... we'll call this attempt number six thousand and two...

Okay- so it's far from perfect- but I'm pretty happy/exhausted with it...

Recommendation: Really enjoyable- if you're interested then it's easy enough to get started. There's tons of online tutorials which were helpful and its a very easy to learn the theory to violin. Practically it's as difficult as any musical instrument and will require tons of practice to get anyway decent. 

Conclusion: Awesome challenge- a good mix of enjoyment with difficulty. Seriously considering buying a violin now...  

Special Thanks: Susan Bourke for providing the violin and assistance! I did my best when taking care of the violin... it was touch and go there for a while though...

Next Challenge: Knitting- gotta learn to knit and knit me a scarf in a week! Anyone interested in joining me then let me know! Nothing like a good olde stitch and bitch! http://stitchnbitch.org/

Random Thoughts: The violin is a fantastic tool for demonstrating how the frequency of a stretched string is inversely proportional to its length... aaah physics... is there anything you can't do?

* Vagitus - a baby's cry or wail...

Legend... but no dairy...

Firstly a massive thank you to everybody who has given me suggestions. There's some very interesting challenges that I look forward to trying further down the line but please keep sending me on different challenges because more variety means more interesting, albeit stupid, things for me to do! To leave a challenge or comment- just click the 'comments' button below and leave a message (you'll be surprised at the number of times I've been asked that!) 

Currently I'm learning how to make this site more interesting and interactive. Right now I've embedded a new sexy 'calendar' of future events with potential challenge dates. Obviously nothing can be strictly set in stone at the moment, and part of this whole escapade is 'not' to bind myself to a strict regiment. So expect date changes etc etc blah blah.


I'm also trying to incorporate a sexy 'list' of challenges given, accepted and completed so that you can view what has been suggested by other people... I'll let you know when I figure out how it works.

I decided to start myself off with a interesting challenge: being a vegan for a week or better phrased as becoming a follower of "veganism." The vegan society define this as: "a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals."

This long winded definition can be summarized to say the following...


1.) No food that is, or came from, an animal.
2.) No clothing that involved causing harm to an animal.
3.) No products tested on animals.


My first sexy challenge will be to do the following starting on Jan 4th and running till Jan 8th


* Obey points 1-3 above.
* Cook a vegan dinner for somebody else at least one night in the week.

Basically I haven't exactly decided the format of this whole fiasco, realistically it's not possible for me to blog daily so I'll probably just blog upon completion, or epic fail, of the challenge. 


How hard do I think this challenge will be? Well, Homer tackles a similar issue head-on with Lisa...


LISA: “I’m going to become a vegetarian”
HOMER: “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?” 
LISE: “Yes” 
HOMER: “Bacon?” 
LISA: “Yes Dad"
HOMER: "Ham?”
LISA: “Dad all those meats come from the same animal”
HOMER: “Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”"
                             - Season 7 - Lisa the vegetarian



The Simpsons - 705 Lisa the Vegetarian

Bring it on...

Greetings and welcome to my blog... here's the back-story for the crap that's going down in 2010...


So about three weeks ago I started thinking about what I was going to do with myself next year and I realized that I couldn't actually list the things I'd done this year... sure I'm halfway through my teaching diploma... and sure I went to Canada for a few months... and wasn't there some event in March? or April? or May? 

El facto is- I don't remember much of anything (I also hereby announce that I DO NOT KNOW your birthday- facebook does- thank it, not me). I figure that although all the events of last year were probably fantabulous awesome- the fact remains that while I undertook various projects, I still lived my life in the typical, slightly repetitive, method which I've formulated for myself over the last 22 years. 

So- in essence- this blog is designed to change that- for better or for worse.

My aim goal objective (73 word score) is to undertake a new challenge EVERY week for the entire year. Reasoning behind this is that it should break any 'pattern' I've formed for myself over the past years. YOU (as the sexy reader) are asked to 'Bring it on...'

Why such a provocative statement? Why the hell not... 

So- as example challenges: "Be vegetarian for a week," or "Go for a run every morning for a week," or "Learn a foreign language for a week," or "Play the lotto everyday for a week," or "No tea/coffee/alcohol for a week." Etc etc...

Pretty simple eh? So I want suggestions from YOU and I'll try accomplish that goal over the year 2010 at some point. I'll then blog about the challenge and rate its difficulty and whether or not it is worth doing/actually possible.

The suggestions you put forward can be as mundane or mental as you want. All I want is a suggestion box to work from. The pro for you is that you get to watch me suffer (in some make, shape or form) for a year. 

Some ground rules though... (sigh)

1.) Challenge begins at midnight Sunday night and finishes at midnight on Friday. (That's 120 hours) The reasoning for this is that, like work, I get two days off for myself to either recover from the challenge or to prepare for the next one.

2.) Challenges which can get me fired or arrested are not allowed.

3.) Challenges which are pure dangerous/stupid are not allowed. (e.g. hit self with hammer everyday for a week)

4.) Challenges cannot be too expensive (MAX €50 a week). I WILL do one or two expensive challenges during the year- but they'll be pre-planned and well funded by then.... hopefully.

5.) Challenges must be 'measurable.' Challenges which wouldn't count would be "Drink half the amount of tea you usually drink" or "Scare yourself silly." Whereas "Drink no tea" and "Watch a scary movie every night" are both eligible.

Anyway- there's probably more rules to follow but I'll cross that bridge when it sets fire...

WHAT I WANT FROM YOU....

Posts/Comments saying the following...

"Steve... you're awesome (optional- but highly recommended)... I challenge you to [insert challenge here]. My reasoning for this challenge is [insert reason here]. Hugs, kisses and all that, [your name here]"

Any questions?

Bring it on...

2010 - The year of the tiger.

P.S. First 'blog' ever... so assume speelling errors, grammatical mistakes! and poor judgement. Which leads me to...