Tales of failure. What skills or achievements did you hope to acquire during lockdown?

[rubbershoes]

We didn't know how long lockdown was going to be. But plenty of people had self - improvement plans. Learn Italian, repaint the house.

My only goal was to learn to rip an apple in half. I read that Vietnamese can do it. If a whole nation can do it, how hard can it be?

Quite hard, in fact. I tried twice, got absolutely nowhere and gave up. The instruction videos don't say much more than grip it and rip it.

What grandiose or other plans have fallen by the wayside for you?

 

[pinkmonkey]

I was gonna set myself up in business making and selling face masks. I had it all planned, I was gonna be coining it in. But It took me a month to make one and then a further two months to make another one. In the end I far preferred the one I'd bought from Poundland.

 

[thismoment]

Mine was to put pictures in frames and hang them on the walls. It’s been on my to do list for 5 years.Tomorrow’ll be the day I’m sure....

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Just about all of my programming and game dev manuals and tutorials still go unused.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I was going to work on my French, get from being able to just about get by over there, up to decent conversational level.

Errr, bonjour.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Thought I might paint my hallway.
Haven't.
Mind you, I have been at work pretty much all the time so haven't really been on lockdown at all.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Also i'm now about 20 years into thinking about maybe learning a bit of Japanese.

 

[maomao]

I did two months walking/running three mornings a week and lifting weights three mornings a week. At first was doing yoga to warm up before that but stopped due to a stubbed toe. Got new shoes and added big disks in the same week. Resulting in shin splints, golfers elbow (it was bad form lifting rather than the weight, it's still not right) and me sitting on my fat arse for two months. I've had a bike for nearly a week now and I've ridden it a whole twice.

Never mind, I've achieved some other stuff and I never have to go back to that fucking job again.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I was going to do a MOOC on the basics of programming. I did actually do the first few but unfortunately it turned out that programming is really boring.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Work on left hand independence in my piano playing. Still just hitting the root on beat one over and over again

 

[SpookyFrank]

Also my plan to lose weight by switching from beer to brandy did not pay off at all.

 

[Numbers]

I had no grand ideas or plans so it has been a roaring success.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I had no grand ideas or plans so it has been a roaring success.

You've managed some high-quality beard growing tbf.

 

[StoneRoad]

Very Mixed ...

Was (and still) largely working from home [my OH is designated shopper & contact with the real world]

In between work working, I have been either working on the reclaiming my garden from a decade or more of neglect (aka as jungle-bashing) or dong a serious de-cluttering of 60+ years of collecting (plus dealing with my late father's stuff &, it turns out, some of my late mother's stuff).

I also set myself two other targets - sort out / update my on-line photographs and learn more Esperanto.

So, I'll award myself ...
a) 75% on work wfh targets (but probably more as I need to chase some responses to tenders for work that were disrupted by the plague)
b) 95% on the garden (although still lots to do, I've exceeded the rate of progress on what was a five year plan)
c) 50% (being generous) on the de-cuttering ...
d) less than 20% on the images
e) less than 10% on the Esperanto (I keep starting ... but then stopping)

Definitely very mixed

 

[editor]

I failed on almost all of my objectives. I didn't study the camera manual and learn new skills. I didn't practice the drums every day. I did, however, take more photos than I've ever taken of my neighbourhood and wrote more articles every day than ever I've ever done, so at least I was rewarded with surprisingly high levels of traffic. But no financial return.

 

[sideboob]

Also i'm now about 20 years into thinking about maybe learning a bit of Japanese.

先生

 

[baldrick]

I was going to learn Python. I bought a book and an online course. I have neither opened the book nor started the course.

I have, however, started learning Finnish on Duolingo - a language I will probably never use.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I failed on almost all of my objectives. I didn't study the camera manual and learn new skills. I didn't practice the drums every day. I did, however, take more photos than I've ever taken of my neighbourhood and wrote more articles every day than ever I've ever done, so at least I was rewarded with surprisingly high levels of traffic. But no financial return.

Yes I'm pleased with the amount and quality of photos I've managed to take. The first two months of lockdown were basically a weird farewell tour of everything in and around my longtime home of Nottingham and I've got a good record of that now.

 

[xenon]

Work on left hand independence in my piano playing. Still just hitting the root on beat one over and over again

Ah yes, I had visions of sitting at my digital piano, with booze and practising / playing long into the night.

A couple of piles of clean tshirts have taken up residence on it.

Also my plan to lose weight by switching from beer to brandy did not pay off at all.

And this ^ I'm still working up to though with vodka / wisky instead.

And that second EP is taking a while...

And I have not become a proficient or even to be fair, stumbling embarrassingly poor German speaker. But doesn't look like I'll be going this year anyway.

 

[bellaozzydog]

I failed to read Marx, capital with a YouTube study guide (shit internet what derailed it honest)

failed to improve my Excel spreadsheet skills(shit internet what derailed it honest)

 

[kabbes]

I don’t want to piss people off, but I had a tonne of plans and have pretty much done all of them. In no particular order regarding chronology or importance, they’ve included: learn Greek (well, it’s not accomplished but I’m pleased with the progress to date), achieve the ability to play Bach Partita 3 on the violin, eBay a load of shit, reclaim the spare room from its junkyard status, reclaim the garden office from its junkyard status, finish this year’s OU module to the level I’d be happy with and walk for more than 90 minutes a day.

I know it’s deeply uncool to want to do things and then do them but I can’t stand not being busy and fuck knows I’m not going to prioritise doing more of my actual work than is strictly necessary...!

 

[oryx]

I planned to read War And Peace on the kindle.

Yes, I know it's War And Peace, but I finally got to the 50% mark today.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

先生

Kanji was muri da. Hiragana ni muzukashi mou. Jitsuwa watashi wa baka desu ne. honto ni baka da.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I know it’s deeply uncool to want to do things and then do them...

No no, perfectly acceptable. Happy for you.

Coming on this thread to brag about it though, total dick move.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Funny how so many of us have behaved exactly the same as we usually would

 

[xenon]

I don’t want to piss people off, but I had a tonne of plans and have pretty much done all of them. In no particular order regarding chronology or importance, they’ve included: learn Greek (well, it’s not accomplished but I’m pleased with the progress to date), achieve the ability to play Bach Partita 3 on the violin, eBay a load of shit, reclaim the spare room from its junkyard status, reclaim the garden office from its junkyard status, finish this year’s OU module to the level I’d be happy with and walk for more than 90 minutes a day.

I know it’s deeply uncool to want to do things and then do them but I can’t stand not being busy and fuck knows I’m not going to prioritise doing more of my actual work than is strictly necessary...!

This isn't the thread for that.

 

[High Voltage]

I have, fairly confidently now, learned how to intramuscularly inject drugs

 

[marty21]

I decided to walk a lot every day , and apart from about 4 couldn't be arsed days in June , have averaged about 8 miles a day , so have lost a bit of weight (I wasn't massive before lockdown tbf) I'm a lot fitter than I was in March The plan to do more gardening hasn't really worked out I have taken a load of pictures on my state sanctioned exercise so that's a plus.

 

[sojourner]

I was going to drum every day - get much better on my bodhran, and keep my other drum beats fresh in my mind.

Did it maybe a handful of times

 

[oryx]

Already posted this on another thread, but decided to try and master cooking with aqua faba.

These were my meringues: