Happy!

I notice, looking back, that the titles of my last four entries were "Sheesh", "Tired", "Bored now" and "Forget fame, fortune and things". This I think gives the entirely false impression that I haven't been having fun lately. I love the hectic buildup to a world memory championship, even if it involves people pointing cameras at me!

Anyway, I didn't win. Not enough training, plus Clemens and Gunther being better than me (always a problem) conspired to strip me of my title. Still, it's been fun being the World Memory Champion, and I'll have to do it again some time. Got a world record in the speed numbers, god knows how. If you asked me which event I was least likely to break a record in, names and faces aside, that would have been it. Just goes to show you never know what you can do until you've done it.

Lots and lots and lots of things to write about, but I'm in a net cafe in Oxford and I've got to go to the stupid prizegiving in a minute or two, followed by a non-stupid party at Ed's family mansion. So I'll just give the news in brief and say more when I get home tomorrow.

Hi Sam
! Thanks for being the first person to post a comment! Anyone else who actually reads this, feel free to do the same!

Good journalist of the year award: Josh Foer, the American guy who's writing a book. I mentioned a while ago that I'd already told him everything there is to tell, but he managed to keep me talking for three hours the next day, while I was hungover and sleep-deprived, without me once getting bored or wishing I was somewhere else. He asks intelligent questions, takes a genuine interest in the subject and doesn't mind at all if I digress and start explaining what's so great about Daffy Duck.

Bad journalist of the year: The BBC director mentioned earlier. I won't give her name in case she's one of those weirdos who type their own name into Google to see what people say about them, but the woman's terminally dense. She also says things like "You're doing really great, you must have done this before!" whenever I show signs of annoyance with being filmed doing the same thing more than once.

Great book recommendation: Anything involving Fidget and Quilly, by David Melling. Sheer genius. The Dinosaur Game might be the best.

Slightly worrying: Spending ten minutes chatting with someone I didn't think I'd ever met before, only to have him end the conversation by saying "Well, we'll talk on the internet again. See you!"

I'd skip the prizegiving and go home right now if it wasn't so rude. Andi, who doesn't care how rude he is, has already left. The pains of politeness. Anyway, got to run! As an extra bonus tomorrow, I'll post the first chapter of the thrilling book I wrote last night.