Comfort Zone - Part 2

Here's a subject so far out of my comfort zone I don't even like talking about it as it makes me feel ill.

P*bl*c Sp*@king.

This is a theraputic post.

I know I'm not alone in this but I also know I suffer worse than anyone else I know, except maybe one person who shall remain nameless.

P.S. (Public Speaking) = feeling sick from the moment I think I may have to do it to the day after I've done it.

P.S. = Wanting to quit my job or take a pill that puts me to sleep forever so I never have to face tomorrow.

Last week I did some P.S.ing. It felt unavoidable. I think God is clever about how he moves us though our fears. I was given the option of doing a talk about my trip to Cambodia with the hope of raising money for the project. Basically I would have felt ashamed if I had not taken the opportunity because I was a scaredy pants.

So I did it, there were about 100 people, I hated every minute of it and sounded like a strangled cat. BUT I raised plenty of money and awareness for the cause - worthy of the stress I thought.

Today I get an email from someone who mentioned they have booked me in for 2 more sessions! Oh my goodness. So now I'm back to square one again...and I said yes because let's face it, life's too short and maybe it won't be so bad next time.

Green Wing

Green Wing is now probably my favourite TV show of all time ever. Here are 2 of my favourite clips:





Todays happiness: A peanut butter and banana baguette at lunchtime.

In God Wii trust

I was playing on a friends Wii last week when I remembered how someone had created a version of Guitar Hero for Christians. This set us off making a list of Christian/Biblical games for the Wii.
Here's some of them:

• Feeding the 5000 - where you have to throw loaves and fishes at open mouths in a crowd.
• Moses - you have to part the reeds of the red sea as you run from the Egyptians.
  
• Walking on water - you'd have to use the balance thing for that.
• Woman at the well - drawing buckets of water for a thirsty Jesus.

Today's happiness - missing my stop on the train because my book was so good.

Comfort zone - Part 1

This year I am moving out of my comfort zone, some of it is unavoidable, some my own choice.
It leaves me with a constant feeling of un-ease. I hope I don't get a stomach ulcer.

So I thought I should write about one of the comfort zone departions - my trip to Cambodia.

In a matter of weeks I shall be heading to Phnom Penh to take part in a building project in a small village. I'll be working with a group of volunteers helping to improve the facilities of a school to enable the support of children with disabilities who usually would receive no education.

Questions I have:
Why am I doing this?
Will I come back alive?
Will I want to come back?
Will the mosquitos eat me alive?
Will sharing a room for 2 weeks kill me?
Why do my questions keep getting longer?

Freecycle it

I heart Freecycle.

It’s great...in theory.

In reality I have never given or received anything on it but the email listings keep me entertained if nothing else and who knows, one day that Hello Kitty electric guitar I want so much may just appear.

So here are my favourite latest offered items from freecyle (saving the best for last):

10. Sachet of Ovaltine drinking chocolate.

9. Small Dog Coat (pink puffer)

8. Rectangular block of Polystyrene 47 x 22 x 121 cms

7. Spotters guide to rocks and minerals

6. Empty Roses tin 9.25” Diameter 4” High

5. Plastic lids (assorted) from shampoo bottles

4. Wood from raised bed

3. With the bronze award - Bags of hardcore

2. With the silver award - Slimfast Strawberry flavour out of date – Have just found 2 tins at back of cupboard, dated 2003. Should I bin them?

1. WINNER - Marble Dome – for up to 4 players. Complete except for NO MARBLES.

Other people's kids

Tonight I am babysitting. It is a joy to babysit where there is wine and wireless internet.

I love kids and enjoy spending time with my friends sprogs but there are regular things that as a surrogate auntie I get subjected to.

Here are some of my favourite moments with other peoples kids:

1. Bathtime. Yes they want you to be there at bathtime because it's such a novelty having you around they don't want to miss your presence for more than 10 seconds. Bathtime involves perching on the toilet seat (lid down) and being interested in all the bath toys, getting your jeans soaked (hilarious), listening to nazgul style screams (enhanced by bathroom acoustics), singing bath-time songs, washing hair (they all hate this), followed by crying and exiting the bath. No bathtime is without some trauma - slipping, soapy eyes, floating poo...
   
   
2. Story time. I quite like story time, except when I am nominated to tell the story in the precence of a parent (or at worse both parents). One friend revels hearing the words 'I want auntie Jo to read my story'. Mom and Dad will then sit and listen. Are you sitting comfortably? ... Mid story I get told I'm not putting enough effort in and they snigger at my character voices, I don't need this kind of stress, life is hard enough already.
   
   
3. The bedtime/goodbye kiss. I dread the following words: "Go and say goodnight to Jo". This is the worst possible thing to ask a kid to do. You sit there awkwardly as the child says "NO!" or just runs away. Or sometimes they approach and you have to try and give them a cuddle or a kiss while they squirm about. An alternative is when the kid comes at you open mouthed and you get covered in slobber. And all this under the watchful gaze of the parents.

I guess I should thank my luck stars I don't have to do all these things every day.

The Dark Night

This week I went on a bat walk with a friend who works for the Bat Conservation Trust. We completed a waterways survey which was last done 10 years ago, previous to that it had been done yearly so it was about time for a re-count!

The bats we were counting were Daubenton's, known as the 'water bat' as they fish insects from the water's surface with their large feet or tail.

So here's the drill, starting 40 minutes after sunset. There are 10 set points along the route, at each point you stand by the water for 4 minutes, one of you holds the bat detector (set to approx 35kHz for Daubenton's) and the other one holds the timer and a torch. When you detect a bat coming you shine the torch on the water to see the bat fly across. Then you write down how many you see in the 4 minutes. 

We had good fun, when we arrived it was still light and so we saw loads of Pippistrelles bats, it's cool when you're holding the detector and you hear when they're coming close. It was quite spooky wandering down a woody path in the dark and I kept on having to put various scary thoughts out of my mind. As well as the bats we heard an owl, saw loads of geese, some night fishermen and we startled a swan by shining a torch at it when it was minding its business on the water. 

I forget how much I enjoy being out in nature, it makes me ridiculously happy.