(Read up on what #Richards2016 is all about here.)
Week 11! Who’d have thought we’d make it this far?
It’s certainly starting to take a toll though. I noticed the other day that my Twitter numbers were falling. Not good. And it wasn’t just the follow-for-a-day-then-unfollow Twitter scumbags you get. It’s like actual followers I know and like. I guess some people find me constantly spamming what I’m up to all day every day kinda annoying? Maybe I should stick to obvious jokes and tired memes, since that’s what people like. Or sexism?
Sigh. But I’m not giving up. In the words of my Mean Girls hero, Kevin G, “you should never allow those who fail to appreciate what you’re trying to achieve to prevent you from continuing to do so”.
Onto the week then.
March 12: Plant a Flower Day
Not a problem. I have naturally green fingers. And also, I’m good at gardening haw haw haw!
Happy Plant a Flower Day! #richards2016 pic.twitter.com/8pSnQzjLQ5
— Richard Cook (@cookywook) March 12, 2016
It me. In .gif form. Planting a hyacinth bulb. (FUN FACT: hyacinths were named by some dude randomly picking letters out of a Scrabble bag).
Don’t ask why I’m doing it at like 10pm at night. I just am ok.
March 13th: Ken Day
I’m all about reusable content. So I recycled an old sketch about Ken I’d written for a thing.
March 14th: International Ask a Question Day
Wow, what a day this was.
I started small, simply sending a question out to all my Twitter followers:
What’s the biggest thing you’ve ever eaten? #askaquestionday #richards2016
— Richard Cook (@cookywook) March 14, 2016
No responses. Dang. To be fair, the day is just ‘ask a question’ so I didn’t really need a response. But Twitter is all about conversations innit. I wanted more.
So I flipped it on its head and asked people to ask me questions:
ask me anything, i guess?https://t.co/l68ztE95pk
— Richard Cook (@cookywook) March 14, 2016
I answered some questions there, which was kinda fun I suppose.
But THEN I noticed that good ol’ Boris Johnson was doing an #AskBoris Q&A session on Twitter. Now, I have a thing where every time this happens I ask him a very simple question.
Usually he just ignores it (FOR SOME REASON), but this time I was in luck.
i once ate a camel when I had the hump #askboris @cookywook
— Mayor of London (gov.uk/coronavirus) (@MayorofLondon) March 14, 2016
Needless to say, I went nuts. I got lots of RTs and all those lovely nice warm social media feelings. Ahh. I also got questions from people replying to Boris, but leaving me in on the mentions. That was fun.
Sorry I couldn’t help, Muslim Patrol UK!
March 15th: Buzzards Day
Not many buzzards in Cambridge. So I just listened to my friend David’s band Buzzard King. They do a good cover of Ain’t No Grave that I recommend!
March 16th: Freedom of Information
It turns out basically anyone can submit an FOI request. I thought they’d at least ask you why you want the information you’re requesting, but nope! So you can literally request whatever you want from anyone in the public sector.
Except it can’t be too dumb or else they’ll just reject it. Also, it turns out that a lot of public sector stuff is contracted out to private companies. Like, you couldn’t ask the council about trains and stuff, because that’s all Train Operating Company info. Boo!
Anyway, I went with a dumb question about libraries and books.
celebrating Freedom of Information Day!#richards2016 pic.twitter.com/9RUl2APpDA
— Richard Cook (@cookywook) March 16, 2016
They’ve received my request now and I await their response. Could take like three weeks though 🙁 STAY TUNED FOLKS
March 17th: Saint Patrick’s Day
Just did all the obvious quasi-racist St. Patrick’s stuff.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day #richards2016 https://t.co/IJjgEEdCoK
— Richard Cook (@cookywook) March 17, 2016
I also learnt that I have a super low tolerance for people who call it “St Patty’s”. Like, I understand the logic, but it’s just wrong. Further reading here.
March 18th: Awkward Moments Day
With me, every moment is an awkward moment!
But seriously, I have to pick one I guess. So I’ll just go with trolling a Vice writer on Twitter.
@joelgolby not much what’s up with you
— Richard Cook (@cookywook) March 18, 2016
BEST PART: I wasn’t even the first person to make that joke. OH INTERNET.
ANYWAY THAT’S THAT.
Coming up:
- March 19th: Poultry Day
- March 20th: Snowman Burning Day
- March 21st: Single Parent’s Day
- March 22nd: Goof Off Day
- March 23rd: Melba Toast Day
- March 24th: Tuberculosis Day
- March 25th: Tolkien Reading Day
A mixed bag there. Let’s see how it goes.
p.s. Remember those shoes I ordered and were too small and I had to get replaced? Well, guess which replacements still haven’t shown up? HAHAHA YES THOSE ONES.