What topics do you like to discuss?
Risk, of course.
Depending on who I’m with,
when I’m not discussing risk,
I like to chat about
blogging,
weightlifting,
my family,
the Imago Dialogue,
what i’m going to be when I grow up,
things that make me happy,
things that make me unhappy,
and music,
especially PROG ROCK,
especially Frost* and Steven Wilson
So what shall we discuss first?!
1. Tell about a risk that went horribly wrong, that you still have nightmares about.
2. Think of a recent risk that paid off differently than you had hoped.
3. What is a risk younger you took that got you into your current predicament.
4. What is the biggest, baddest, most ill-advised risk you can imagine taking today?
5. What *isn’t* a risk for you?
When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out?
What the heck, WP? Why all this focus on risk? Are you at some kind of risk management seminar right now?
Is it obvious by now that I’m not a big risk-taker.
One of the riskiest things I have ever done was to have children.
How did it work out? It worked out the way things work out. Some highs, some lows, overall positive.
Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.
My across the street neighbors and my next door neighbor are GARDENERS, all caps. Their gardens are tended to, lovingly cared for, in perpetual improvement, and regularly pruned. Could be an inspiration idk
Except that I know almost nothing about gardening. We have “plants” in our front garden. FH knows a thing or two and has made some beautiful gardens but not yet at our current home.
So I decided today I would embark on a slight beautification activity. One thing that has kept me from trying gardening is that I might do it wrong. Might pull up the wrong thing.
But today I threw caution to the wind and started in on the right hand bed. I even pulled up a few things I couldn’t swear are weeds. They were in the wrong place and, even to my inexperienced eyes, weren’t obviously a bush or plant we wanted to keep, so off with their heads.
I had wheeled the bin over to toss the weeds (probably also a gardening faux pas but whatever).
When I decided to move to the left hand bed I pushed the bin but somehow lost my balance. It was like being on a skateboard where the wheels move faster than the body.
My head slammed into the edge of the bin, my elbows and knees slammed down onto the concrete and the other edge of the bin met up with my shin in a decidedly painful fashion.
Since this is bin day, another neighbor out retrieving his bins saw the kerfuffle and yelled over to see if I was ok. In any situation where I am physically injured, bone sticking out notwithstanding, my stock answer will always be “I’m ok! I’m fine!”
However, all I wanted was to get in the house and lay down on the floor and cry. Which I did.
After a visit to the healing portions of the gym (steam, sauna, spa), I feel better. Worst after-effect is a giant bruise directly on the point of my elbow.
And there you have it. A risk I took that I do not regret. Remind me of that, please, when I lean on that bruised elbow!
Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?
(I’d say the last thing I need to be doing is ruminating on wishing I had made a different decision, but the show must go on.)
I remember a time I didn’t take action. Well, I did act, but didn’t take The Action.
The sixth grade spelling bee was down to the wire. Just me and Tina Hansel. Her word was “socket.” She had a little bit of a twang when she spoke so she spelled the word (correctly, I thought) but it sounded like s-o-c-k-A-t. I heard her spell it (correctly, I thought) believing that her e was just a little twangy.
The superintendent of schools was overseeing the spelling bee. “I’m sorry, but that is incorrect,” said The Superintendent of Schools.
I was stunned. He then gave the word to me. I paused, racking my brains for what the spelling could possibly be. Finally, I spelled it, correctly, the same way Tina had.
S-o-c-k-e-t. “That is correct.” There must have been one more word I had to spell, but it is long gone now.
Now many years later I wonder about this memory. Were there others who thought she spelled it right? Why didn’t anyone speak up? I don’t think she would have misspelled that word.
I felt bad later that I hadn’t spoken up. But by the same token, it was the superintendent giving out the words. Who was I, an 11yo girl, to question the superintendent? Maybe in one of John Green’s YA novels, the protagonist would have spoken up. Would you have?
I feel confident that my motivation was not “win-by-any-means.” I think I just didn’t know what to do.
1. What word did you win, or lose, the spelling bee on?
2. What would have happened if I had said hey supe I think she spelled it right?
3. Do you know the wonder that is John Green?
4.
5. What do you think about the national spelling bee being televised and made into the big deal that it is today?
6. Is the spelling bee uniquely American?
ClearingSpace4Joy 