Let's Get Playful - Just Not When You're Supposed To

So, Katie with her hairbrained ideas.

Well, actually no. Her idea was quite a good one. I just wasn't very happy about the task that I had to do for the day.

And again, to be perfectly honest, it doesn't seem like too difficult a task.

But there was a big problem. My Mum works all day and my brother is in the middle of an exam period, so no free time for either of them to spend with yours truly. I was also rather busy yesterday (the day I was supposed to do the task) and left it at the last possible minute today. Anyways... So, I decided to try the internet. Which was a lot more helpful. Thank you, internet!

I contemplated trying to play some kind of solitaire/patience, but I thought that would be cheating, since I know how to play a few different solitaire/patience games and they seemed to be pretty similar. So I thought, why not try one of the suggestions from the website: cribbage.

I found a place online and braced myself for a complete and utter failure. And it came. Again and again and again. I started thinking that maybe I'm just stupid, that it's not meant for me to learn how to play cribbage... (Poor sad me...)

But Anne - our lovely Monday - came to the rescue! She explained a few things about how scoring works, which cards you should aim to keep in your hand, which cards to "throw away" in the crib, what to do when you're a dealer and what not to do when you're not. And the result was this:

I WOOOOOOOOOON!!!!

So, success! Not too shabby, if I may say so! It took a few (probably closer to 10) games, but I got there eventually! Now I think I can play cribbage in the real world. Anyone wanna play???

You don't do New Year's Resolutions???

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Yes, that was Katie's reaction immediately after I told her I don't. Some of you might find it weird, seeing as the whole "New Year Resolution" shebang is so widespread throughout the world. The principal of the thing is pretty straighforward: every year, just before it ends, each person comes up with a few things that they would like to change about themselves in the New Year.

I can understand the attractiveness of it all. Each one of us has something we would like to change about ourselves and New Year's is usually the time when wee start thinking about what we would like to do differently. Sometimes it's family related - eg. "I would like to see more of my family this year" -, other times it's more personal - eg. "This will be the year I will shed those extra pounds" etc, etc.

I do realise that there are lots of different types of New Year's Resolutions, but I'm just sticking to the basics. Mainly due to the fact that I have never - and I mean never ever - made my own resolutions. It's not that I have any particular aversion to the idea; it's just that as I was growing up, we just didn't do anything like that. I do come from two different backgrounds - both Greek and English - but neither half of the family does anything like that. The only reason I ever found out that New Year's Resolutions even existed was probably because of some film or another. Yes, that is how clueless I was about the whole thing.

But even now, that I am aware of this particular tradition we are talking about, I still don't feel tempted to participate. The main reason for that is that I don't think that any of my resolutions will last past Easter or that I will even remember them! And other than that, I am not sure I place so much value in them. I always have things that I would like to change, things that I would like to do more of or less of, but I don't wait until New Year's just to make it into a resolution to fulfil in the new year that's just around the corner. I decide there and then that something has to change and I work - from that moment on - to change it.

So yeah, no resolutions for me. Just for a change!

And to leave you on a funny note, I found this image on the internet, which I am sure is what happens to a lot of people's New Year Resolutions!

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Why hello! I'm Wednesday!

Why hello! And welcome to The PAKt!!

I am Wednesday, also known as Phanee! I am 22 years old (just like Anne), but I live in a place far far away. Greece! Yep! A place where there's sunshine (and it's warm) for 8-9 months of each year... Well, no, that's not strictly true for the whole of Greece... But it's certainly true for Crete, where I live. And just so that you can get an idea, this is where it is:

Yep, it's pretty far down, right next to Africa. Which I suppose a lot of you will think is marvellous... I just think I live in the wrong country. I hate being hot and I love cold, rain and snow. So I have come to the realisation that, though I was born in the right country (England), my parents made a very wrong decision in deciding to move to Crete.

So, as you saw with Anne's post on Monday, this week we are doing interviews on the blog, to introduce ourselves and to give ourselves an easy topic to start with! Here are the questions I was given from Miss Monday (aka Anne) to answer:

1. What is your favourite thing about where you live?
Hmmmm... Now this one is a hard one... I know I rambled up above about the fact that I live in the wrong country, but Greece really is a lovely country. I would probably say that my favourite thing about Crete, where I live, is the contrast in the landscape. Crete is one of the biggest islands in the Mediterranean (and the biggest in Greece) and being an island, it is surrounded by sea. But it's also rather mountainous, with the mountains not being too far away from the sea. So, the sea is ideal for the hot summer months (and we do have some lovely beaches!), but we also have cold mountains and a bit of snow in the winter, too!
((You're probably wondering why I'm complaining, aren't you??))

2. If your house was burning, what would be the first thing you would save?
Since you said things, I am going to go with an actual "thing". The first thing I would save would definitely be my laptop. I've got everything on there! And I love it to bits!

3. What is in your pocket, RIGHT NOW? Or, if you don't have pockets what is the first thing you can pull out of your purse?
No pockets right now, so going with the purse option! Assuming that by purse you mean my handbag and not my little purse with my money in it, the first thing I can pull out of my bag is an umbrella! I have a cute little Radley umbrella with little doggies on it! It's probably the only designer thing I own! My grandmother got it as a present but never used it because of the doggies on it, so she gave it to me! I never go anywhere without an umbrella. You can guarantee that on the day that I don't take an umbrella, it's going to chuck it down. So, it just stays there permanentely!

4. What are the top 3 songs on your most played iTunes/iPod list?
Number 3 is "Mowgli's Road" by Marina & The Diamonds.
Number 2 is "Seventeen", also by Marina & The Diamonds
aaaaaaaaaand
Number 1 is "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga

Not sure what I think about that. I haven't listened to any of them in ages! But if you were to ask me songs I am loving right now, I would say "Fluorescent Adolescent" by Artcic Monkeys, "Stuck on a Puzzle" by Alex Turner, "Skinny Love" by Birdy and "Levels" by Avicii (do not ask how that last one connects to the others - it doesn't!)

5. What is your favorite meal?
Other than the fact that I love anything with potatoes in it, I do have two favourite meals - one with potatoes and the other potato-less. The first one is shepherd's pie, a traditional British meal, and the other is a Greek one called giouvetsi or kritharaki. It's basically beef with a special type of pasta baked in the oven and it's AMAZING! Here is what it looks like:

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I know that one up there has chicken in it, but we always make it with beef and it's soooo good!

And now for the this or that questions we're all doing:

1. Tea/Coffee/Chocolate
Definitely chocolate! With tea at a close second! (I do not like coffee...)
2. Indoors or Outdoors
Both actually! I love going out, but I am also content with just staying at home and curling up with a good book!
3. Cats or Dogs
Ooooh! Doggies!!! I love dogs! I used to be really afraid of them, but they're just great big curly furballs!!
4. Team Zombie or Team Unicorn
Team Unicorn! Zombies are yukky...
5. Hot or Cold
Cold!! Have you not been paying attention to what I have been saying??? As I always say, you can always add more layers, but you can never taking everything off!


Tune in on Friday for Katie's anwers to my questions!