Tag: ukulele

Review of 2012

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 7 Comments

I've read a few of these 'review' blogs over the last couple of days and after a year of various monthly challenges I thought a quick review of my own was required.

January started with my first attempt at Janathon. This was a quite a challenge to start the year, and I actually ran every day of the month and completed a total of 133 miles. It was great fun, really enjoyed reading the blogs of fellow janathoners. Good start to the years challenges.

After the excursions of Janathon, I decided on something rather gentler for February. The aim was to teach myself to play the ukulele. Didn't go amazingly well, although the uke is still hanging around and is often picked up every now and then.

March's challenge was again music related, only this time the challenge was to listen to new music and blog about it. This was an enjoyable month, I discovered some great bands and some have even made the list of bands to see in 2013.

Thanks to my sister and her birthday present to me, April was a month of model making: an Airfix model of The Cutty Sark. This was a very difficult challenge, the model was near impossible to make, very fiddly, and the paint didn't work either! Although a YouTube video of the final boat was a thing to behold.

And so we reached May and one of the most difficult challenges of the year: write a short story. Difficult for a number of reasons: time was an issue, lack of plan and a distinct lack of skill.

So after a couple of rather relaxing challenges, June brought us Juneathon and the attempt to run every day of the month. Didn't go quite as well as Janathon, I dipped out on running every day and completed 114 miles in all.

July's challenge was tasty: baking. I made ten different things other the course of the month, from cupcakes, brownies and tarts, through to shortbread, cookies and flapjacks. Lovely jubbly!

Of course, after making and eating cakes for a month, a physical challenge was needed for August. Swimming was decided. I could swim before but after a month of visiting various swimming pools in the area my swimming has really improved. I'm far from entering a triathlon, but maybe that's something for the future.

Learning to ride a unicycle. Seemed like a good idea at the time. September was the month to do it, which because of injury, turned into October's challenge as well. The unicycle was not mastered, even after two months, but I've not give up on that yet. Summer 2013 for the next attempt.

After the efforts of the previous two months, November brought the rather more gentle art of Origami, one per day for the duration of the month. My tutor group came on the journey with me and between us we produced 100s.

And so to the final month of the year, December, or should I say decembeer. The challenge was to drink a different beer every day of the month. This was a good challenge, and despite a dodgy illness over Christmas, it was completed. A reflection on 31 beers in the form of a blog post coming soon.

So the idea to dump the new year's resolution and instead complete 12 different monthly challenges was a complete success. I can now: run, swim, bake, unicycle, appreciate music, become more knowledgable about beer, have become an origami master, make models and write. All to varying different degrees. But as much as I've enjoyed the year…..enough is enough.

 

March’s Project….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

A-Z of New Music

After much deliberation March’s project has finally been decided…..’Phil’s A-Z of New Music’.

“What is Phil’s A-Z of New Music?” I hear you shout. Well after various ideas from various people: painting, swimming, model making, photography, star-gazing, to name but a few, I wanted something quite relaxing to do throughout March. And thanks to @ladymarples the decision has been made.

February was an interesting month, learning to play the ukulele was not as easy as I first thought, I didn’t seem to pick up the uke as often as I should have. Suffice to say: I’m no expert. Although if Noah and the Whale’s ukulele player suddenly dropped dead, I could probably manage to accompany them on ‘5 years time’ for at least the first 10-15 secs of the track. In a nutshell: I’m no George Formby! (although @kem27 did manage to get him confused with Norman Wisdom!).

So, March’s plan, to listen to and blog about ‘New Music’. Although when I say ‘new’ music, I actually mean ‘new’ to me. I hope to cover a range of genres, so there should be something for everyone!

If you have some some ideas of artists/bands I should listen to feel free to comment….

March?

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

February’s plan to learn to play the ukulele didn’t go too well. Although I can definitely play it better than I could 4 weeks ago.

I’m still not entirely sure what March’s project is going to be….

  • One idea was to borrow Amy’s posh camera and try my hand at some fancy photography.
  • Another was to learn to swim better – but after the physical efforts of janathon that may have to wait until the summer.
  • It has been suggested to do some sort of art/painting project.

A decision will be made by the end of the weekend……

February’s Challenge…

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

Did you see the headlines in the media? ‘Worried for his safety!’….. ‘Run comes to an end!’…..

If you did you will be aware that I haven’t posted on this blog for 4 days. Shock! Horror! Due in part to two big events: Project365 and Janathon. Meaning that until recently I had posted everyday for 13 months.

So with the ‘ridiculous’ idea of doing a challenge every month, and on the back of Janathon, comes my attempt at playing the ukulele. Here is said ukulele….

Having obtained a book from @ladymarples and trawled the web for some ‘how to’ advice, after 4 days I’m still struggling, not really getting the hang of the strumming. But it is only early days! Wish me luck….