(Read up on what #Richards2016 is all about here.)

It’s Week Two, baby! To all you haters out there who said I wouldn’t make it, guess what? I made it! Hahaha. Yup, screw you all the literally zero people who said that. Hahahaha.

Here’s just what the hell I got up to.

January 8th: Show & Tell At Work Day

Easy! I brought my LUCKY COIN into work.

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Except it turns out that lucky coins aren’t very interesting. Good thing then that I happened to be wearing REALLY COOL SHOES. Here’s my showing them to my amazed co-workers!!

What makes my shoes so special you ask? And why are we all wearing white shirts in that video?! Well, the answer to one of those questions is that they’re special Wes Anderson shoes. Here’s a closeup.

They’re a replica model of the shoes worn by Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou so of course they’re incredible.

Only problem is that they’re a size too small!!! So I didn’t wear them for very long. I’m trying to get a replacement and/or refund because, my friends, these shoes were not cheap.

January 9th: Apricot Day

I’m not a big apricot fan. I don’t think I’ve ever actually sat down and eaten one to be honest. But if this life project is about anything (and I’m not saying it is), it’s about trying new things. So I bought a big bag of dried apricots and munched the hell outta them.

NOTE TO READER: Do not eat lots and lots of apricots if your body is not accustomed to a high-fibre diet.

January 10th: Bittersweet Chocolate Day

I’ve had some criticism that all of these just boil down to me eating things and that this isn’t a hard thing to do at all.

I guess it’s a fair point.

January 11th: Step in a Puddle and Splash your Friends Day

Didn’t eat anything on January 11th! Well, I did eat lots of things. But nothing related to the day itself. No, this challenge required a physical effort on my effort. Physical effort, skill, and cunning:

At the end you can see my slapping Matt there. I wish it had perfectly fit in because it would have been some beautiful comic timing. But Vine is a pain in the arse to work with at the best of times so I had to shoot this whole thing live. I hope you enjoy it.

January 12th: Pharmacist Day

Tough one. Because a pharmacist is technically a person. And I wasn’t able to find one. And I was in meetings and work stuff all day so I couldn’t run out and find any.

I went to the comments on the Pharmacist Day page for ideas. Check out how crazy they are:

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Shoutout to Donald Robert Buetow, aka ‘Don down the street!’

Instead, I did a couple of compromises.

  • I listened to some Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. ‘Me and Mia’ is an incredible song.

  • Tweeted my love for pharmacists to the world:

  • Took a picture with a PHARMACY. Which is good enough for me.
    (“A pharmacist has been here!” I thought to myself.)

  • Enjoyed the Limmy pharmacy bit (via my friend Ed).

All in all, a victory for pharmacists everywhere.

January 13th: Peach Melba Day

A peach melba is a very specific thing. If you don’t know, it’s “a dessert of peaches and raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream.”

My office doesn’t really have any of those things. And I had no idea where I could get one in Cambridge. So I went for the DIY option:

Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

1 tin sliced peaches from the Tesco Express
Greek yogurt from the office fridge
Raspberry conserve you found in a cupboard
As much sugar as you can sprinkle on top

Method

Assemble ingredients in a bowl.
Eat.
Try to get past the disgusting taste and texture.
Repent sins.

Eugh. Probably the day I’ve enjoyed the least. Truly disgusting.

January 14th: Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

I was worrying about how to do this one. But then I heard that by a massive coincidence, a local sicilian cafe would be providing lunch in the office that day. Result! So I chomped down on a plate of this:

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However, I wasn’t 100% sure what I was eating was pastrami. And no way am I gonna let a day pass that I’m not 100% satisfied with (peach melba day aside), so I also went and bought some and had that for dinner!

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Sure, I know that for it to qualify as a true Reuben-style pastrami sandwich, it ought to have been drowning in mustard. But I used sriracha sauce instead, which is basically a more delicious red version of mustard. YAY.

Here’s what’s coming up next week:

  • January 15th – Strawberry Ice Cream Day
  • January 16th International Hot and Spicy Food Day
  • January 17th Kid Inventors’ Day
  • January 18th Thesaurus Day
  • January 19th Tin Can Day
  • January 20th Disc Jockey Day
  • January 21st Granola Bar Day
  • January 22nd Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day

Less food-based ones than usual in there! Particularly looking forward to the 22nd too…

Thanks for reading! See ya next week???

ps. Power situation in my house still not sorted. If anyone from Leaders Cambridge is reading this, please help I am so cold.